Examining the influences and outcomes of TNE market orientation in UK universities: the managers' perspectives

This thesis investigates ‘Transnational Education (TNE) market orientation’ and itssignificance in the higher education marketing of the United Kingdom. The aim is to developa model that conceptualises and interprets engagement in TNE market orientation, elucidatingthe factors contributing to the successful of a TNE business from a managerial perspective.This builds on the extant literature, where theories of export marketing have predominantlyconcentrated on conceptualising the export market orientation of goods. However, in terms ofservices, few studies examined the export market orientation concept with relation to TNE,despite its importance in guiding direct TNE marketing. Also, not much methodical researchhas explored the impacts of the components of higher education export market orientation fromthe perspective of managers, nor verified the correlation between the dimensions of TNEmarket orientation, its antecedents, and consequences.A mixed method research approach, of two main phases, was adopted. The first phase focusedon conducting key information focus groups and interviews with TNE marketing managers ofUK HE establishments. The analysis of key themes with the literature review contributed todevelop research hypotheses and shape the study model. The second phase involved testing themodel with a survey that includes a sample of 336 TNE marketing managers from 142 UK HEestablishments. Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) structural equation modelling wasused to analyse responses of the survey. The structural model reflected a good fit to the data,and good convergent, discriminant and nomological validity, then stable reliability.The overall findings revealed that there is a strong link with the antecedents (TNE coordinationand developed country higher education image perception) and TNE market orientation, butunexpectedly, the university international ranking position does not impact TNE marketorientation. Further discovery showed strong link to the university international rankingposition and developed country higher education image perception. Also, TNE marketorientation had greater impact on higher education international reputation and TNE businessperformance. However, unexpectedly, the association between higher education internationalreputation and TNE business performance was not significant. The contribution of this study is to advance the understanding of TNE market orientation inUK HE establishments to improve exporting of higher education business and maintaindominance in this market, a topic where there is limited previous research.