Student corporate brand identification: an exploratory case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate student corporate brand identification towards three closely‐linked corporate brands: a UK university, a leading UK business school and an overseas collaborative partner institute in Asia.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a theory‐building case study within the phenomenological/qualitative research tradition.Findings – The strength of student identification with a corporate brand is predicated on awareness, knowledge and experience of a brand. The data revealed three types of corporate brand identification. This reflected different modes of student affiliation with the three institutional brands. These student relationships were categorised as follows: brand member (a contractual/legal corporate brand relationship); brand supporter (a trusting corporate brand relationship); and brand owner (a proprietorial corporate brand relationship). In explaining the above, the above states are viewed in terms of a corporate brand identification manageme...

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