Factors of the brand image influencing students’ choices in higher education institutions in ho chi minh city

PHD.CO.001 Research Proposal and Writing Final Assignment – Research Proposal By Hoang Thi Que Huong ID: PBAIU19002 Research title: Factors of the brand image influencing students’ choices in higher education institutions in Ho Chi Minh City For Dr Ho Nhut Quang Business School International University – Vietnam National University HCMC Table of Contents Introduction 2 Problem Statement .2 Research objectives Research questions Literature Review 5.1 Research Concepts and Definitions 5.1.1 Higher education 5.1.2 Brand and brand management 5.1.3 Brand approach 5.1.4 Brand identity 5.1.5 Brand image 5.1.6 The theory of student’s choice – choice theory 5.2 Previous Research Studies 5.3 Conceptual model and Hypotheses 11 6.1 6.2 Methodology .13 Sampling Design 13 6.1.1 Description of Population 13 6.1.2 Sample size determination .13 6.1.3 Data collection 14 6.1.4 Survey questionnaire development 14 6.1.5 Different types of bias .15 Basic Experimental Design 15 6.2.1 Research Hypotheses 16 6.2.2 Blocking variables 18 6.2.3 Extraneous variables 18 6.2.4 Internal and external validity 18 6.2.5 How to deal with low external validity .19 Overview of Chapters: .20 Plan of Work 20 References 21 ii List of tables Table The seven brand approaches Table Brand image concept in the brand literature Table Summarize previous studies 11 Table Proposed Hypothesis 12 List of figures Figure The Research Conceptual Model 12 iii Abstract The awareness of brand image increasingly becomes a great of importance in students’ choice towards higher education institution This study aims to investigate factors of brand image which influence the choices of students in terms of postgraduate universities, the case of three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: International University HCMC, University of Economics HCMC, University of Economics and Law HCMC In particularly, these factors will be identified in reference with students’ choice in higher programs at these universities Furthermore, the most factor affecting students ‘choice would be defined and taken in to consideration Focus group technique and paper-based are applied to build questionnaire forming The surveys of 450 samples would be collected by email survey technique The technique of Conbach’s Alpha and Exploratory Factor Analysis are applied to test a reliability of all measurement scales The next stage of analysis illustrates a regression between identified factors and choice of students Besides, there is the influence between type of job and the choices of students 1 Introduction In the context of integration with the world economy, the affirmation and enhancing the position of country become a general trend of all countries, especially developing countries Moreover, education in Vietnam currently plays a very important role not only students and parents but also for teachers and lecturers in order to create useful people for society development In particular, higher education has an essential thing in creating and increasing value of national brand Thus, building brand name for institutions in Vietnam is necessary In an increasing competition in higher education, institutions have to face the huge challenges in the high caliber students and academic staff This competition drives the need for universities to focus on clearly articulating and developing their brand (Hemsley-Brown & Goonawardana, 2007)) How universities manage the relationships between administrative staff and academics, and between students and administrative Moreover, how the awareness of students about brand of institution may have influences on the success of institutions and student’s intentions to engage with the university in the future Branding in higher education is a strategic tool which enables easier identification and measure of the quality of certain university Additionally, since it has been noted that the greater the congruence between student’s values, goals and attitudes and those of the institution, the less likely a student is to drop out, the concept of branding has become more significant to the field of higher education University image branding management are gaining on the importance since a university brand assists potential students in making right decision and guarantees that their values and norms will match the institution ones By examining the factors of brand image in higher education which influence choices of students in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City, this paper provides further empirical evidences of brand image In addition, managers in higher education will also benefit from this research in terms of the major marketing and the appropriate strategies in order to connect and engage better with students and graduates From that these universities can have appropriate strategies to develop brand in order to bring more benefits to such universities Problem Statement It can be seen that there are many opportunities for universities to develop and attract more students in higher education programs The fact that nowadays more and more students would like to study higher education program in domestic not only in programs of English taught but also in Vietnamese Understanding of demand of market, there are many studies related to brand management for universities to get more students According to Nguyen Tran Sy and Nguyen Thuy Phuong (2014), there are four mains ways to spread brand name of universities, which influence students through brand image of the universities Almost studies are