Social media communication and higher education brand equity: The mediating role of eWOM

• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Author: Sabira Sagynbekova,Ecem Ince,Oluwatobi A. Ogunmokun,Ridhwan O. Olaoke,Uchechukwu E. Ukeje
• Date: 01 February 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2112

ACADEMIC PAPER

Social media communication and higher education brand

equity: The mediating role of eWOM

Sabira Sagynbekova

1

|Ecem Ince

2

|Oluwatobi A. Ogunmokun

1

|

Ridhwan O. Olaoke

1

|Uchechukwu E. Ukeje

3

1

Faculty of Business and Economics,

Department of Business Administration,

Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta,

North Cyprus, Turkey

2

Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality

Management, Department of Tourism, Eastern

Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North

Cyprus, Turkey

3

International Business Administration,

Estonian Entrepreneurship University of

Applied Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

Correspondence

Oluwatobi A. Ogunmokun, Faculty of Business

and Economics, Department of Business

Administration, Eastern Mediterranean

University, Famagusta, North Cyprus, Turkey.

Email: oluwatobi.ogunmokun@emu.edu.tr

Beyond its ability to enhance the generation of goals and objectives, understanding

an organization's brand equity is a key driver in communicating values to consumers

and end-users. In a very competitive marketplace, it is high time universities ditched

the traditional means of communication and comply with the trending social media

communication forms so as to better capture both the virtual as well as the real social

space of their students who, in turn, are ambassadors of the institutions. Using data

solicited from 317 university students, this study found that universities can better

position themselves to compete when they employ both user-generated and firm-

generated social media communication in building their brand equity. Our study also

validates electronic word of mouth as a mediator of the relationship between social

media communication and higher education brand equity. Recommendations for

practice were also suggested.

1|INTRODUCTION

“Who are we? Questions regarding identity often expose the depth of pur-

pose and the meaning of existence”(Anonymous).

Beyond its ability to enhance the generation of goals and objec-

tives, understanding an organization's brand equity is a key driver in

communicating values to consumers and end-users. The increasing

value of the brand is defined as brand equity. In marketing decision-

making processes, customer-based brand equity is explained by how

the information of customers and their attitudes towards a brand is

reflected in the marketing efforts (Ebrahim, 2019). In this context, cus-

tomers evaluate the brand equity based on some dimensions such as

the strength of the brand, positive experiences of the brand, value of

the brand, perceived benefit, and cost of the brand. While the compe-

tition in the global marketplace is increasing, organizations must dif-

ferentiate their offering to be able to stay above the competition.

Moreover, it is commonly recognized that building brand equity plays

a very critical role in delivering services, and in making a stronger

brand, thus increasing the customer's intentions to purchase.

According to Alam and Khan (2019), the brand awareness and image

components of brand equity help organizations to effectively transfer

their core differential values to the consumer to help them ease the

process of decision-making for the consumption of their goods or

services.

There are very close linkages between the concept of brand

equity and social media communication (SMC) in marketing activities

(Nakay, 2017). In recent years, online brand communities are mostly

built on a social media platform activated by various information and

communication technologies (Chou, 2019). The internet has become

the most popular communication channel for public and marketing

facilities. However, social media marketing requires special attention

and strategy building to achieve brand equity (Nakay, 2017). It is

acknowledged that the online brand community is mainly society-

oriented and generally consists of communities that are engaged in

trade and economic activities in traditional ways. Therefore, tradi-

tional ways of communication between brand and consumer are fast-

changing through digital media because of its strong connection

between customers and business (Kumar & Singh, 2020; Ogunmokun,

2017). Many companies have started to adopt online brand communi-

ties and use advanced information technologies to promote and

advertise their products and services to establish and increase brand

equity (Chou, 2019).

Received: 6 December 2019Revised: 8 February 2020Accepted: 6 March 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2112

J Public Affairs. 2021;21:e2112.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd1of9

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2112