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Digital marketing for Saudi Arabian university student recruitment

Abdulelah Al-Thagafi (Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, University of Business and Technology, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
Mike Mannion (School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK)
Noreen Siddiqui (Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK)

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education

ISSN: 2050-7003

Article publication date: 25 February 2020

Issue publication date: 15 December 2020

690

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a digital marketing capability maturity model (CMM) as a guiding framework in support of increasing international student recruitment to the public universities in Saudi Arabia (SAPUs).

Design/methodology/approach

The CMM was constructed by comparing the common practices of Web 2.0 usage for international student recruitment from five SAPUs and from five Scottish universities. The stages of the awareness, interest, desire and action (AIDA) marketing model were used to guide the analysis of the data and used as the business processes for the CMM.

Findings

All SAPUs use Web 2.0 for the recruitment of international students focusing on awareness and interest, but the content often lacks consistency and depth. Scottish universities use Web 2.0 across all stages of the AIDA model, and the content often has greater consistency and depth.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis draws on published content from a small sample of SAPUs and Scottish universities but did not solicit the views of the staff about the content's effectiveness.

Practical implications

This study extends the knowledge about the strategic use of Web 2.0 in SAPUs for addressing international student recruitment marketing challenges.

Social implications

Increasing the international student population at SAPUs is one strategy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision to reduce its dependency on oil exports.

Originality/value

This study applies the AIDA model to develop a CMM for the use of Web 2.0 in SAPUs explicitly for international student recruitment.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article, Al-Thagafi, A., Mannion, M. and Siddiqui, N. (2020), “Digital marketing for Saudi Arabian university student recruitment”, published in Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 1147-1159, previously listed incorrect received, revised and accepted dates. This error was introduced in the editorial process and has now been corrected in the online version. The publisher sincerely apologises for this error and for any inconvenience caused.

Citation

Al-Thagafi, A., Mannion, M. and Siddiqui, N. (2020), "Digital marketing for Saudi Arabian university student recruitment", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 1147-1159. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-05-2019-0119

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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