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Gratitude and its drivers within higher education

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  • Fiona Cownie

Abstract

This paper proposes that gratitude has a place in enabling us to understand students’ experiences of higher education, and this has an implication for higher education (HE) marketing. This research examines the evidence for and focus of gratitude within the context of an undergraduate course with high levels of student satisfaction. It finds that final-year students report feelings of gratitude and that students report that those feelings of gratitude are at their height within the final year. This exploratory research proposes that feelings of gratitude are driven by four factors: helping behaviors; care; perceived effort; and environment. For HE marketers, this suggests that there is merit in placing emphasis on academic-student interactions at the heart of marketing strategies, including branding strategies, open day events, marketing communications and social media content. There are clear opportunities for academics and marketing departments to benefit from the intention to give back that is central to the notion of gratitude.

Suggested Citation

  • Fiona Cownie, 2017. "Gratitude and its drivers within higher education," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 290-308, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jmkthe:v:27:y:2017:i:2:p:290-308
    DOI: 10.1080/08841241.2017.1389795
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raciti, Maria M., 2012. "Predicting first year student transfer intentions: Do relationships matter?," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 65-72.
    2. Jana Bowden & Leigh Wood, 2011. "Sex doesn't matter: the role of gender in the formation of student-university relationships," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 133-156, August.
    3. Huang, Min-Hsin, 2015. "The influence of relationship marketing investments on customer gratitude in retailing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1318-1323.
    4. Fazal e Hasan, Syed & Lings, Ian & Neale, Larry & Mortimer, Gary, 2014. "The role of customer gratitude in making relationship marketing investments successful," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 788-796.
    5. Dewani, Prem Prakash & Sinha, Piyush Kumar & Mathur, Sameer, 2016. "Role of gratitude and obligation in long term customer relationships," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 143-156.
    6. Pelser, Jan & de Ruyter, Ko & Wetzels, Martin & Grewal, Dhruv & Cox, David & van Beuningen, Jacqueline, 2015. "B2B Channel Partner Programs: Disentangling Indebtedness from Gratitude," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(4), pages 660-678.
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    Cited by:

    1. Syed Muhammad Fazal-e-Hasan & Gary Mortimer & Ian Lings & Harjit Sekhon & Kerry Howell, 2021. "Managing Relationships: Insights from a Student Gratitude Model," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(1), pages 98-119, February.

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