In most of the developed countries over the world service industries have outgrown the production industry in terms of their contributions to national income. The reasons can be varied related to the growth of service sector; our study is in the marketing context. Service industry is important and worthwhile to pay attention on because of the special issues in their marketing (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012, p.259).
“A service is an intangible product involving a deed, a performance, or an effort that cannot be physically possessed”. (Shostock, 1977, p.177).As expressed in these definition service products has different characteristics from industrial products. They are intangible and cannot be owned physically.
The university marketing is the person, institution and social desire and development, pricing, distribution and promotion of services for needs. (Yamamato, 1997, p.13).
“For the businesses in the service industry following four service characteristics should be when they designed a marketing program”.
— Service intangibility “means that services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled before they are bought. To reduce uncertainty, buyers look for signals of service quality. They draw conclusions about quality from the place, people, price, equipment and communications they can see”. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.261)
— Service inseparability “means that services cannot be separated from their providers, whether the providers are people or machines. If a service employee provides the service, then the employee becomes a part of the service. And customers don’t just buy and use a service; they play an active role in its delivery. Customer coproduction makes provider-customer interaction a special feature of service marketing. Both the provider and the customer affect the service outcome”. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.261)
— Service variability “means that the quality of services depends on who provides them as well as when, where, and how they are provided”. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.261)
— Service perishability “means that services cannot be stored for later sale or use”. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.261)
“Although services are “products” in a general sense, they have special characteristics and marketing needs. The biggest differences come from fact that services are essential intangible and they are created through direct interactions with customers”. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014, p.261)
There are some major effects or issues, requiring different marketing implications, in consequence different characteristics of marketing sector. Because of the intangibility of service it will be difficult to evaluate service propositions for customers, also positioning is difficult before experienced it for example, as a high quality or low quality. Inseparability characteristics of service cause customers’ direct contact with provider. Relationship between provider and client affects quality. Variability means in all the times may not be ensured same quality service, customers may not be satisfied because human is an important element of provision of services. To eliminate perishability factor matching supply and demand is important in services sector because of the service products cannot be stored. Some periods there can be excess of supply or demand. (Lancaster and others, 2002, p.216-219)
Marketing in service sector required different marketing strategies. In the service sector there is an interaction between customers and front-line employees to ensure this service. So, to be successful in service sector both employee and customers should be focused on. In the marketing of a service 4Ps (price, place, product, promotion) of traditional external marketing is used, but they are not enough for a good marketing mix in service sector. It requires external and interactive marketing activities which we can classify them additional 3P’s (people, physical evidence, process). (Lancaster and others, 2002, p.219-220)
2.1. Product in Service Sector
Service is an intangible product. A service product is a cluster of service characteristics and customer advantages. According to Lynnshostack following four risks make to describe service word complex. (Rao, 2007, p.122-123)
⁻ Over simplification; generally service customers do not tell their experiences in detail
⁻ Incompleteness; it is not easy to express service experiences verbally.
⁻ Subjectivity and biased interpretation; people can have different preferences and perception about a service also service quality may change time to time and its effect exposure of customer so expression of experiences would be subjective and biased
To produce a high quality service it important to be well understood service product by customer as well as provider (employees in direct interaction).To design a new service product these four risks should take into account. . (Rao, 2007, p.122-123)
Basic Service Package; “Because of the service product is intangible; it creates some issues for provider. To eliminate these issues and meet customer expectations, needs and wants ideally provider should create a system that fully integrates the intangibles the tangible components of the service. Basic service package helps to understand service products. We can simply express this package with three components”;
⁻ Core service; “reason being in the market”. For example, a university is in sector for education service.
⁻ Facilitating services and (goods); “these services or goods allow using core service for customer. Facilitating services do not facilitate consumption or use of core service, but increase the value of service offering”. For instance, a university required academic staff, equipment, materials to serve education.
⁻ Supporting services; “to have a competitive edge supporting service is important. Supporting services are necessary administration of a system. Innovation, speed, boldness and flexibility examples of supporting services” (Shanker, 2008, p.56-60).
