Who are they? Communication of brand personality by business schools in an online environment Author(s): One-year Master Student Tutor: Dr. Rana Mostaghel Arber Tahiri, 881105 Examiner: Dr. Sarah Philipson One-year Master Student Samira Youkhanna, 890328 Subject: Brand; Brand Personality; MBA; European Business Schools: Content Analysis Level and semester: 4FE02E, Master Programme Degree, 15 ECTS. 20120528 1 Acknowledgements The authors would like to take this opportunity to give a special thanks to the individuals who helped and contributed with their valuable insights and ideas in the writing of this study. With humble gratitude, the authors of this study would like to extend their thanks to Dr. Rana Mostaghel, whom was kind enough to inspire us from the start of the thesis with her passion for marketing and considerate guidance. The thesis has been an instructive and inspiring process from idea to the completion. The authors would also like to give a special thanks to Dr. Sarah Philipson, whom not only was kind enough to manage to spare time to assist us during the stressful period of writing but also contributed with her professional knowledge about researching which has given us the chance to better understand the research world and the art of writing a thesis. In addition, we want to send our kindest regards to our opponents and Magnus Hultman for being a source of information. Their comments and commitment to us are highly appreciated. Växjö, 20120528 ____________________ ____________________ Samira Youkhanna Arber Tahiri One-year Master Student One-year Master Student 2 Abstract Title: Who are they: a study about Communication of brand personality by business schools in an online environment Course: 4FE02E, Master Programme Degree Thesis, 15 ECTS Authors: Arber Tahiri Samira Youkhanna Tutor: Dr. Rana Mostaghel Examiner: Dr. Sarah Philipson Introduction: MBA programs have increased from having 3200 awarded degrees during the 50‟s to 1695 business schools offering different types of MBA. Researchers claim that the growth of MBA programs may have changed human perception of the offered program, that MBAs have gone from being a first class ticket to a successful career to a more accommodated service. Brand and brand personality is another discussed aspect. Researchers suggest that organizations should implement more strategic communication based on brand personality, on their websites to attract a large audience and clearly communicate what and who they are as an organization. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the brand personality communication of European business schools MBA Programs in an online environment. Methodology: The study includes a comparative study were a correspondence analysis was conducted. Aakers (1997) model of brand personality dimension was used as an inspirational tool and randomly selected two samples; Cluster one, consisting of five Top European business schools according to Financial Times, and Cluster two, five general European schools. Conclusion: According to findings, there are some areas such as the usage of Aaker‟s brand personality dimensions and their synonyms that are different between top ranked European business schools and other business schools in Europe. Also, top European business schools appear not to be closely associated to Aaker‟s brand personality traits whilst other European schools are closely knitted and communicated clear brand personality dimensions. Keywords: Brand; Brand Personality; MBA; European Business Schools. 3 Table of content 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 PROBLEM DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................................... 13 1.4 DELIMITATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 13 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................................................................. 14 2.1 ONLINE MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION ............................................................................... 14 2.2 BRAND ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 BRAND PERSONALITY ........................................................................................................................... 16 2.4 SOCIETAL AND SELF-CONSTRUCTION REALITY OF BRAND PERSONALITY ....................... 18 2.4.1 BRAND PERSONALITY FOR CUSTOMERS .................................................................................. 19 2.5 THE “FIVE DIMENSIONS” ...................................................................................................................... 20 2.6 CRITICISM AGAINST AAKERS BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSION ........................................ 21 2.7 STATE OF THE ART ................................................................................................................................. 23 2.8 SCIENTIFIC QUESTION ........................................................................................................................... 25 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................... 26 3.1 SCIENTIFIC APPROACH ......................................................................................................................... 26 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN.................................................................................................................................. 27 3.2.1 QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ..................................................................... 27 3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLING ............................................................................................................ 27 3.3.1 POPULATION ...................................................................................................................................... 27 3.3.2 SAMPLING ............................................................................................................................................ 28 3.4 RESEARCH DATA COLLECTION .......................................................................................................... 29 3.4.1 DATA COLLECTION IN PRECISE STEPS ...................................................................................... 30 3.5 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD .................................................................................................................... 30 3.5.1 CONTENT ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................................... 30 3.5.2 CORRESPONDENCE ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................... 31 3.6 OPERATIONALIZATION ........................................................................................................................ 32 3.6.1 STEP ONE AND TWO: AAKER’S (1997) FIVE BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSION AND BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA ...................................................................................................................... 33 3.6.2 STEP THREE: DESIGNING THE DICTIONARY ........................................................................... 34 3.6.3 STEP FOUR: WORKING WITH WORDSTAT ............................................................................... 34 3.7 VALIDITY & RELIABILITY ..................................................................................................................... 35 3.7.1 VALIDITY .............................................................................................................................................. 35 3.7.2 RELIABILITY ....................................................................................................................................... 37 4. EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................................ 39 4 4.1 DISTRIBUTION OF FREQUENCY AND BRAND DIMENSIONS ...................................................... 39 4.1.1 DISTRIBUTION OF FREQUENCY OF BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS FOR CLUSTER ONE AND TWO ............................................................................................................................... 42 4.2 TWO DIMENSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE MAP ............................................................................... 44 4.3 COMMUNICATING AND DELIVERING INFORMATION .................................................................. 46 5. ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................................................................... 48 5.1 DISTRIBUTION OF KEYWORDS AND FREQUENCY ANALYSIS ................................................... 48 5.2 TWO DIMENSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE MAP ANALYSIS .........................................................