Sustainable Universities as Brand Marketing for Universities: A Case of Universiti Sains Malaysia

Numerous universities have promoted a sustainable university's brand by offering sustainability curricula, conducting sustainability studies, enforcing sustainable policies, etc. As such, sustainable universities take advantage of the opportunity to market these activities to attract potential students. This research explores international students' perception towards the sustainable brand of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and choosing a sustainable university. The study further examines the influence of factors in choosing USM regarding being USM a sustainable university. A survey was conducted involving 391 international students, using a self-assessment questionnaire followed by collecting and analysing the data using PLS-SEM. The results discovered positive relationships between brand image and brand meaning of USM as a sustainable university regarding students' intention in choosing USM. Aside from that, USM's credibility, informativeness, entertainment, and irritation of information affected students' intention to study at USM. In contrast, the study found that both the perception of USM as a sustainable university and the brand identity of USM as a sustainable university had an antagonistic relationship towards students' intention to study at USM.