BRAND EQUITY DIMENSIONS AND MODERATING EFFECTS ON THE OVERALL BRAND EQUITY OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

This thesis examines overall brand equity of PUs in Malaysian and to what extent it effects students in selecting the PUs. The OBE is deliberated further by the brand equity dimensions and moderating effects. The study attempts also to determine either marketing mix, university reputation and country of origin affecting PUs overall brand equity. Thus, the branding of a service particularly by PUs is imperative and played a crucial role in minimizing the risks and providing assurance to the service receivers. The main objective of this study is to configure integrated marketing efforts in designing the OBE for Malaysian PUs. This is in parallel with the MEB 2015-2025 strategies, of which to plan Malaysia as the World’s Centre of Education Excellence and to designate Malaysia as regional ‘Education Hub. At present, the discussion in relation to the OBE of PUs in Malaysia has not been observed and addressed evidently by the interested parties involved. This study employs quantitative approach using questionnaire survey involving 351 students selected through non-systematic sampling method from six PUs located in Klang Valley, Malaysia namely, UM, UKM, UPM, UIAM, UiTM and UPNM. For analysis, exploratory factor analysis and SmartPLS-SEM is used to fit the right items of each construct and in assessing the relationship impact between and among constructs. The analysis revealed that out of 24 hypotheses, only 15 hypotheses were supported. The study shows that there is a significant impact on relationships among variables of marketing efforts (ME), dimensions of brand equity (DBE) and environmental turbulence (ET) on OBE. The study has also shown that the DBE have further mediated the relationships between ME, the UR and OBE. The DBE however, are being moderated further by ET. Finally, the findings, recommendations and suggestion observed throughout the thesis have contributed immensely to the existing corpus of knowledge particularly in the field of business management. It also provides guidelines for stakeholders in terms of investments, policy makers especially in designing policies for PUs, and students in making choices of PUs prior to pursuing studies in Malaysia.