A STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING THE STUDENTS TO ENROL IN

UNIVERSITY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT

SUBMITTED BY

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND MARKETING)

PR 0000000000

PROJECT

APRIL 2022
Content Page
Abstract

International student mobility and globalisation has caused universities around the world
to compete for students by promoting their universities and courses using a variety of
methods. Concurrently, prospective international students go through a university search,
decision-making and selection process using a variety of information sources. Before the
advent of social media, traditional information sources such as print media, broadcast media,
education fairs and university websites have been dominant. The popularity and
pervasiveness of social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, now
presents an alternative university information source as many teenagers and students engage,
collaborate and participate in these online communities. This thesis investigates how social
media influences international students decision of course and university.

The data collection process was performed through a survey comprising of demographic;
dichotomous; multiple choice; rating scale and open-ended questions. 167 international
students responded to the survey questionnaire. The findings indicate active social media
participation amongst international students; the role of social media in influencing
international students' decisions on course and university selection and the role of social
media in meeting their information needs. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding
of university and course decision making amongst international students using social media.
It also provides inputs for universities to formulate strategies for social media participation
and recruitment.

Statement of Original Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for
an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and
belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person
except where due reference is made.

Acknowledgements
The research journey is like a beginning without an end. It takes one through a multitude of
emotions of hope, excitement, despair but finally of accomplishment. It becomes even more
challenging when you have to undertake research offshore, with full-time work
responsibilities and missing the support of research peers.
My utmost gratitude to my Principal Supervisor Dr ……………….. who was patient, offered
encouragement and certainly supported me all the way. My Guide my mentor for providing
invaluable inputs at the start of my research. Many thanks to the Research Office, School of
Information Systems, and the Faculty of International Business Marketing for the assistance
and encouragement extended to me over the years.

Special mention for my Family, who shared this long journey with me and who had been a
constant source of inspiration. My siblings -who were there when I needed them during
challenging and difficult times, I dedicate this research to my parents - my mother who
departed just as I was beginning my research journey and my father, who departed just as I
completed my research.

Finally, my appreciation to the handful of close friends who shared my research journey in
some way or the other.

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION

The advent of information and communications technology has changed the way
people and organisations function, communicate, transact, recruit, and conduct business. To
keep pace with the ever-changing business and marketing trends, business organisations have
integrated information and communications technology & internet technology into their
business and communication processes as well as production and marketing strategies. The
advent of Social media and now social media innovation and development has influenced
organisations to discover effective and sustainable ways to communicate with their consumer
base and to attract prospective consumers or clients. This new communication and marketing
challenge now extends to universities and educational institutions that attempt to influence
international students' decision-making processes.

Previously, traditional information sources such as print and broadcast media, friends,
family and websites have been dominant sources of university course information.
Increasingly however, many studies of youth, teenagers and Gen Y overwhelmingly suggest
that they are prolific users of the Internet and in particular social media applications. As
future prospective students, they are likely to turn to social media applications such as
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, to seek university course information.

The first three sections of this chapter outline the background and context of the
research, and its purposes including significance and scope of the research. The next section
shows the details summary of the literature and the key concept of the research. Finally, the
third chapter includes an theoretical framework and research methodology used in this
research.

International student mobility and globalisation has caused universities around the
world to compete for students by promoting their universities and courses using a variety of
methods. Concurrently, prospective international students go through a university search,
decision-making and selection process using a variety of information sources. Before the
advent of social media, traditional information sources such as print media, broadcast media,
education fairs and university websites have been dominant. The popularity and
pervasiveness of social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, now
presents an alternative university information source as many teenagers and students engage,
collaborate and participate in these online communities. This thesis investigates how social
media influences international students decision of course and university.
 The data collection process was performed through a survey comprising of
demographic; dichotomous; multiple choice; rating scale and open-ended questions. 167
international students responded to the survey questionnaire might be more or less. The
findings indicate active social media participation amongst international students; the role of
social media in influencing international students' decisions on course and university
selection and the role of social media in meeting their information needs. Overall, this study
contributes to the understanding of university and course decision making amongst
international students using social media. It also provides inputs for universities to formulate
strategies for social media participation and recruitment.

Definitions
This study will only use and include conceptual definitions. A conceptual definition is a
standard, commonly understood definition of a particular term. The definition of terms relies
on concepts which are usually derived from dictionary, published journals, and studies. The
terms used in this study are as follows:
• Traditional information sources: these are information sources that are not social
media, for example, print media such as brochures and prospectuses; broadcast media such as
radio and television; road shows & exhibitions; friends, family, high school counselors, and
websites.
• Social media information sources: Information sources from social media sites such
as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram.
• Social media: Social media is the collective of online communications channels
dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.
Applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking,
and wikis are among the different types of social media (Whatis, 2012).
• Social media marketing techniques: Social media marketing is a form of Internet
marketing that utilises social networking websites as a marketing tool. The goal of social
media marketing is to produce content that users will share with their social network to help a
company increase brand exposure and broaden customer reach. Social media marketing helps
a company get direct feedback from customers (and potential customers) while making the
company seem more personable. The interactive parts of social media give customers the
opportunity to ask questions or voice complaints and feel they are being heard. Social media
marketing has become more common with the increasing popularity of Twitter, Facebook,
Myspace, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
• International student recruitment: "is a core part of student admissions for many
colleges and universities" (LFHE, 2012).
• Prospective students: Students seeking a university course of study during whilst in
high school.
• International students: "are persons admitted by a country other than their own,
usually under special permits or visas, for the specific purpose of following a particular
course of study in an accredited institution of the receiving country. International students are
students who do not hold the citizenship of the country for which the data are collected"
(OECD, 2003).
• Marketing: Marketing originated with the 4 P's - Product, Price, Place, Promotion
but over the years has evolved into a number of other marketing strands such as relationship
marketing, services marketing and now social media marketing. Marketing is the activity, set
of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging
offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large (AMA, 2013).
• Decision-making: it is “the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the
available options” (Business Dictionary, n.d.).

