The effects of perceived brand orientation and perceived service quality in the higher education sector

Brand orientation and service quality have been recognized as having a positive impact on organizational performance in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors. With the ever-increasing competition in the higher education context, institutions will achieve growth and market share if they follow a branding-based approach in their strategic thinking and planning. So, the importance of brand and brand orientation increases in this sector day by day. Likewise, provision of quality services is one of the most important priorities of educational institutes around the world because of its integral role in developing competitive advantage and in attracting new and retaining existing students. This study aims to propose a framework to investigate the effects of perceived brand orientation and perceived service quality on behavioral and attitudinal consequences of students such as trust, loyalty, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth in Iran’s higher education industry. Simple random sampling approach was employed, and data were collected through a questionnaire distributed among students of Kharazmi’s Faculty of Management in Tehran and analyzed by structural equation modeling using Smart PLS. The results revealed that perceived brand orientation has a positive impact on trust, loyalty, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth. Particularly, perceived brand orientation has a positive impact on perceived service quality. Besides, the relationship between perceived service quality, trust, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth was confirmed.