related to how to build and develop brand name for universities in general and there are lacking of research about higher education program which linked to brand image of universities Thus, this study will investigate the factors of image influencing choices of students in higher programs and such study will take place in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: International University Ho Chi Minh City, The University of Economics and Law and University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City Research objectives Research objectives are what the researcher want to achieve in his paper (Zikmund, Babin, & Griffin, 2013) The first objective is to investigate the factors of brand image that influence choices of students in term of higher education The second objective is to examine the relationship between these factors and find out the most influenced factors of image toward students’ choices and then proposing recommendations to increase the percentage of students choosing institutions Research questions To achieve the set objectives, the research paper tries to answer the following research questions: • What are the factors of brand image influencing choices of student toward higher education institution? • Which are the most factors affecting students’ choices? • What are measures needed to improve increase the percentage of students choosing institutions? Literature Review 5.1 Research Concepts and Definitions 5.1.1 Higher education According to UNESCO (1998) the definition of higher education can be illustrated as follows: Higher education comprises all post-secondary education, training and research guidance at education institutions such as universities that are authorized as institutions of higher education by state authorities In Vietnam education system, higher education is for people which completed the study at universities On another words, people which have bachelor degree can apply for the higher educational programs in terms of related fields In this study, the investigation will focus on students which are studying master programs at three universities: International University HCMC, University of Economics and Law and University of Economics HCMC 5.1.2 Brand and brand management Brand is a term which has been defined by many author and many organizations through many years One of the definition of brand which is mentioned by the American Marketing Association (AMA) is as follows: Name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers A “brand” is “the means by which a company aims to differentiate its product from competition and [to] protect its position in the market, profitability, overtime (Advancing Intellectual Property Protection, n.d.) Many authors have been had definition of brand and Kotler defined brand which can be understood that “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, [that] is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler 1997, p 443) According to Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009, p 9) they stated that the definition of brand can be in some more aspects which included internal and organizational processes With the development of marketing brand management has become more and more important not only in businesses but also in academic filed But what is brand management? Jean- Noel Kapferer (2012, p 7) stated that brand management starts with the product and service as the prime vector of perceived value, while communication is there to structure, to orient tangible perceptions and to add intangibles ones Another understanding about brand management which is mentioned in Management Study Guide (n.d) is that management of tangible and intangible in terms of characteristic of brand Understanding the importance of brand management in development of brand in order to get more benefits from businesses, there are many studies which have been investigated the application of brand management, especially in the field of universities Gili S Drori, Guiseppe Delmestri and Achim Oberg (2013, p 137-151) built brand for the university based on relational strategy of identity construction in a competitive field Hanover Research studied changes recently in higher education in terms of branding and marketing, recruitment and technology This research provides many useful information about significant trends that recent institution pay attention more to branding and marketing than the previous More over the study shows that online marketing may take into consideration to encourage apply for programs Besides many researches related to brand and brand management in universities aspects have been done over years Le (2012) showed that there were many solutions to improve the brand image of faculty of business of administration- Sai Gon University The author found out mains factor that influence to the brand image business of administration faculty through evaluation of students of Sai Gon University 5.1.3 Brand approach According to Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009) there are seven main brand approaches that need to be considered He divided into two paradigms which are positivistic and constructivist These seven brand approached are illustrated through three periods of time which are human/receiver focus, company/ sender focus and cultural/ context focus These seven brand approaches are named the economic approach, the identity approach, the personality approach, the consumer-based approach and the relational approach In the economic approach, the transaction theory and marketing mix theory are applied to analyze the economic brand The main method of