Research On University Brand Equity Evaluation Based On Perceived Service Quality

High education mission and high education act demand high education institutions should put talent nurturing as their top priority and supply high-quality and suitable high education service. University and student belongs to supply and demand party from the angle of economics. University serving as supply party provides teaching, scientific research, consulting services. Students serving as demand party pay intuition buying teaching services. Employers serving as another demand party employs students and purchase scientific fruit and consulting services. High education environment has changed. In order to satisfy demand of students and employers, High education should be student-oriented and employer-oriented, concerning their demand, enhancing service quality and attaching importance to brand. Thus, it is very meaningful to research into high education service quality and brand equity of high education university systematically, to construct high education service quality evaluating measurement and university brand equity evaluating system, to formulate strategy of improving service quality and enhancing brand equity effectively.Reviewing high education references, we rarely see references evaluating high education service quality and university brand equity from the angle of demand party.The technical route of this dissertation is as followings:Firstly, the dissertation confirms demand party angle (students, employers); secondly, it combs domestic and overseas references about high education service quality and brand equity; thirdly, it constructs student, employer high education service quality EDUQUAL and university brand equity evaluating system. Also, it explores relationship between high education service quality and other brand equity evaluating dimension. Finally, making use of research fruit from above chapters, it formulates strategy of improving high education service quality and enhancing university brand equity.The whole research with high education service quality and university brand equity evaluation is from the angle of demand party (student, employer) and high education service quality is one dimension of brand equity evaluation. We adopt the following research method:Applying economics, education economics, psychology, industry organization theory, control theory, marketing and strategic theory, this dissertation combines theoretical research with empirical research. Collecting a great number of first-class data, it uses multivariate statistics method, compares multi-sample research results, makes use of LISREL software to program, establishes SEM, tests validity of theoretical assumption and concept model.We obtain the following research results:1. Review theoretical fruit of service quality and high education service quality. The dissertation extracts service quality dimensions of evaluating our country high education. It constructs high education service quality evaluating EDUQUAL of students and employers.The dissertation defines relative concepts and sorts out high education service quality and its evaluating theory, summarizes differences between general service quality and high education service quality connation, compares differences between general service quality and high education service quality evaluating methods, lays a theoretical foundation for constructing high education service quality(EDUQUAL).Through analysis of high education IPO(input-process-output), the dissertation finds that students care more about“education service process”. Though employers are concerned with“education output”, they care more with“education service process”. Both of them do not care about“education input”. Thus, we focus on researching“process quality”of high education service. The research borrows fruit from former regular perceived service quality and high education perceived service quality evaluation research, applying interview , questionnaire and multi-factor statistics methods, establishing high education service (process)quality evaluation theory(student and employer EDUQUAL and making use of strict empirical method to test the theory. EDUQUAL shows that high education service (process) quality concerning point of students and employers is different.2. Review theoretical fruit of brand equity. Based on demand (students and employers) angle, the dissertation assumes that high education service quality and other dimension together build university brand equity evaluating system and it tests the science and validity of this assumption.The dissertation conducts a systematic research on brand theory, brand equity evaluating theory, university brand evaluation. It expounds the necessity and urgency to evaluate university brand equity based on demand party. The dissertation cites brand loyalty, brand fame, perceived quality, product association, organization association, perceived value dimension from other scholars and it combines feature of high education service, adding personal relationship dimension firstly. The dissertation puts forward high university brand evaluating system theoretically and tests its validity and effectiveness. It finds that every dimension has a different contribution to brand equity.Results show that brand loyalty is the most important origin of brand equity, and second to that is brand association and perceived service quality. Brand fame and personal relationship has the least contribution to brand equity. The difference embodies each dimension’s contribution to the brand equity and that provides theoretical foundation to formulate strategy of enhancing brand equity.3. Excavate theoretical fruit of brand equity dimension. The dissertation constructs a basis model of“relationship of high education service quality and other dimension of brand equity”, adding evoloving model of“relationship of personal relationship and other dimension”. It tests and compares validity of two models and finds difference between two models.Firstly, through sample the dissertation tests the assumption that brand association can be measured from product association, organization association and perceived value. Secondly, it finds that high education service quality has a positive impact to brand loyalty, brand fame, brand association and personal relationship. It has the biggest impact on brand loyalty, bigger impact on brand fame, weak impact on brand association, smallest impact on personal relationship.Finally, it proves that personal relationship exerts a positive effect on brand fame and brand association. And personal relationship has a stronger effect towards brand association than brand fame.The empirical fruit of above relationships provides an important theoretical foundation for formulating brand equity strategy4.In accordance with feature of high education service and reference to high education vision and mission, the dissertation applies theoretical fruit of demand party-oriented EDUQUA, brand equity measuring system and dimension relationship. Taking high education service quality as centre and taking university brand equity dimension and their relationship as skeleton, the dissertation formulate strategy of enhancing service quality , increasing brand equity and improving high education management systematically.Finally, the drawback of research is put forward and future research is pointed out.Main innovations are as followings:1. Perspective innovation: From the angle of demand party, the research studies high education perceived service quality and university brand equity.After analysis of former high education perceived service quality and brand equity literature, the research finds that demand party-centered research is the main trend while two angle research, the student-centered and employer-centered research is seldom seen. Especially, this research of service quality and brand equity evaluation is based on demand party and uses perceived service quality to connect the content.Understanding perception of demand party(students, employers) can obtain first-move advantage for university.2. EDUQUAL innovation:Applying behavioral science and system theory, borrowing former theory fruit, using a great number of sample data, taking demand party as center, extracting factors affecting“high education service quality”, the dissertation constructs high education service quality EDUQUAL of students and employers.With the reference to high education service quality EDUQUAL, university can formulate strategy of improving service quality to decide what to do and what not to do.3. System innovation : Combination with feature of high education service and reference to in-depth interview towards demand party, the dissertation takes personal relationship as a new factor (dimension) affecting university brand equity and adopts former research dimension, constructing high education brand equity evaluating system. Through empirical research, it tests validity and suitability of dimension concept using in high education.Review relative literature, general brand equity research has mature theoretical foundation and academic in-depth, while evaluating dimension towards brand equity has not reached consensus. Brand equity research with university is weak, especially, evaluation on brand equity based on demand party is rarely seen.This university brand equity evaluating system based on demand party provides an important theoretical guidance for formulating brand equity strategy.4. Relationship innovation: Just as above-mention, former scholars has not reached consensus on brand equity evaluating dimension. Research on dimension relationship is rarely seen.Firstly, through empirical research, the dissertation confirms validity of the assumption “brand association can be measured from three aspects: product association, organization association, perceived value”Furthermore, the dissertation researches on how high education service quality influences other dimension of brand equity (brand loyalty, brand fame, brand association, personal relationship), finding their internal relationship.This relationship provides an important theoretical foundation for formulating strategy of increasing brand equity.5. Strategy innovation: based on above innovation points, the dissertation designs“strategic model chart of brand equity increasing based on high education service quality.”It formulates strategy of improving service quality, increasing brand equity and enhancing high education management.