“Management of service firms must select appropriate strategies regarding”
• “What services will be offered”
• “What will be the length and breadth of the service mix offered and”,
• “What, if anything, needs to be done in the way of service attributes such as branding or providing guarantees?” (Stanton,1984,p.501)
New service development is as important for service companies as it is important to develop new products for companies that are selling products. Also, development of existing services and removing the nonadvantageous services is important. To be successful in service sector it is important for the businesses product life cycle and to pursue new market trends. In service marketing to develop a new product depend on the awareness of customers ‘variable needs and necessities (Stanton, 1984, p.501).
2. 2.Price in Service Sector
“Price is what consumers willing to pay for services. How much a costumer has to pay depend on the value he perceives in the service offer. The payment can be any forms-money, barter or return services.”(Monroe, 1990, p.5)
Price formation is an important factor to differ successful and
unsuccessful businesses. For the probability of a firm to determine proper price is a critical factor. In price
formation process both acceptability of price by consumers and profit should be considered (Petrovic, 2009, p.76-80).
Despite, many methods using in price formation of products, can be used for the services because of the different characteristics of service there may be some differences in price formation.
“Price formation is a process depends on expenses, competition, demand, state regulative” (Petrovic, 2009, p.77). These different characteristics may affect price formation process differently depending on market situation or the type of service. For example, the price of a certain service is audited by governmental agencies or local public institutions. For the service marketing price formation is important because purchase of a service generally depend on desires. A buyer can easily delay the purchasing decision. Besides, a low demand elasticity service price may be determined as high, but when elasticity of demand increased, price cannot be reduced easily. A service that needs huge investments is generally executed in monopolistic markets; they are independent in price formation (Petrovic, 2009, p.329-343).
Price factor can be used to create an image for a product and having a comparative advantage. Price generally can be influenced by the demand and rival firms that are sharing same market (Brenan and others.2007, p.331, Avlonitis and Indounas, 2005, p.48).
2.3. Promotion in Service Sector
“The word ‘promotion ‘is derived from the Latin word ‘promovere’, ‘meaning an attempt to shift the attention of people from one end of spectrum (disinterest) to the other (interest)’” (Bhattacharjee, 2006, p.345).Promotion is an important tool in service marketing, It is important for the service marketers to have a advantage in service positioning at the same time to overcome issues that emerge because of the intangible characteristic of a service. It helps to add concrete and value to what is offered. “Promotion is consisting of the following major areas of marketing”.
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Sales promotion
• Personal selling
• Word of Mouth
• Direct Mail
The set of these areas used by a service marketer can be called as promotion mix (communication mix) of a firm. The selection of these areas to create a promotion mix depends on what the marketer planning to do, he or she may want to increase awareness, change the opinions or attitudes, convince to consumer (Bhattacharje, 2006, p.345).
The following characteristics of service are affected on promotion mix. (Palmer, 1976, p.271):
⁻ The tangible characteristic of a service causes higher perceived risk on consumer.
⁻ Promotion of service and service provider is inseparable.
⁻ Observed production process, especially personnel, is an important component of promotion mix.
⁻ Because of inviolable structure and high probability risk of fraud in service sector, it is audited by public or voluntary institutions.
For a successful service marketing there should be purpose of the promotion.
1. Despite target customer is determined in the market segmentation process there may be some specific promotions that needs to be examined in details.
2. A promotion has three main goals these are; to inform, to persuade and to remind.to achieve these goals service marketer should perceive well the objective of the promotion.
3. In service promotion to develop a message is important. To formulate a message some models can be used, one of them is AIDA model developed by E.K. Strong This model simply explains that, a customer is firstly realize a brand then comprise of a desire. Existence of the desire motivate to customer to buy a service. In message development these steps in AIDA model should be followed. For instance, if an university wants to make its target segment aware of the university’s existence then the message will be information oriented. .