1.1 BACKGROUND

The face and structure of international student recruitment is evolving due to the
continued social media revolution that affects people's behavior, decision making, beliefs,
and perceptions. The demassification of communication media and technology led to
university student’s empowerment and tougher competition among universities and higher
educational institutions (Flew, 2011, p. 165). The impact of social media and Internet
technology on people's buying behavior and decision making pressured educational
institutions to adapt to the new trends and developments by becoming more responsive and
effective in adopting and implementing recruitment and marketing techniques.

However, universities confront a number of issues and challenges in the development

and implementation of their marketing goals and strategies. Some of these issues and
challenges include lack of knowledge of and expertise in the use of social media as a
marketing tool, poor Internet-based marketing techniques, the expanding complexity of
marketing and recruitment strategies and practices, the fast-evolving social media, the
changing decision-making and communication choices and processes of potential students
using new devices and social media platforms and applications.

The advent and development of Web 2.0 led to the explosion of social media, which
include social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, wikis, blog sites, hosted
services, video-sharing sites (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, NetFlix, Hulu, Yahoo, etc.), and web
applications, among others. Many studies show that social media attract young people,
particularly teenagers. For example, a recent survey shows that 73 percent of Europeans, or
around 347 million users, currently use social network sites (Insites, 2011). The most popular
social network site in Europe is Facebook with at least 62% registered users.

1.2

Social Media Sites becomes universal in the future; it is a new door into an old house
Spierings, N., & Jacobs, K. (2014). Social Media is useful to put a citation, download
information and creates awareness Social Media on Preferential Voting.

Social Media has changed the individual life for that reason it will help the people
freely interact with each other's Holmberg, K., Haustein, S., & Beucke, D. (2016).. The three-
component desired Social Media Sites usage (i) Virtual (ii) internet-based community with
widely accessible tools and (iii) access to publish and view information Rishika, Rishika, et
al. (2013).

1.3 Educational Impact

Social media sites allow people to maintain connections with friends and family
members moreover it has used for educational purposes and facilitated learning experiences.
Social networking sites have recently harvest academic attention in promoting democracy
and openness in both developed and developing religious. [15].

Several papers have discussed the positive and negative impact of social media. All
the studies have indicated that the homogenous sites used by the people are Facebook and
Twitter. Facebook is a tool for sharing information to the public and individuals, whereas
Twitter used for sharing directed the dispersal of information [16]. Social Media Sites
occupied as an important role in our lives, while its impact depends on the people who use it
and how they use it [17].
 He urges that social media sites should provide a safe space for users. Facebook and
Twitter have made a significant impact among the users. The positive impact of social media
sites on education to be measured with the help of new skills, quality education, familiarity
and, enhancing creativity. while the negative impact identified whit the help of reduces
learning, poor academic performances, and privacy [18].

Continues usage of social media sites may be caused by the life of college students.
There are many challenges which are harming the students when they are using social
networking sites like privacy, health issue, real friendship, and other challenges by
overcoming the challenges and negative impacts the students try to reduce the amount of time
spent on social networking sites. We carefully analyzed the qualitative data related to
educational impact with social media sites which is most relevant and appropriate for the
study.

1.4 Tool for Collaborative Learning

Social media networking sites acting as an intermediate among the students.
Notwithstanding he suggests few methods which are helpful to the students to learn education
throughout social media, the instructors supplement lecture material online, in the
participating online discussion students can clarify their doubts. Students should be advised
to use some social media such as Twitter and Facebook, in and out of class to discuss
common topics, apart from the classroom teaching he advised to used some videos on social
media such as YouTube or Vimeo. The instructors have sent their writing, video, audio, and
interaction on social media [19].

The young children are using social media sites from home, school, and library for
entertainment and social purposes and learned from family, friends, and peers [20].
In some of my study Social networking sites assist the students in developing digital
literacy practices and academic literacy practices and also they encounter important questions
about the privacy, management, ownership, and identity representation [21].
By means of modern technologies social media sites, usually seen for instance,
Facebook and Twitter everywhere using by the students and also it allows to people maintain
connections with family and friends sharing information to a larger of users within seconds.
Further, it can be used for educational purposes and make easy learning experience. Social
networking sites are a suitable platform that allows teachers and students to organize,
collaborate, share, and discuss issues. With the advent of social media development, a
successful teacher can make significant changes like improving technology skills and science
learning.

