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The mediating role of self- The mediating

role of self-
congruity in transnational higher congruity

education choice: a
proposed framework
Pranakusuma Sudhana, Noermijati Noermijati, Ananda Sabil Hussein Received 20 May 2020
Revised 17 July 2020
and Nur Khusniyah Indrawati Accepted 21 July 2020
Department of Management,
Faculty of Economics and Business, Brawijaya University, Malang, Indonesia

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework to bridge the gap between the dimensions of
brand equity (brand awareness, brand association and perceived quality) and the purchase intention of
transnational higher education.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper revisits and critically reviews the concepts of marketing in
higher education, brand equity, and self-congruity as well as related past studies.
Findings – Several past empirical studies concluded that the dimensions of brand equity have been unable to
significantly influence purchase intention. The review and synthesis of the literature have supported the
feasibility of self-congruity to mediate the relationship, thus closing the gap. This study has been able to extend
the self-congruity concept into external and internal self-congruity to fit the context of this study which is
transnational higher education choice.
Originality/value – Focusing on a developing market of Indonesia, it is anticipated that the proposed model
will assist the future research in branding of transnational higher education. It was hypothesized that
educational brands that are congruent with prospective students’ self-image both externally (from the
perception by the reference group) and internally (from the perception by themselves) will be more likely to
yield positive purchase intention. As a result, this study adds to the current body of knowledge in the field of
transnational higher education choice which was found to be lacking.
Keywords Brand equity, Transnational higher education, Self-congruity
Paper type Conceptual paper

Introduction
The origin of Transnational Higher Education (TNHE) can be rooted in the globalization
phenomenon. As defined by Solanki (2012), globalization is a worldwide process of
individuals, businesses and governments interacting and integrating which affects the
climate, culture, political system, economic growth and human physical well-being in
societies around the world. It was further explained that in such interaction issues occur.
Trade issues happen due to various causes, such as different trading rules among nations and
the absence of reciprocity. Nations therefore would like to promote an agreement that is on a
mutually beneficial basis. The first form of such agreement was the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. It was then replaced by the largest
intergovernmental economic organization in the world called the World Trade Organization
(WTO) from January 1, 1995. Francois (2016) added that at the same time, a treaty called the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) came into effect. The treaty considers 12
service sectors as tradable: Business, Communication, Construction and Engineering,
Distribution, Education, Environment, Financial, Health, Tourism and Travel, Recreation,
Cultural and Sporting, Transport and Other. Therefore, education, which includes higher Journal of Applied Research in
Higher Education
education, has been officially considered as internationally tradable service. As a result, © Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-7003
many developed countries start capitalizing their resources including the higher education DOI 10.1108/JARHE-05-2020-0141
JARHE sector. Study International (2018) reported that in 2001 about 2.1 million students were
studying out of the country. That number increased by more than double in 2017 to about 4.6
million. Such data reveal a staggering fact that the number of international students seeking
higher education through foreign universities abroad has been doubled in about 15 years.
Apart from Japan (in 2001) and China (in 2017), many western developed countries, such as
United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), Australia, Germany and France have consistently
been the top destinations for foreign students. Recently, Canada and Russia have also been
included.
Mellors-Bourne (2017) stated that although studying abroad is certainly desirable and
advantageous, there are at least two main issues which caused the graduates of UK TNHE
programs to pursue qualifications at their home countries instead of studying overseas: the
costs and the fitness with their (numerous) circumstances. As it is commonly known,
pursuing a degree overseas is very expensive. The overall costs include not only hefty tuition
fees in many cases but also living costs and other associated costs such as return airfares,
student visa, health insurance and so forth. Studying a TNHE program in the student’s home
country on the other hand was perceived as significantly cheaper since the tuition fees often
are commonly at a fraction of those charged in the country of origin (McBurnie and Ziguras,
2001). Also, there are virtually no living costs and other associated costs mentioned earlier.
Studying TNHE programs at home countries also fits with the many circumstances of the
graduates. The postgraduate students are often full-time working professionals and already
have families thus they have obligatory commitments to stay. The undergraduate students,
who are mostly full-time, often face family constraints especially those of female students.
Regardless of the issues, the graduates of UK TNHE programs perceived that the
qualifications they received have equal prestige and value to those granted in the UK
(Mellors-Bourne, 2017). That reason also drives them to pursue UK TNHE programs locally.
Francois (2016) defined transnational education as educational scholarship and practices
between, across, and beyond the boundaries of two or more nations or countries. It was
further described that there are three major types of delivery modes in TNHE: distance
models (DM) which involves no physical contact, in-country delivery models (IDM) which
includes setting up overseas branch campuses, franchising, validation, dual/double degree
without student mobility, and blended models (BM) which involves some mobility either by
the faculty of providing institution or by the students going overseas to the host institution.
The graduates of UK TNHE programs discussed in the earlier paragraph were all at
IDM type.