the economic approach is quantitative method using in order to investigate the relationship between variables of management of marketing mix and consumer choice in terms of brand From that the author found out how these variables affect consumer choices For the implication of the economic approach, the Four Ps is very famous and important for brand manager to plan a brand strategy for a company In the identity approach, four primary supporting themes related to brand identity are mentioned and they are corporate identity, organizational identity, brand image There are two aspects that are illustrated in the identity approach and they are internal and external side In the internal side the corporate identity and organizational identity are mentioned However, for the external side the brand image elements are considered to analyze through cognitive and social psychology methods This identity approach can be applied to improve the brand identity for organizations through many actions related to brand image, reputation, behavior and culture of organizations The personality approach is applied through the concepts of the cognitive consumer perspective and a theory of a process of information in terms of consumer choice More over customer- based brand equity is taken into account for this approach According to Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009) the personality approach assumes that personality traits are important drivers for analysis between brand and consumer There are three supporting themes in the personality approach They are personality, consumer self and brand- self congruence In the relational approach, three theories are applied to analyze brand management and they are animism, human relationships and brand relationship (Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre, 2009) The author emphasizes the method of depth interviews and life story used to research relationships In the community approach, there are three primary theories has been used and they are community theory, subcultures of consumption and brand community Many methods which are ethnographic methods and netnography methods used to research brand communities (Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre, 2009) In the cultural approach, the theory of cultural branding, the No Logo movement and its resistance to branding and the theory of the citizen-artist brand prospect are three main theories Variety methods has been used to research cultural consumption and they are macro-level analysis and micro- level data (Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre, 2009) The seven brand approaches can be summarized by the table as follows: Table The seven brand approaches Two paradigms Three periods of time Human/receiver focus Positivistic Seven brand approaches The economic approach The identity approach Company/sender focus Constructivist The personality approach The consumer-based approach The relational approach Cultural/context focus The community approach The cultural approach Source: Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009) 5.1.4 Brand identity There are many definitions of brand identity in many books but one of the popular definitions is that tangible and appeals to the senses You can see it, touch it, hold it, hear it, watch it move Brand identity fuels recognition, amplifies differentiation, and makes big ideas and meaning accessible Brand identity takes disparate elements and unifies them into whole systems (Alina Wheeler, 2009) Another definition of brand identity which is more clearly is that brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategists aspire to create or maintain These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organization members (Aaker, 1996, p 68) Aaker (1996) described brand identity is a foundation for brand strategy and building brand name therefore brand identity is essential element for development in the long-term To build a good brand identity, the internal and external aspects need to be taken into account Internal side includes corporate identity and organizational identity While the corporate identity focusses on visual and strategic of an organization, the organizational identity concentrates on behavior of people and culture of an organization External side consists on brand image De Chernatony (1999) stated that brand identity management needs to pay attention to organizational elements- internal elements Members or employees of an organization play a very important role in building brand for the organization Brand identity is one of primary factor in identification, evaluation and orientation of brand building Firstly, brand identity limits vague understanding about brand by different explanations of brand elements in order to identify brand and suggest appropriate decision making Secondly, the brand identity helps decision makers evaluating the orientation possibility of identity when interacting with customers in order to make differential brand strategy Thirdly, this identity support in suggesting new ideas which are suitable and efficient to brand building (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Han, 2006) Another definition of Aaker & Joachimshaler (2000) is that brand identity is a lot of connections related to brand Strategists uses these connections to keep in mind or to create in mind of customers Moreover, brand identity is associations of logic and emotion that the brand maintains in the minds of customers (Coop, 2005) 5.1.5 Brand image Nowadays brand image becomes more and more important and strategic elements that contribute significantly to the