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Volume 10
Number 4
2001
CONTENTS
Key Factors Influencing Student Satisfaction Related
to Recruitment and Retention 1
Kevin M. Elliott
Margaret A. Healy
In order to attractand retain students, universities mustidentify and meet student
expectations. This article examines which aspects of a student’s educational ex-
perience are more important in influencing student satisfaction. The findings
show that ‘‘student centeredness,’’ ‘‘campus climate,’’ and ‘‘instructional effec-
tiveness,’’ have a strong impact on how satisfied a student is with his/her overall
educational experience. The results also suggest that recruitment strategies may
require emphasizing different aspects of a student’s educational experience than
retention strategies.
KEYWORDS. Satisfaction, recruitment, retention, performance scores, gap scores
Means-End Theory: Getting the Service Customer’s Attention 13
Deborah E. Rosen
Timothy B. Greenlee
In today’s technically sophisticated, information-rich environment, consumers
are bombarded with information. Consequently colleges and universities must
develop ways to get the prospective student to give their promotional material
more than a cursory glance. Pre-purchase service evaluation has received little
attention beyond the nature of cues used by consumers to categorize service al-
ternatives. The studies presented in this paper examine the usefulness of Means-
End Theory in developing effective recruitment brochures. Empirical evidence is
presented that demonstrates college brochures that emphasize attributes (e.g.,
cost, location) over consequences (e.g., getting a job) or values (e.g., security)
will generate greater interest in an educational institution.
KEYWORDS. Service evaluation, means-end theory, promotional material,
college-choice process
Using ‘‘Relationship Marketing’’ Theory to Develop a Training
Model for Admissions Recruiters 35
James F. Gyure
Susan G. Arnold
The concept of relationship marketing is a natural for use as a core theory in
developing strategies for admissions recruiting and enrollment management.
This paper addresses a critical aspect of enrollment management by providing a
conceptual training outline based on relationship marketing and management
principles for admissions recruiters and other appropriate enrollmentstaff. A set
of ‘‘Attitude Tools’’ is provided to suggest how various training methods might
benefit from a consistent underlying theoretical construct.
KEYWORDS. Relationship marketing, recruitment, training, enrollment management
The Expected Monetary Value of a Student:
A Model and Example 51
Ronald Hoverstad
Ray Sylvester
KevinE.Voss
The authors introduce a model for estimating the amount of revenue a typical stu-
dent will bring to an institution of higher education. The model uses event history
analysis to analyze the length of time typical student will remain enrolled, ac-
counting for the possibilities that the student will drop out, be disqualified by the
university, graduate ‘‘on time,’’ or even take more time than the traditional eight
semesters to complete a degree program. Once the pattern of enrollment has
been estimated, it is a relatively simple matter to estimate the revenue impact of a
student during a specific semester by multiplying the per-semester tuition rates
by the probability that a student will be enrolled that semester. Finally, the dis-
counted present value of the individual semester revenues provides an estimate of
a student’s revenue impact over the life of his or her academic career.
KEYWORDS. Monetary value of a student, survival analysis, event history
analysis, survival rate, hazard rate, censored cases, student retention
Beyond the Mission Statement: Alternative Futures
for Today’s Universities 63
Donna S. Finley
Gayla Rogers
John R. Galloway
Many post-secondary institutions utilize the mission statement as the key tool for
positioning and marketing their strategic direction. Unfortunately, most mission
statements found in higher education are far too simplistic and general to give
substance and direction to differentiation and positioning of universities. This
paper presents findings froma three-month participatory action research process
at a large urban Canadian university seeking to establish a marketing mind set.
Five possible futures reflecting the range of thinking regarding the role of univer-
sities emerged from the research process. Each alternative represents separate
and different possible directions, the implications of which become more evident
by contrast.
KEYWORDS.Mission statement, marketing positioning, differentiation, alternative
futures, strategic direction, participatory action research
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Kevin M. Elliott and Margaret A. Healy 1
Key Factors Influencing
Student Satisfaction
Related to Recruitment
and Retention
Kevin M. Elliott
Margaret A. Healy
ABSTRACT. In order to attract and retain students, universities must
identify and meet student expectations. This article examines which as-
pects of a student’s educational experience are more important in in-
fluencing student satisfaction. The findings show that ‘‘student centered-
ness,’’ ‘‘campus climate,’’ and ‘‘instructional effectiveness,’’ have a
strong impact on how satisfied a student is with his/her overall educa-
tional experience. The results also suggest that recruitment strategies
may require emphasizing different aspects of a student’s educational
experience than retention strategies. [Article copies available for a fee from
The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address:
<getinfo@haworthpressinc.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>
E
2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
KEYWORDS. Satisfaction, recruitment, retention, performance scores,
gap scores
INTRODUCTION
As universities look to the future, numerous challenges are emerg-
ing. Increased competition and a general public demanding more ac-
countability of tax dollars are seemingly some of the more pressing
Kevin M. Elliott is Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing and Interna-
tional Business, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Mankato, MN 56001. He has
a PhD from the University of Arkansas and has published in numerous marketing
journals. Margaret A. Healy is Vice President of Student Affairs, Minnesota State
University, Mankato, Mankato, MN 56001. She has a PhD from Iowa State Universi-
ty and has published in numerous educational journals.
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 10(4) 2001
E2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 1
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
2
issues of most universities today. Moreover, higher education is in-
creasingly recognizing that it is a service industry and is placing great-
er emphasis on meeting the expectations and needs of students (Cheng
and Tam 1997). In today’s competitive environment, a university must
identify what is important to students, inform students that they intend
to deliver what is important to them, then deliver what they promise.
The purpose of this article is to examine the impact that various
dimensions of an educational experience has on student overall satis-
faction. In this study, student importance, student satisfaction, and
resulting performance gaps were measured along eleven dimensions
of a student’s educational experience. The results were used to assess
which dimensions of education appear to most significantly impact
overall student satisfaction.
STUDENT SATISFACTION
Student satisfaction is generally accepted as a short-term attitude
resulting from an evaluation of a student’s educational experience.
Student satisfaction results when actual performance meets or exceeds
the student’s expectations. Babin and Griffin (1998) argue that many
satisfaction measurement scales lack face validity due to contamina-
tion of other related constructs.
Hartman and Schmidt (1995) reported that student satisfaction is
multi-dimensional and depended on the clarity of student goals. Gross-
man (1999) found that satisfaction was significantly influenced by trust.
Universities can build trust by treating students in a consistent and
equitable manner, meeting students expectations, and handling student
complaints in a caring manner. Athiyaman (1997) concluded that per-
ceived quality of an educational experience is a consequence of student
satisfaction.
Student life is a web of interconnected experiences which overlap
and influence student satisfaction. Sevier (1996) argues that a univer-
sity’s product is the sum of the student’s academic, social, physical,
and even spiritual experiences. Kotler and Fox (1995) suggest that the
majority of students are satisfied with their academic programs, but
are less satisfied with support services such as academic advising and
career counseling.
Browne, Kaldenberg, Browne, and Brown (1998) found that the
likelihood of a student recommending the university to friends/rela-
Kevin M. Elliott and Margaret A. Healy 3
tives was heavily influenced by the extent of interaction between the
students of university personnel, such as faculty. Drew and Work
(1998) found that female students tend not to interact with faculty as
much as male students.
Many schools have come to realize that it is better to invest now
(retain students) than to invest later (attract new students). Patterson,
Johnson, and Spreng (1997) demonstrate empirically a strong link
between customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Similarly,
Bolton, Kannan, and Bramlett (2000) conclude that repurchase inten-
tions (i.e., retention decisions) are based on the evaluation of multiple
underlying service dimensions.
METHODOLOGY
Questionnaire
The survey instrument used in this study was the Student Satisfaction
Inventoryt, which is distributed by USA Group Noel-Levitzt. The ques-
tionnaire consists of 116 items that cover a full range of college experi-
ences as well as demographic characteristics of respondents. Students are
asked to rate each college experience with regard to ‘‘importance’’ and
‘‘satisfaction.’’ The items were Likert-type statements on a seven-point
scale ranging from (1) ‘‘Not Important At All’’ or ‘‘Not Satisfied At All’’
to (7) ‘‘Very Important’’ or ‘‘Very Satisfied’’ (7). Students are also asked
three summary questions dealing with: (a)‘‘overall satisfaction’’ with their
educational experience, (b) level of expectations met by their college, and
(c) would they enroll again at their college.