Research background
Compared to the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore (Shanahan and
McParlane, 2005), the IDM TNHE in Indonesia has been relatively underdeveloped. There
are at least three identified reasons why the situation occurred. First, it is mainly due to
stringent regulations implemented by the Directorate General of Higher Education of the
Indonesian Ministry of Education (Noble Solutions, 2016) in an attempt to protect Indonesian
higher education. As a result, the Indonesian government seemed to be late in anticipating the
effects of GATS in the TNHE sector. Secondly, the laws regulating the presence of foreign
higher education institutions (HEIs) in Indonesia were only formulated in 2003 through the
National Education System Acts (Danyathi, 2016). As a comparison, by that time, there were
already about 27,000 students studying various Australian TNHE programs either in
Malaysia or in Singapore (Shanahan and McParlane, 2005). The third reason could be
attributed to skeptical views about foreign education, namely the doubtful quality of the
education, the commercialization attempts of education, the responsibilities discharge of
government in the education sector, the widening gaps between foreign and local HEIs, the
degradation of state sovereignty and the diminishing local values of the Indonesian people The mediating
(Tadjudin, 2000; Sutrisno, 2013; Danyathi, 2016). Despite strict, cumbersome, and role of self-
continuously shifting regulations as well as skeptical views as described earlier, there is
still a relatively small number of transnational higher education institutions (TNHEIs) with
congruity
the IDM typology offering various qualifications ranging from undergraduate diplomas to
doctoral degrees in Indonesia.
All TNHEIs currently operating in Indonesia are originated from countries of
international education destinations (i.e. Australia, UK, US, Canada, and Singapore) and
offer similar study programs as local providers do, thus they operate in an already
overcrowded space. In such a situation, the brand is the means of distinguishing them from
the rest of the crowd (Davis, 2007). One of the efforts that those TNHEIs do to enhance the
good outlook is through capitalizing their global brands, which most likely are associated
€
with good quality and prestige (Ozsomer, 2012). In addition, the parent institutions back
home should have enjoyed much of the brand awareness and brand association around the
globe. Unfortunately, most if not all IDM TNHEIs in Indonesia suffer from the lack of
student’s number as the main source of revenue. Based on the previous description, the
phenomena gap is clear: brand awareness, brand association, and perceived quality, which all
are the dimensions of brand equity (Aaker, 1991), have been unable to significantly influence
the purchase intention of TNHE, unlike what was theorized. It is therefore necessary for IDM
TNHEIs operating in Indonesia to improve their understanding of the factors influencing the
purchase intention of IDM TNHE by bridging the gap of the relationship between brand
equity dimensions and purchase intention. A mediation model may be able to assist in
exploring the underlying mechanism by which brand equity variables influence purchase
intention through mediator variables. Mediation analysis allows a deeper interpretation of
the relationship between such variables when there seems to be lack of correlations between
them. Such an effort might affect future strategic decisions made by upper management.

Methodology
To attain the research goals, the authors conducted a critical review of the extant literature.
Most searches were initially performed using the advanced search function of the Emerald
Insight database. In a recent study by Ansari and Raza (2020), such database was found to be
very well known among scholars and highly satisfactory in terms of its recency and
adequacy of literature. In addition, Taylor & Francis and Google Scholar databases were
used to ensure that relevant literature has been included. The authors are confident the
findings from these databases are representative of the available literature within the detailed
search parameters.
The search was conducted using a combination of the search terms “transnational
education,” “brand equity,” “brand attitude,” “self-congruity” and “purchase intention.”
Those terms were chosen as they were perceived to comprehensively cover and to describe
the interrelated topics in this research. The year of publication was used as the limit
parameter that the authors made the endeavor to consider only papers published from 2010
onwards. However, it is to be noted that papers included in this research has their references
going back as far as 1990s. Each identified paper has been included within the results and
was critically reviewed.
A critical review will demonstrate awareness of the current state of knowledge in the
subject area, a synthesis of resources, and how the research fits into the context of a study
(Jesson and Lacey, 2006). Such a review will be more than descriptive. Instead, it will be
original, perceptive, and analytical. Each paper found in the literature search was reviewed to
justify if branding in higher education is a compelling topic and to identify areas for
improvement in the relationships between brand equity dimensions and purchase intention.
JARHE For the latter, several questions were asked as evaluating criteria: “Does the paper have the
topic of brand equity?” If yes, “Does the paper present the relationships between brand equity
dimensions and purchase intention?” If yes, “What will be the nature of the relationships (e.g.
significant, nonsignificant, positive, negative)?” From such criteria, research gap was
identified. The phenomena observed in the critical review were simplified in a model or
framework. It is not intended to represent reality accurately, but a framework provides an
outline consisting of various elements intended to achieve the desired outcome (McLean and
Antony, 2017).

