The Influence of the Stakeholder`s Profile Variables on the Perceived Image of the West University of Timisoara

Abstract

Due to the competitive intensity increase in the academic environment, but also to the desire to attract a higher number of students, the managers of Romanian higher education institutions were forced to adopt in a greater extent a marketing orientation in their activity. An important component of this orientation represents the necessity to build an identity and a unique and competitive image in the minds of all the stakeholders of such institutions. Despite the fact that the subject of institutional image in general, and the image of educational institutions in particular, benefits of a greater attention in the literature, we consider that in the Romanian universities practice there is an insufficient level of concern for this topic. To build such an image that would be correctly perceived by stakeholders, also assumes to be aware of the main factors which influence the way in which this image is perceived.

This paper aims to achieve a review of the specialized literature, after which will identify the main factors which influence the stakeholder’s perception on the image of an organization in general, with particularity on the case of higher educational institutions. Then, using a quantitative research, we aim to highlight the way in which some of the stakeholder`s profile variables influence the perception of the image of the West University of Timişoara.