Beyond the Ivy Halo: A Stakeholder Comparison of Brand Perception and Value Creation in Higher Education
(2025) BUSN39 20251Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Purpose: This study pursues a purpose rooted in the research gap of brand perception of passive stakeholders, to address the under-explored role of passive stakeholders, particularly recruiters, in shaping and reshaping university perception.
Research question: In which ways do brand perceptions differ between active and passive stakeholders of higher-educational institutional brands?
Methodology: This study adopts an abductive, qualitative research design, executed through eight semi-structured interviews with four active (students/alumni) and four passive (recruiters) stakeholders. The resulting data was analyzed via thematic analysis.
Theoretical Perspective: The study integrates stakeholder co-creation, identity-image... (More) - Purpose: This study pursues a purpose rooted in the research gap of brand perception of passive stakeholders, to address the under-explored role of passive stakeholders, particularly recruiters, in shaping and reshaping university perception.
Research question: In which ways do brand perceptions differ between active and passive stakeholders of higher-educational institutional brands?
Methodology: This study adopts an abductive, qualitative research design, executed through eight semi-structured interviews with four active (students/alumni) and four passive (recruiters) stakeholders. The resulting data was analyzed via thematic analysis.
Theoretical Perspective: The study integrates stakeholder co-creation, identity-image alignment and signaling theory to model decoding paths from brand identity to perception and equity.
Findings: Active stakeholders rely on intrinsic, lived cues (culture, academic rigour, wellbeing) and evaluate authenticity. Passive stakeholders on the other hand, default to extensive prestige signals (e.g. rankings) but recalibrate those heuristics when exposed to insider narratives circulated for example, on social media. This cross-flow will then either amplify or erode brand equity.
Contributions: The findings reveal bridges between literature demonstrating that insiders (active stakeholders) act as secondary signalers who moderate outsider (passive stakeholder) cue utilisation. Additionally, they reveal a dynamic model explaining rapid reputation swings in marketised higher education. Lastly, the findings offer universities actionable guidance on narrative governance to mitigate identity-image gaps.
Keywords: brand perception, higher education branding, signaling theory, stakeholder co-creation, identity-image alignment, authenticity, Ivy League (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9207316
- author
- Geisweid, Lea LU and Kusche, Fiona LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN39 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9207316
- date added to LUP
- 2025-07-01 12:19:21
- date last changed
- 2025-07-01 12:19:21
@misc{9207316,
abstract = {{Purpose: This study pursues a purpose rooted in the research gap of brand perception of passive stakeholders, to address the under-explored role of passive stakeholders, particularly recruiters, in shaping and reshaping university perception.
Research question: In which ways do brand perceptions differ between active and passive stakeholders of higher-educational institutional brands?
Methodology: This study adopts an abductive, qualitative research design, executed through eight semi-structured interviews with four active (students/alumni) and four passive (recruiters) stakeholders. The resulting data was analyzed via thematic analysis.
Theoretical Perspective: The study integrates stakeholder co-creation, identity-image alignment and signaling theory to model decoding paths from brand identity to perception and equity.
Findings: Active stakeholders rely on intrinsic, lived cues (culture, academic rigour, wellbeing) and evaluate authenticity. Passive stakeholders on the other hand, default to extensive prestige signals (e.g. rankings) but recalibrate those heuristics when exposed to insider narratives circulated for example, on social media. This cross-flow will then either amplify or erode brand equity.
Contributions: The findings reveal bridges between literature demonstrating that insiders (active stakeholders) act as secondary signalers who moderate outsider (passive stakeholder) cue utilisation. Additionally, they reveal a dynamic model explaining rapid reputation swings in marketised higher education. Lastly, the findings offer universities actionable guidance on narrative governance to mitigate identity-image gaps.
Keywords: brand perception, higher education branding, signaling theory, stakeholder co-creation, identity-image alignment, authenticity, Ivy League}},
author = {{Geisweid, Lea and Kusche, Fiona}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Beyond the Ivy Halo: A Stakeholder Comparison of Brand Perception and Value Creation in Higher Education}},
year = {{2025}},
}