Relationship Marketing in Higher Education in Uncertain Times: A Multi-stakeholder Perspective: An Abstract

Mogaji, Emmanuel; Jain, Varsha; Sharma, Himani; Babbili, Anantha

Abstract

Relationships are the essence of higher education institutions which can contribute to their growth and expansion. With the vulnerabilities exposed in the uncertain times, it becomes compelling to re-evaluate the tenets of relationship marketing for higher education and understand how it contributes to stakeholder engagement, partnerships, collaborations, and value co-creation. This study attempts to examine the well-established phenomenon of relationship marketing from stakeholders representing higher education from four different countries. The stakeholders include students, faculty, administrators, and industry professionals. It carefully undertakes the insights shared through a structured qualitative approach and thematically analyses the data. The insights generated highlight that relationship quality is a strong determinant for high stakeholder engagement in higher education. The stakeholders’ narratives also confirm that despite the nuances of digital advancements, trust, communication, commitment, and service quality are the key drivers for establishing a relationship and then maintaining it in the long run. Theoretically, the study’s findings extend the understanding of the cues or indicators that govern relationships in higher education. Relationship quality is a higher-order construct explicitly discussed in this study in the context of online environments and value co-creation. The study argues that human relationships, communication, and shared vision are highly important in an ecosystem of learning in the changing times. Universities and stakeholders must build a humanistic ecosystem while nurturing the core values and engaging the stakeholders. The proposed framework envisions and showcases the different perspectives of stakeholders who are either physically or virtually involved in higher education marketing. Practically, the study can guide decision-makers and marketing practitioners in optimizing relationship quality. Therefore, the research significantly advances the theory of relationship marketing in the current digital momentum and argues that human relationships are to be nurtured for a better future. It wares the need to sensitize and plan the marketing initiatives accordingly, considering the value of human relationships and the necessity of co-creation.

Citation

Mogaji, E., Jain, V., Sharma, H., & Babbili, A. (2023). Relationship Marketing in Higher Education in Uncertain Times: A Multi-stakeholder Perspective: An Abstract. In Optimistic Marketing in Challenging Times: Serving Ever-Shifting Customer Needs (311-312). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24687-6_126

• Conference Name: AMS Annual Conference 2022
• Conference Location: Monterey, CA, USA
• Start Date: May 25, 2022
• End Date: May 27, 2022
• Acceptance Date: Mar 14, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 14, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 311-312
• Series Title: Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science
• Series ISSN: 2363-6165
• Edition: 1
• Book Title: Optimistic Marketing in Challenging Times: Serving Ever-Shifting Customer Needs
• ISBN: 978-3-031-24686-9; 978-3-031-24689-0
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24687-6_126
• Keywords: Relationship marketing; Relationship quality; Higher education; Stakeholder engagement; Value co-creation in online environments
• Additional Information: First Online: 14 March 2023; Conference Acronym: AMSAC; Conference Name: Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference; Conference City: Monterey, CA; Conference Country: USA; Conference Year: 2022; Conference Start Date: 25 May 2022; Conference End Date: 27 May 2022; Conference ID: amsac2022; Conference URL: https://www.ams-web.org/event/2022AC