1.5 Survey from Existing Literatures

The middle school student's used social media for the reason to connect their friends,
sharing information, and monitor what others doing in the social media. Most used social
media among the middle schools accounted for 27% /25% /25% Instagram, Snapchat and
YouTube respectively.

Their study amongst the English school pupils they have used Instagram for the
reason of appreciated their images. Whereas Facebook used by them for interact with other
i.e., family, friends and neighbors, While Twitter is the main platform of school banter, but
WhatsApp used for making a conversation between the genders, while Snapchat used for
sharing information only amongst the best friends .

Amongst the total portion of the college students 98.9% using social media keeping
touch with friends, followed by 70.9% for entertainment purposes and the rest of 79.3% in
touch with their family. Additionally, this study shows Facebook is the most preferred social
media site among college students after that Twitter, LinkedIn, and Myspace..

This study conducted about the use of social media by students at Wuhan University,
China. The researcher identified that there is a huge impact between the international students
who are using social media and affecting factors. The main anxiety in using social media is
privacy [27].

Factor affecting social networking sites by college students for that purpose
Technology Acceptance Model (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude)
was implemented for the study. The results reveal that variables usefulness and ease of use,
feelings of flow experience and risk, child level of access are positively correlated with the
usage of [28].
 Finally social media take up a important role among the youngster's, college students,
professionals, business people, and elders also. Consequently, wherever we go there might be
a person who could be scrolling their mobile phones all this happens due to the technological
development for the reflection the Smartphone has been invented; this will give us the entire
world in a single hand. The social media networking such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter,
Myspace, Instagram, etc., freely allowed people to access these sites. Everyone has to
become a member of this social media and seek their friends, relatives, colleagues, and peer
group. Most of the social media are very useful rather than fever Medias has to give some
consequences because of the member of these sites has to handle badly. Some may use their
sites for post recent news, events, updating information even though few of them use their
sites for post fake information, old messages and try to morph photos it should be avoided
then only the ultimate purpose the social media sites reached the people. The researcher has
reviewed various relevant pieces of literature throughout various sources. Most of the
researchers have SMS with various fields, whereas this study going to discover the most
influenced factors which is impact students.

1.6 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Students entering colleges and universities are considered digital natives (Thompson,
2007) and the “Social Networking Generation” (Joly, 2007, p.71) due to their frequent
engagement in social networking activities (Schroeder & Greenbowe, 2009). This is
supported by figures from the 2012 The PEW Internet Project which revealed that 73% of
online teens and 72% of young adults, who would comprise of prospective university
students, use social network sites for a variety of purposes. Morris (2012) suggested that
social media is used by students to assist in the university decision making process. This is
supported by Levitz (2012) who observed that 46% of prospective students visited a college's
Facebook page and 69% “liked” a college's page. Similarly, universities are also engaging
actively on social media which as Taylor (2008) suggests if effectively tapped and designed,
may help in the university's branding.
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Literature Review
Cheffey et al., (2006) defines that Search engine optimization has been defined in
different ways by authors to capture the dynamic nature of this concept. For example,
Cheffey et al., (2006) defined Social media as a structured approach used to increase the
position of an Institute or its products in search engine natural or organic results listings for
selected keywords or phrase. Search engine optimization is a set of techniques aimed at
improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings, thereby making it more likely
that the end user will choose to visit the site (Vryniotis, 2015). Social media gathers the
techniques leading to a better indexing of one’s site by one or several targeted search engines
(Gandour and Regolini 2011). It is also defined as the process of identifying factors in a
webpage which would impact search engine accessibility to it and fine-tuning the many
elements of a website so it can achieve the highest possible visibility when a search engine
responds to a relevant query (Zgang and Dimitroff, 2005).

Its role is to achieve the highest position or ranking on search engines, such as
Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search and so on, after a specific combination of keywords or key
phrase that is typed in. The final goal is for the site to be better ranked by one or several
targeted search engines and therefore appearing higher in their results lists for specified
requests (Gandour and Regolini 2011). Search engine optimization is a systematic approach
to improving the membership website on the Internet unpaid wage (Organic result), and focus
on the number of visitors to the site and don’t on the quality of the search engine, (Google,
Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, 2010).

Social media factors are notoriously difficult to enumerate, as search engines do not
reveal the specific factors used when determining the ranking of a website (Lourdes and
Paloma 2013). Social media factors can generally be categorized into two groups (Enge et al.,
2009; Evans,2007 SEOmoz, 2009). The first group, known as on-page factors, includes those
factors related to information that can be gathered directly from the pages of a website whose
relevance is to be optimized, such as the existence and frequency of keywords. The second
group, known as off-page factors, includes those factors related to information about the
website being optimized that can be collected from other, external websites. This study will
focus on on-page factors.
 According to Evans (2007), search engines constantly work to improve their ranking
calculations which complicate matters further. As a result the calculated relevance of
webpages has been observed to have varied over time, due to changes in the relative weights
assigned to individual Social media factors, as well as the incorporation of new factors and
the elimination or modification of others. In the case of Google, for instance, the
identification of more than 200 factors which have varied over the lifespan of the search
engine has, thus far, prevented the definition of a precise method by which the high ranking
of a website on the search engine could be guaranteed. Despite these difficulties, the peer
group assembled by Social media identified the most critical Social media components to
include keywords, titles, web site name, and the right top level headings.

