The Influence of Promotion and Brand Image on Students' Decision to Choose Private Senior High Schools

Elandari Sainul

Authors

Elandari Sainul SMK Muhamamdiyah Plus Tanjung Selor

Keywords:

brand image, choosing decision, educational marketing, management promotion

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive educational landscape, private senior high schools must deploy effective marketing strategies to attract prospective students. Promotion and brand image are two consequential variables shaping enrolment decisions, yet their combined effects in the private secondary school context remain underexplored in the Indonesian literature. This study analyses the partial and simultaneous influence of promotion and brand image on students' decision to choose private senior high schools, and identifies the more dominant predictor. A quantitative causality design was employed with 84 Grade X students selected via proportionate random sampling from a population of 524 students across 14 class groups. Data were collected through a structured four-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analysed using multiple linear regression with IBM SPSS version 22, preceded by normality, linearity, heteroscedasticity, and multicollinearity tests. Promotion had a positive and significant partial effect on the choosing decision (t-count = 2.635 > t-table = 1.989; p = 0.010). Brand image also had a positive and significant partial effect (t-count = 4.449 > t-table = 1.989; p = 0.000). Simultaneously, both variables significantly influenced the choosing decision (F-count = 26.601 > F-table = 3.11; p = 0.000) with R² = 0.396. Brand image (beta = 0.449) emerged as the more dominant predictor over promotion (beta = 0.266). Promotion and brand image jointly explain 39.6% of the variance in students' school-choosing decisions. Educational institutions should prioritise building a credible institutional identity while sustaining an integrated promotional strategy to maximise enrolment.

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