Critical literature review

Marketing in higher education
In Kamal Basha et al. (2019), marketing in (higher) education was defined as the means for
active communication and promotion of the purpose, values and product of an HEI to pupils,
their parents and the wider community. As it has been pointed out by many past studies,
marketing in higher education has now become essential for achieving both growth and
competitive edge for any HEIs in this ever-increasing competition in recruitment of new
students (Moogan et al., 2001; Soutar and Turner, 2002; Maringe, 2006; Kamal Basha et al.,
2019). The causes have been various. For several developed nations, such as the UK
(Elsharnouby, 2016) and Australia (Kamal Basha et al., 2019), declining government support
has caused the increase in tuition fees. It leads to greater “consumerist behavior” as
prospective students seek “value for money” and it becomes a major part of their decision
making. Other factors include declining university-age population (Wong et al., 2018),
changing student loan schemes (Soutar and Turner, 2002) and shifting the supply of higher
education that exceeds the demand (Brown et al., 2009).
It is therefore crucial for HEIs to have a good understanding of the choice and decision-
making process of their prospective students to have the edge over the other competitors in the
recruitment market (Maringe, 2006; Brown et al., 2009). Such understanding will also enable
HEIs to market their services timely and effectively (Moogan et al., 2001). Nevertheless, research
to build such understanding has been found to be inadequate (Maringe, 2006). In addition, in
many Western countries educational marketing may have been recognized but not in the
Eastern ones (Li and Hung, 2009). There have been several studies conducted in the past
resulting in many propositions which have been put forward to delve into the depth and
complexity of the multifaceted decision-making process of university selection and comprising
already quite a range of topics, such as global commercialization, student experience, study
motivation, student-as-consumer approach, decision-making process, university choice criteria
and the impact of demographics and socioeconomic status (Yang et al., 2020). However, very
little educational marketing studies conducted in transnational higher education context (Gray
et al., 2003; Pimpa, 2003; Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka, 2006; Prugsamatz et al., 2006; Roga et al.,
2015) and almost none discussing the self-congruity approach in the decision making process.
Due to many observable deficiencies in the current body of knowledge, a study to improve the
understanding of TNHE choice, which takes place in an Eastern culture and is approached with
self-congruity concept will therefore be valuable.

