A Systematic Literature Review of Higher Education Reputation Management: Active/Reactive Framework

The marketisation and internationalisation of higher education (HE) in several national contexts has led to the development of thinking about HE access as ‘buying a service’. This has led to increased prioritisation among universities regarding how to promote their reputation among their targeted audiences. However, recent literature regarding reputation management (RM) in Chinese HE is mainly conducted from an international perspective; this means the analysis is usually focused on international students in Chinese universities, and thus the other aspects such as the rationale and strategies of RM in Chinese HE remains relatively underdeveloped. In this article, we conduct a systematic literature review using the PRISMA convention to illustrate the meaning(s) of RM in Chinese HE and particularly how it is understood and developed. The review comprises branding and RM in HE. Moreover, we contribute to the theory of marketing for HE by proposing a new framework arising from the review: RM as an active-reactive continuum in which we provide a new perspective to characterise and better understand RM, particularly in the Chinese context. Active RM refers to how universities promote themselves; reactive RM refers to how universities cope with crises or other forms of negative events. This contribution helps the field understand Chinese universities’ RM practices and strategies nationally and internationally.