The Student Satisfaction Inventory assesses levels of perceived impor-
tance and satisfaction along the following eleven dimensions:
(1) academic advising effectiveness (5 items), (2) campus climate (17
items), (3) campus life (15 items), (4) campus support services (7 items),
(5) concern for the individual (6 items), (6) instructional effectiveness (14
items), (7) recruitment and financial aid effectiveness (6 items),
(8) registration effectiveness (5 items), (9) campus safety and security (4
items), (10) service excellence (8 items), and (11) student centeredness (6
items).
The results of the questionnaire provide three scores for each item:
(1) an importance score, (2) a satisfaction score, and (3) a performance
gap score, which is determined by subtracting the satisfaction score
from the importance score. A large performance gap score on an item
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
4
indicates the college is not meeting the expectations of students. A
small or zero gap score indicates the college is meeting the expecta-
tions. A negative gap score indicates the college is exceeding the
expectations of students.
The Student Satisfaction Inventory
t
has demonstrated exceptionally
high internal reliability. Cronbach’s alpha is .97 for the set of importance
scores and .98 for the set of satisfaction scores. The survey instrument has
also demonstrated high convergent validity (r = .71; p < .00001) with the
satisfaction scores of the College Student Satisfaction Questionnaire
(CSSQ).
Sample
A convenience sample of 1,805 freshman, sophomore, junior, and
senior students from an upper Midwest university was collected. An
effort was made to select classes that would result in a representative
sampling of the student body on campus. Table 1 summarizes key
demographic characteristics of students used in the survey. As shown in
Table 1, approximately 53% of the students were female, slightly over
75% were in the age group (19-24), most were Caucasian (84.5%), and
the most common self-reported GPA group was 3.0-3.49 (34.9%).
DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
A two step testing procedure was used to analyze the data for this
study. First, mean importance, satisfaction, and performance scores
(gap scores) were computed for each of the eleven dimensions of a
student’s educational experience (see Table 2). A performance score is
defined as the degree and direction of discrepancy between students’
perceived importance and satisfaction with their educational experi-
ence along each dimension. A positive performance score means that
importance exceeds satisfaction. A negative performance score means
that satisfaction exceeds importance.
Next, a stepwise regression model was employed to assess the
predictive ability of the eleven dimensions of a student’s educational
experience. The mean performance gap scores for the eleven dimen-
sions were the independent variables, while the dependent variable
was overall satisfaction. The dependent variable of ‘‘overall satisfac-
tion’’ was measured by using the response cue ‘‘Rate your overall
satisfaction with your experience here thus far.’’ Responses were for-
Kevin M. Elliott and Margaret A. Healy 5
TABLE 1. Demographic Profile of Sample (Sample = 1805)
Frequency Percent
Gender
Female 950 52.6%
Male 814 45.1%
No response 41 2.3%
Age
18 and under 125 6.9%
19 to 24 1358 75.2%
25 to 34 216 12.0%
35 to 44 40 2.2%
45 and over 25 1.4%
No response 41
Ethnicity/Race
African-American 19 1.1%
American Indian 14 .8%
Asian 88 4.9%
Caucasian 1526 84.5%
Hispanic 20 1.1%
Other 24 1.3%
No response 114 6.3%
Class Level
Freshman 380 21.0%
Sophomore 301 16.7%
Junior 469 26.0%
Senior 563 31.2%
Other 52 2.9%
No response 40 2.2%
GPA
No credits earned 13 .7%
1.99 or below 43 2.4%
2.0 - 2.49 226 12.5%
2.5 - 2.99 528 29.3%
3.0 - 3.49 630 34.9%
3.5 or above 320 17.7%
No response 45 2.5%
mulated using a 7-point scale from ‘‘Not satisfied at all’’ (1) to ‘‘Very
satisfied’’ (7).
RESULTS
Importance, Satisfaction, and Performance
In an ideal situation, the areas of educational experience that are
most important to students will also be the areas that students are most
satisfied with. As shown in Table 2, what usually happens is that
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
6
TABLE 2. Mean Importance, Satisfaction and Performance Gap Scores
Mean Importance Scores
Academic Advising (6.25) Campus Services (5.91)
Instructional Effect. (6.22) Student Centeredness (5.90)
Safety and Security (6.13) Recruit./Financial Aid (5.88)
Registration Effect. (6.06) Service Excellence (5.85)
Campus Climate (5.92) Campus Life (5.43)
Concern for Individual (5.92)
Mean Satisfaction Scores
Academic Advising (4.87) Campus Life (4.45)
Instructional Effect. (4.85) Registration Effect. (4.44)
Campus Services (4.76) Recruit./Financial Aid (4.43)
Student Centeredness (4.60) Service Excellence (4.42)
Campus Climate (4.55) Safety and Security (4.24)
Concern for Individual (4.45)
Mean Performance Gap Scores
Safety and Security (1.89) Instructional Effect. (1.37)
Registration Effect. (1.62) Campus Climate (1.37)
Concern for Individual (1.47) Student Centeredness (1.30)
Recruit./Financial Aid (1.45) Campus Services (1.15)
Service Excellence (1.43) Campus Life (0.98)
Academic Advising (1.38)
students will have a high level of satisfaction with relatively important
and unimportant dimensions. Moreover, students may be dissatisfied
with both important and unimportant dimensions of their educational
experience. What a university should do is determine the aspects of
campus life which students have identified as having a high level of
importance but a low level of satisfaction.
Table 2 summarizes the mean importance, satisfaction, and perfor-
mance scores for each of the eleven dimensions of campus life. As
shown in Table 2, students rated ‘‘academic advising’’ (mean = 6.25)
and ‘‘instructional effectiveness’’ (mean = 6.22) as the two most im-
portant dimensions of their overall educational experience and ‘‘cam-
pus life’’ (mean = 5.43) as least important. Students were most satis-
fied with ‘‘academic advising’’ (mean = 4.87) and ‘‘instructional
effectiveness’’ (mean = 4.85) and least satisfied with ‘‘safety and
security’’ (mean = 4.24).
The highest mean performance gap scores in Table 2 are ‘‘safety
and security’’ (mean = 1.89) and ‘‘registration effectiveness’’ (mean =
1.62). These two gap scores indicate that these areas have the largest
differences between importance and satisfaction scores. ‘‘Safety and
Kevin M. Elliott and Margaret A. Healy 7
security’’ was the third most important dimension (mean = 6.13) for
students, however, it had the lowest overall satisfaction score (mean =
4.24). Similarly, ‘‘registration effectiveness’’ was viewed by students
as being relatively important (mean = 6.06), however, this same di-
mension only received an average satisfaction score (mean = 4.44).
Predicting Student Satisfaction
Table 3 summarizes the results of a multiple regression model
employed to assess the predictive ability of the performance gap
scores for the eleven dimensions of a student’s educational experience.
Although not an absolute test for the importance of each predictor,
beta weights (non-standardized regression coefficients) are useful in
determining the relative weights of the independent variables in a
regression equation. As shown in Table 3, ‘‘student centeredness’’ was
a strong and significant predictor of student satisfaction (Beta =
−.35648, p < .000). ‘‘Student centeredness’’ was comprised of six
items which relate to a university’s effort to convey to students that
they are important. This dimension measures the extent to which
students feel welcome and valued.
Another significant predictor of student satisfaction was ‘‘campus
climate’’ (Beta = −.26200, p < .01). ‘‘Campus climate’’ was com-
prised of seventeen items which relate to the extent a university pro-
vides and promotes a sense of campus pride and feeling of belonging.
This dimension also assesses the effectiveness of channels of commu-
nication for students.
‘‘Instructional effectiveness’’ (Beta = −.22268, p < .000) was also
a fairly strong and significant predictor of overall student satisfaction.
‘‘Instructional effectiveness’’ was comprised of fourteen items which
assess a student’s academic experience, to include curriculum, aca-
demic excellence, and effectiveness of faculty.
The finding that performance gap scores of ‘‘student centeredness,’’
‘‘campus climate’’ and ‘‘instructional effectiveness’’ had the greatest
impact on overall student satisfaction is not that surprising in and of
itself. However, further investigation reveals that ‘‘student centered-
ness’’ and ‘‘campus climate’’ were not even in the top four dimensions
with regard to what students perceived as important to them in their
educational experience. Out of eleven dimensions, ‘‘campus climate’’
was rated 5th most important and ‘‘student centeredness’’ was rated
8th most important.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
8
What this finding shows is that attracting students may require
emphasizing different areas of a student’s educational experience than
retaining students. Attracting students require emphasizing what is
important to students in their selection process as they evaluate univer-
sities, while retaining students requires keeping students satisfied.
CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS
One finding of this study suggests that most students will have a
high level of satisfaction with both relatively important and unimpor-
tant dimensions of their educational experience. Moreover, students
may also be dissatisfied with both important and unimportant dimen-
sions of their educational experience. Performance gap scores will
result depending on the range of difference between perceived impor-
tance scores and perceived satisfaction scores.
The results of this study also show that what students report as
being important to them in their overall educational experience is not
necessarily the same dimensions that most significantly impact their
overall satisfaction with their educational experience. For example,
students may rate an aspect of campus life as being very important to
TABLE 3. The Contributions of Dimensions of Educational Experience in Pre-
dicting Overall Student Satisfaction
College Sig.
Experiences B SE B Beta T Level
Centeredness −.08157 .01256 −.35648 −6.494 .0000
Campus Climate −.02099 .00641 −.26200 −3.275 .0011
Instruction −.02343 .00504 −.22268 −4.645 .0000
Service Excel. .02589 .00849 .15034 3.047 .0024
Support Services .01987 .00740 .10133 2.687 .0073
Campus Life .00689 .00310 .08054 2.220 .0266
Safety/Security .02134 .00875 .07209 2.437 .0149
Advising −.00984 .00656 −.04892 −1.500 .1340
Registration −.00918 .00898 −.03693 −1.023 .3066
Recruitment/Aid .00539 .00668 .02742 .806 .4205
Concern .00034 .01121 .00154 .031 .9755
(Constant) 5.85503 .06458 90.660 .0000
Multiple R .58525
R Square .34252
Adjusted R Square .33641
Standard Error 1.11040
Kevin M. Elliott and Margaret A. Healy 9
them, however, a large performance gap score (i.e., high importance
score and low satisfaction score) with this dimension may not signifi-
cantly influence their overall satisfaction with their educational expe-
rience.
Some important implications emerge from these findings. First,
identifying the aspects of an educational experience which students
have identified as having the highest levels of importance is critical
primarily for recruitment purposes. These are criteria students would
seemingly use when evaluating universities during the process of se-
lecting a university to attend.
Second, identifying the areas that have the highest performance gap
scores (i.e., high importance score and low satisfaction score) is only
the first step in enhancing overall student satisfaction. A university
must then determine which of these areas appear to have the biggest
influence on student satisfaction. It may not always be the areas that
have the largest performance gap scores. As shown in this study, it
may be the areas of a student’s educational experience which are
perceived as being moderately important with moderate levels of satis-
faction.
A final implication is that universities might consider emphasizing
different aspects of an educational experience in recruitment strategies
than those used in retention strategies. Recruitment strategies should
address the dimensions of a student’s educational experience that have
the highest perceived importance to students. Retention activities, on
the other hand, tend to focus more on how best to keep current stu-
dents satisfied and coming back year-after-year. These would be the
areas which have been shown through gap score analysis to signifi-
cantly impact overall student satisfaction.
A limitation to this study relates to the factors which influence both
student recruitment and retention. There are a number of other factors
not addressed in this study that could impact how successful universi-
ties are in recruitment and retention. For example, ‘‘prestige of the
university’’ would seemingly be very important. A university like
Harvard does not have difficulty recruiting students partly because of
the image and prestige of the institution.
Another factor that may influence many students in the selection of
a university is ‘‘price.’’ Quigley, Bingham, Murray, and Notarantonio
(1999) report that family income and fathers’ education are directly
related to the relative importance of ‘‘price’’ in the selection process.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
10
Lower income families place a higher importance on ‘‘price’’ than do
higher income families.
A factor that could influence retention rates is ‘‘student grades.’’
Most students strive for high grades, and if they are receiving them
they are more likely to stay at the university they are currently enrolled
in. Some faculty members may give higher grades to enhance the level
of student satisfaction. The net effect of this over time and faculty
could very well have a positive impact on student retention rates for a
university.
In conclusion, as universities plan recruiting and enrollment man-
agement strategies, they must first identify what is important to stu-
dents to attract them, then deliver a quality education to retain them.
However, it should also be remembered that student recruitment and
retention activities are interrelated. The most effective and efficient
means of recruiting students is through word-of-mouth promotion
which comes from current satisfied students.
REFERENCES
Athiyaman, Adee. 1997. Linking Student Satisfaction and Service Quality Percep-
tions: The Case of University Education. European Journal of Marketing,31(7):
528-540.
Babin, Barry J. and Mitch Griffin. 1998. The Nature of Satisfaction: An Updated
Examination and Analysis. The Journal of Business Research, 41: 127-136.
Bolton Ruth N., P.K. Kannan, and Matthew D. Bramlett. 2000. Implications of
Loyalty Program Membership and Service Experiences for Customer Retention
and Value. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 28 (1): 95-108.
Browne, Beverly A., Dennis O. Kaldenberg, William B. Browne, and Daniel Brown.
1998. Student as Customer: Factors Affecting Satisfaction and Assessments of
Institutional Quality. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 8 (3): 1-14.
Cheng, Y.C. and M.M. Tam. 1997. Multi-Models of Quality in Education. Quality
Assurance in Education, 5: 22-31.
Drew, Todd L. and Gerald G. Work. 1998. Gender-Based Differences in Perception
of Experiences in Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education, 69 (5):
542-555.
Grossman, Randi P. 1999. Relational Versus Discrete Exchanges: The Role of Trust
and Commitment in Determining Customer Satisfaction. The Journal of Market-
ing Management, 9 (2): 47-58.
Hartman, David E. and Sandra L. Schmidt. 1995. Understanding Student/Alumni
Satisfaction From a Consumer’s Perspective: The Effects of Institutional Perfor-
mance and Program Outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 36 (2): 197-217.
Kotler, Phillip and Karen F.M. Fox. 1995. Strategic Marketing for Educational
Institutions. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Kevin M. Elliott and Margaret A. Healy 11
Patterson, Paul G., Lester W. Johnson and Richard A. Spreng. 1997. Modeling the
Determinants of Customer Satisfaction for Business-to-Business Professional
Services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25 (Winter): 4-17.
Quigley, Charles, JR., Frank Bingham, JR., Keith Murray, and Elaine Notarantonio.
1999. The Effect of Price in the College Selection Decision Process. The Journal
of Marketing Management, 9 (3): 36-47.
Sevier, Robert A. 1996. Those Important Things: What Every College President
Needs to Know About Marketing and Student Recruiting. College & University,
(Spring): 9-16.
Received: 06/06/00
Revised: 10/10/00
Accepted: 10/23/00
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JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
12
Means-End Theory:
Getting the Service Customer’s Attention
Deborah E. Rosen
Timothy B. Greenlee
ABSTRACT. In today’s technically sophisticated, information-rich en-
vironment, consumers are bombarded with information. Consequently
colleges and universities must develop ways to get the prospective
student to give their promotional material more than a cursory glance.
Pre-purchase service evaluation has received little attention beyond the
nature of cues used by consumers to categorize service alternatives. The
studies presented in this paper examine the usefulness of Means-End
Theory in developing effective recruitment brochures. Empirical evi-
dence is presented that demonstrates college brochures that emphasize
attributes (e.g., cost, location) over consequences (e.g., getting a job) or
values (e.g., security) will generate greater interest in an educational
institution. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document
Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: <getinfo@haworthpress
inc.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>
E
2001 by The Haworth
Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
KEYWORDS. Service evaluation, means-end theory, promotional ma-
terial, college-choice process
INTRODUCTION
When appealing to prospective students, college and university
administrators and admissions office personnel at four-year institu-
Deborah E. Rosen, PhD, is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of
Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881. Timothy B. Greenlee, PhD, is Assistant Professor of
Marketing at Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056 (E-mail: greenltb@muohio.edu).
Address correspondence to Timothy B. Greenlee.
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 10(4) 2001
E2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 13
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
14
tions face the increasingly difficult challenge of breaking through the
promotional literature clutter. Competition among academic institu-
tions has escalated recently, particularly among public universities due
to a greater call for accountability; while at the same time tuition has
escalated. This has forced administrators at institutions of higher
education to begin to recognize that they need to function more like a
business and market their offerings utilizing sound strategy (Hancock
and McCormick, 1996). While Goldgehn (1991) found evidence that
acceptance of marketing techniques has increased in institutions of
higher education, the development of promotional material in higher
education has remained an area with little academic research to direct
the development of such materials.