Brand and brand equity in higher education

Since education is a high credence service, higher perceived risk is placed. An educational
brand will give prospective consumers greater confidence and assurance in their decision-
making (Mourad et al., 2011). An educational brand acts as a powerful differentiator in a
crowded place such as the education market (Heslop and Nadeau, 2010). It was mentioned in
Kamal Basha et al. (2019) that in the higher education context, brand may mean well-managed
university’s corporate image, superior administration or academic reputation. In addition,
brands reflect the expectations and feelings of consumers, as well as promises about a The mediating
product and its performance. Some benefits can be derived from having strong brands, such role of self-
as purchase intention, improved brand loyalty or consumer preferences, price premium
charging capability thus higher margin, brand extension opportunities and better
congruity
communication effectiveness (Buil et al., 2008; Alvarado-Karste and Guzman, 2020). In
addition, branding remains as the largest source of competitive advantage for industries
(Tong and Hawley, 2009). It can then be synthesized that, branding is justifiable in
educational businesses (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012).
According to Keller (1993), what’s critical about a brand is that it stays in the minds of
consumers and they respond to its marketing mix elements. What consumers know about
brands and what such knowledge means for marketing strategies are where the brand equity
is conceptualized from. Brand equity was then defined as the marketing effect of a brand. It
was also identified that one of the many factors why brand equity has been studied for is to
provide marketers a detailed understanding of consumer behavior as the basis for making
better strategic and tactical marketing decisions. The theory of brand equity posited that
people make a decision to use a brand depending on the reputation associated with that
brand. Brand equity has remained as an important and frontier in the marketing research
worldwide (Buil et al., 2008; Ahmad and Butt, 2012). Unfortunately, despite the growing
importance of the topic, there is relatively little empirical research specifically related to the
higher education branding (Pinar et al., 2011).
In this literature review, it was revealed that there are two schools of thought in the extant
studies with regards to operationalizing the brand equity, which was termed as
multidimensional brand equity (MBE) and overall brand equity (OBE) (Yoo and Donthu,
2001). In the MBE domain, brand equity is considered as a multidimensional concept,
consisting of brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations
(Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). Whereas with OBE, brand equity is considered as a standalone
construct with previously mentioned dimensions (i.e. constructs) as influencing factors or
antecedents. The noticeable weakness in using OBE models is that the brand equity construct
always shows a positive and significant influence on other construct(s). That way, it would be
impossible for researchers and practitioners to determine which dimensions should be looked
out and improved. Nevertheless, there is an equal number of papers found in the literature
search investigating the influence of MBE and OBE on purchase intention. To be aligned with
the background and purpose of this study and with the original conceptualization of brand
equity by Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993), an MBE model was adopted.
As previously stated, OBE always shows a positive and significant influence on other
consumer behavior construct(s), such as store loyalty (Rubio et al., 2019), advocacy
behavior (Baghi et al., 2016), and surely purchase intention (Chen and Chang, 2008; Moradi
and Zarei, 2011; Tharmi and Senthilnathan, 2012; Buil et al., 2013; Shah et al., 2016; Vahdati
and Nejad, 2016; Samadi et al., 2017; Akturan, 2018; Poturak and Softic, 2019). However,
among MBE based studies, there are conflicting results. While many studies showed that
all brand equity dimensions positively and significantly influence purchase intention (Yoo
and Donthu, 2001; Bian and Liu, 2011; Akhtar et al., 2016; Jara et al., 2017; Ogunnaike et al.,
2017; Kodippili et al., 2019), many others did not as detailed in Table 1. The results of studies
across a wide range of goods and services conducted locally in Indonesia (Santoso and
Cahyadi, 2014; Suryadi, 2015; Bougenvile and Ruswanti, 2017; Tjondrodihardjo, 2019) as
well as abroad (Roozy et al., 2014; Gunawardane, 2015; Manzoor and Shaikh, 2016; Gautam
and Shrestha, 2017; Sasirekha and Santhish, 2017; Kassean, 2017) revealed that one or more
dimensions of brand equity failed to significantly influence the purchase intention. The
results inconsistencies in Table 1 highlight research gap since it was theorized that the
dimensions of brand equity should positively and significantly affect purchase intention
(Keller and Aaker, 1990).
JARHE Relationships
Brand Brand Perceived
awareness associations quality
→ → →
Purchase Purchase Purchase
Title of paper (authors, year) Industry intention intention intention

The Impact of Brand Equity on the Consumer Goods NS NS S

Consumers’ Purchase Intention: A (Garment)
Case of Uniqlo in Indonesia
(Tjondrodihardjo, 2019)
Assessing The Impact of CBBE And Consumer Goods S NS NS
WOM on Purchase Intention of (Garment)
Consumers in The Clothing Sector
of Mauritius (Kassean, 2017)
Brand Equity on Purchase Intention Consumer Goods S S NS
Consumers’ Willingness to Pay (Beverage)
Premium Price Juice (Bougenvile
and Ruswanti, 2017)
Impact of Brand Equity on Purchase Consumer Goods S NS NS
Intension of Home Appliances (Smartphones)
(Gautam and Shrestha, 2017)
The effect of consumer based brand Consumer Goods S NS S
equity (CBBE) on purchase (National brands)
intention of private label brands and
national label brands (Sasirekha and
Santhish, 2017)
Brand equity and purchase Automobile NS NS S
intention: The Indian automobile
industry (Manzoor and Shaikh,
2016)
Impact of Brand Equity towards Mobile S NS S
Purchasing Decision: A Situation on Telecommunication
Mobile Telecommunication Services Services
of Sri Lanka (Gunawardane, 2015)
The Impact of Brand Equity Consumer Goods NS S S
towards Purchase Intention on PT. (Candy)
X’s Candy (Suryadi, 2015)
Effect of Brand Equity on Consumer Food NS S S
Purchase Intention (Roozy et al.,
2014)
Analyzing the Impact of Brand Automobile NS S NS
Equity towards Purchase Intention
in Automotive Industry: A Case
Table 1. Study of ABC in Surabaya (Santoso
Results inconsistencies and Cahyadi, 2014)
of recent studies Note(s): NS 5 non-significant, S 5 significant

Development of new framework

Approaching with theory of planned behavior
To bridge both phenomena and research gaps, the concept of the Theory of Planned Behavior
(TPB) (Ajzen, 1991), as one of the established theories used to explain the influencing factors
of behavioral intention, including purchase intention of TNHEI in this study, was utilized.
This was justified in Rambocas et al. (2018) where it was mentioned that the link between
brand equity and behavioral intentions is theoretically grounded in Fishbein’s Theory of
Reasoned Action. The study also advocated the use of mediation and moderation concepts in The mediating
the relationship between brand equity and behavioral intentions. The basic tenet of TPB (i.e. role of self-
the improved version of Theory of Reasoned Action) is that intention, which is the central
element in the theory largely influences a behavior, is influenced by attitude, subjective norm,
congruity
and perceived behavioral control. In this present study, the concept of TPB was used as
mediation. It was because TPB has been used extensively to explain the relationships
between attitudes, intentions and behavior in which a favorable attitude towards a brand
leads to purchase intention (Buil et al., 2013).