success of companies not only in intangible assets aspect but also in longterm strategy of the development Hitesh Bhasin (2016) stated that brand image is a deciding factor that affect directly to the sales of the product Moreover, he mentioned that brand image is an accumulation of beliefs and views about that particular brand The brand value and brand character are described by their image and this is the primary element in the scheme of things One of the essential this is that the brand image is the mirror which reflects key values of the organization Some organization which has a range of good quality products but has bad evaluation of brand image may lead to a decrease in sales and profit as well Therefore, the brand image is one of important factors that influence the success and long-term strategy of the company Many researchers has been studies brand image and the definition of brand image can be summarized by the following table: Another factor that affect choice is sociological factor The factor of cultural and social capital which are socioeconomic background prospects, achievement of academic will affect the choice decision of student related to university (Oya Tamtekin Ayd›n, 2015) He also stated that besides economics and sociological aspects, there are another model called three-stage model The three-stage model will focus on predisposition stage, search stage and choice The predisposition is related to where the student would like to continue to study while the search stage will bring a variety of information for the choice stage 5.2 Previous Research Studies Understanding the important of brand image this study tries to illustrate all indicators that influence the choices of students in higher education institutions and the case is in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City According to Kevin Land Keller (2013, p 72) he stated that: Creating brand awareness by increasing the familiarity of the brand through repeated exposure (for brand recognition) and forging strong associations with the appropriate product category or other relevant purchase or consumption cues (for brand recall) is an important first step in building brand equity Once a sufficient level of brand awareness is created, marketers can put more emphasis on crafting a brand image Brand image has been studies for long time and is proved that this is an important concept in marketing Brand image is considered that this is related to the consistent with associative network memory model which mentions the perceptions of consumers about a brand The brand image reflects consumer memory by the brand associations In other words, information of brand association links to brand memory of consumers and this has meaning to consumers Associations may come from characteristics of the product or any related aspects of the product (Kevin Lane Keller, 2013, p 79) Corporate image will depend on many dimensions as follows: • Common product, attributes, benefits or attitudes: there are two dimension that contribute noticeably to strong association of brand image and they are high quality and innovation (Kevin Lane Keller, 2013, p 411) High quality for higher education programs may come from many aspects such as a quality of human resource, a quality of program structure, infrastructure of the universities It is clear that the quality program related to all courses and contents which satisfy a expectation of students Le Nguyen Binh Minh (2012) suggest that all these above dimensions have positive effect to the brand image of Sai Gon University Moreover, attribute dimension of corporate image which bring positive association of brand image is cost of the program The second dimension is about innovation which can be taken into account in order to create strong association of brand image Keller (2013, p 412) stated that perceived innovativeness is also a key competitive weapon and priority for firms in other countries According Nhat Hong (2017) she emphasized that innovation in training methods, service quality and management contribute significantly to the brand of the university • People and relationship: according to Kevin Lane Keller (2013, p412) these elements related to the professional of employees and service quality in order to bring the best quality product to the consumers A customer-focused corporate image association creates consumer perceptions of a company as responsive to and caring about its customers (Keller, 2013, p412) Thus the professional of human resource in university play a primary role in creation of strong association of brand image to students’ memory in order to increase the choices of students • Value and program: Keller (2013, p 413) stated that these dimension are related to social responsibility A socially responsible corporate image association portrays the company as contributing to community programs, supporting artistic and social activities, and generally attempting to improve the welfare of society as a whole According to Le Nguyen Binh Minh (2012) stated that the reputation of the university has a positive effect to brand image of the university Moreover, Ioan-Constantin Enache (2011) also mentioned that the importance of reputation in modern educational institutes The universities are more and more orient to develop and keep a good reputation The concept of reputation is used in order to influence student’s choice when selecting higher education institution Understanding of a reputation concept enables management to use it more effectively in communication strategy which has a major role in positioning of an institution (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001, p.303) Those with whom the institutions have the need to communicate are, on the one hand those from internal surrounding such as present students, faculty staff, but on the other hand recruiters and potential applicants It is relevant to say that all these subject from internal and external environment interact with each other, thus, consistency is here particularly important The message which is created for the public can be in the form of publications, press releases, speechless, memos, report and the variety of other channels which schools use to interact with their constituencies There are numerous benefits from having a good reputation on the higher education market For instance, favorable reputation on the foreign market can be beneficial in two ways On the one hand, it is in institution’s interest to attract talented foreign students, while on the other hand by attracting foreign students and enjoying good reputation abroad the institution will reinforce the idea that the educational programs are of a high quality, internationally oriented, acknowledged and appreciated outside the country borders Additionally, a good reputation among employees 10 will distinguish the higher education institution, resulting in greater respect on the part of the employers, consequently increasing the recruitment prospects of candidates from this higher education institution rather than from other institutions (Martensen & Gronholdt, 2005) There are many studies that prove the influences of demographic variables to decision making related to education institution choices According to College Board (2005) they stated that changing in demographic modified the choices of students in many kinds of institutions Students may orient to apply to community colleges because there is a low cost of tuition fee and a development of course work possibility Table Summarize previous studies No Research Title Strategic Author Brand Year Results Kevin High quality (quality of human Management: Lane resource, a quality of program Building, Measuring, Keller and Managing brand 2013 equity (4th ed.) structure, infrastructure of the universities), professional innovation, of employees and service quality, social responsibility Solutions to improve Le Nguyen High quality, cost of the program, image innovation, reputation brand of Binh Minh Faculty of Business Administration- Sai 2013 Gon University Sai Gon University Marketing higher Ioan- Reputation education using the Constantin Ps framwork Enache 2011 Transilvania University of Braşov Corporate Image and Nguyen & Reputation Corporate Reputation LeBlanc in Customers’ Retention 2001 Decisions in Services 5.3 Conceptual model and Hypotheses 11 Based on the above discussion the following relationship between students’ choices and brand image of the universities is the conceptual model proposed as follows: Figure The Research Conceptual Model Table Proposed Hypothesis No Hypothesis Hi The quality of human resource of the university is positively and directly to students’ choices towards Author & Year Kevin Lane Keller (2013) H1 higher education institutions The quality of the program is positively to students’ choices towards higher education institutions H2 The infrastructure of the university is positively to students’ choices towards higher education Kevin Lane Keller (2013) Kevin Lane Keller (2013) H3 institutions The cost of the program is positively to students’ choices towards higher education institutions H4 Social responsibility of the university is positively to students’ choices towards higher education institutions 12 Le Nguyen Binh Minh (2013) Kevin Lane Keller (2013) H5 No Hypothesis Hi Reputation of the university is positively to student’s choices towards higher education institutions Author & Year Nguyen H6 & LeBlanc (2001), Le Nguyen Binh Minh (2013), Ioan- Constantin Enache (2011) Advertising of the program is positively to student’s choices towards higher education institutions H7 Author (2020) Methodology 6.1 Sampling Design 6.1.1 Description of Population The population of the survey is all students who have studied in higher education program in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: Internatonal University HCMC, University of Economics HCMC and University of Economics and Law, VNU-HCM Thus, the population size may reach up to thousands of peoples A sample of respondents who are students is selected 6.1.2 Sample size determination There are several ways to identify the possible sample size theoretically In this research, we use the formula as follows (Zikmud, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2013): n = (Z2*(p*q)) / E2 Where: n : the sample size Z2: Square of the confidence level in standard error units With the confidence level of 90% or 45% (or 0.45) on one side area Referring to the Z-table, we have the value of Z = 1.645 p : the estimated proportion of success q: the estimated proportion of failure (q = – p) E2: Square of maximum allowance for error between the true proportion and sample proportion The value of p can be identified being based on some previous researches or on the experience of the researcher Normally the proportion of success is chosen under 0.85 (or 85%) In our case we choose p = 0.7 and q= 0.3 E is the level of precision required (maximum allowances for errors) In this research we allow for the sampling error not to be higher than 5% points or E = 5% (or 0.05) Using the formula mentioned above, the sample size will be estimated as follows: n = 1.6452*0.7*(1-0.7) / 0.052 = 227 13 It is because the population size is large (thousands of