With the proper usage of a keyword phrase, a web site is more likely to appear in the
first page of search results and be seen by the people that an organization wants to get to their
web page (SEOmoz, 2009). Google recommends that a web site page should have a short but
unique and accurate page title. The description meta tag is not seen on the page, but should
have useful and more detailed information than the page title. The filename of the page or its
page address should be worded so that it is easily understood by a visitor (Google, Search
Engine Optimization Starter Guide, 2010). The easiest way to optimize a web site is to enter
appropriate text in the web site's title, meta description, headings, and page content that
search engines recognize (Goldsborough, 2005).

In addition to using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, Google

recommends using a general sitemap for human visitors and an XML Sitemap to improve the
visibility of pages to users and search engines. Navigation should be simple to follow and be
made from text instead of Flash or JavaScript (Google, Search Engine Optimization Starter
Guide, 2010). Also, Google recommends using the Robots.TXT file to let search engines
know what should be shown in search results and what should be hidden. A site without a
Robots.TXT file cannot grant search engines the permission needed to look at their pages or
show search results to searchers (Google, Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide,
2010).The common elements that occur among different sources are the elements that were
used in the instrument. The Social media component elements include these seven items: the
H1 header tag, page titles, description meta tag, relevant keyword use, user friendly page
address, Sitemap.XML file presence, and Robots.TXT file presence.
Research conducted worldwide on search engine optimization is considered very few. We
can assume that this research is the first one to tackle this issue in Jordan and maybe in the
Arab world as well. Most of the research focused on search engine in general (Ramaraj,
2013), search engine advertisement (Jafarzadeh, 2011), and search engine optimization in
education (Gandour and Regolini 2011). Based on that, research that link Social media with
online advertisement is considered very rare. In the following lines we will highlight some of
previous studies focused on Social media and online advertisement.

The purpose of Evans (2007) paper was to identify the most popular techniques used
to rank a web page highly in Google. The paper presents the results of a study into 50 highly
optimized web pages that were created as part of a Search Engine Optimization competition.
The study focuses on the most popular techniques that were used to rank highest in this
competition, and includes an analysis on the use of Page Rank, number of pages, number of
in-links, domain age and the use of third party sites such as directories and social
bookmarking sites. A separate study was made into 50 non-optimized web pages for
comparison. The paper provides insight into the techniques that successful Search Engine
Optimizers use to ensure a page ranks highly in Google.

While Singh et al., (2011) investigate the impact of Search Engine Optimization on
Advertisement. The paper evaluates the impact of Social media on firms' advertisement in IT
companies of north India. The study use quantitative and qualitative research methodology.
The results of the study show that search engine optimization affects advertisement and sales.
Most of the people use the search engines like Google, MSN, AltaVista etc for searching for
product or services and more than 90% people select the product from first page only and out
of that 90% more than 80% select the product or services from first three or four.

The companies who are using the Social media for the purpose of advertisement are
getting more new customer than the companies using the other methods. After applying the
statistical tools, its shows that the objectives of the research is very much true and there is a
visible effect of the Social media on the advertisement of companies and the companies using
the Social media for the advertising are generating revenue than the other companies.

Kaurin and Dragić, (2012) research aimed to determine the influence of Meta Tags
usage on web rating within Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) by examining travel
agencies in Serbia, as a relatively new but the large market, and their knowledge and right
usage of available technologies of Meta Tags usage. Research covered a total of 66 travel
agencies operating in Serbia. Companies are mostly from cities in the regional centers. The
study used quantitative and qualitative research methodology. Research result shows that 41
of 66 companies (62%) are maintaining their own website, and that the rest (25 companies,
38%) don’t have their internet presentation or are using other websites for their promotion.
Because the research should provide the website positioning within SERP, we would be
considering only those companies that have their own website presentation. Berman and
Katonay (2012) study the impact of search engine optimization on the competition between
advertisers for organic and sponsored search results.

Lourdes and Paloma (2013) conducted an interesting research on the relationship

between SEO on-page factors and web accessibility. Access to web content is the central link
between SEO and accessibility. The research described arose from an investigation into the
observed phenomenon that pages from accessible websites regularly appear near the top of
search engine (such as Google) results, without any deliberate effort having been made
through the application of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to achieve this. The
research provides firm evidence that the overlapping factors not only serve to ensure the
accessibility of a website for all users, but are also useful for the optimization of the website’s
search engine ranking. The paper demonstrates that any Social media project undertaken
should include, as a prerequisite, the proper design of accessible web con-tent, inasmuch as
search engines will interpret the web accessibility achieved as an indicator of quality and will
be able to better access and index the resulting web content.

Our paper is connected to several different literatures, including a handful of

academic papers on Social media which provide important theoretical insights into search
engine optimization (Berman and Katona, 2012; Xing and Lin, 2006; and Sen, 2005). These
papers highlight several features of the equilibrium interaction between websites and search
engines that we take into account in our empirical analysis, including the endogeneity of the
rank of organic links and the position of sponsored links in search results. To the best of our
knowledge, there is no antecedent empirical research on Social media.