Incorporating theory of self-congruity

Alvarado-Karste and Guzman (2020) stated that businesses must create brands that are
congruent with what consumers want and need. Similar to humans, products and services
have personal images, such as friendly, youthful, traditional or modern that are different from
functional attributes (quality, price, and performance). Sirgy et al. (1997) termed such personal
images as product-user image. In addition, it was theorized that there is an interaction
between product-user image and consumer’s self-concept or self-image. The interaction
between product-user image and self-image generates a subjective experience and it was
referred to as self-image/product-image congruity or self-image congruence or self-congruity.
It was also reported that marketing researchers have used the concept of self-congruity for
decades to explain various aspects of consumer behaviors, such as product use, product
ownership, brand attitude, purchase motivation, purchase intention, brand choice, brand
adoption, store preference, store loyalty, and so forth. Theory of Self-Congruity thus implies
that consumer behavior is partially determined by the congruence resulting from a
psychological comparison between the product-user image and self-image. The
psychological comparison can be categorized as high or low self-congruity. When the
consumer perceives the product-user image to suit that of his or her self-image, high self-
congruity is experienced and vice-versa. Self-image congruence is an important field of
customer behavior analysis, as it offers strategic insights into positioning and advertisement
analysis to the marketing manager and can also act as a basis for market segmentation. In
terms of brand positioning, marketers have historically employed self-image congruence
approaches and steps to discover product-user images that are most compatible with target
consumers’ self-images.

Modifying TPB with theory of self-congruity

The notion was derived from Moogan et al. (2001), where it was mentioned that college choice
is influenced by prospective student’s characteristics, e.g. aptitude level, as well as external
motivations, e.g. impact from significant personnel. The aptitude level of a prospective
student is analogous to the perceived behavioral control construct of TPB, which is the
individual’s perception of his or her ability in performing a certain behavior and it predicts
behavioral intention. It can then be inferred that in gaining such perception, the act of
observing within oneself or self-observance about the congruity between one’s self-image and
product-user image is involved. Because the process occurs internally (i.e. within oneself), in
this study, it was termed as internal self-congruity and was defined as the individual’s
perception of the easiness in performing the behavior that he or she has sufficient resources
(i.e. money, intellectual capabilities, and opportunities) in purchasing the service from a
TNHE provider matching their own self-image.
The impact of significant people is analogous to the subjective norm construct of TPB,
which is the individual’s perceptions of social pressure to perform or not perform a behavior.
The term “social” in the college students’ setting is very much related to family (parents and
other members) as well as friends. Goh et al. (2017) termed a group of people from whom
JARHE prospective students regard as important thus normally seek advice from in selecting their
higher education options (i.e. choice of institutions, study programs or majors) as the
reference group. Numerous past studies highlighted the importance of reference group in the
decision-making process by prospective students (Soutar and Turner, 2002; Pimpa, 2003; Goh
et al., 2017; Zhu and Reeves, 2019). In suggesting a higher education option, the reference
group should have perceived the congruence between a prospective student’s self-image with
the product-user image of a TNHE brand. Because prospective students may perceive social
pressure coming from their reference group (Wong, Lee and M.L. Ng, 2018), prospective
students plan to perform a behavior conforming to what their reference group thinks (Adams
and de Kock, 2015). The pressure may also come from the reality that parents are the common
bearers of educational costs in Indonesia (Sudhana et al., 2020). That is aligned with Zhu and
Reeves (2019) who mentioned that parental and familial influence occurs due to the financial
support they can provide. Because such a conforming process occurs external to the
prospective students, it can be termed as external self-congruity. Therefore, external self-
congruity (reference groups conformity) can be defined as the perception of compliance or
conformity to what has been referred by a reference group, which consists of people whom a
prospective student regards as important, such as parents, close friends or anyone whom the
prospective student normally seeks advice from in selecting a higher education option.
From the above elaboration, the TPB concept has been modified using the theory of self-
congruity to replace the Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioral Control constructs with
the External and Internal Self-Congruity constructs to reflect the similarity in the cognitive
response domain (Tasci and Pizam, 2020).
To understand the relationships between brand equity dimensions and purchase intention
of TNHE mediated by self-congruity, this study proposed a framework as in Figure 1.
In a study by Chakraborty (2019), one or more dimensions of brand equity can be excluded
when irrelevant. For the former, it was because the study did not consider the repurchase
intention of the consumers. Similar to the context of this particular study, brand loyalty and
other proprietary assets were excluded. Consequently, this study considers only three brand
equity dimensions, namely brand awareness, brand associations and perceived quality. The
suitability of brand equity model to be used in the higher education was confirmed by
Mourad et al. (2020).
In the higher education context, brand awareness was defined as a collection of perceptual
and attitudinal brand associations, including university image, perception and attitude