4. Another important factor in service promotion is selection of communication mix. A communication consists of personal interaction or impersonal message. Personal communication come into existence with personal selling (university presentation days), word of mouth (publicity and public relation exercises for a university), and interaction during service delivery.( Bhattacharjee,2006,p.345-349)
“Advertising depends on media to carry its message like cinema, TV, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, brochures, pamphlets, direct mail, telephone or posters.” (Bhattacharjee, 2006, p.349)
In the media selection geographical scope of the medium; type and quantity of target consumer, ability to reach target segment, frequency of the reaching target consumer, opportunities of using sound, color and movements. Atmosphere of medium, coverage of medium and comparative cost should be taking into account. .” (Bhattacharjee, 2006, p.349)
“The satisfaction and fulfillment of the needs and desires of individuals depend on the mutual involvement of individuals, companies, institutions, and organizations. Public relations in this regard have an important role in establishing and managing the relations between people and organizations” (Tengilimoğlu, Öztürk, 2011, p.21).
Sales promotions are incentives tools used temporarily boost sales” (C.Bhattacharjee, 2006, p.351). Sales promotion can be used for customers, intermediaries and internal customers.
In marketing of services main sales effort is personal selling. There is a mandatory interaction between buyer and the service seller. It makes personal selling important. Because of the intangibility characteristics of a service sales person should inform customer about the service in detail. Also, in the existence of a bargain seller and buyer must come face to face. (Mucuk, 1998, s.331)
Another marketing technique that increasingly began to using by service firms is direct marketing.
As a result, to be successful in promotion the service should be added tangible, reliable and effective on consumer (Tenekecioğlu, Tokol, 2003, s.223).
2.4. Place in Service Sector
“In services, place decisions basically consist of deciding where to locate the service facility and what channels of distribution to use for delivering the service. The inseparable nature of services makes it necessary that it must be accessible and available to customers in order to facilitate the exchange process. It cannot be stored until a later date; it must be available for consumption at the point of production” (Viswambharan, 2002, p.54).
“Distribution or the place element of the marketing mix is concerned with two main issues, namely, accessibility and availability of services. Accessibility refers to the ease and convenience, with which a service can be purchased, used or received. Availability refers to the extent to which a service is obtainable or capable of being purchased, used or received. Both criteria must be satisfied in order to achieve successful services marketing”.
(Viswambharan, 2002, p.54)
Direct Distribution
The distribution strategy is that the service cannot be separated from its operations, it is a process is applied when the business avoid to use an intermediary in its marketing plan. (Öztürk, 1998, p.323)
Distribution through intermediaries
“ a set of interdependent institutions and agencies involved with the tasks of moving anything of value from its point of conception, extraction or production to the
point of consumption” (Stern, ElAnsary & Coughlan, 1996,p.8)
“a distribution chan
nel may also be “the interface between a provider/distributor and a consumer” (Filser, 1989 ,p. 151)
The intermediaries take the responsibility of deliver the service to the customer. Franchises, Agencies, Middleman, E-distribution channels are the intermediaries using in this method. Agency and middleman have the authority of creating a link between customer and seller the responsibility of the agency’s operations belongs to business. Middleman ensures the agreement between producer and customer but they do not have the right of representing business itself. In case of agencies take a commission to carry on a task. There are many benefits of the working with intermediaries like, to be active in local markets, to save the budget that using to reach customer, to find productive solutions to understand customer needs. (Nargundkar, 2010, p.119-120)
Co-Marketing may mean partnership with another company to sell or distribute one’s service products, or sharing infrastructure (Shanker, 2002p.62-65).
Franchising is the utilization right given by the company to another for a determined zone, time, and region. Franchising profitable and relatively easy marketing strategy, is widely preferred by businesses ( Castrogiovann, Combs,2006,p.27-44).
The e-distribution channels, which are the only sources of no human being directly involved in the service sector.
“a customer can now access …through most sophisticated call-centres, mobile services, Internet Web sites, interactive television services… This is usually referred to as a “bricks and clicks”(Lefebvre,Plé,2003,p.2). The e-distribution channels, which are the only sources of no human being directly involved in the service sector.
