Employing Mean-End-Chains theory to explore students’ values from school’s image characteristics - A case study of a business school in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

The literature shows that there are studies on students’ choices when enrolling in an institution. The findings from these studies help High Educational Institutions (HEIs) to improve their enrollment. However, not much literature explains how students (as consumers) explain the values they can get from HEIs’ image attributes. The present study employs Mean-End Chain (MEC) theory to explore students’ values by identifying attributes of HEIs images attributes from their perceptions with the following objectives: (1) to explore attributes of the selected school’s image from students’ perspectives, (2) to explore the connections between these attributes and values of individual students through consequences from these attributes. The soft-laddering interview is the method to collect data, and participants are first-year students who have just enrolled in the selected school in the last national enrollment in 2020. The research findings show that there are 12 attributes, which drive to eight values through 23 consequences (13 functional consequences and 10 psychosocial consequences), making students enroll in the selected school. The result from HVM states that there are five significant A-C-V linkages to explain which attributes have the most influence on students’ choice, and how these attributes affect their perceived values. Finally, the study also proposes suggestions for institutions to promote their enrollment practices and increase the quality of their enrolments.