Brand signal mimicry in cross-border higher education partnerships

The study analyzes how Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) higher education institutions (HEIs) mimic the brands of their developed-market partners consistent with leveraging the latter’s reputations. Signaling theory has previously been used in HEI research; however, no research has explored how country of origin, reputation of institution, and brand personality act together to form signals that reduce information asymmetry in cross-border HEI partnerships. The Signal Congruence Framework (SCF) is proposed to evaluate brand personality signal alignment. A complete census of the seven active Kuwaiti-Western HEI partnerships (14 institutions) was examined. The findings reveal an inverse relationship between COO signal strength and brand personality congruence: where the partner's national brand is globally recognized, emerging market HEIs diverge more markedly in their brand personality signals. Two distinct HEI clusters were identified: American-affiliated that demonstrate low congruence and emphasize ‘Excitement’; non-American-affiliated that mirror the partner’s emphasis on ‘Competence.’