Furthermore, within today’s technically sophisticated, information-
rich environment, prospective students are bombarded with informa-
tion from every direction. The popularity of direct mail appeals from
colleges and universities has significantly impacted information over-
load, as college prospects not only receive information they request
but excessive amounts of unsolicited information as well. Previous
research indicates that even when prospective students solicit informa-
tion from institutions of higher education, they do not carefully ex-
amine its content (Rosen, Curran, and Greenlee, 1998). Consequently,
institutions must develop ways to get the prospective student to give
their institution’s promotional material more than a cursory glance.
A first step toward developing promotions designed to get the
prospective students’ attention requires an understanding of the prod-
uct evaluation process. Extensive literature exists in consumer be-
havior regarding the nature of pre-purchase product evaluations (e.g.,
Batra and Stayman, 1990; Dick, Chakravarti, and Biehal, 1990;
Lynch, Marmorstein, and Weigold, 1988). However, much of this
work has been directed towards the evaluation of physical goods with
scant attention being given to the pre-purchase evaluation of ser-
vices, including the selection process utilized to select an institution
of higher learning. This is somewhat ironic in that researchers have
acknowledged that the very nature of services makes them more
difficult to evaluate than physical goods (e.g., Zeithaml, 1981; Hart-
man and Lindgren, 1993).
What research there is in pre-purchase service evaluation has fo-
cused on the nature of cues used by consumers to categorize service
alternatives (e.g., Crane and Clarke, 1988). This research predomi-
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 15
nately investigates cues that are used as indicators of quality. Aside
from examining dimensions of quality, researchers have examined
cues that, for the most part, involve evaluation that occurs at the point
of consumption. In this stream of research, dimensions of the service-
scape (physical facilities) and elements of the social environment
(e.g., manner of staff, dress of staff and other customers present) have
been examined as cues that are most heavily relied upon in selecting a
service (Crane and Clarke, 1988). Consequently, these cues do not
necessarily capture the dimensions utilized by students sitting at home
and evaluating college options through a comparison of promotional
materials from competing universities.
Selecting the appropriate type of cues can be problematic for the
university wishing to develop effective promotional materials to aid
the prospective student in their evaluative process. One way to ap-
proach this dilemma, means-end theory, is particularly appropriate to
examine in the context of consumer service evaluations as its value
hierarchy complements the belief that product evaluation is a goal-di-
rected process. Consumers base their interpretations of product infor-
mation on knowledge activated at the time of comprehension (Lee and
Olshavsky, 1994). Gutman (1982) and others (e.g., Bagozzi and Dab-
holkar, 1994) have proposed that consumers’ knowledge structures
may be organized into a number of means-end chains containing links
between product attributes, consequences, and personal values. Knowl-
edge contained in these means-end chains is then used to comprehend
production information.
Recent examination of means-end theory provides evidence that
brand persuasion can be enhanced through advertisements that link all
levels of the means-end hierarchy. Evidence also suggests that con-
sumers use different types of information at different points in the
decision process (Zeithaml, 1988; Gardial, Clemons, Woodruff, Schu-
mann, and Burns, 1994). This study is designed to combine these two
findings in the context of selecting an institution of higher education.
Education has been defined as a credence service, one for which
consumers typically gather information prior to experiencing the ser-
vice and hence must assess the educational experience without experi-
encing the servicescape or social environment. The following sections
provide a brief review of the service evaluation and mean-end theory
literatures.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
16
SERVICE EVALUATION
A great deal of effort has gone into delineating the characteristics
that differentiate services from products (e.g., Lovelock, 1991). The
standard list of distinguishing characteristics includes intangibility,
inseparability, inconsistency and inventory restrictions. As a result of
these characteristics, services are perceived by consumers as even
riskier purchases than products (Bateson, 1992; Guseman, 1982; Murray
and Schlacter, 1990; Turley, 1990). Whether services are unique from
products or not, the very nature of services requires that consumers
alter their approach to decision making in regards to services for there
is the problem of evaluating that which is not physical (e.g., Hartman
and Lindgren, 1993; Zeithaml, 1981).
Zeithaml (1981) provides insight into how evaluation might differ
between goods and services. In this classification system, Zeithaml
proposes a continuum of evaluation for different types of products
from easy to difficult to evaluate. What distinguishes the various
points on the continuum are the qualities upon which evaluation is
based (search qualities versus experience qualities versus credence
qualities). Goods/services high in search qualities (e.g., color, style,
price, etc.) are ‘‘easy to evaluate’’ even before purchase. Goods/ser-
vices high in experience qualities (e.g., taste, wearability, purchase
satisfaction) are more difficult to evaluate as they must be purchased
and consumed (i.e., experienced) for assessment to take place. An-
choring the ‘‘difficult to evaluate’’ end of the continuum are goods/
services high in credence qualities that the consumer finds difficult to
evaluate even after consumption. It is at the ‘‘difficult to evaluate’’ end
of the spectrum that education, in fact most services, fall (Hartman and
Lindgren, 1993; Zeithaml, 1981).
Incorporating Zeithaml’s (1981) goods-services continuum in a dis-
cussion of the marketing of higher education, Licata and Frankwick
(1996) speculate that universities offer only credence service as ‘‘the
customer usually cannot evaluate the product even after purchase has
been made because the student does not have the technical expertise
necessary to evaluate the quality of the education received’’ (Licata and
Frankwick, pg. 4). However, prospective students must evaluate the
alternative offerings somehow and select a school to attend, often times
without ever visiting the campus and ‘‘experiencing’’ the servicescape.
In the absence of search qualities and in purchase situations per-
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 17
ceived as being high in risk, consumers must base their choice largely
on faith and evaluate the purchase through experience. This may result
in different evaluation processes than those employed in the purchase
of goods (Young, 1981). For example, one way to reduce risk is to
gather additional information (Cox, 1969). Therefore, the expectation
would be that more information would be sought in service purchases,
particularly those high in credence qualities. In fact, research has
found the opposite (e.g., Friedman and Smith, 1993; Turley and Le-
Blanc, 1993). A wide variety of types of information sought might
also be expected. Again, research has repeatedly provided evidence
that consumers rely more heavily on personal sources of information
in situations dominated by experience qualities (e.g., Friedman and
Smith, 1993; Murray, 1991; Sweeney, Johnson and Armstrong, 1992).
Further, there is limited evidence that while individuals utilize person-
al sources of information in selecting a service provider, they rely
more heavily on experience qualities (e.g., warm and friendly staff,
reliable care) than search qualities (location, type of care available,
hours) in choosing a provider (Friedman and Smith, 1993).
These findings suggest that while personal sources of information
may lead to a service provider being a part of someone’s consideration
set, factors actually leading to choice may require physically experi-
encing the servicescape in order to have the information necessary for
evaluation. Consequently, there appear to be definite entry barriers for
services which consumers have limited opportunities to ‘‘experience’’
prior to a choice decision even if that service is recommended by a
credible personal source. For example, even if a friend recommends a
particular service provider (the University of San Francisco), if the
prospective student lives in New York and cannot visit the campus,
meet with school representatives, etc., that university might not be-
come a part of the student’s choice set. The question then becomes
how does a service firm, one high on experience or credence qualities,
design effective promotional material for use in pre-purchase evalua-
tion? One approach that might provide insight into this dilemma is
means-end theory.
MEANS-END THEORY
The means-end model (Gutman, 1982; Reynolds and Gutman, 1984)
is based upon the way in which consumers categorize information from
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
18
attributes at the simplest level to complex personal values at the highest
level. Consumers are believed to judge product attributes (‘‘lowest’’
level) based upon their ability to provide certain consequences. These
consequences (‘‘intermediate’’ level) are then judged on their ability to
deliver desired end states or core values (‘‘highest’’ level).
Attributes, consequences and values are the basic content of consum-
er product knowledge stored in memory. The content is then linked by
bridges that become the mental connections between the different levels
of the hierarchy. Consequently, means-end chains connect particular
attributes (‘‘If I attend a university with a wide variety of majors’’) to
consequences (‘‘I will get a job with . . .’’) to values (‘‘I will have a
more secure financial future’’) (Reynolds, Gengler, and Howard, 1995).
Means-end theory thus provides an explanation for the manner in which
consumers interpret product attributes and link them with more abstract
product meanings that are personally relevant. This is important as
self-relevant product meanings have been demonstrated to be the basis
for consumer preferences and choice (Gutman, 1982).
Reynolds, Gengler and Howard (1995) provide evidence that the
strength of association between means-end theory information com-
municated by an ad will contribute to brand persuasion. In their study,
Reynolds et al. (1995) also found support for the prediction that com-
municating means-end associations would be particularly effective for
non-loyal users of a particular brand of soft drink.