Brand Equity Dimensions

External
Brand H1a Self-Congruity
Awareness (reference group
conformity)
H1b H6
H4
H1c

H2a
Brand H2b H7 Purchase
Brand Attitude
Associations Intention
H2c

H3a H5

H3b H8
Figure 1. Perceived H3c
Internal
Self-Congruity
Proposed theoretical Quality (Self-observance)
framework
(Brewer and Zhao, 2010). It was further noted that brand awareness is a strong predictor of The mediating
consumer behavior in the purchase and repurchase processes and there is a strong role of self-
relationship between an education provider’s brand awareness with the prospective students’
decision-making process. Because of their value, brand awareness should be the main goal of
congruity
all marketing programs. In this study, brand awareness was defined as the noticeable
presence of a TNHE provider in prospective students’ minds which subsequently affects the
purchase intention.
Aaker (1991) in Tuan (2014) defined brand association as something connected in the
memory of a brand. Brand associations involve the perceptions and meanings of a brand
that a customer recognizes Keller (1993) in Khanna et al. (2014). It was also mentioned that
in the higher education context, brand associations translate into courses, curriculums,
degrees awarded and job prospects. In this study, the brand association was defined as
attributes, benefits and attitudes of a TNHE provider linked in the prospective students’
memory.
Aaker (1991) in Pappu et al. (2006) defined perceived quality as the consumer’s perception
of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service in respect of its intended purpose
relative to alternatives. It was also mentioned that perceived quality is not just another
brand association but an association elevated to the level of a separate dimension of brand
equity. Keller (1993) among others in Kayaman and Arasli (2007) stated that perceived
quality is considered to be the key factor in the customer-based brand equity framework. It
was further mentioned there that perceived quality gives value to customers by providing
them with a reason to purchase and by differentiating the brand from competing brands. It
was predicted that customers’ perception of quality will be associated with their brand
loyalty. In this study, the perceived quality was defined as prospective students’ perception
of the overall quality of a TNHE provider’s service with respect to their intended purpose
relative to alternatives.

Developing the hypotheses

(1) Brand Equity Dimensions and Brand Attitude
According to Yoo and Donthu (2001), the conceptual definition of brand equity should include
aspects such as attitudinal inclination and behavioral intention, among many others.
Therefore, it can be derived for this present study that attitudinal inclination is brand attitude
whereas behavioral intention is purchase intention. It was also described that purchase
intention and brand attitude have been used as surrogates for brand equity. Jung and Sung
(2008) added by stating that highly positive associations have been observed in all customer
groups between brand equity and purchase intention, and between brand equity and brand
attitude. Therefore, in this present study, it was hypothesized:
H1b. The increase of brand awareness will lead to a positive brand attitude.
H2b. The increase of brand associations will lead to a positive brand attitude.
H3b. The increase of perceived quality will lead to a positive brand attitude.
(2) Brand Equity Dimensions and Self-congruity
The importance of building brands that are congruent with what consumers want is well-
known (Alvarado-Karste and Guzman, 2020). In their study, Sirgy et al. (2005) proposed that
housing preference/choice is positively influenced by self-congruity. The greater the match
between the residential occupant image of a home and the home buyer’s self-concept the more
likely that he or she will prefer and feel motivated to purchase that home. It was added that
JARHE research in housing has identified factors approximating homebuyers’ self-image/residential
occupant image congruity, such as the perceived quality of the neighborhood. Therefore, in
this present study, it was hypothesized:
H1a. The increase of brand awareness will lead to favorable external self-congruity.
H1c. The increase of brand awareness will lead to favorable internal self-congruity.
H2a. The increase of brand associations will lead to favorable external self-congruity.
H2c. The increase of brand associations will lead to favorable internal self-congruity.
H3a. The increase of perceived quality will lead to favorable external self-congruity.
H3c. The increase of perceived quality will lead to favorable internal self-congruity.
(3) Self-congruity and Brand Attitude

