The impact of online advertising on students` choice of higher education institutions :a study of Malaysian universities

Abstract

Satisfying students’ needs and meeting their expectations are the core elements of any educational marketing philosophy. This requires a deep understanding of students’ mind-sets and internal and external decision making influencers. The concept of online advertising can be effectively utilised to enhance these elements. This study investigates the impact of online advertising on the choice of higher education institutions in a Malaysian context. The study investigates the impact of the three online advertising mediums; social media, display ads and websites on students’ online decision-making processes and on their choice of university. The data was collected using a self-administrated questionnaire from 350 students of three Malaysian universities. Two stages structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses and the fit of the proposed research model. Results from the data analysis indicated a significant relationship between all the variables except for display ads, which was not significant. The three significant paths indicated the relationships between social media and students’ online decision-making process, websites and students ‘online decision-making process and students’ online decision-making process and students’ choice of university. The results of testing the structural model also indicated that students’ online decision-making process mediates the relationship between online advertising and students’ choice of university