“Expanded marketing mix elements referred to as “7 P” of marketing; 4P + People, Physical Evidence, and Process.” (Kotler, Brown, and Makens, 2006, p.299)
2.5. People in Service Sector
“Another member of marketing mix for the service businesses is the participants. Participants include employees of the business, other customers and all human factors.” (Bitner, 1990, p.70)
“The organization’s staff is its prime resource and human resources management is the professional approach to finding and developing the right people”(Woodruffe, 1999, p.177).
According to Booms and Bitner’s 7P’s in service sector, customers, front-line employees, contact employees or other customers meet direct or indirect ways. Because of the inseparability characteristic of a service production and consumption is simultaneous .Success of a service firm significantly depends on the contact employee’s ability to deliver this service. Contact employees can contribute to create an image also can increase the quality of service that provides a comparative advantage for the service provider (Donelly, William and George, 1981, p.48-49).
“Employees are core of quality in the service sector. The criteria for evaluating the service at the consumer level are employees. Even for the service sector it is possible to say employees are the ‘service’” (Öztürk, 2008, p.99).
“In terms of the service sector, the key to distinguishing other businesses is the employees”. (Hoffman, 2006, p.254)
Customer’s experiences after purchase of a service may not meet the customer expectations about the service all the time and customer may not satisfy. In such a situation personnel have two important roles. First one is to shape customer expectations before purchase decision. The logical behavior is tried to understand what customer expect. After they learned expectations the appropriate personnel for this expectation should create solutions for different expectations. Second one is if the customer unsatisfied the employee should take the responsibility of another important factor. The factors which cause customers’ are unsatisfied, should be explained by the employee in a logical way. So it is possible to turn this negative situation into a good service (Üner, 1994.p.9).
2.6. Physical Evidence in Service Sector
The one of the factor that affects demand of a service is the service environment and tools, equipment and devices using to execute this service. These are brochures, letter antennas, business cards, etc. ( Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler,2010,p.1)
“A piece of service evidence is a physical object accompanying a service that cannot be categorized as true product elements”. (Shostack, 1977, p.73-88)
One of the features of service is production and consumption is simultaneously and other one is heterogeneity means service cannot produce in same quality all the time. Because of the concurrence of production and consumption the consumer does not have a chance to try a service before bought it. Because of the service is labor intensive in service business quality of a service may change from one business to another one or from one situation to another inside same business. If we take into account these two factors we can say service industry riskier that product industry. Because of these characteristics consumer will look for some hints before buy a service. Physical evidence is an important resource to ensure consumer hints. Also physical environment effected on customer satisfaction and re purchase decision (Booms and Bitner, 1981p.47-51).
As stated by Bitner (1992) from appearance of personnel to furniture in a business, from music to decoration many factors have been around a service business. The sum of the physical elements that are under the control of the operator brings out the service extensions.
Signs, symbols and items that is placed inside or outside a business, transmit clear signals about the business. Such signage may be in the form of a label indicating the name of the business or the department, or may be indicative of the inputs and outputs for the purpose of routing or conveying the rules of conduct. Materials used in the construction, the workmanship, the certificates on the walls, diplomas, photographs, floor coverings and objects displayed in the surroundings are indirect signals (Öztürk, 2003: 113-114).
2.7. Process in Service Sector
Process is time zone between from production process of a product or a service to deliver this service to consumers. . If we look at in the consumer perspective, process is the time till buying a service and the taken steps in this time. The process affects quality of a service so the process should be set strategically. (Bulut, 2012, p.10)
The process is a sequence of operations and activities that are required to provide the expected quality of the service that the customer desires (Magrath, 1986, p.48). There is a significant relation between to sustain operations in a process at desired level and service quality (İriç, 2014, p. 30-37).The harmony between departments that are necessary for a service is provided by process management.
In a service sector there can be demand fluctuations because of the service cannot be stored some customers’ need may not be meet at the right time. In the high demand or low demand terms service provider may appeal several alternatives. For example personnel hiring, over time work, change in working hours, layoff, discounts, promotions etc. (Üner, 1994, p.27-34)
The demand fluctuations can be controlled by process management. (Karahan, 2000, p.105)
2.8 Marketing in Higher Education Sector
“Higher education possesses all the characteristics of a service industry. Educational services are intangible, heterogeneous, inseparable from the person delivering it, variable, perishable, and the customer (student) participates in the process.”(Shanks, Walker, Hayes, 1993, p.101)
“Consider the following seven market or “product” differen
ces between colleges and other goods or services. At least five of the seven apply to every college and university attempting to attract students from high school, but it is interplay that makes applying advice from other fields treacherous.” (Canterbury, 1999, p.15)
⁻ College choice is a “unique decision”.