In the early investigation into the predictiveness of self-congruity, the results of six studies by
Sirgy et al. (1997) revealed that self-congruity was highly supported in predicting different
consumer behaviors, such as brand preference, product form preference, brand attitude,
program choice and consumer satisfaction. It was added that such findings were consistent
across a variety of goods and services and across different consumer populations and
consumption settings. In a study by Ye et al. (2012), it was also described that both self- and
gender consciousness, which both are from self-congruity theory, have an indirect effect on
brand consciousness through need for uniqueness, which in turn, leads to enhanced brand
attitude. Therefore, in this present study, it was hypothesized:
H4. External self-congruity has positive and significant effects on brand attitude.
H5. Internal self-congruity has positive and significant effects on brand attitude.
(4) Self-congruity and Purchase Intention

As described previously, Sirgy et al. (1997) confirmed the high predictiveness of self-
congruity on different consumer behaviors which include purchase intention and it was
consistent across a variety of goods and services, across different consumer populations, and
across different consumption settings. Several other studies proposed identical ideas, such as
personal reasons (Cubillo et al., 2006), perceived fit (Tsordia et al., 2018; Choi and Seo, 2019)
and brand personality self-congruity (Lee et al., 2018). Similar past studies investigated the
relationship between self-congruity and purchase intention. Sirgy and Su (2000) discovered
that the motivation of visitors to travel to and their attitude towards a destination are affected
by the congruence between the place’s visitor image and their own self-image. In
investigating the impacts of brand personality and congruity on purchase intention, Wang
et al. (2009) revealed that self-image and product-brand personality congruence positively
affects purchase intention at a statistically significant level. Therefore, in this present study,
it was hypothesized:
H6. Prospective student who perceives that there is a match between the product-user
image of a TNHEI and what their reference group perceive in themselves will be
motivated to enroll at that TNHEI (i.e. purchase intention).
H8. Prospective student who perceives that there is a match between the product-user
image of a TNHEI and their own self-image will be motivated to enroll at that TNHEI
(i.e. purchase intention).
(5) Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention
In this study, brand attitude is formed from exposure to the brand, which is the knowledge of The mediating
the brand’s functional and symbolic attributes (Keller, 1993). Brand attitude has been role of self-
considered as a classic variable for understanding and predicting consumers’ brand choices
(Wang et al., 2019). Numerous past studies confirmed the positive and significant nature of
congruity
the relationship between brand attitude and purchase intention (Shamim and Mohsin Butt,
2013; Mohd Suki, 2016; Lee et al., 2017; Vidyanata et al., 2018; Yu et al., 2018). Therefore, in this
present study, it was hypothesized:
H7. The increase of brand attitude will lead to a higher purchase intention.

Definitions of operational variables

Table 2 provides the definitions of operational variables used in this present study.
Table 3 provides the indicators of the individual variables used in this present study.

Concluding thoughts, implications and directions for future research

In this paper, it was revealed that the dimensions of brand equity have been unable to
significantly influence the purchase intention of TNHE in Indonesia, unlike what was
theorized. Several past empirical studies have arrived at similar conclusion. Based on the
critical review and synthesis of the literature, a conceptual model utilizing self-congruity as
the mediator in the previously mentioned relationship has been proposed. It was made
possible since this study has been able to extend the self-congruity concept into external and
internal self-congruity to fit the context of this study which is transnational higher education
choice. It is hypothesized that educational brands which are congruent with prospective
students’ self-image both externally (from the perception by the reference group) and
internally (from the perception by themselves) will be more likely to yield positive purchase
intention. It is anticipated that other researchers make the endeavor to criticize and/or expand
the model. It is nevertheless expected that such a conceptual model will assist in bridging the
gap between the dimensions of brand equity and purchase intention of TNHE. That is
essential to better understand the factors influencing the purchase intention of TNHE.

Variables Definitions

Brand Awareness The noticeable presence of a TNHE provider in prospective students’ minds
(BAWARE) which subsequently affects the purchase intention
Brand Association Attributes, benefits and attitudes of a TNHE provider linked in the prospective
(BASSOC) students’ memory
Perceived Quality Prospective students’ perception of the overall quality of a TNHE provider’s
(PERQUAL) service with respect to their intended purpose relative to alternatives
Brand Attitude (BATT) The overall evaluations of a TNHE brand by prospective students
Internal Self-congruity Individual’s perception of the easiness in performing the behavior that he or
(INTSELF) she has sufficient resources (i.e. money, intellectual capabilities and
opportunities) in purchasing the service from a TNHE provider matching their
own self-image
External Self-congruity The perception of compliance or conformity to what has been referred by a
(EXTSELF) reference group, which consists of people whom a prospective student regards
as important, such as parents, close friends or anyone whom the prospective
student normally seeks advice from in selecting a higher education option
Purchase Intention The prospective students’ behavioral consequence of enroll or not to enroll with
(PINTENT) a TNHEI after having a noticeable Presence of such institution in their minds Table 2.
along with all of its attributes, benefits, attitudes, as well as perceived overall Definitions of
quality operational variables
JARHE Variables Indicators References

