Impact of students’ experiences on brand image perception: the case of Vietnamese higher education

The topic of building a strong brand image has raised a growing academic interest recently, yet there is a paucity of research with a customer-oriented approach that focuses on the consumption experience of service. Our study aims to examine the impact of direct experience attributes on students’ perceived brand image of higher education institutions. Another objective is to investigate the moderating role of experience duration in these relationships. To test the proposed model and hypotheses, the empirical study was settled in two phases. First, two qualitative studies were conducted among students at three well-established universities in Vietnam to identify the different attributes of the customer experience in the higher education service and the associations of university brand image. Main research then proceeded with 720 students participating. The results of a multigroup structural equation modeling show that sensations and behaviors inside the classroom, positive affective experiences, positive and negative relationships have significant effects on the perception of brand image with positive affective experiences demonstrating the strongest influence. Furthermore, a multigroup analysis reveals students in different years assign different weights to the importance of experience attributes: seniors care more about relationships while second and third-year students emphasize their sensory and behavioral experiences. The results also show that as time goes by, students tend to give better evaluations of university brand image. The research provides additional support to higher education branding and service experience, especially in developing and emerging countries where such areas of research are mostly neglected.