Mapping the Applications of Brand Personality in Professional Higher Education: Evidence from Select Business Schools in India

Abstract

Brands are fundamentally about experiences and relationships, forming the prime basis of an institution’s connection with its stakeholders. With the mushrooming of business schools (both private autonomous and government-supported) and fading global boundaries, especially in the Indian context, communicating a business school brand to stakeholders has become extremely important. Indian business schools must have a strong brand personality in India’s competitive business education space. Brand personality helps create, evolve, and enhance a brand’s positioning and perceptions among stakeholders. These perceptions are critical in influencing an institution’s behaviour and performance. The current study is an earnest effort to probe into the mindset of Indian students about how they perceive business schools’ brands across India. The study has been undertaken in two phases. The first part of the research seeks to analyse the most relevant factors guiding in the selection of B-schools. The second segment assesses the brand personality of select Indian business schools using the brand personality scale developed by Guenes et al. (2009). This paper extends the current knowledge in measuring the brand personality of business schools, especially in India. This study would help institutions apply brand personality measurements to their business schools and implement focused branding efforts to gain a higher student share and build a quality education brand.

Keywords: Brand Personality, Branding Efforts, Indian Business Schools, Branding, Management Education

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