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INTRODUCTION
Images and allied constructs, especially identity and reputation, have received considerable attention in recent years (Fombrun, 1996; Dowling, 2001; Fombrun and van Riel, 1997, 2003). The constructs are defined and linked together in various ways (Chun, 2005; Brown et al. , 2006). In this study, corporate image is referring to outside stakeholders' perceptions of an organization, corporate identity to internal stakeholders' perceptions, whereas corporate reputation includes views of both internal and external stakeholders (Chun, 2005). Thus corporate reputation is perceived as being an umbrella construct, referring to the cumulative impressions of internal and external stakeholders, especially the impressions of employees and customers. Image building is perceived as being strategically important for many organizations, especially for professional service providers (Zabala et al. , 2005). Images can be formed for many different entities, such as products, brands and organizations (Lemmink et al. , 2003), and even countries (Passow et al. , 2005).
Helm (2005: 106) believes that the understanding of the reputation construct 'has been dominated by research focused on the construct itself; inclusion of reputation in structural equation modelling in order to examine its interplay with other constructs has remained scarce'. Chun (2005: 104) states that 'links between customer satisfaction and the image of an organization have been under-researched'. The main purpose of this paper is to study the relationships between various images and related constructs, with the goal of gaining insight into the interplay between these concepts. The context is higher education, specifically a Norwegian university college. The study focuses on the following variables: service quality, facilities (of the university college), student satisfaction, image of the university college, image of the study program and student loyalty. The latter is used as the ultimate dependent variable for the model. The two first variables are factors (exogenous variables), while the other four are the main concepts (endogenous variables) in the model. The study addresses these main research questions: (1) Are students' perceived image of the university college and their perceived image of their specific study program different concepts? (2) Are student satisfaction, image of the university college and image of the study program all drivers of student loyalty, and if so, which one has the highest degree of association with student loyalty?
Student loyalty is becoming...