Branding and Isomorphism: The Case of Higher Education

• Author: Daniel L. Fay,Staci M. Zavattaro
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12626
• Published date: 01 September 2016
• Date: 01 September 2016

Branding and Isomorphism: The Case of Higher Education 805

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 5, pp. 805–815. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12626.

Staci M. Zavattaro is associate

professor of public administration at the

University of Central Florida and research

associate with the Center for Public and

Nonprofit Management. Her research

interests include public branding, social

media, and administrative theory.

E-mail : staci.zavattaro@ucf.edu

Daniel L. Fay is assistant professor in

the Askew School of Public Administration

and Policy at Florida State University. His

research interests include organizational

theory, diversity issues in public

management, veterans’ policy, policy

diffusion, and higher education policy and

management.

E-mail : dfay@fsu.edu

Abstract : Since the New Public Management movement began, public and nonprofit organizations have been

adopting and adapting businesslike practices, including branding and marketing. There remains a knowledge gap in

understanding why organizational actors choose to allocate resources to adopt branding and marketing policies. This

article explores organizational branding initiatives within the context of research extensive (N = 109) higher education

institutions in the United States from 2006 to 2013. Seventy-two universities (66 percent) have introduced branding

initiatives since 2006. Findings suggest that the publicness of organizations influences branding and marketing

isomorphism in nuanced ways and that organizations are more likely to adopt new branding initiatives to promote

higher general performance. Organizations adopt branding strategies in response to national trends and efforts to

capitalize on their own strong performance rather than mimicking stronger-performing peers.

Practitioner Points

• University administrators need to be aware of national trends toward branding and marketing strategies,

as isomorphic forces are strong in this sector. If the national upward trend of branding and marketing

at universities continues, then administrators are more likely to see similar policies spill over into their

institutions.

• Practitioners who monitor student enrollment and see a decrease or leveling off are likely to suggest that

university officials undertake branding and marketing initiatives as a means of course correction.

• Practitioners who monitor student enrollment and see an increase are likely to suggest that university officials

undertake branding and marketing initiatives as a means of advertising this success.

R ecently, officials in Fairfax, Virginia, budgeted

$100,000 for a strategic branding plan to

bolster the city ’ s economic position (Hobbs

2016 ). Tempe, Arizona, officials allocated $82,000

to contract with North Star Destination Strategies to

do the same (Sunnucks 2016 ). Within U.S. higher

education, University of New Mexico administrators

contracted with the agency 160over90 to address

a “lack of awareness” about the university ’ s brand

(Rule 2016 ). The University of Oregon also recently

scaled back a $15 million rebranding initiative,

pleasing faculty and staff who hope the university will

support academic endeavors rather than branding and

marketing (Woodhouse 2016 ).

These strategies are not surprising given the

marketization of public administration generally

(Eikenberry and Kluver 2004 ; Hood 1995 ; Hood

and Peters 2004 ) and higher education institutions

specifically (Mills 2012 ; Olssen and Peters 2005 ;

Sidorkin 2012 ). Bok ( 2003 ) suggests that big-time

athletics, federal research funding policies, and

competition for students have contributed to higher

education marketization. Public administration and

management scholarship related to branding and

marketing strategies remains nascent (Eshuis, Klijn,

and Braun 2014 ; Karens et al. 2016 ; Zavattaro 2013 ),

so we explore the question, what are the determinants

of branding strategies taking place at public and

nonprofit higher education organizations in the

United States?

Our aim is to fill several research gaps. First, we

focus on higher education institutions given the

negative perceptions of these organizations in the

United States. One can look to the tenure battles

in Wisconsin (Bierman 2015 ) and to a proposal in

the North Carolina legislature to increase teaching

loads (Schuman 2015 ) to see governors and state

legislators attacking “lazy” professors. Recently,

internal stakeholders have criticized institutions

regarding diversity. The most visible case was a

protest at the University of Missouri that resulted

in the resignation of the university chancellor and

university system president (Eligon 2015 ). These

negative perceptions align with public opinions of

Daniel L. Fay

Florida State University

Staci M. Zavattaro

University of Central Florida

Branding and Isomorphism: The Case of Higher Education