student) and unidentifiable, the sample size is 227 respondents (round number), which is calculated with the confidence level of 90% and an error allowed is not over 5% 6.1.3 Data collection The sample size of 330 is conducted Respondents are students who have studied higher education programs in three universities Convenient sampling will be used with respondents who have studied master and PhD program in three universities: Internatonal University HCMC, University of Economics HCMC and University of Economics and Law, VNU-HCM The survey in questionnaire form was delivered to the students by email An email survey was created by Google and sent out to students by email Students answered the questionnaire by filling in the email survey and the results was collected 6.1.4 Survey questionnaire development Chapman (1981) proposed the first model in which six point is used to measure all the items related to factor influencing students ‘choice to college Recently many researchers adapted the 5-points Likert scales to measure factors affecting students‘choice in higher education institutions Wiese, Heerden and Jordaan (2010) adapted Likert scales to measure the role of demographics in selection of students in higher education institutions This study will apply 5points Likert scales for all items measurement The scales which are range from to and they mean strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree with respect to 1,2, 3, 4, If the student chooses scales of 1, it describes the student strongly disagrees with item The questionnaire is illustrated as follows Section 1: Students information about demographic variables such as name of university, name of higher education program, gender, age, type of job, monthly income, location Section 2: This section is the evaluation of all factors influencing choices of students in higher education institutions They are the quality of lecturers, the professional of employees in terms of service, the quality of the program, study environment, study facilities, the cost of the program, the innovation in training methods, social responsibility of the university, the reputation of the university and choice of student The designed questionnaire is first given to three experts for their advice and comments on adjustment After the adjustment, a pilot test will be used with 30 respondents to get feedback from their comments 14 The measurement scales and data are then tested for reliability using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient and for validity using the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) supported by the SPSS software 6.1.5 Different types of bias In order to find a suitable sampling method, the researcher should be aware some certain sampling bias or errors that can negatively affect the reliability and validity of the scale Some of the common errors are sampling frame error, random sampling error and system sampling error The sampling frame errors happen when the listed chosen respondents not represent characteristics of the true population In our research topic, the population is defined as all students who have studied the higher education program in three universities The sampling error will occur when the sample includes the respondents who are Vietnamese students from overseas coming back Vietnam to study due to Covid-19 pandemic Those people live their life in foreign countries and may have perception on choices different from that of domestic students In addition, they just study in Vietnam in a short time Random sampling errors happen when the sample size is too small, which causes the population’s mean much different from the sample’s mean In our research, the sample size is expected of 227 If we choose the sample size of only 150, the random sampling error may happen As for the systematic sampling errors, some students not complete the questionnaire, or they not focus when answer the questions so they choose only one option for whole In summary, the sampling design requires researchers to understand the characteristics of the students, accurately select the respondents to the list, try to choose the respondents who have as many similar characteristics as possible, use the appropriate sample size and be aware of possible sampling errors that can affect the reliability and validity of the measurements 6.2 Basic Experimental Design In order to achieve the research objective which is to identify the factors of image that affect influencing choices of students in higher education programs, this research uses the quantitative method collect data through the sample survey with questionnaires This is a Quasi-Experimental research because of the convenience sampling The respondents are those passengers who have studied in higher education program in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: Internatonal University HCMC, University of Economics HCMC and University of Economics and Law, VNU-HCM 15 6.2.1 Research Hypotheses The research conceptual model in figure introduces five hypotheses that can help answer the research questions as follows: H1: The quality of human resource of the university is positively and directly to students’ choices towards higher education institutions The quality of human resource of the university refers to the quality of lecturers and professional of employees in terms of service The professional of human resource in university plays a primary role in creation of strong association of brand image to students ‘memory in order to increase the choices of students There have been not only researches but also news supporting to the evidences