EFFECTS OF UNIVERSITY NAMING ON PREFERENCES, CREDIBILITY, IMAGE AND ENROLMENT INTENTION OF ITALIAN STUDENTS

Abstract

This research focused on city-of-location vs. region-of-location naming strategies and showed that university naming is a tool for influencing its perceived credibility, image and enrolment intention. An experimental study was carried out on a sample of 200 students at an untested Italian university, who were recruited as potential users living outside of the tested areas of three different existing Italian universities with a region-of-location-based name (i.e., the University of Insubria, the University of Sannio, and the University of Tuscia). These were paired with as many experimentally manipulated fictitious city-of-location-based university names (i.e., the University of Varese and Como, the University of Benevento, and the University of Viterbo, respectively). A close-ended questionnaire was developed for each university, containing two dichotomic measures regarding the recognition of the university location and the name preference, respectively. For each of the six experimental conditions (three universities × two naming strategies), the questionnaire also contained: a three-item seven-point perceived credibility scale, based on Ohanian’s (1990) approach; a ten-item university perceived personality scale, based on the Five-Factor Model (cf. Digman 1990); a composite measure of enrolment intention; and a 12-item seven-point “place-of-origin” image scale, developed from Pisharodi and Parameswaran’s (1994) study. Results showed that experimental subjects were more able to recognise investigated universities and their locations when their names integrate the city rather than the corresponding geographical region where such institutions are located. They also showed that potential users prefer a city-of-location-based name to a region-of-location-based one. Perceived credibility levels of the investigated universities were found to be higher when their names integrate the city of location rather than the corresponding geographical region. Results of a repeated-measure ANOVA carried out on perceived personality scores showed significant effects of university naming strategy on image profile. Both the “place-of-origin” image and the enrolment intention were also found to be higher when university names integrate the city of location rather than the corresponding regional context. Both theoretical and operational implications are discussed.