Student Brand Ambassadorship: The Influence of Identification with the University on Student Advocacy in Higher Education Institutions
(2025) SKOM12 20251Department of Strategic Communication
- Abstract
- Student Brand Ambassadorship: The Influence of Identification with the University on Student Advocacy in Higher Education Institutions
This study investigates how students’ identification with the university influences their willingness to engage in brand-supporting behaviors, conceptualized as student brand ambassadorship. This study argues for a differentiation between university as organization and university as brand, with students’ primary psychological attachment directed toward the former. Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT), the study develops a conceptual framework and examines three key organizational identity aspects, namely categorization, identification, and comparison, as antecedents of student brand ambassadorship. The... (More) - Student Brand Ambassadorship: The Influence of Identification with the University on Student Advocacy in Higher Education Institutions
This study investigates how students’ identification with the university influences their willingness to engage in brand-supporting behaviors, conceptualized as student brand ambassadorship. This study argues for a differentiation between university as organization and university as brand, with students’ primary psychological attachment directed toward the former. Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT), the study develops a conceptual framework and examines three key organizational identity aspects, namely categorization, identification, and comparison, as antecedents of student brand ambassadorship. The study also examines brand understanding, an outcome of internal branding, as a moderator of identity-ambassadorship linkage. The study tests whether students’ understanding of the university’s brand enhances the effect of their university organizational identity on their advocacy for the institution. A quantitative research design was employed, using survey data collected from 204 students across 60 higher education institutions in Vietnam. Results indicate that student-university identification is the strongest predictor student brand ambassadorship, while categorization shows no significant impact. Furthermore, brand understanding does not meaningfully moderate the relationships and, in some conditions, has adverse effects. These findings suggest that fostering a strong organizational identity can promote students’ advocacy, while overemphasized effort on branding aspect may unintentionally undermine their supportive behaviors. The study contributes to internal branding literature in the higher education context by highlighting the mechanisms driving student brand ambassadorship, thus suggesting how universities can motive their student support. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9197273
- author
- Bui, Phuong Ha LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SKOM12 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Keyword: student-university identity, social identity, brand understanding, internal branding, higher education institutions
- language
- English
- id
- 9197273
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 09:45:56
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 09:45:56
@misc{9197273,
abstract = {{Student Brand Ambassadorship: The Influence of Identification with the University on Student Advocacy in Higher Education Institutions
This study investigates how students’ identification with the university influences their willingness to engage in brand-supporting behaviors, conceptualized as student brand ambassadorship. This study argues for a differentiation between university as organization and university as brand, with students’ primary psychological attachment directed toward the former. Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT), the study develops a conceptual framework and examines three key organizational identity aspects, namely categorization, identification, and comparison, as antecedents of student brand ambassadorship. The study also examines brand understanding, an outcome of internal branding, as a moderator of identity-ambassadorship linkage. The study tests whether students’ understanding of the university’s brand enhances the effect of their university organizational identity on their advocacy for the institution. A quantitative research design was employed, using survey data collected from 204 students across 60 higher education institutions in Vietnam. Results indicate that student-university identification is the strongest predictor student brand ambassadorship, while categorization shows no significant impact. Furthermore, brand understanding does not meaningfully moderate the relationships and, in some conditions, has adverse effects. These findings suggest that fostering a strong organizational identity can promote students’ advocacy, while overemphasized effort on branding aspect may unintentionally undermine their supportive behaviors. The study contributes to internal branding literature in the higher education context by highlighting the mechanisms driving student brand ambassadorship, thus suggesting how universities can motive their student support.}},
author = {{Bui, Phuong Ha}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Student Brand Ambassadorship: The Influence of Identification with the University on Student Advocacy in Higher Education Institutions}},
year = {{2025}},
}