The management of experiential marketing in higher education

This research examined the salient factors influencing the management of Experiential Marketing (ExM) in Higher Education (HE). It was concerned with exploring data from a marketing management perspective on the planning, implementation, and evaluation of ExM in HE, where the aim was to add to existing knowledge in two relatively unexplored and growing themes in marketing literature. This study examined ExM activities used by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as a tool for student recruitment. It sought to understand how ExM can be managed more effectively to influence student choice of HEI. This research questioned what are the salient factors influencing the management of Experiential Marketing in Higher Education? The research objectives were: 1. To investigate how HEIs manage ExM as a tool for student recruitment. 2. To examine the evaluation of ExM in HEIs as a tool for student recruitment. 3. To explore the challenges HEIs’ experience in managing ExM. The research adopted an interpretivist research paradigm; therein lies a phenomenological ontology and a subjectivist epistemology. A qualitative methodology was employed, collecting data through interviews with HE marketers. Qualitative research enhances understanding of ExM in HE where the study produces an inductive output. The findings are based on 23 interviews marketers responsible for managing ExM in Irish HEIs, where a full census was achieved using a purposive sampling technique. The research employed a thematic analysis strategy for identifying, analysing, and reporting themes and patterns within the data (Braun and Clarke, 2020b), assisted by NVivo software. Validity and reliability of the study are in line with the trustworthiness criteria for qualitative research which derives from credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). There are three salient factors influencing the management of ExM in HE: managing ExM resources, ExM data constraints, and buy-in culture for ExM. This study has combined what has been learned about the student decision making process, ExM, emotions and behavioural intentions to create the ‘ExM Planning Model’ and makes an original contribution to literature by revealing the salient factors influencing the management of ExM in HE. The ‘ExM Planning Model’ makes an original contribution to ExM literature by addressing the gaps identified in existing ExM planning models (Leahy et al., 2022; Schmitt, 2010; Smilansky, 2018) and notably presents ‘The Experiential Marketing Planning and Implementation Model’, an extension of Leahy et al.’s research (2022). The application of existing ExM planning models is limited to one-off ExM campaigns which fail to recognise the management of ExM on a cyclical basis as is seen in this study. Furthermore, these models fail to address the factors influencing the management of ExM which this research has done in identifying resources, data, and buy-in as challenges. Developing from the research contributions, there are several opportunities for future research in the areas of ExM and HE marketing theory which supports the ExM and HE marketing research agendas.

Publisher

University of Galway

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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Collections

University of Galway Theses (PhD Theses)