⁻ Colleges may have the” influence of total “institutions”.
⁻ Issues of human development constrain this process.
⁻ The importance of college choice discourages open mindedness.
⁻ Colleges seem to question their “customers” competence to choose wisely.
⁻ Family life is irretrievably altered by this choice process.
⁻ What “buyers” are choosing is not clear.
Unique Decision
“Being made by the decision maker for the first time, the outcome of which is relatively important to decision maker, and typically the decision maker not only lacks of information about alternatives and about how they rank on particular attributes, but he or she is not even sure what the ‘important’ attributes of a good decision should be.”(Litten, 1980, p.166)
Total Institution
“Sociologist calls some colleges and universities, as well as monasteries, prisons, summer camps, families for the very young, and some retirement communities, hospitals, and secondary schools, total institutions” (Canterbury, 1999, p.15). Education is a complex service. When a student decide to choose an university he or she should consider components of this institution like education, food and lodging, recreation, social activities etc.(Litten, 1980, p.166)
Human Development
“Although we share attributes and problems with other organizations in society, our marketing will require an indigenous cast. As it has in the past, academic marketing will often have to respond to needs not yet felt by society or individuals” (Litten, 1980, p.164).
Important Decision
“Educational attainment is one of the most potent predictors of life course trajectories in adulthood, and late adolescence represents an age at which critical decisions about education are made” (Sherrod, Haggerty, 1993, p.222).
Colleges Competency
“One of the most obvious actions institutions can take to treat a very early source of enrolled student departure is to ensure that the materials it produces and distributes to prospective students are accurate, complete, and openly reflective, within reason, of the full range of intellectual and social life in the institution. Whatever format information takes, honesty is, within reason, the best policy”. (Tinto, 1987, p.142)
Family
“The entire college application process is rarely accomplished without intra-family bickering, and for some students it has been the culmination of ongoing autonomy struggle” (Karp,Gray,Holstorm ,1988,p.18).
Product
“… college isn’t a business. It’s a peculiar industry where the customer is also the product-and what the customer wants may not always be the best for the product.”(Edmondson, 1987, p.55)
According to Educational Funding Council, in management process or when setting a strategic plan in the higher educational institutions, they should care educational needs of their customer and these need should be met at a reasonable cost this process called higher educational marketing.(Further Educational Funding Council,1998, Kasmaee, Nadi and Shahtalebi, 2016,p.106)
As stated by Kotler & Fox (Kotler and Fox, 1995) there is a global competition in higher education sector for the institution in this sector attracting and to enroll matriculated students is important.(Helgesen,2008,p.51)
For a higher education institution, students, employers, families and society can be classified as customer. (Hugstad, 1997, p.4-13)
“The elements of globalization in higher education (HE) are widespread and multifaceted and the HE market is now well established as a global phenomenon, especially in the major-English speaking nations: Canada, the USA, Australia and the UK. In the context of increasing competition for home-based and overseas students higher educational institutions now recognize that they need to market themselves in a climate of international competition”(Born and Oplatca, 2006, p.316).
“Research into HE choice, or consumer behavior in HE markets, although not extensive, has principally been stimulated by an individual institution’s need to anticipate the long-term implications of choice and to understand the key factors involved in student choice”.”(Born and Oplatca, 2006, p.316)
“Higher education in the world has been affected by many changes regarding to supply and demand for educational services and higher educational institutions are in a condition which forced them to look for a solution to solve their problems. These changes have increased the competition in higher education market and lead to development and expansion of the private sector educational institutions. (Kasmaee, Nadi and Shahtalebi, 2016, p.105)
“In response to these changes, the value, effectiveness and potential benefits of using marketing theories and concepts, which have been effective in the business world, are gradually now being applied by many universities: with a view to gaining a competitive edge, and gaining a larger share of the international market. In light of this, the authors recognize that there is considerable debate surrounding the marketization of HE internationally (particularly in the major English speaking countries), and the political arguments and ethical concerns surrounding this major paradigm shift are ongoing”.”(Born and Oplatca, 2006, p.316)
As stated by Maringe and Gibbs (2009) is a commodity especially in European knowledge-based societies and education can be marketed.
