Negative publicity effects on students’ perceived image, trust, and loyalty: South African universities’ recovery perspectives.

Abstract

In recent years, universities in South Africa have been subject to a significant amount of negative publicity. The two main types of negative publicity experienced by South African universities include an increase in student protests that have led to many staff members, students and recently members of the public sustaining injuries. There has also been a vast amount of negative publicity regarding crime in and around some universities, as many staff and students have been victims of various crimes in and around universities in South Africa. In the contemporary marketplace, the multi-user two-way communication enabled by technological advancements such as social media, the availability of mobile devices and access to the internet encourages consumers to share and converse about issues such as negative publicity. Thus, students are exposed to this increased negative publicity regarding universities in South Africa. The current study aims to determine if negative publicity regarding student protests and campus crime negatively influences students’ image of the university, students’ trust towards the university as well as students’ loyalty to the university. The current study also aims to determine the responses students believe a university should use to recover from the negative influence of both types of negative publicity. Lastly, the current study aims to determine which communication mediums students believe would be most effective in communicating a university’s response to both types of negative publicity under investigation. Using a qualitative approach, descriptive research was conducted to undertake the current study. The researcher used video interaction via WhatsApp video calls and Zoom meetings to conduct in-depth interviews with a sample size of 30 participants. Non-probability sampling in the form of convenience and snowball sampling was used and the researcher used a thematic analysis to analyse the data that was collected. The results of the current study indicated that both negative publicity regarding student protests and campus crime would negatively influence most students’ image of the university, trust towards the university and loyalty to the university. In terms of responses to the two types of negative publicity under investigation, the current study indicated that universities should respond either by apologising for the negative publicity and assuring students that the problem has been dealt with, denying the negative publicity, or redirecting the students’ attention to the positive aspects of the university. Lastly, the current study has identified practical implications showing that communication mediums such as direct marketing, advertising and public relations are ideal communication mediums to communicate a university’s response to the two types of negative publicity under investigation in the current study. South African universities can use the findings of this study to understand which communication mediums would be effective in communicating a university’s response to negative publicity regarding student protests and campus crime. This will enable them to effectively communicate their responses to these two types of negative publicity in the long term.