Brand Management Practices, Corporate Image and Customer Satisfaction Among University Students in Kenya. Testing the Moderating Effect of Corporate Image

This study sought to establish the mediating effect of corporate image on the relationship between brand management practices and customer satisfaction among universities in Kenya. The study adopted descriptive research design, the target population comprised of students from all 70 universities registered and accredited to operate in Kenya, with a population of 443,783 students enrolled for various undergraduate degree programmes from which a sample of 384 students was drawn. Data was analyzed using a combination of four different statistical analysis methods that included descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The study also established that corporate image had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between brand management practices and customer satisfaction with R2=0.388; p-value = 0.000. Brand management practices were found to influence customer satisfaction more in the private individual owned and private institutional owned than in public universities, with R square of 0.149, 0.312 and 0.423 respectively. Similarly, corporate image was found to have a stronger moderation effect on the relationship between brand management practices and customer satisfaction in private institutional owned universities as compared to the private individual owned and public universities, with R2 of 0.671, 0.440 and 0.213 respectively. The study recommends that policy can be developed that encourages inculcating brand management practices within universities in Kenya. Policy can be developed to encourage measurement and reporting of performance along brand management practices as used in this study. Keywords: Branding, Brand Management, customer satisfaction, universities, brand image. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-2-0