Brand Awareness (1) (BAW1) I am aware of the school called University Yoo and Donthu (2001), Manzoor and
(BAW) “X” Shaikh (2016), Buil et al. (2008)
(2) (BAW2) I can recognize University “X” among
other competing TNHEIs
(3) (BAW3) I know what University “X” looks like
(4) (BAW4) When I think of TNHEI, University “X” is
one of the institutions that comes to my mind
(5) (BAW5) University “X” is a TNHEI that I am
familiar with
Brand Association (1) (BASS1) I can quickly remember some Manzoor and Shaikh (2016), Ahmad
(BASS) characteristics of University “X” and Butt (2012)
(2) (BASS2) I can quickly recall the logo or symbol of
University “X”
(3) (BASS3) I can easily imagine University “X” in my
mind
(4) (BASS4) University “X” is unique when compared
to other TNHEIs
Perceived Quality (1) (PQU1) The quality of University “X” is high Yoo and Donthu (2001), Manzoor and
(PQU) (2) (PQU2) The likely quality of University “X” is Shaikh (2016), Tong and Hawley
extremely high (2009)
(3) (PQU3) The likelihood that University “X” is
reliable is very high
(4) (PQU4) University “X” must be of very good quality
(5) (PQU5) University “X” offers excellent service
Brand Attitude (1) (BATT1) I feel good about University “X” Ye et al. (2012), Ahmad and Butt (2012)
(BATT) (2) (BATT2) University “X” is my favorable brand
(3) (BATT3) I like University “X”
(4) (BATT4) I will be proud when enrolling at
University “X”
(5) (BATT5) I trust University “X”
Internal Self- (1) (ISC1) The typical student who enrolls at University Tasci and Pizam (2020)
congruity (ISC) “X” matches how I see myself
(2) (ISC2) The typical student who enrolls at University
“X” matches how I would like to see myself
(3) (ISC3) The typical student who enrolls at University
“X” matches how I believe others see me
(4) (ISC4) The typical student who enrolls at University
“X” matches how I would like others see me
External Self- (1) (ESC1) The typical student who enrolls at Tasci and Pizam (2020)
congruity (ESC) University “X” matches how my reference group
see myself
(2) (ESC2) The typical student who enrolls at
University “X” matches how my reference group
would like to see myself
(3) (ESC3) The typical student who enrolls at
University “X” matches how my reference group
believe others see me
(4) (ESC4) The typical student who enrolls at
University “X” matches how my reference group
would like others see me
Purchase Intention (1) (PI1) I would enroll at University “X” rather than Jalilvand and Samiei (2012)
(PI) any other TNHEIs available
(2) (PI2) I am willing to recommend others to enroll at
Table 3. University “X”
Indicators of the (3) (PI3) I intend to enroll at University “X” in the future
variables Note(s): University “X” denotes the TNHEI choice of the respondent
This conceptual study has important practical and theoretical implications that benefit brand The mediating
equity research within higher education context in several ways. First, the proposed role of self-
conceptual framework will assist HEIs to better understand the underlying causes of TNHEI
choice by bridging the gap between what has been understood in the brand equity
congruity
dimensions and purchase intention. Second, the proposed framework may expedite studies in
the previously mentioned domain with extension possibilities. Third, by assessing the facets
of self-congruity internally and externally, the proposed framework appears to be a less
confounding way in predicting the purchase intention of TNHEI. Fourth, when practitioners
use the proposed framework as a method to assess and monitor the brand performance over
time, they can clearly understand which field the brand is good or failing in. So, they can make
an effective resource distribution to set a realistic target for building brand equity. As for its
generalizability, the model was built upon diverse opinions in various goods and services as
well as across numerous studies which also reflects multiple geographies. It is therefore
reasonable to assume that the proposed TNHE choice model can be applied not only in
Indonesia but also elsewhere.
Future research should therefore seek to deploy the model in an experimental context to
assess model’s robustness. This will involve conducting quantitative survey on Year 12
students (i.e. the final year of secondary education) who attend various education fair events.
Year 12 students are selected mainly because it is eminent that they must decide what to do
next following graduation. For those who would like to continue their study at the higher
education level, most high schools hold education fair events to facilitate the systematic
interactions between HEIs and those prospective students. The data analysis on the survey’s
results will validate the proposed framework for assisting the marketing departments of
TNHEIs in formulating educational brands which are congruent with their prospective
students’ self-image both externally (from the perception by the reference group) and
internally (from the perception by themselves).

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Corresponding author
Pranakusuma Sudhana can be contacted at: prana@email.com

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