Product
According to Enache 2011 product can be examined in two perspectives for the higher education sector. First one is education offered by universities is a product and students are customers. In second case graduated students are products for the business environment and labor markets are customers.(Enache,2011,p.22-20)
Place
In higher education place means the location of the facility (campus or buildings) of the higher education institution. University provides education service in city where university is located then university can expand its medium according to research and education studies offered by the higher education institution. (Ertürk, 2014, p.24).
Price
Price is called as “tuition fees” in higher education sector. Price directly affects income of HEI .Prices can be influenced by cost of institution and demand for the programs .In Turkey Pricing of state universities managed by YÖK .Private universities’ can benefit three kind of financial source these are foundations, tuition fees and state support.
Promotion
In higher education marketing promotion can be between institutions and students, stakeholders, parents, academics. In HE to understand need and wants of students is important. In HE different marketing strategies can be used like advertisements, direct marketing, online marketing, personal selling and public relations(Ertürk,2014,p.25).
People
The people factor in HE includes, includes academic staff, administrative staff and other parties directly connected with the institution and students. All personnel of the institution is extremely important in fulfilling mission of the institution. (Ertürk,2014,p.25).
Process
The process is the experiences of the students form enrollment to graduation in institution even it
can include process after the graduation like alumni network. (Ertürk,2014,p.25).
Physical Evidence
Physical evidence is the tangible components of the institution. For example, teaching materials, designs of buildings, facilities in the campus etc. Colors, sizes and physical layout of buildings, decorations, availability of facilities such as pools, cafes and restaurants play an important role in students’ and parent’s choice of university because sit provide students to spend more time in institution and feel themselves belonging to institution (Ertürk,2014,p.25).
3. Customer Buying Behavior in Service Sector
“Marketing starts with the needs of the customer and ends with his satisfaction. When everything revolves around the customer then the study of consumer behavior becomes a necessity” ( Durmaz, 2014, p.194).
“Consumer behavior might be the following: The mental, emotional and physical activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs and desires”(Durmaz, 2014, p.194)
Because of the intangible characteristics of a service, it is perceived by a customer as benefit or satisfaction. (Karahan 2000, p.21)
To reach target market knowing consumer behaviors is important. Consumer purchase behavior covers the process of customers decides to purchase or use a product or a service. Every individual’s need and wants is different from each other so they expose different behavior styles. (Gökmen, 2014, p.34-37)
According to Lovelock and Wirtz (Lovelock and Witz, 2010) consumer behavior regarding service consumption is consist of 3 stages; pre-purchase, service encounter and post-encounter stage.
In pre-purchase stage need arousal stimulate the decision making regarding to buy or use a service, triggers of needs are unconscious minds (personal identity, aspirations etc.), physical conditions (hunger), external forces (marketing activities).After need arousal consumer search information to find a solution this need. In decision making process a consumer thinks a set of products and brands (evoked set) to decide, generally this set is derived from past experiences or external sources. Consumer should evaluate alternatives for making a decision. In alternative evaluation process there is three types of attributes. Search attributes (type of food, location, price, type of restaurant etc.) help customers a product before purchasing decision. High in search attributes is easy to evaluate. Consumers cannot asses experience attributes (restaurant meals, haircut, entertainment) before purchase it .Credence attributes (hygiene conditions, healthiness of an ingredient, education, surgery, legal services) are impossible to evaluate confidently even after purchase or consumption. High in credence attributes are difficult to evaluate.