Zeithaml (1988) proposed and Gardial, Clemons, Woodruff, Schu-
mann and Burns (1994) demonstrated that pre-purchase consumer
evaluations utilize information at different means-end levels. In their
comparison of consumers’ recall of pre-purchase and post-purchase
product evaluation experiences Gardial et al. (1994) found that during
pre-purchase evaluation, consumers were more likely to focus on
lower levels of Gutman’s hierarchy (attributes) than when discussing
post-purchase evaluations where values became more salient.
The work of Reynolds et al. (1995), Zeithaml (1988), and Gardial et
al. (1994) are combined in this study to test the following hypothesis
in a service environment:
H1: Brochures that emphasize attribute level (the attributes of
the institution) of the means-end hierarchy will produce
more interest (time spent processing) than those that em-
phasize consequences (of attending) or (match with) values.
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 19
METHOD
The study was designed to test whether brochure copy developed
emphasizing different levels of the means-end hierarchy would pro-
duce different levels of interest with prospective students. In order to
examine properly the use of means-end theory in service promotion
development, it was necessary first to design brochures that reflected
the three levels of the hierarchy. From the hypothesis above, it was
expected that students would allocate more time to brochures that
emphasized the attribute level of the hierarchy than to brochures that
emphasized either consequences or values. Also, the students would
develop more interest in a school whose brochures described the at-
tributes of the institution as opposed to consequences of attending or
offered a match with their values structure. The following sections
detail the brochure development process, the selection of the appropri-
ate values-based brochure and the comparison of the three brochures
designed in accordance with the tenets of means-end theory.
BROCHURE DEVELOPMENT
The study required the development of three distinct brochures,
each reflecting one level of the means-end hierarchy. Attribute-level
descriptions were selected based upon previous research in college
selection criteria. Evidence from previous studies indicate that cost,
location, number of majors, facilities, social activities are the criteria
utilized by high school students in selecting a university/college to
attend (e.g., Spekman, Harvey, and Bloom, 1980). The consequences
or benefits (i.e., getting a job, getting into graduate school, etc.) se-
lected for the brochure have also been identified as criteria utilized in
selecting a college (e.g., Keiller, Bush and Bush, 1995). Values, de-
sired end states, were selected based upon the work of Rokeach (1973)
whose work has provided the foundation for much of the research
utilizing the means-end hierarchy. However, as Rokeach’s values rep-
resent global values that are general, additional values statements were
selected to reflect more intermediate, domain-specific values pertain-
ing to the college experience (Vinson, Scott and Lamont, 1977). Items
from the Educational Testing Service’s Institutional Goals Inventory
were selected to reflect domain-specific goals as items in this instru-
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
20
ment focus on values related to academic experiences (academic and
intellectual development, personal development, etc.).
To create brochures as realistic as possible, over 500 actual colle-
giate recruitment brochures were analyzed for both visual appeal and
message content. The school brochures were solicited from state and
private, large and small institutions across the United States. The
brochure format analyzed was that of a view book--a small brochure
designed to provide a brief overview of what the school had to offer.
View books are routinely utilized by institutions in response to student
inquiries or as a part of a recruiting program initiated by the institu-
tion. Detailed material such as a catalogue may or may not accompany
such a mailing.
Visual Appeal: As a means of selecting a visual brochure format that
was considered attractive by the target audience, 80 marketing principles
students conducted multiple sorts of the brochures, selecting brochures
with the most visual appeal. Sorters were instructed to focus exclusively
on the visual elements of the brochures and to ignore the content of the
written message. As a result of the multiple sorting procedure, 30 bro-
chures were identified as the most visually appealing.
Common elements of the brochures selected were the use of pic-
tures that included people and a simple layout style. These findings
were consistent with previous research in this area (Wingood, 1995).
Message Content: As a means of developing the appropriate mes-
sage content for the brochures, two independent judges were asked to
content analyze the 30 brochures that were identified as the most
visually appealing. The judges were undergraduate students trained in
the content analysis technique required for the research. Undergradu-
ates were selected because their perspective would be a close match
with that of the target audience for these brochures.
The judges conducted paragraph content analysis by coding para-
graphs or blocks of information according to a pre-determined coding
scheme. This pre-determined scheme was based upon attributes, con-
sequences and values previously identified in the literature (see above).
Judges were instructed not to force a paragraph into one of these cate-
gories. Sections not representative of either of these categories were
noted accordingly and assigned an appropriate code. A third judge
resolved conflict as to the meaning of a section of information.
As a result of these processes, sections from actual brochures were
highlighted as representative of specific attributes, consequences and
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 21
values. The test brochures developed for the study were constructed
from a folded 8 1/2Iby 14Ipiece of paper that created a four-page
view book which is typically included in an initial mailing. The front
cover depicted a full-page picture of college students standing and
talking in front of a typical collegiate building. The back cover was
utilized to display a similar picture and a toll-free telephone number.
The two interior pages of the brochure displayed the specific message
content and several additional pictures typical of a collegiate brochure.
All pictures were taken from the brochures that had been identified
previously as being visually appealing. The message content in each
brochure differed according to the type of brochure being created.
Preparing a values-laden brochure presented the biggest challenge
of the study. While attributes and consequences are fairly constant
across populations, it was not clear from the literature that values,
particularly domain-specific values, would produce the desired re-
sponse in this study. As a result of this concern, two studies were
conducted. The first study was designed to select the most appropriate
values-based brochure, a university-specific values brochure or a bro-
chure based upon an assessment of the student’s own general and
domain-specific values structure. The second study was designed to
test the effectiveness of the three brochure types, the attribute-based
brochure, the consequences-based brochure and the values-based bro-
chure.
STUDY ONE: VALUES-BASED BROCHURE SELECTION
The first step in this study was to develop the content for a values-
based brochure that could be articulated in the limited space afforded
by a view book. As there are 18 Rokeach values and 59 institutional
goals in the Institutional Goals Inventory (IGI) of Educational Testing
Service, it was not feasible to include all possible values selected for
this study. Consequently, to test the hypothesis it was decided that a
values-based brochure must be developed that highlighted only those
values relevant to students attending the institution utilized in this
study.
To develop a values brochure which addressed the relevant values
for a particular college campus, four distinct message themes, three
reflecting the values level of the hierarchy (university-specific values,
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
22
individual-specific values, religious values) and one reflecting the
attribute level (for contrast), were created. While the primary purpose
of study one was to identify the most appropriate values-based bro-
chure, including the attribute-based brochure provided for a theoreti-
cal validity check. A further goal was to ensure that a brochure based
upon a values statement developed by assessing the general popula-
tion of students attending a university would be as effective as a
personal values statements generated for each student as individualiz-
ing brochures is not feasible. A description of each of the four bro-
chures follows.
University-Specific Values Brochure. This brochure was designed to
reflect the values and goals rated most important by students at the
specific institution where the research study was conducted. To devel-
op a view book which included values and goals specific to the institu-
tion, it was first necessary to develop a short list of values from the
two values instruments selected (Rokeach and the IGI). For the first
task, 334 university students enrolled in a general psychology course
were asked to rate the importance of each of Rokeach’s 18 personal
values when evaluating the collegiate experience. In addition, the
participants were asked to rate how important each of 59 possible
institutional goals, as defined by the Educational Testing Service,
should be at this particular institution.
Factor analysis on the data corresponding to Rokeach’s personal
values identified three primary factors (minimum eigenvalue = 1.0,
minimum factor loading = .40). Individual personal values loading on
factor one (proportion of variance explained = .47) included mature
love, pleasure, social recognition, true friendship, happiness, family
security, inner harmony, self-respect, and security. Given the nature of
these values, factor one was labeled as representative of ‘‘Egocentric’’
characteristics. Individual personal values loading on factor two (pro-
portion of variance explained = .06) included accomplishment, equali-
ty, freedom, exciting life, comfortable life and wisdom. Given the
nature of these values, factor two was labeled as representative of
‘‘Futuristic’’ characteristics. Individual personal values loading on
factor three (proportion of variance explained = .06) included world at
peace, salvation, and world of beauty. Given the nature of these val-
ues, factor three was labeled as representative of ‘‘Spiritual’’ charac-
teristics.
Factor analysis on the data corresponding to the Educational Test-
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 23
ing Service’s 59 goals identified three primary factors (minimum ei-
genvalue = 1.0, minimum factor loading = .40). Specific goals loading
on factor one (proportion of variance explained = .54) related to indi-
vidual personal development; therefore, factor one was labeled as
representative of ‘‘Personal Development’’ characteristics. Specific
goals loading on factor two (proportion of variance explained = .08)
related to cultural and aesthetic awareness; thus, factor two was la-
beled as representative of ‘‘Cultural/Aesthetic Awareness’’ character-
istics. Specific goals loading on factor three (proportion of variance
explained = .07) related to democratic governance/freedom, innova-
tive learning, and accountability. Given the nature of these goals,
factor three was labeled as representative of ‘‘Personalized Curricu-
lum’’ characteristics.
