‘Branding’ of universities is a recent marketing tool that aims to attract, engage and retain students and position universities in the competitive higher education environment (Wilson and Elliot 2016; Sultan and Wong 2014). As higher education continues to grow and becomes increasingly globalised, increased competition and reduced government funds place more significant pressure on institutions to market their courses and programs. There are several reasons why universities need to adopt customeroriented marketing and branding strategies, including to improve funding through greater numbers of domestic and international students, to cover rising tuition fees and increased promotional costs, and to attract top academics and executives, more donated and research money, media attention and more strategic partners (Nguyen et al. 2016; Hemsley-Brown et al. 2016; Joseph et al. 2012). Universities are social institutions as well, as students not only get an academic degree but also engage themselves in a complex educational and social system (Rutter et al. 2017). For example, graduates from universities contribute to sociopolitical and economic transformations and may become valuable alumnae and component of their respective university brands. Therefore, branding a university brings both economic and social outcomes. Branding involves developing emotional and rational expectations of consumers that differentiate a brand from its competitors (Keller 2002; de Chernatony and McWilliam 1990). For example, in the domain of higher education, integrated marketing communications (that is, social media and other advertising avenues) can create brand awareness, image, positioning, reputation and, finally, brand identification, in progressive effect (Foroudi et al. 2017). A university’s brand comprises the institution’s distinct characteristics that will elevate it when compared with others. A brand reflects the university’s ability to fulfil student needs, engenders trust in its capacity to deliver the required services and helps potential students make right course decisions (Nguyen et al. 2016). Thus, a brand establishes characteristics and services that can be marketed even during intense competition for resources (e.g. sourcing fund, capable human resources) and customers (i.e. students) (Drori et al. 2013). Empirical evidence suggests that, if successful, a branding endeavour in the arena of higher education could improve university services, as well as attract and retain students (Watkins and Gonzenbach 2013; Sultan and Wong 2012, 2014). Despite the growing importance of university branding, little research has been undertaken on the issue (Chapleo 2011). Although the recent literature in the higher education context integrated components of marketing communications (IMC) and brand identification (Sˇeric´ et al. 2014; Foroudi et al. 2017), the current literature fails to indicate how higher education service components influence brand identification, including how a brand performs, how brand image is formed, and how these affect behavioural intentions (e.g. word-of-mouth) and behavioural consequences (e.g. brand loyalty). Although recent research has considered how perceived university service quality affects university image, university brand performance and behavioural intentions (Sultan and Wong 2012, 2014), the current literature is inconclusive regarding how brand performance and brand image diverge or correlate as outcomes of perceived quality performance in a university service context. The present paper addresses this apparent research gap with a single research question: how does perceive service quality affect university brand performance, university brand image and behavioural intention? To answer, this research examines eleven causal relationships and some mediation and moderation tests and establishes a theoretical model.