There is, however, a sizeable theoretical and empirical literature on search engines
that focuses on the sponsored links that appear alongside the organic results. The theoretical
literature has in particular focused on the auction mechanism behind these paid results (e.g.,
Edelman, Ostrovsky, and Schwarz, 2007; Varian, 2007). Earlier studies took user behavior as
given; more recent work by Chen and He (2011) as well as Athey and Ellison (2012) take
into account that users search optimally. White (2012) and Xu, Chen, and Whinston (2012)
focus on trade-offs between organicand sponsored search results.

The empirical research on search engines has mostly focused on sponsored search as
well. Yao and Mela (2011) develop a dynamic structural model of keyword advertising that
takes optimal consumer behavior into account. Animesh, Ramachandran, and Viswanathan
(2010) focus on quality uncertainty in sponsored search markets and find some evidence of
adverse selection, but only for unregulated sponsored search markets. Ghose and Yang
(2009) focus on ad placement and its effects on profitability and find a negative relationship
between position and click-through rate as well as conversion rates. Agarwal, Hosanagar, and
Smith (2011) also find a negative relationship between position and click-through rates but
find a positive relationship with conversion rates, which means that the top position is not
necessarily the most profitable.

Our paper is also related to three recent papers that focus on the relationship between
sponsored and organic search results. Yang and Ghose (2010) find organic clicks to be
positively related to the presence of sponsored links, and vice versa. However, the presence
of an organic link increases the utility of a sponsored listing more than the other way around.
Similarly, Agarwal, Hosanagar, and Smith (2012) find the presence of a link in the organic
search results to be positively related to the click-through rate for sponsored links, but
negatively related to conversions. A third paper by Jerath, Ma, and Park (2013) uses clicks
data based on 120 keywords to examine how the “popularity” of different keywords impacts
clicking behavior. Their results suggest that less popular keywords are “more targetable” for
sponsored search advertising than more popular keywords.

Finally, our research is related to a very large literature documenting the importance
of screen position and a seller’s reputation or brand equity9 for retailers selling through other
online channels including price comparison sites, shop bots, and auction sites (Brynjolfsson
and Smith, 2000; Melnikand Alm, 2002; Dellarocas, 2003; Baye and Morgan, 2009; Baye et
al., 2009; and De los Santos,Hortaçsu, and Wildenbeest, 2012). While the broad message is
that branding, screen position, consumer attributes, and retailer characteristics are all
important determinants of click-through behavior in these channels, to date, little is known
about their impact on Social media

Further elaborating this trend search engines has become a vital need and daily tool
for internet users and online advertising media. Today, internet market top Search engines are
turning profit from advertising, entertainment, social media networks, daily use applications
(e.g. maps) and online product sales and services. Internet advertising/ online advertising
revenue in the United Estate totaled $26 billion dollars in year 2010 with increase of 15%
over last year 2009. (Silverman, 2011) Internet traffic and business is growing day by day
which indicates a massive growth in internet marketing and web development field.

Search engine indexing processes refers to the methods and techniques used by search
engines to read and include your website content and data in their data repositories. Exploring
the content of the Web pages for automatic indexing is the key importance for efficient
ecommerce and other applications of the Web. It allows users, including International
Students and businesses to locate the best sources of their use. (Chung, 2001) It is important
to keep index your all Web pages to get maximum ranking by search engines. If your website is
not indexed by search engine is like a huge shop without signboards and International Students .

A search engine is program or software which fetches/retrieves data, files and information
from a collective database or from the computer network. A Web search engine has three
main parts. These are Web crawler, Indexer and searching. Web crawlers are programs that
use the graph structure of the Web to move from page to page. In their infancy such programs
were also called wanderers, robots, spiders, fish and worms, words that are quite evocative of
Web imagery. (Gautam, 2004) Indexing is the process in which search engine store the
crawled data with three processes i-e parsing, indexing document (storage) and sorting. The
goal of searching is to provide quality search results efficiently. The goal uses a query
evaluation process for searching. (Page, 2001)

In first step you make a specific Social media strategy which is the part of Social
media planning process. In second step you execute the essential steps which are predefined
in strategy. Then you analyze the Social media process and finally you get in optimization
process and see the results. Social media strategy is not unique to all types of websites, for
different kind of websites the Social media strategy will be different and also the time frame
of the Social media campaign to show the desired results. Social media strategy is further
divided into its phases with respect to Social media components. All of these strategies can be
rolled up to single artifact which is Social media plan. These can be content strategy, link
building Strategy, search engine marketing strategy, social media strategy, search engine
targeting strategy, technical strategy etc. (Jerkovic J. , 2009).

