Corporate reputation perceptions of higher education institutions: A study among different stakeholders

Corporate reputation is becoming increasingly important not only for profit organizations but also for nonprofit organizations. Corporate reputation is an important element that increases the preferability of higher education institutions. This study tries to determining those factors that affect university reputation perceptions and uncover the differences and similarities among differing stakeholders. A survey was conducted among 1,084 people, who represented four different stakeholders confined to samples of 271 each. The stakeholders were university applicants, university students, university graduates, and employers. A questionnaire was implemented to senior students of high schools in Istanbul, students of Istanbul universities, graduates of Istanbul universities, and employers in Istanbul. Following a principal components analysis, the hypotheses of the study were tested using t-tests, ANOVA and regression analyses. The results point to significant differences among different stakeholders based on the dimensions of university corporate reputation and on various demographic criteria. The study has important implications for university management in marketing of the university as well as of individual programs.