The Impact of Branding, Positioning, and Marketing Strategies on Parent Perception and Enrollment Decisions in Dubai's Private Schools Market

Abstract

This study explores the role of branding, positioning, and marketing of private schools in Dubai's over-crowded and competitive education sector. While Dubai is home to one of the most dynamic private school sectors globally, as yet, there has been relatively little empirical research on how these processes influence parental decision-making in K–12 education across the Gulf region. Concentrating on private schools in Dubai, this research addresses a major gap in the literature that has predominantly focused on Western markets and higher education contexts, contributing context-specific evidence to a multicultural education market. The study adopted a quantitative research approach, and data were gathered using a questionnaire distributed to parents of private school students or prospective private school students in Dubai. The last sample size was 461 students from international and national curriculum institutions. The relationships among branding strategies, positioning strategies, marketing strategies, parent perception, parent awareness, and enrollment decisions were explored using reliability and correlation analyses and multiple regression. Results also support the influence of branding strategies on parent perception and awareness. Clear and consistent positioning communicates more effectively to parents a school’s differentiation/positioning, and reputation. Further, the importance of integrated marketing strategies, especially those connected to the extended marketing mix (7Ps) and supported by digital communication, positively affects parents' evaluations of schools and their intention to enroll their children. Parent perception is a principal mediator through which institutional branding, positioning, and marketing strategies are translated into enrollment outcomes.