The University-specific values brochure was then assembled with
sections of copy that had been previously content analyzed as repre-
sentative of the three most significant values and the three most signif-
icant goals identified through factor analysis.
Individual-Specific Values Brochure. This brochure was designed to
reflect the values and goals rated most important by each student
participating in the study. To determine this personal values profile,
each of the 109 first semester students enrolled in a general business
course were asked to rate the importance of each of Rokeach’s 18
personal values when evaluating the collegiate experience. In addi-
tion, the participants were asked to rate how important each of 59
possible institutional goals, as defined by the Educational Testing
Service, should be at this particular institution.
Based on the factor structure identified with the university-specific
values brochure, item parcels loading on each factor were summed to
determine each individual’s rank ordering with respect to the three
most significant values (Rokeach) and the three most significant goals
(IGI). Thus, for each individual in the study, an individual-specific
values brochure was assembled with sections of copy that had been
previously content analyzed as representative of the most significant
values and goals.
Religious Values Brochure. This brochure was designed to provide
a distinct contrast to the university- and individual-specific values
brochures. Factor analysis of the data generated from surveying the
general psychology students with respect to the importance of specific
values and goals when evaluating the collegiate experience indicated
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
24
religious values and goals were ranked consistently below other val-
ues and goals. Thus, such a brochure was deemed a viable option in
that the religious values brochure clearly would be distinct from either
the university- or the individual-specific values brochures. In keeping
with the previous format, the religious values brochure was assembled
with sections of copy that had been previously content analyzed as
representative of religious values and goals.
Attribute Brochure. While the first three brochures were designed to
reflect various combinations of personal values, the attribute-level
brochure was designed to capture the concept of educational value.
Specifically, the brochure reflected attributes identified as being im-
portant in college-choice situations (e.g., location, cost, number of
majors). As for the three values brochures, the value brochure was
assembled with sections of copy that had been previously content
analyzed as representative of value concepts.
PARTICIPANTS
Participants in study one included 109 first-semester students en-
rolled in a three-week course in a large northeastern public university.
The subjects were evenly distributed among gender and within-state,
out-of-state students. External validity was enhanced as these subjects
had recently participated in the college choice process and as first-se-
mester students, were not yet comprised by the specific attending
institution.
During the first week of the course, participants completed the
values and goals survey. Following this, survey data were entered and
analyzed to determine the rank order of the values and goals that had
been defined previously. The rank orders were utilized to assemble the
individual-specific values brochures. During the third week of the
course, participants completed an in-class, brochure time allocation
exercise that involved the four brochures previously described.
For the brochure time allocation exercise, participants were asked
to think back to when they were seniors in high school investigating
universities to attend and had received four brochures from universi-
ties that they had contacted for information. After skimming the four
brochures, participants were asked to allocate 25 minutes among the
four brochures for the purpose of looking more carefully at the infor-
mation sent by each university. Participants were instructed to allocate
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 25
greater amounts of time to the brochures that were of more interest.
Except for the content of the copy included in the brochures, the four
brochures were identical in layout. Following the time allocation exer-
cise, participants completed several manipulation checks and provided
demographic information. Brochure sequence was also randomized to
control for possible order effects.
RESULTS
Given that each participant reviewed all four brochures included in
the study, data were analyzed by a repeated measures analysis of
variance (ANOVA). The average amount of time allocated to each
brochure is presented in Table 1. In addition, no order effect was
found.
DISCUSSION
As stated earlier, the purpose of this phase of the study was to
determine the appropriate ‘‘values’’ to incorporate into the view book.
As no statistically significant difference was found between the uni-
versity-specific values brochure and the individual-specific values
brochure (F = 0.03, df(1,108), p > .10), utilizing a university-wide
values brochure is appropriate for the overall study.
TABLE 1
TYPE OF BROCHURE TIME ALLOCATION*
Attributes 9.03@
University-Specific Values 4.75#
Individual-Specific Values 4.69^
Religious Values 3.71
*Average minutes allocated.
@ Attributes brochure significantly different from other 3 brochures.
# University-Specific and Religious Values Brochures significantly different at p < .01.
^ Individual-Specific and Religious Values Brochures significantly different at p < .05.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
26
The results also provide evidence that the appropriate values have
been selected for the study as the university-wide values brochure is
distinctive from the attributes and religious values brochures. First, the
results from the repeated measures ANOVA indicated the time allo-
cated to the attributes brochure to be significantly different from the
religious values brochure (F = 99.92, df(1,108), p < .0001); the univer-
sity-specific values brochure (F = 61.17, df(1,108), p < .0001); and the
individual-specific values brochure (F = 57.51; df(1,108), p < .0001).
Second, the results indicate the time allocated to the university-spe-
cific values brochure to be significantly different from the religious
values brochure (F = 7.21, df(1,108), p < .01). Similarly, the results
indicated the time allocated to the religious values brochure to be
significantly different from the individual-specific values brochure (F =
5.20, df(1,108), p < .05). In each case, religious values are of least
interest to this population. This finding indicates that, as expected,
highlighting religious values is not appropriate.
Based on these findings, three brochures were developed to be
consistent with the means-end hierarchy, an attributes-based brochure,
a consequences-based brochure, and a values-based brochure that em-
phasized university-specific values.
STUDY TWO: ATTRIBUTES- , CONSEQUENCES-
AND VALUES-BASED BROCHURE COMPARISON
Participants in study two were 203 first-semester students in a large
northeastern public university. The subjects were evenly distributed
among gender and within-state, out-of-state students. External validity
was enhanced as these subjects had recently participated in the college
choice process and as first-semester students, were not yet comprised
by the specific attending institution.
In an attempt to examine the hierarchy of effects, the study utilized
three separate brochures: an attribute level brochure that described
facilities, costs, social activities; a consequences or benefits brochure
emphasizing the outcomes of a college education at the specific uni-
versity; and, a values brochure which detailed university-specific val-
ues. Refer to the appendix for selected excerpts from the three specific
brochures.
A time allocation exercise was employed where participants were
asked to think back to when they were seniors in high school investigat-
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 27
ing universities to attend. They were then instructed to open the enve-
lope in front of them and examine three view books that they had
received that day in the mail. These view books, they were told, were
from schools that they had contacted for information. After skimming
the three brochures, the participants were asked to allocate 20 minutes
among the three brochures for the purpose of looking more carefully at
the information sent by each university. Students were advised that they
could decide to allocate no time at all to a school. Except for the content
of the copy included in the brochures, the three brochures were identi-
cal in layout. Following the time allocation exercise, subjects were
asked on a separate piece of paper to rate the brochures according to
how interested they were in the schools as a result of skimming the
brochures. The rating was accomplished using a 5 point scale, 1 = very
interested, 5 = not at all interested. They also provided demographic
information as a part of the second stage of the exercise. Brochure
sequence was also randomized to control for possible order effects.
RESULTS
Given that each participant reviewed all three brochures included in
the study, data were analyzed by a repeated measures analysis of
variance (ANOVA). The average amount of time allocated to each
brochure and the level of interest in finding out additional information
about the specific universities are presented in Table 2. In addition, no
order effect was found.
Time Allocation. Results from the repeated measures ANOVA indi-
TABLE 2
TYPE OF BROCHURE TIME ALLOCATION*INTEREST LEVEL**
Attributes 8.59 2.33***
Consequences 6.60 2.87***
Values 4.81 3.43
* Average minutes allocated.
** Lower interest level numbers indicate higher levels of interest.
*** p < .001, all other comparisons significant at p < .0001.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
28
cated the time allocated to the values-based brochure to be signifi-
cantly different from the consequences-based brochure (F = 24.62,
df(1,202), p < .0001); and the attributes-based brochure (F = 134.05),
df(1,202), p < .0001). Results also indicated that the time allocated to
the consequences-based brochure was significantly different from the
attributes-based brochure (F = 17.98, df(1,202), p < .0001).
As evident from the results, participants are likely to allocate the
greatest amount of time investigating the university described in the
attributes-based brochure, followed by the university described in the
consequences-based brochure and lastly, the university described in the
values-based brochure. Given that the brochures were identical in all
aspects except for the copy, these results support the hypothesis. During
the pre-purchase evaluation of a service, consumers spend more time
processing information consistent with the attribute level of the hierarchy.
