The Unbearable Lightness of University Branding
- 3 April 2015
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in International Studies of Management & Organization
- Vol. 45 (2), 121-136
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00208825.2015.1006012
Abstract
This study investigates how universities brand themselves and in what ways visual self-representation varies cross-nationally. We trace differences in the icons (emblems and logos) used in the Internet self-representation of 821 universities and higher education institutions in 20 countries in 5 continents. Emerging from content analyses of the icons were three main visual types (guilded, national, and organizational), arranged in five subtypes (classic, science/technology, local, abstract, and just-text). Generally, the visual expression of abstract or text-based organizational type is the least visually loaded, such lightness matching modern principles of corporate branding; the other types are rich in references to the national or guilded professional field of universities. We find that while the abstract organizational type of visual expression has become dominant in Western countries, including France, Germany, and the United States, heterogeneity prevails in other nations such as Australia, Italy, or South Africa. We develop possible explanations of the observed distribution of types across countries and discuss the implication of our findings for world society institutionalism and the institutional logics approach.Keywords
This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Visual Dimension in Organizing, Organization, and Organization Research: Core Ideas, Current Developments, and Promising AvenuesAcademy of Management Annals, 2013
- Institutional streams, logics, and fieldsMultinational Corporations and Organization Theory: Post Millennium Perspectives, 2009
- Sieve, Incubator, Temple, Hub: Empirical and Theoretical Advances in the Sociology of Higher EducationAnnual Review of Sociology, 2008
- The Research University in Transition: The Emerging Global ModelHigher Education Policy, 2008
- Universities, the State and the MarketHigher Education Management and Policy, 2007
- Barriers to brand building in UK universities?International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 2006
- The “Actors” of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social AgencySociological Theory, 2000
- Institutional Logics and the Historical Contingency of Power in Organizations: Executive Succession in the Higher Education Publishing Industry, 1958– 1990American Journal of Sociology, 1999
- INSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS FOR DIFFUSIONTheory and Society, 1993
- Clustering Countries on Attitudinal Dimensions: A Review and SynthesisAcademy of Management Review, 1985