Proselytizing your employees into university brand evangelists: an empirical test from the higher education sector in Tanzania

Although the majority of firms nowadays formulate their strategies based on corporate social responsibility, the current literature in higher learning institutions (HLIs) raises questions about the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). HLIs are now expected to shift their focus away from philanthropic endeavors and instead transform their strategies by adopting responsible approaches in management practices and service delivery. This study aims to develop and test a conceptual model to investigate whether HLIs adopt and implement a long-term perspective that involves internal stakeholders, specifically employees, in their branding strategies, with the goal of enhancing their positive impact on society. Drawing on existing literature, the study selects indicators of internal CSR and develops a structural model that predicts the causal relationship between internal CSR and university brand evangelism among employees. The statistical analysis technique employed is structural equation modeling, applied to a sample of 477 employees from public universities. The analysis confirms the proposed hypotheses in the conceptual model. Consequently, the results lead to the conclusion that internal CSR acts as a driver of university brand evangelism through the psychological contract fulfillment among employees in HLIs. Based on these findings, the study provides important recommendations and suggests future research areas in the field.