After making a brief Social media strategy it is time to define goal and your target
audience. The main goal of Social media campaign is to get website high up in the search
results on its target keywords. In this process you define your target audience, what clients
want to sell or promote, which sort of visitors will be target, which area or country and time
frame to complete it. It is very important to measure your goal and efforts and what outcomes
are in resulting of your Social media efforts. While web traffic measurement relates to the
optimization effectiveness measures, goal means more to the business effects of Social
media. Goal measurement is essential because it is completely possible to increase traffic
while hurting your business. (Tonkin, 2010) It depends upon the product or services you are
offering. For example, a restaurant in Rome, Italy business has first goal to get ranked locally
search engine and to get International Students from Rome, Italy area. The basic ingredients
of search engine optimization are:

o Quality content
o Relevant keywords
o Strong meta language properties,
o Internal links throughout the site,
o External links (back links) to the site. (Gifford, 2010)

2.2 Search Engines versus Directories

Search engines are operated by scripts and machine code. Some of them have human
editors, but, by and large, search engines are run by automated relevancy algorithms.
Directories are human-compiled lists of sites organized by categories. Since directories are
entirely human-edited, they take time and effort to maintain. Whenever I create a new site
and I am happy with it, I submit it to a about a half dozen or a dozen directories. A few of the
larger directories are listed in the next section. In addition, you can find a relationship chart
that clearly shows how the largest search engines and directories interact here:
 Kotler,(1994)- According to a research concentrating on the advertisers viewpoint,
advertisement is an important tool which companies use to directly persuade buyers and
public .
Being a key element in the marketing process, advertisements face many challenges in
reaching the audience.

Krugman, 1975- One of the main obstacles is the low audience involvement . In most
forms of communication, the audience least make some effort to pay attention or appear to be
doing so. The adverts are meant for the audience to watch but unfortunately the audience is
likely to take active steps in avoiding them. The advertiser therefore have problem of making
loomed perhaps generally evasive audience pay attention to what is going on or at least
enough to get basic selling message The challenge gets more difficult in a multiracial country
such as Malaysia.

Bonnex,(1975)- The existence of the advertisement rooted in Malaysia dated back to

the 1971 as claimed by in his thesis. His theory is even supported by the Honourable Minister
Tan Sri Gazali’s speech in 1971(Bernama, 1971). Advertising agencies fuel the basic needs
of a company to plan, strategise and introduce their product in the market. It is one of the
basis of the supply chain and many advertising agencies are involved in this business in
Malaysia.

Aaker and Mayers, 1975 As known for decades, advertisement is one of the main
strategies in marketing either a product or service. It can be defined as “An Advert that does
not create a buying response, or at least produce a desire to want to know more is not an
advert” (Quinn, 1985).

Porter (1980). The value chain is a systematic approach in examining the

development of competitive advantage. It was introduced by one of the pioneer in the ICT
and business industry Potter also explains the sources of cost reduction and differentiation
within a firm. Potter treats every firm as a collection of activities carried out to develop,
strategically market, deliver and maintain its products or services.
Haron et al., 2017; Handa, 2018, Understanding the determinants of decision
making it is vital nowadays especially for private University because students entering higher
education institutions these days are different than those of previous generations. As
information, private University was chosen for this study for the reason that private
University has grown strongly as cited by Naidu and Derani (2016). In an increasingly
competitive University sector, private University at current struggling tough challenge in
getting suitable number of students in order to sustain in the market. (Dennis et al., 2016). In
this study three factors namely as institution rankings, institution facilities, and employment
opportunities will be focus on to as factor influence student to enrol at private University.

2.3 Students' Decision Making

Wadhwa (2016) and Mohamad and Hussein (2018). Decision making process is a
part of consumer behavior. Choosing a University is a critical stage for all undergraduates
who have a plan to further their study at University level. Students are highly selective when
deciding on which University they should to enroll, because the there is ample option
available in the market. The competition among the Post Graduate University lead to tough
competition. That competition translated to high bargaining power of students in which, they
have the power to choose. Decision making at the same time have been made easier by the
current information technology. Students have the luxury to choose based on the comparison
and reviews made by the alumni.

Meyer (2018) also highlighted that the decision-making by students will be based on
their purpose and intention. University in the industry need to understand the students' needs
and wants beside the capability of them to pay for the fees. The influences that affect student
decisions usually come from a variety of factors. Decision making process happen after a
student satisfied with the evaluation on the factors that exists that meets with their need.

According to Hossler and Gallagher (1987), the decision making process is simply
defined as the process through which student decide whether to go to University or not.
Furthermore, it also can be defined as the selection of an University to attend.
 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss and justify the methodological processes
applied in this research to respond to the research question, sub-research questions and
research objectives. The rationale for the research approach, philosophy, purpose, strategy
and time horizon adopted in this research are discussed. In addition, there are discussions
about the methods that were rejected and such rejection justified. The choice of data
collection methods and sampling techniques are discussed and matters concerning reliability
are also considered in this research. Furthermore, this chapter exposes the ethical
considerations and limitations associated to the research methodology adopted for this
research. Ultimately, this chapter enhances replication of the methods of research employed
thereby backing up the reliability of this study (Fink, 2003).

3.2 Research Question

The overall design or direction of a study is expressed by its research question or
questions (Flick, 2009, p. 98). To be entirely relevant, the research questions must support the
goals or objectives of the study. The researcher must clearly define and establish the scope
and limits of the research questions because they serve as the basis of the research design.