of the importance of high quality of human resource With the development of education in Vietnam, high quality of human resources in general and high quality of lecturer play very essential roles at universities Without no doubt, high ranking universities always go with high quality of professors which provide animated and deep knowledge to students Moreover, good professors may bring more and better researches to the universities The ranking of these universities will be higher in accordantly Understanding the crucial point of lecturer quality, the universities have been taken into consideration and have the strategies to attract external professors and develop H2: The quality of the program is positively to students’ choices towards higher education institutions The quality program related to all courses and contents which satisfy a expectation of students One of factors which contribute most strongly to the image of a university is perceived quality of programs The reality which we cannot negate is that the higher in a program quality the higher quality of students Nowadays, the universities pay attention to not only the lecturer quality but also the program quality H3: The infrastructure of the university is positively to students’ choices towards higher education institutions The high level of utilities and facilities will attract more students The students may feel more satisfaction for their education with a range of support facilities such as library, conference hall, materials… H4: The cost of the program is positively to students’ choices towards higher education institutions Students may orient to apply to community colleges because there is a low cost of tuition fee and a development of course work possibility Tuition fees are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services Fees charged have an impact on the revenue of the university and influence the students’ perception of the quality of programs and image of the 16 university As a result, universities are tempted to charge as high fees as possible On the contrary, affordability of the price is a significant consideration of students in choosing universities to attend H5: The innovation in management and training methods are positively to students’ choices toward higher education institutions Keller (2013, p 412) stated that perceived innovativeness is also a key competitive weapon and priority for firms in other countries Universities can deliver value to students through innovation incubators Some universities provide students with opportunities for the development of start-up companies and creation of innovative products on their campuses Students can benefit from space and facilities, support of experienced entrepreneurs and in some cases financial support to develop their entrepreneurial ideas, which also a factor affecting the student’s choice It affects the decision of students when they choose university H6: Reputation of the university is positively to student’s choices towards higher education institutions Favorable reputation on the foreign market can be beneficial in two ways On the one hand, it is in institution’s interest to attract talented foreign students, while on the other hand by attracting foreign students and enjoying good reputation abroad the institution will reinforce the idea that the educational programs are of a high quality, internationally oriented, acknowledged and appreciated outside the country borders Additionally, a good reputation among employees will distinguish the higher education institution, resulting in greater respect on the part of the employers, consequently increasing the recruitment prospects of candidates from this higher education institution rather than from other institutions (Martensen & Gronholdt, 2005) The concept of reputation is used in order to influence student’s choice when selecting higher education institution Understanding of a reputation concept enables management to use it more effectively in communication strategy which has a major role in positioning of an institution (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001, p.303) H7: Advertising of the program is positively to student’s choices towards higher education institutions The student is willing to explore several University to find an institution offering a bachelor’s degree through advertising Higher education institutions have to recognize that their promotional efforts have an impact on prospective students It is important to recognize that while some students may be skeptical of advertising or of specific sources of advertising, promotional and advertising activities can have a great influence on students’ decision-making efforts (Bonnema & Van der Waldt, 2008) Independent variables, Blocking Variables, Dependent Variables, Extraneous variables 17 Research studying the impact of factors of brand image on choices of students in higher education programs uses the cause-and-effect method with a regression equation which has the following form: Y = a + b1*X1 + b2*X2 + b3*X3 + b4*X4 + b5*X5 + b6*X6 + b7*X7+ ui Where: Dependent variable: the students’ choice (Y) Independent variables: X1: Quality of human resources; X2: Quality of the program; X3: the infrastructure; X4: the cost of the program; X5: the reputation; X6: advertising of the program b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7: regression coefficients of the corresponding independent variables a: a constant term ui: residuals 6.2.2 Blocking variables The sample respondents are the Vietnamese students who have studied in higher education program in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: