Online brand equity for higher education in Taiwan: conceptualization, scale development, and validation

The brand equity of higher education institutions differs from that of a firm. In the field of education, a university is a brand chosen by students and parents, with graduates eventually becoming the products of that brand. The development of the Internet has led to considerable changes in higher education, and no scale exists to measure universities' online brand equity. The present study develops a scale to measure higher education online brand equity (HEOBE). This exploratory study developed dimensions in five stages, and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to ensure that HEOBE scale items were comprehensible. Using an online survey, 769 usable responses were obtained, providing verification of 32 items in the following eight dimensions: institutional reputation, e-campus performance, brand identification, e-campus information, faculty competency, perceived value, brand loyalty, and campus perception. This framework provides a set of valuable measurement tools for higher education administrators.