One good characteristic of a well-defined research question is that it clearly,

unambiguously defines and identifies the research topic and the nature of the research
endeavor (O'Leary, 2004, p. 29). The main research question for this study undoubtedly
satisfies this topical, conceptual requirement. As O'Leary (2004, p. 28-29) argued, a good,
well-defined research question is able to:
• Define the research topic: the influence or impact of social media advertisement on
international students' university decision-making.
• Define the research endeavor: the purpose of the study is to explore and investigate
the role of social media advertisement use in international students' university
decision-making process.
• Define the questions the researcher is mainly interested in: how do social media
influence or impact international students' university decision-making; what are the
most commonly used social media advertisement sites and channels used by
international students; what are the most effective social media advertisement sites
and marketing techniques to be used to attract and/or recruit international students,
etc.
 Table 3.1: Main & Secondary Research Questions

Main Research Secondary Research Questions Research

Question Methodology &

Target
1. What social media advertisement do
What impact or Methodology:
influence factor international students use to search for a
- Survey
do social media university?
Target Group:
2. Which social media advertisement sites
advertisement - International
have on influence international students' university
Students
international decision-making process?
3. What are the international students' social media
student's
university usage and preference?

decision making 4. What are the social media sites and channels that
process? can be used by colleges and universities to
recruit and attract international students?

3.3 Research objectives

The research objectives solidify the relationships between the research problem,
question and goals. The rigorous process of defining and designing a clear, concise statement
of research objectives is not just a matter of creating a specific statement of the goals
involved. As Lank shear (2004) argued, usually there will be no "single definitive set of
objectives for a given aim, since the aim might be satisfied by various sets of objectives."
This is definitely the case in this study, as the study's fundamental aim is expressed or
fortified by a number of research objectives. The explanation for this is that this study is
somewhat complicated because it focuses on a number of key areas, namely, international
students' perception and social media use, social media marketing, and the impact of social
media on international students' university decision-making.

The main research aim is: To investigate how and whether social media
advertisement impacts or influences international students' university decision-making
process. The research objectives that are aligned with the secondary questions are as follows:
1) To determine if students use social media for university and course selection.
2) To determine if social media influences the university course selection process of
potential students.
 3) To identify social media sites and features that universities could engage on and
integrate to attract and recruit students.
3.4 Research Questions
1. Which social media sites influence students' university decision making process?
2. What are the social media sites and channels that can be used by universities to recruit
and attract students?

3.5 Research hypotheses

If research questions pertain to what the researcher seek to investigate, research
hypotheses are the researchers' tentative or presumptive answers to the questions (Maxwell,
2005, p. 69). Its purpose is mainly to indicate the researcher's interest in the given topic and
that his goal is to prove or disprove his pre-set assumptions or tentative answers. That is,
research hypotheses are the expected results and they serve as the temporary window to the
study (Thomas, Nelson & Silverman, 2012, p. 58).
In this study the research hypotheses are as follows:
• H1: Social media marketing can effectively influence international students' university
decision-making process.
• H2: International students turn to social media advertisement for university decision-
making.
These hypotheses may be verified or disproved by empirical evidence or by the results and
findings of this study.

3.6 Research Framework

Planning of the actual research to be undertaken after the researcher decides on the
overall problem is necessary in order to obtain effective results. Therefore, it is critical that
the researcher applies a systematic and scientific mechanism while conducting the research
(Rommel, 1964). Additionally, Robson (2002) argues for the need to often question
inferences and observations as this is exhibit for healthy scepticism and an understanding of
the ethical issues inherent in the research. This can be best achieved through the adoption of a
research framework (Remedy et al.,1998).

The research framework adopted as a guide to addressing the main research question,
research strategies and method for this research is the research onion proposed by Saunders,
Lewis & Thornhill (2007). The research onion comprises of layers that help in the
identification of the key aspects of the research process as shown in Figure shown below.
E1 Privacy
E2 Friendship
E3 Illegal Problems
Influencing Factors
E4 Advertisement
E5 Risk Identity
E6 Easiest Share
E7 Post

3.2 Fig. Sources: Self Computed Model

The above graph exhibits the seven factors that are derived after the analysis of data. Further,
it will test with Dependent and Independent variables.

The research model above shows how the impact of the independent variables; Privacy.
Friendship illegal Problems Advertisement effects on students Risk Identity for users, or
Easiest Share or by posting any advertisement on Social Media Therefore, this research
framework shows the aim is to investigate the degree of correlation between the dependent
variable and the independent variables of these variations in the result.

The data collection instrument designed for this study was based on the gaps and
issues emerging from the literature review. In addition, the questions were linked back to the
main research question and the secondary research questions.

Generally, there are two approaches to research rationale, which could lead to new
knowledge acquisition i.e. deductive and inductive reasoning. According to Hyde (2000) the
role of the data versus the role of theory in the two approaches creates the main distinction
between the two approaches. The deductive approach entails a process of testing theory that
stems from an established generalization or theory. Furthermore, the deductive approach
seeks to determine whether a theory is applicable to particular examples (Hyde, 2000).
Overall, research applying the deductive approach probes theory, develops logical inferences
on the basis of the theory and provides such inferences in hypothetical or propositional form.
These hypotheses are then tested empirically and presented via generalized conclusion on the
basis of falsification or confirmation of the propositions and hypotheses generated (Arlbj0rn
& Halldorsson, 2002).
On the other hand, the inductive research approach does not require any knowledge
related to general literature or framework. Instead, inductive reason involves a process of
theory building that begins with observing certain instances and pursuing the establishment of
generalizations concerning the phenomenon being investigated (Hyde, 2000). In the initial
stages of the inductive research approach data are analysed and the development of theory
follows. This is opposition to the deductive approach, where a researcher probes a theory in
an attempt to substantiate a hypothesis on the basis of the probed theory (Bryman, 2008).