There are some risks perceived by a consumer in the purchase decision process. These are; functional risk, financial risks, temporal risks, physical risks, psychological risks, social risks, sensory risk. This risk can be handled by customers in several ways, information seeking from respected people, looking internet ratings, comparison of services, rely on good reputation firms, guaranty and warranty, visiting service facility for physical evidence, consult well informed employees. These risk perceptions of customers can be managed strategically by service marketers with different methods; free trial, advertising, display credentials, guarantee offer, encouragement of consumer to visit facility, online order tracking etc. Also customer expectations should be understood well (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010, p.10-20).
“The psychological factors that influence an individual’s decision to make a purchase are further categorized into the individual’s motivations, perceptions, learning and his beliefs and attitudes” (Durmaz, 2014, p.194).
• Motivation: “Motivation is an activated internal need state leading to goal-directed behavior to satisfy that need. Accordingly motives can be defined as relatively enduring, strong, and persistent internal stimuli that arouse and direct behavior toward certain goals” (Durmaz, 2014, p.194).
• Perception: “Perception is called as the energy which makes us aware of the world around us and attaches a meaning to it after a sensing process. Each human being in the world sees his/her surroundings differently. Several people have the same ideas about a specific event. No one can see or feel the 100% of all things. Ever wonder why people buy certain products? It is all about perception. Perception is how consumers understand the world around them based on information received through their senses. In response to stimuli, consumers subconsciously evaluate their needs, values and expectations, and then they use that evaluation to select, organize and interpret the stimuli” (Durmaz, 2014, p.194).
• Learning: “Learning describes changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience. In every circumstance our perception is conditioned by our prior experience, for it is this which constitutes our preparatory set or expectations and the framework into which we seek to place and organize new stimuli. In other words, we have learned from our earlier experience and seek to maintain balance or consistency by relating to and interpreting new stimuli in terms of past or learned stimuli” (Durmaz, 2014, p.194).
• Beliefs and Attitudes: “Kotler defines belief as “descriptive thought that a person holds about something” and attitude as “a person’s enduring favorable or unfavorable cognitive evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies toward some object or idea”. Individuals can have specific beliefs and attitudes about specific products and services” (Durmaz, 2014, p.194).
Consumers evaluate a service according to whether service quality could be met their expectation. Expectations may change over time or from one business to another. Service expectations depend on personal needs, beliefs, situational factors and perceptions about service changes.
After evolution of alternatives consumer make purchase decision. There may be tradeoffs.
After purchase decision customer will interact a service provider for a while. This time period called service encounter. Services can be classified as high contact services and low contact services.
The post purchase stage includes assessment of service performance and customer’s intention to repurchase.
Satisfaction is a customer’s attitude regarding a service .A service may be better than expectation it will create a positive effect on customer. It may be same with expectations, customer will be satisfied or it may be worse than expectation and customer will be dissatisfied. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010, p.15-33)
3.1 Students’ higher education institution choice decision process
“The decision-making process which students follow when selecting a HEI is generally a lengthy process because individuals usually progress through all five steps, namely problem/need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, selection, as well as the post-purchase evaluation processes. The steps in the decision-making process can be used by HEIs to identify areas in which they can influence students’ behavior” (Wiese, Heerden, Jordaan, 2010, p.151-152)
⁻ First step is need recognition in decision making process for students, students are aware of higher education is necessary for their future.
⁻ In second step students look for information about the institutions which provides education in department that their planning to study. “The sources of information that students consult, the type of information they need and the amount of search stu
dents engage in, are important information for institutions to
obtain as it will enable them to use the media more effectively to reach students”. (Wiese, Heerden, Jordaan, 2010, p.152)
⁻ In third step students compare and evaluate alternative institutions. There can be used different criteria in evaluation process. “If institutions know which factors students use to evaluate and choose an institution, and the relative importance of each, they can ensure that their image, positioning and marketing strategies implicitly contain the gist of the evaluation criteria” . (Wiese, Heerden, Jordaan, 2010, p.152).In Turkey an examination involved in this process. After students took this exam they choice institutions according to their grades.
⁻ In fourth step an institution is chosen or and educational service is bought. After payment of necessary fees enrollment to the institution is completed.