International University HCMC, University of Economics HCMC and University of Economics and Law, VNU-HCM Therefore, the two blocking variables in the research model are nationality and student status 6.2.3 Extraneous variables Besides the seven independent variables of the service quality, the student’s choice could also be affected by some extraneous variables in the environment such as the students’ income and type of job Due to the cognitive development process of the human being, students of different incomes may have different mindset of choice For example, many students with good financial situation tend to choose easily to study higher education However, the students with low and medium income seem to quite difficult to continue studying higher The second extraneous variable is the students’ type of job The students have just got bachelor’s degree and the one who are working as lecturer tend to study higher education program compared to the one who working as management, office staff, unemployment and selfemployed The reason is that the people in education area need to get higher degree to meet the job requirements 6.2.4 Internal and external validity Research findings are tested to see if they can generalize to the population or not to obtain the appropriate external validity To test for reliability and validity, the Cronbach’s Alpha is used The value of Cronbach’s Alpha ranges from to The higher the value of the Cronbach’s Alpha the higher the reliability of the research findings Hair et al (Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2009) suggested that the threshold of Cronbach’s alpha for all constructs to verify is greater than 0.6 If the construct has Cronbach’s alpha less than 0.6, some items belonging to 18 will be deleted to conform In addition, those items of a construct that have Item-total correlation lower than 0.3 should be removed to ensure the reliability Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) is used to test for the validity EFA need to be carried out in order confirm all variables create their factors The EFA will be appropriate if the value of KMO (Kaiser- Meyer- Olkin) is greater than 0.5 Besides, the test for internal validity and reliability of the research findings is also used for a regression equation mentioned above All the t-test, F-test are used to detect and eliminate the confounding problems, the multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, the autocorrelation, and the statistical significance of the whole regression equation 6.2.5 How to deal with low external validity It is not the matter of yes-or-no reliability or validity of the research findings But rather we often deal with low or high validity or reliability (Zikmund, Babin, & Griffin, 2013) There are several measures that can help to enhance the reliability and validity of the findings The sample of respondents will be large in size, should be more than 300 in order to obtain high external validity and reliability for the research findings The survey questionnaire will go through several steps such as in-depth interview, pilot test and having the opinion of experts on the questionnaire content before they can be given to the respondents In addition, appropriately selecting of the respondents who have highly identical characteristics can also help us the gain reliability and validity The data should also be processed and transformed by software so that they can eliminate the problems of multicollinearity, the serial correlation, and the identity problems In conclusion, a quasi-experimental approach is used in the research Being based on the cause-and-effect method, we have built a conceptual model with seven hypotheses which illustrate the impact of factors of brand image on the choices of students in higher education programs The hypotheses will be tested via a regression equation which consists one dependent variable of the students’ choice and seven independent variables: Quality of human resources; Quality of the program; the infrastructure; the cost of the program; the reputation; advertising of the program The research results and the measurement scales will be statistically tested for reliability, internal and external validities using the Cronbach’s Alpha, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) The regression equation results will be tested using t-test, F-test, analysis of the determination coefficient (R-Square) The research model also identifies two blocking variables: the nationality and student status Extraneous variables are student’s income and type of job The SPSS Software version 22.0 will be used for the descriptive statistical analysis and inferential statistical testing 19 Overview of Chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction to research background, statement of the problem, research objectives, research questions, subjects and scope of study, methodology, scientific and practical significance of study, structure of the thesis Chapter 2: This chapter will present literature review all concepts and relevant theories in domestic and foreign researches related the topic of the study in order to find out theoretical framework of thesis and possible hypothesis These hypothesis and literature review will be a base for creating questionnaire and next steps Chapter 3: Methodology: this chapter present research approach, method of sampling/ sample size data collection and data analysis tools Chapter 4: This chapter will illustrate research results: this results and discussion related to the topic Chapter 5: This 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