What Forms University Image? an Integrated Model from Syria

Introduction In the last decade, the higher education market in Syria has experienced quite dramatic growth. For many years, higher education in Syria had been solely provided by the government for very limited student fees. However, the increasing demand and the arising cost of higher education posed a considerable challenge for the government to meet higher education demands, either at the quantitative or at the qualitative level. As a result, the government was encouraged to allow opening private fee-paying universities, which took place in 2001. Since 2001, due to the new legislative reform that governs the work of private universities, competition in the Syrian higher education market became more apparent in both public and private sectors, and for the first time, the concept of student as 'customer' became much more popular in the higher education sector (Ayoubi et al. 2011). By the end of 2013, six public universities, seventeen private universities, four public higher institutes, and one private higher institute were operating in the market of higher education in Syria, seven times exceeding the number of universities in 2001, only four public universities. The sudden increase in the number of universities led to intensive competition in the market, with each university struggling to locate and maintain its position in the market (Al-Fattal 2010). In the scene of such competition, university image is considered to be a valuable asset (Kotler, Fox 1995; Stensaker 2007). Stensaker (2007) hold that the image a higher education institution has in its surrounding seems to be considered as more important than before, and, to an increasing extent, a strategic and managerial issue. Kotler, Fox (1995), furthermore, stated that an institution's current image is even more important than quality because it is the perceived image that actually influences choices made by prospective students. It influences student willingness to apply for enrolment (Landrum et al. 1998), student satisfaction (Alves, Raposo 2010; Clemes et al. 2013), and student loyalty (Alves, Raposo 2010). Realizing this, Syrian universities need to understand, empirically, how their images are shaped and consequently can manage their promotional communications in a more effective balance. However, the literature on factors contributing to the formation of university image is still scarce in concerning the Syrian higher education system. Therefore, this study aims at developing and empirically testing an integrated model which will contribute to our understanding of university image formation in the Syrian context. Service quality, student satisfaction, and word of mouth are undertaken in the model as antecedents of university image as suggested by the previous researches that were conducted in other contexts (e.g., Alves, Raposo 2010). With respect to the factorial shape of SERVPERF instrument that was validated by Mahmoud, Khalifa (2015) within the Syrian higher education system, our study is novel to be one of the first empirical investigations that take into account the new dimensions of service quality when it comes to explain the formation of university image. The following sections discuss a review of relevant literature, research methods, results, discussion and implications. 1. Literature review 1.1. Service quality There is a broad consensus that a generic definition of service quality is difficult to develop due to the four unique characteristics of service, namely, intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability (Parasuraman 1986). As such, service quality has been defined as the customer attitude of overall judgment about service superiority, based on the assessment of the customer, and not on a physical item (Arnould et al. 2002; Coulthard 2004; Pakdil, Aydin 2007; Parasuraman et al. 1988; Zammuto et al. 1996; Zeithaml 1987). In the context of higher education, different groups of customers are recognized, for example, students, government, and employers, resulting in different perceptions of service quality. …