Furthermore, the suitability of the survey in this study suited the adoption of the
deductive research approach for this study. According to Saunders et al. (2007) the survey
research strategy is normally connected with the deductive research approach. Additionally,
surveys enable the collection of large qualitative data amounts, which was necessary in
enhancing the generalisability of the findings obtained in this study (Bryman, 2008). When
the researcher settled on the current research topic, the relationship between the topic and its
international applicability was essential in the choice of the research strategy and surveys
offered the best option for the development of the research in a global perspective.

In view of time and budgetary resources, survey strategies are appropriate in ensuring
minimal requirements of the same (Saunders, Lewis, & Thronhill, 2007). Since the time and
financial resources of this study were limited because the researcher neither solicited nor
received any sponsorship to conduct this research, using surveys was most preferable. Apart
from this, the use of surveys is rampant in marketing research as mentioned earlier on. In the
investigation of the impact of social media on international students' university decision
making, surveys were useful in generating different inputs that potential students use when
selecting a course or university.

This research investigated a sample of international students and how social media
impacts their university decision making within one point in time. As will be explained later,
data for this study were collected through a questionnaire survey at a particular time point.

3.7 Data collection

The first phase of data collection involved critical analysis of previous literature with
the aim of generating a set of questionnaire items based on the themes related to the research
objective (Creswell, 2009). Before implementing these questions, their essential justification
was undertaken with the researcher supervisor and mentor. The second phase entailed the
generation of theoretical framework with reference to extant literature in the areas of social
media impact on students and the decision making tendencies that students exhibit as a result.
The thematic and pattern relations across various literatures informed the working up of
hypotheses and the identification of measurements and constructs for the self-administered
survey questionnaires through the online Key Survey system.

Therefore the population size for this research is defined as currently enrolled
international students undertaking various programmes of study. The current population of
international students at the university located in Malaysia is approximately 4,000. Using this
number, the sample size using a confidence level of 95% and confidence interval of 6.79 was
established as 200 international students. The calculations are illustrated in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.3: Confidence interval and sample size calculation

Confidence Interval Sample Size
Confidence level 95% Confidence level 95%
Sample size 200 Confidence Interval 6.79
Population 5000 Population 5000
Percentage 50% Sample size needed 200
Confidence Interval 6.79
Source : www.surveymonkey.com

International students were invited to participate in the online survey through the
student Intranet portal with information on the survey. No personal or student details were
required for the survey thus assuring confidentiality and anonymity. The final response rate
achieved was 167 which represented 83.5%. Although the response rate was slightly below
200 respondents, Holbrook et al (2008) suggest that lower response rates do not mean more
non response error. The non respondents represent the random subset of a full sample.

The justification of the data collection method, the survey questions and link to the
research question and sub-research questions are explained in the next subsection.
 3.7.1 Data collection method
The primary data collection method for qualitative data in this study was a survey
questionnaire. Maylor & Blackmon (2005) assert that a survey is a beneficial technique in the
capturing of facts, behaviours, attitudes or opinions from a wide range of respondents. On the
other hand, Saunders et al. (2007) argue that it is worth taking note that there exist different
kinds of survey methods. They add that it is important to take into account this when
applying survey methods for data collection.

There are two primary streams of questionnaires including interviewer- administered

and self-administered. The major distinction between the two streams is the inclusion and
exclusion of the interviewer in the administration of the questionnaire. For the interviewer-
administered type, face-to-face or verbal contact between the interviewee and the interviewer
such as through structured telephone or face-to-face questionnaires or interviews is the norm.
On the other hand, the respondent completes the self-administered type without any
assistance from the interviewer (Maylor & Blackmon, 2005).

The first recommendation the researchers make is that the length of the questionnaire
remains short to ensure that respondents complete it in due time without abandoning it.
However, Saunders et al. (2007) recommend that the length of a questionnaire be long
enough to garner sufficient responses for solving the research questions.

The questionnaire had 21 questions that required an average of 10 to 20 minutes to

complete. Fisher et al. (2004) also recommend that the design of the questionnaire be
appealing. This was considered in terms of arrangement of questions in an order that made it
easy for the respondents to follow the transition from one section to another. Finally, it is
important that the structure of the questionnaire begins with the easiest to respond-to-
questions (Fisher, Buglear, Lowry, Mutch, & Tansley, 2004).

However, the recommendation provided by Athanasiou, Debas & Darzi (2010) that “the
questionnaire should start with the basic before complex questions”.

In order to enhance the qualitative data's reliability and minimise bias sources, the
definitions of key terminologies such as traditional information sources; social media
information sources; social media profile; and decision making were provided to all
respondents in the first page of the questionnaire, before the survey questions. The next
section describes the logic employed towards the inclusion of every question.
3.8 Limitations
Arguably, one possible limitation of this research is that data is gathered after an
international student has already enrolled. The sample in this case was not limited to
international students during their initial or first year of studies. Instead the sample covered
international students who are undertaking English language programmes, Diploma,
Bachelor's Degree and Master Degree programmes. This may give rise to a situation whereby
students may have lesser recollection of their university course decision making process.
Although demographic data was collected for this survey, the data was not used in the
analysis.