Interest Level Allocation. Results from the repeated measures
ANOVA indicated the level of interest for the values-based brochure
to be significantly different from the consequences-based brochure (F =
18.13, df(1,202), p < .0001); and the attributes-based brochure (F =
95.50, df(1,202), p < .0001). Results also indicated that the level of
interest for the consequences-based brochure was significantly differ-
ent from the attributes-based brochure (F = 13.01, df(1,202), p < .001).
Participants supported their previous answers by indicating levels of
interest for the specific brochures consistent with the time allocations.
Participants demonstrated the greatest level of interest for the attributes-
based brochure, followed by the consequences-based brochure and the
values-based brochure. This evidence also supports the claim stated in
the hypothesis. During the pre-purchase evaluation of a service, con-
sumers will be more interested in a service offering if the promotional
material emphasizes the attribute level of Gutman’s hierarchy.
Additionally, the Pearson correlation coefficients and the associated
probability values support the consistency among the allocations of
time and the levels of interest provided by the participants. Significant
correlation coefficients, p < .0001, ranged between −0.64 and −0.72.
Given that stronger levels of interest were indicated by lower scores,
negative correlations were expected.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study support the work of Zeithaml (1988) and
Gardial et al. (1994). By emphasizing the appropriate level (attributes)
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 29
in the means-end hierarchy in pre-purchase promotional material an
educational institution can capture a greater proportion of the prospec-
tive student’s attention.
Interestingly, these results follow the hierarchy’s stepwise progres-
sion. That attributes are stronger than either consequences or values,
and consequences are more effective than values makes intuitive sense
for a credence service such as higher education. Examination of the
factors which constitute the attribute level for the college choice situa-
tion (cost, location, number of majors, etc.) are really synonymous
with the concept of ‘‘value.’’ As college costs continue to escalate,
finding a school that maximizes the value equation is a logical point
upon which to focus as options are examined.
For individuals contemplating enrolling in a university, the relation-
ship between their overall values (e.g., security, world peace) and
taking courses is relatively remote even when the hierarchy is enumer-
ated in a brochure. College is seen as a means to a short-term end at
this point in a high school student’s life. Getting a degree and getting a
job is the extent of their reasoning. A recent study by researchers at the
University of California reported that students focus on material inter-
ests and are disengaged from political, social or wider educational
goals (Koretz, 1998). Hence, it is not surprising that consequences are
more captivating than values. Perhaps if the population in this study
were the returning student, someone who had been out in the real
world for a period of time the linkage between attributes-conse-
quences-values would be more relevant, hence of greater interest.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study provide evidence that an educational staff
designing promotional materials for a credence service such as a uni-
versity can generate greater interest in their offering by utilizing the
means-end hierarchy. Students seek information as a means of assess-
ing possibilities. While other sources of information (i.e., word-of-
mouth) may play a bigger role in selecting among educational provid-
ers, this study indicates that developing promotional material using
means-end theory can be an effective way of capturing a prospective
student’s attention. The ultimate goal of this exercise: to become a part
of the prospective student’s consideration set.
An issue of Marketing News (1994) carried a story that described a
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
30
consulting firm’s efforts in designing promotional material for univer-
sities. In this article the claim was made that by developing brochures
that emphasized the appropriate values for a targeted population, an
institution of higher education could attract more students and ulti-
mately satisfy them better. The implication of this claim was that by
establishing specific expectations in the promotional material as to
what the university could deliver, the institution would: (1) increase
enrollment; and, (2) manage expectations leading to greater satisfac-
tion with the service encounter. This is a logical extension of theories
of service management. As expectations drive evaluations of services,
attempts to control those expectations should lead to more positive
evaluations (Nickels and Wood, 1997). This approach, however, ig-
nores more specific findings in the marketing literature regarding the
differences in the factors that affect the stages of evaluation. If, in fact,
individuals use different levels of the mean-end hierarchy to make
decisions versus evaluate the service, then the pre-purchase promo-
tional material should not emphasize values. Rather the focus of com-
munications during pre-consumption should be on emphasizing attri-
butes and not higher levels of the means-end hierarchy.
This study demonstrates that emphasizing attributes in promotional
materials is a more effective method of attracting the attention of the
prospective college students. Once a university has the attention of a
prospective student, it is more likely that the university will become a
part of the prospective student’s consideration set. Whether emphasiz-
ing values is a more effective way of assessing service satisfaction,
however, has yet to be empirically tested and should the subject of
future research. This future research should explore each level of the
means-end hierarchy. The first study should examine (1) at what point
in a student’s collegiate experience is it most fruitful to reinforce the
link between attributes and consequences and (2) what is the best
means of doing so. Career services offices on campuses constantly
wrestle with this dilemma. A further study should then use means-end
theory to examine when and how to nurture the link between attri-
butes, consequences and values, with emphasis placed on the values
level. Again, the major research questions should be when to reinforce
the link between attributes, consequences and values and what is the
best way of doing so. If such studies confirm the value of means-end
theory, it will provide institutions of higher education with a founda-
tion for developing promotional material and other forms of commu-
Deborah E. Rosen and Timothy B. Greenlee 31
nication that will increase their ability to attract and retain students as
well as have highly satisfied graduates. The ability to have effective
input into the entire consumption experience should enable institu-
tions of higher education to graduate satisfied customers who become
one of the best sources of public relations, positive word-of-mouth.
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Received: 03/06/00
Revised: 09/25/00
Accepted: 09/25/00
APPENDIX
Selected excerpts from the three specific brochures.
Attributes-Based Brochure
The University offers an impressive number of majors. On campus
you can choose from more than 800 course offerings in these major
divisions: Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Pharmacy, Nurs-
ing and Human Ecology. Within each of these broad academic catego-
ries there are a number of areas for specialization.
Consequences-Based Brochure
Our alumni are leaders in the fields of science, medicine, law, art,
business education, politics and social work. The following are just a
few of our alumni whose names you might recognize....
Values-Based Brochure
College is a time of self-discovery, where you will want to acquire a
quality education while developing the confidence to succeed in a
rapidly changing society. As we learn more about different cultures,
we learn more about ourselves.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
34
Using ‘‘Relationship Marketing’’ Theory
to Develop a Training Model
for Admissions Recruiters
James F. Gyure
SusanG.Arnold
ABSTRACT. The concept of relationship marketing is a natural for use
as a core theory in developing strategies for admissions recruiting and
enrollment management. This paper addresses a critical aspect of en-
rollment management by providing a conceptual training outline based
on relationship marketing and management principles for admissions
recruiters and other appropriate enrollment staff. A set of ‘‘Attitude
Tools’’ is provided to suggest how various training methods might
benefit from a consistent underlying theoretical construct. [Article copies
available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service:
1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: <getinfo@haworthpressinc.com> Website:
<http://www.HaworthPress.com>
E
2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights
reserved.]
KEYWORDS. Relationship marketing, recruitment, training, enroll-
ment management
INTRODUCTION
When colleges and universities begin to earnestly apply marketing
principles and practices, whether in response to crisis or as a genuine
James F. Gyure, BA, MFA, is a PhD Candidate in Mass Communications at The
Pennsylvania State University, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management
and Director of Admissions, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, 157 Blackington
Hall, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Johnstown, PA 15904 (E-mail: gyure@
pitt.edu). Susan G. Arnold, BA, is Assistant Director of Admissions, University of
Pittsburgh at Johnstown, 157 Blackington Hall, University of Pittsburgh at Johns-
town, Johnstown, PA 15904 (E-mail: sarnold@pitt.edu).
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 10(4) 2001
E2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 35
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
36
component of strategic thinking, they often focus first on student
recruitment. That’s no surprise, of course, since enrollment trends
often provide one of the earliest and most accurate indications of an
institution’s current and potential health. And most enrollment evalua-
tions begin with an assessment of admissions and a call for a more
ambitious recruiting campaign. In more sophisticated circumstances,
the student recruitment campaign is an integrated part of a holistic
enrollment management effort which is supported by an appropriate
administrative structure. To be most effective, an enrollment manage-
ment model must combine this administrative coordination with an
institution-wide proactive attitude toward service.
Kotler and Fox suggest that the evolution of such an enrollment
marketing scenario moves through stages--from promotion to market
research to positioning to strategic planning and ultimately to enroll-
ment management. They point out that the enrollment management
perspective considers student recruitment the beginning of a student’s
relationship with an institution, a relationship that extends through the
student’s entire enrollment experience (1995). It is this perspective
that can serve as the cornerstone of a plan which seeks to recruit not
only freshmen but alumni-to-be.