⁻ “The fifth step consists of the post-purchase processes, namely dissonance (doubt or anxiety), service product use and evaluation” ( Wiese, Heerden, Jordaan, 2010, p.152)
⁻ “The last step in the decision-making process entails that students now use the education product which can have a negative (fail) or positive (pass) outcome.” ( Wiese, Heerden, Jordaan, 2010, p.152)
If the institutions know this decision making process the can develop different marketing strategies and refine target market strategies.
As stated by Hawkins (Hawkins, Best, and Coney, 2004) decision criteria of students can be different form each other. If the institutions aware of these differences they can develop and manage their marketing mix accordingly for a successful recruitment.
A review of previous international studies (mainly reports from English-language literature and conducted in the USA) revealed a variety of potential choice factors considered by students when selecting a HEI.
There are many proposed model by different authors regarding university selection process (Sia, 2011.p181-189).
Chapman Model (1981)
According to Chapman Model university choice related with interactive relation between socioeconomic characteristic of student, aptitude, educational aspiration and achievement and other of external influences.
External factors can be classified into three categories: significant other (friends, parents, high school teachers and counsellors), fixed characteristics of the institution (cost, financial aid, location, programme availability), communication efforts of the college (campus visits, written information, admissions and recruiting activities) (Sia, 2011, p.182).
Hanson and Litten model (1982)
According to Hanson and Litten, university selection is in three stage these are predisposition, exploratory and application/matriculation.
“The predisposition stage is a two-step process.” (Sia, 2011, p.182)
“Hanson and Litten suggested that a parallel financial-aid activity occurs during each stage in the college choice process” (Sia, 2011, p.182).
.” In the first stage, it is the decision-to-apply for financial aid; this financial aid decision may extend in the next phase thereby crossing the first and second phase” (Sia, 2011, p.182).
“The second stage of the model is called the exploratory stage. During this stage, students seek information about postsecondary educational institutions. Principle sources of information available to students are college catalogues and brochures, high-school counsellors, parents, peers and friends. Parents and peers and friends are seen as the most important sources of information” (Sia, 2011, p.182).
“The final stage of the Hanson and Litten college choice process is the application/matriculation stage. This stage begins with the student’s application for admission to his or her selected schools”(Sia, 2011, p.182).
Jackson model (1982)
“Gregory Jackson (1982) proposed a model that is important because it was the first to discuss the idea that different factors were more or less important at different stages of the process (Sia, 2011, p.185).
“Like Hanson and Litten (1982), Jackson has a three-stage model that he broke into sections of preference, exclusion and evaluation”(Sia, 2011, p.185).
“In the preference section, Jackson discussed the characteristics that are most influential in the school choice process. He felt that a student’s academic achievement is the strongest predictor of college aspirations” (Sia, 2011, p.185).
“The second phase in Jackson’s model is the exclusion stage. This stage consists of information gathering activities used to investigate colleges and universities. During this stage, a student will consider his or her options, rejecting some of the unfeasible and obtaining additional information about others”( Sia, 2011, p.186).
The final stage of Jackson’s model is called the evaluation stage. During this stage, the student will select an institution he/she will attend. The key variables in this phased are job attributes, college attributes and the costs associated with each (Sia, 2011, p.186).
Hossler and Gallagher model (1987)
“The Hossler and Gallagher model is a three-stage model. It postulates that students move toward an increased understanding of their postsecondary educational options as they progress through high school” (Sia, 2011, p.186).
“In this model, the first stage of the student college choice process is called the predisposition stage. During this development stage, a student determines whether she or he would like to continue his or her education beyond high schoo
”(Sia, 2011, p.187).
“Once a decision has been made to consider postsecondary options, the student moves to the second development stage, is called search. The search stage consists of information gathering activities used in investigating postsecondary alternatives” (Sia, 2011, p.187).
“In the choice stage of the Hossler and Gallagher model, students evaluate the set of institutions selected for consideration. This evaluation process allows the student to narrow down his or her selection to a specific institution or set of institution to which he or she will apply. The process is complete when the student receives acceptance letters and selects an institution to attend” ( Sia, 2011, p.187).