Australasian Marketing Journal 26 (2018) 83–91
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Australasian Marketing Journal
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ausmj
Social brand engagement: How orientation events engage students
with the university
Teagan Altschwager
a,*
, Rebecca Dolan
b
, Jodie Conduit
c
a
Deakin University, Faculty of Business and Law, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood 3125, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
b
The University of Auckland, 12 Grafton Road Auckland 1142, Private Bag 92019, New Zealand
c
University of Adelaide, 10 Pulteney Street Adelaide 5000, South Australia, Australia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 29 January 2018
Revised 23 April 2018
Accepted 26 April 2018
Keywords:
Student engagement
Social brand engagement
University engagement
Orientation events
a b s t r a c t
Student engagement in the classroom is well recognised as crucial for student success; however, the
importance of engaging students beyond the classroom, in the broader university context, is often over-
looked. This study examines how students engage with the university through their interactions with
other students, conceptualised as ‘social brand engagement’. Orientation events provide opportunities for
students to interact in a way that is facilitated by, and relevant to, the university. This study investigates
the role of four experiential components (intellectual, affective, behavioural, and sensory experiences)
in facilitating social brand engagement and the subsequent effect on word-of-mouth behaviour. We sur-
veyed 223 students across 10 orientation events held at an Australian university. Path analysis indicates
that intellectual, sensory and behavioural experiences have a significant impact on social brand engage-
ment, which in turn positively impacts word-of-mouth behaviour. Thus, this study utilises the construct
of social brand engagement, establishes its antecedents and outcomes, and demonstrates its relevance for
higher education management.
© 2018 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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© 2018 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Higher education is a highly competitive global industry; in re-
sponse, institutions have shifted their focus to branding, creating
loyalty and reputation management to attract and retain student
talent (Plewa et al., 2016). Paradoxically, many educational institu-
tions are experiencing increasing dropout rates (Martin and Koob,
2017) with over 70% of students experiencing feelings of isola-
tion at university (Beaudette, 2016). The importance of developing
students’ involvement in, and sense of belonging to their institu-
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: t.altschwager@deakin.edu.au (T. Altschwager),
rebecca.dolan@auckland.ac.nz (R. Dolan), jodie.conduit@adelaide.edu.au (J. Con-
duit).
tion, faculty, or department is critical to student retention (Moodie,
2016). Interventions to increase social engagement among univer-
sity students from the outset of their university experience have
become crucial in improving learning experiences, student well-
being, and graduation rates (Bresó et al., 2011; Li and Lerner, 2011).
Orientation events are utilised in the higher education sector as a
means of introducing students to the university and engaging with
them in a social context. Orientation events cover a diverse suite of
experiences, such as preliminary lectures, meet-and-greet sessions
with faculty, university support seminars, and walking tours. The
strength of orientation events lies in their diversity; a plethora of
unique experiences can be hosted by the university, each in their
own way designed to develop engagement between the student
and the university. The primary qualifiers of an orientation event
are that the event is designed and run by the university, as part
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2018.04.004
1441-3582/© 2018 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.