Developing relationships with school customers: the role of market orientation

Abstract

Purpose While the role of relationship marketing to consumers’ overall satisfaction with schools has been discussed in the education management literature, empirical studies on the marketing mechanisms that underpin school-customer relationships are limited. The purpose of this paper is to establish the association between market orientation (MO) in the school context and key relationship marketing performance indicators. Design/methodology/approach MO and four relationship constructs (brand trust, affective commitment, attitudinal loyalty, and advocacy) were measured using existing and established scales from the education and behavioral literatures. A model reflecting causal ordering derived from the literature and an understanding of school-customer relationships was developed. Data were collected from 205 parents of school-aged children in the USA and analyzed using structural equation analysis. Findings Results show that a positive relationship between market-oriented behaviors of school organizations and three of the identified indicators of successful school relationship marketing (affective commitment, attitudinal loyalty, and advocacy) are mediated by brand trust. Originality/value The study contributes to an understanding of the theoretical relationship between market-oriented behaviors and relationship marketing for schools. The results suggest that, for school organizations, MO impacts important outcomes and thus may be vital to sustainability and growth.

Does trust play a role when it comes to donations? A comparison of Italian and US higher education institutions

“…In other terms, in the American context, not only does the trust construct represent a more significant factor leading to the establishment of supportive alumni-university long-term relations, but commitment also plays a more active role in the formation of alumni attitude toward donations. Therefore, these results allow us to corroborate and enrich the extant studies analysing the role of trust as an antecedent of student support (Ghosh et al 2001) as well as those examining the role of commitment as a factor leading to the formation of alumni attitude toward donations (Baruch and Sang, 2012;Jillapalli and Jillapalli 2014;Poole 2017).…”

“…Previous literature (Johnson et al 2010;Poole 2017) has identified three different forms of commitment that a person can experience with an organisation: (1) affective commitment, related to the emotive connection towards the organisation;…”

“…However, most studies consider affective commitment as the form that is most likely to occur in consumer-organisation relationships (Sung and Yang 2009). Affective commitment represents a connection that makes it possible to increase loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, consumers' participation, and volunteering (Poole 2017). In the HE context, affective commitment represents a key factor (Schlesinger et al 2017;Weerts and Ronca 2008), since it is viewed as a student's belief that a continuous relationship with their alma mater is so significant that it justifies maximum effort in order to maintain it (Dennis et al 2016;Johnson et al 2010;Jillapalli and Jillapalli 2014;Pedro et al 2020).…”

“…Previous literature (Johnson et al 2010 ; Poole 2017 ) has identified three different forms of commitment that a person can experience with an organisation: (1) affective commitment, related to the emotive connection towards the organisation; (2) continuance commitment, namely a connection based on the fact that the costs of maintaining the relationship are less than the costs of ending it; and (3) normative commitment, which represents a sense of obligation to maintain the relationship. However, most studies consider affective commitment as the form that is most likely to occur in consumer-organisation relationships (Sung and Yang 2009 ).…”

The first and second order measurements of context specific market orientation in relation to performance of higher education institutions

“…Based on support from pertinent literature (Poole, 2017;Mokoena and Dhurup, 2016;Felgueira and Rodrigues, 2012;Niculescu et al, 2016;Zebal and Goodwin, 2012;Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka, 2010;Rivera-Camino and Ayala, 2010;Mitra, 2009;Hampton et al, 2009;Oplatka and Hemsley-Brown, 2007;Flavián and Lozano, 2006;Oplatka et al, 2002), the sample for present study is comprised of university teachers (and administrators) from five divergent, the largest and the oldest public sector universities of Sindh province, Pakistan, housing more than 50% of population of interest. Sindh is socio economically the most vibrant province, with the country's largest/well equipped sea port, hosting huge diversity of population from miscellaneous strata/clusters.…”