Abstract

The implementation of university sustainability affects brand perceptions by conferring attributes related to commitment and reputation, especially by students. The proper management of sustainability is related to an improvement in the university brand perceived by its stakeholders, including students. For this reason, this research aims to analyse whether university sustainability positively affects brand positioning among university students. For this purpose, a theoretical and quantitative mixed-method investigation is proposed that allows the establishment of a structural model in which the relationships between the dimensions of university sustainability with the dimensions of brand positioning are evident. The empirical analysis found that some dimensions of university sustainability, such as the institutional framework, campus operations and some dimensions of the substantive functions, positively affect brand positioning in university students and generate commitment to the university from both the prestige and reputation of the brand.

Introduction

One of the main challenges for organizations of the twenty-first century is to implement sustainability in their strategy, structure and processes [1,2]. This challenge has been raised for universities at the United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development in 2012 (Rio + 20) [3], so it remains a challenge that must transcend the ecocentric perspective and seeks to develop as a model of inclusive social transformation, that encompasses human well-being, environmental care and economic development [4]. In this regard, the university is the main promoter of change in companies and state institutions. In this way, universities are responsible for training citizens and future professionals who will be responsible for implementing ways of working that contribute to Sustainable Development [5]. Consequently, the importance of the present study lies in the fact that sustainability allows universities to achieve better economic results by reducing costs and decreasing the regulatory burden, as well as increasing brand positioning, prestige, and social responsibility actions with the community [6,7]. In addition, it favours competition in obtaining students, sustaining their programmes and obtaining high-level faculty [8].

Thus, this study addresses the existing theoretical gap regarding the relationship between sustainability and university brand positioning, given that in the Colombian context, there are no studies that address this relationship. Although there is research on the implementation of sustainability as an organizational model and models for its evaluation in Colombian universities [9,10], the impact of sustainability on the management of the university brand and its positioning in the context of Higher Education Institutions in Colombia has not yet been developed.

Conclusions

To conclude, the main theoretical and managerial implications are presented, as well as the limitations and future research on the issue.

۶٫۱٫ Theoretical implications
The previous sections have developed the empirical contribution of the analysis of the proposed model for which theoretical assumptions were validated or refuted. However, this research addressed an analysis of the positioning of the university brand for which some dimensions were proposed that were not clearly defined and which are also consistent with the advances in university branding studies [53,60,72]. In addition, the incidence of sustainability as an organizational model on the positioning of the university brand is addressed, where a satisfactory validation of the dimensions of sustainability was addressed and the results of the analysis of its influence on identity, image and perceived quality were found, as constitutive of the positioning of the university brand. The studies on the issue evidenced the existence of a gap in the conceptualization of the determinants of positioning in university branding. Thus, theoretical and empirical demonstrations of identity, image and perceived quality as dimensions of this construct and its impact on the commitment to institutional support for sustainability are a recent theoretical contribution to the issue. The present research makes a contribution to university branding by establishing the way in which the dimensions of sustainability are generators of brand positioning in students. Thus, it was possible to establish that the dimensions of sustainability, such as institutional framework, campus operations, education, research and extension, are determinants of prestige, uniqueness and relevance over the competition. Therefore, they are aspects that influence the choice of the university by the students and at the same time are elements that affect the loyalty and satisfaction of the brand promise. Likewise, a theoretical contribution was made that had not been addressed, by establishing how the dimensions of sustainability affected the constituent elements of positioning, such as perceived quality, image and identity of the university brand, in being able to propose the central aspects of sustainability in the management of the university brand.