Exploring the influence of university website usability and brand attributes on application intentions: the mediating role of university attractiveness

The overall objective of the present study is to assess the effects of the role of the usability of university websites and university brand attributes on the intentions of the prospective students to apply to the academic programs based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) paradigm. The article also explores the distinctive mediating value of the attractiveness of universities in influencing application decisions among students in a bid to give insight concerning the effect of digital interaction and branding of institutions on university choice behaviour. The research design is quantitative in nature since a structured questionnaire has been used to get the data of 268 respondents (university students). The analysis was done through partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesised relationships. Both brand attribute and usability of the university websites positively impact intention to apply. Attributes related to university brands also have an indirect impact via the university attractiveness, which is mediated, whereas the impact on website usability is mainly direct with a little mediation. The attraction of universities to individuals has a significant but moderate effect on intention to apply, which supports the fact that university is a crucial cognitive and emotional filter in the decision-making of students. The present study is unique in its application of the S-O-R model to demonstrate the combined effect of web usability and brand characteristics on application intentions in students with university attractiveness playing a unique mediating role. The results provide the working knowledge that universities should expand their digital presence and branding to make their services and results more attractive and engaging to the students.