Colleges and universities have increasingly embraced, at least
theoretically, this concept of enrollment management. There are now
vice presidents, deans and directors of enrollment management, com-
mittees, task forces, and teams, divisions and departments. In many
cases, enrollment management functions are part of an academic af-
fairs division. In some cases the responsibility for enrollment services
is assumed by student affairs administrators. More and more, enroll-
ment management is an administrative area unto itself, in the best
cases an integration of academic affairs, student affairs and marketing.
The acceptance of enrollment management is confirmed by both the
formalization of its place in college administration, and the frequency
with which recruiting and enrollment consulting services are used by
institutions struggling to reach target enrollments. Of course, it’s also
true the principles are sometimes embraced more than the practice.
Marketers and enrollment managers have discovered that a limited
understanding of the practical requirements of enrollment manage-
ment, together with institutional turf protection and compartmentaliza-
tion can be serious obstacles to a successful implementation of this
philosophy of collaboration.
James F. Gyure and Susan G. Arnold 37
In either case, whether or not appropriate institutional structure is in
place, the enrollment experience begins with recruitment and admis-
sions, and recruiters must have an accurate working knowledge of
enrollment management that they can integrate into their standard
recruiting activities. Given the importance of admissions recruitment
in this context, it is ironic that the first contacts with prospective
students and their families are often made by the admissions counsel-
ors who may have little or no training regarding the ‘‘big picture’’
impact of enrollment management, are often just recent graduates
themselves, and populate a professional area in which significant turn-
over is common. This paper suggests that the relationship marketing
principles that provide the conceptual and practical underpinnings for
enrollment management can also provide the basis of a training model
for new admissions recruiters.
THE REAL LIFE SCENARIO
In 1995 an especially challenging situation occurred in the Office of
Admissions at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, a degree-
granting undergraduate regional college in the University of Pitts-
burgh system. The situation had the potential to be either a temporarily
troublesome administrative arrangement, or a problem that could have
a negative impact on the admissions effort, or a distinctive enrollment
marketing opportunity.
As part of an institutional reorganization, the Offices of Admis-
sions, Financial Aid and the Registrar were administratively aligned as
an Enrollment Management Group under the coordinating oversight
of the Director of Admissions, who retained the Admissions Direc-
tor’s role while assuming new responsibilities as Assistant Vice Presi-
dent for Enrollment Management. At the very same time, due to unex-
pected and unrelated developments (relocations due to marriage,
maternity, and change of profession), the Admissions Office lost the
services of an experienced Assistant Director, two effective Admis-
sions Counselors and an experienced administrative secretary. The
professional staff, other than the director, was reduced to one counsel-
or with less than two years experience. The Director made the decision
to hire three new entry-level counselors, hired them as a team with
different but complementary skills, and sought to train them as rela-
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
38
tionship-management-oriented recruiters with a nuts-and-bolts under-
standing of enrollment management.
After more than four years, two of the original three counselors
remain, now as accomplished Assistant Directors. The college has
enjoyed record number of applications in four of the last five admis-
sions cycles. Retention rates have been maintained or improved. The
‘‘quality profile’’ of the freshmen class has been maintained, and
perhaps most importantly, all members of the admissions professional
staff now have some level of involvement in enrollment management
efforts. These activities include substantive involvement with a multi-
service freshman year experience program that coordinates interaction
with Student Affairs staff, the Registrar’s Office, Financial Aid, the
Learning Resource Center, and Academic Advising. Among other
activities that extend traditional recruiting duties, staff members also
serve as instructors in a non-credit/required freshman orientation
class, and coordinate the recruitment, selection and training of volun-
teer student tour guides, again emphasizing relationship management.
The relationship-management training outline for new admissions
recruiters was developed during this period.
DEFINITIONS
For these purposes, we use a definition of relationship marketing
that is applicable to a wide range of products and services, a basic
textbook definition.
Relationship marketing involves creating, maintaining, and en-
hancing strong relationships with customers and other stakehold-
ers. Increasingly, marketing is moving away from a focus on
individual transactions and toward a focus on building value-lad-
en relationships and value delivery networks. Relationship mar-
keting is oriented more toward the long term. The goal is to
deliverlong-termvalue...andthemeasureofsuccess is long-
term customer satisfaction. Relationship marketing requires that
all of the company’s departments work together as a team . . .
buildingrelationshipsatmanylevels....(KotlerandArmstrong
1996)
The parallels between relationship marketing and enrollment man-
agement are striking. ‘‘Enrollment management . . . influences the
James F. Gyure and Susan G. Arnold 39
size, the shape, and the characteristics of a student body by directing
institutional efforts in marketing, recruitment, and admissions as well
aspricingandfinancialaid...Itisnotsimplyanadministrative
process. Enrollment management involves the entire campus (Hossler
1984). Hossler also notes that ‘‘Enrollment management . . . is more
than attracting matriculants. It also includes efforts to retain students
once they arrive on campus. Perhaps the most important role that
enrollment managers play is assisting students as they select the col-
lege that best fits their needs and interest’’ (1984).
Interestingly, there is also a parallel between the efforts of market-
ers to establish relationship marketing in broader profit sector market-
ing activities and the efforts of enrollment managers to establish a
stronger service orientation among the many departments and func-
tions that make up a college or university. Vavra urges a change in
marketing mentality from completing a sale to beginning a relation-
ship, from closing a deal to building loyalty. He acknowledges that the
obstacle is the focus on conquest--winning new customers to one’s
brand or service rather than a combination of new customers and
customer retention (1995).
APPLICATION
The application of relationship marketing principles and techniques
offers a blend of concepts that can be used as the base for a training
model for new admissions recruiters.
Enrollment management--with its emphasis on cross-functionality, a
coordinated institutional image and message, and an integrated service
orientation--can be a difficult organizational concept to grasp for new,
and typically inexperienced, recruiters. But in the best instances, en-
rollment management is valuable precisely because it combines very
careful administrative planning and extensive people contact. Enroll-
ment management is about attitude as much as statistics. And relation-
ship marketing offers an emphasis on the people part of enrollment
management. It is often the aspect of enrollment management that new
recruiters can understand early in their professional experience.
The following attitude tools address primarily the recruitment and
enrollment of undergraduate students, although many of the ap-
proaches can apply to aspects of graduate program recruitment. They
are provided as an outline of a conceptual underpinning for training.
JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
40
The specific delivery methods--training manuals, staff meetings, plan-
ning sessions, brainstorming sessions, videotaping and veteran staff
mentors--can all make use of these concepts as the individual institu-
tional situations dictates. Their purpose is not to ‘‘discover the wheel’’
of training programs, but to suggest how various training methods
might benefit from a consistent underlying theoretical construct.
SEVEN ATTITUDE TOOLS + ONE
1. Begin with the Service Concept. The Admissions Office as an
organizational unit must develop a strong, clear focus on service, so
that new recruiters will be able to see service in action. Admissions
staff must use the word service. They must use it often, and make it
okay to use it. Some college faculty and administrators fear that a
focus on service invites today’s consumer-oriented students and their
families to be overly demanding of an institution. Others worry that a
service attitude conflicts with the rigors and demands of a challenging
academic environment.
In the relationship-marketing focus of admissions recruiting, how-
ever, service is not about meeting demands so much as it is about
anticipating needs. Consumerism aside, in the dynamics of the deci-
sion process, the majority of students and their families do experience
varying degrees of apprehension about college selection. Recruiters
who are alert to ‘‘points of service contact’’ can help alleviate anxiety
by providing accurate information and meaningful counsel, thereby
establishing the early phase of an enrollment relationship.
In the same vein, avoid an elitist approach to admissions. Elitism in
admissions has little to do with selectivity. The admissions process at a
highly selective institution can have a stronger service orientation than
a dismissive or bureaucratic process at an open-admission institution.
It’s a matter of attitude. Consistent, persuasive recruitment and an
appropriate admission decision are the essential first steps of the
‘‘management’’ part of enrollment management.
Note: In a long-term perspective, new recruiters effectively trained
in a service orientation are more likely to explore, on their own,
problem-solving service connections with other offices (Financial
Aid, the Business Office, Residence Life, etc.), thereby contributing to
the collaborative environment necessary for effective enrollment man-
agement.
James F. Gyure and Susan G. Arnold 41
2. Use the Service Focus to Introduce Relevant Marketing Concepts.
Very few new admissions recruiters are likely to come from undergrad-
uate business programs, and even then may have a limited understand-
ing of marketing as