Branding modeling, students’ behavioral responses, mental image, and university brand credibility in the Iranian educational system

Using a heuristic mixed-methods approach, the present study was aimed at branding modeling, students' behavioral responses, mental image, and university brand credibility in the Iranian educational system. The statistical population in the qualitative phase included a group of professors of Business and Educational Management and senior managers of Iran's Islamic Azad universities, and in the quantitative phase of the study, the statistical population included 1487 (328 females and 1159 male) faculty members of 14 Islamic Azad universities in Mazandaran province. The participants in the qualitative phase were 20 individuals selected using the snowball sampling method, while in the quantitative phase, using relative stratified random sampling method based on Cochran's formula, 305 people were selected. Data in the qualitative phase were collected by performing the Delphi technique with a semi-structured questionnaire, and in a quantitative phase, a 65-item researcher-made questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. Findings showed that the final model had four levels and thirteen dimensions. The first level (student participatory behavior, student citizenship behavior, and student perceptual quality) affected the second level (brand awareness, brand identity, brand reputation, and brand competitive position) which in turn affected the third level (student satisfaction, student loyalty, and oral student promotion) and the third level affected the fourth level (university brand value, mental image of the brand in society, and brand credibility in society).