The relationship between institution branding, teaching quality and student satisfaction in higher education in Hong Kong

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Hong Kong’s higher education sector both in the government-funded and self-funded higher education in Hong Kong generated a high competition in this industry.In order to study how institutions increase their competitiveness, this study investigated the relationship between the institution branding, teaching quality and student satisfaction. A quantitative research was conducted to empirically test three hypotheses by employing a questionnaire survey. As the primary customers of higher education, full-time students enrolled in post-secondary programs offered by government-funded and self-funded higher education institutions in Hong Kong were randomly selected as the targeted participants. Two thousand students were sent questionnaires and 1,170 valid responses were received, representing a response rate of 58.5%. Results of the analysis show that the teaching quality has a positive and significant influence on institution branding, institution branding has a positive and significant influence on student satisfaction whilst the mediating effect of institution branding is only considered as a partial mediation between teaching quality and student satisfaction. The study contributes to the higher education debate and provides unique student-perceived insights into institution branding, student satisfaction and the quality of teaching in Hong Kong’s higher education sector.