Reputation Management in a Chinese and UK University: What Do Universities' Self-Representations Through Social Media to Governments and International Students Say About Their Resource Dependence?

Abstract

This study discusses the relationships between resource dependence, and reputation management (RM) through interviews with university managers regarding the use of social media by Chinese and UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This research enriches existing literature by providing a new and comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing university communication and reputational behaviour through the lens of Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) post COVID-19. The recruitment of international students in the chosen UK and Chinese HEIs is intricately tied to securing resources—but that these resources were valued differently at the case study HEIs. Nineteen interviews were conducted across the case universities and content analysis was employed to explore the perspectives of university managers. Our findings show that the admission of international students responded to the need to acquire legitimatory (in China) and financial resources (in the UK). These results signal an important difference in how international students, as resources, are perceived by these administrators. This insight explains why the UK and Chinese case universities' use of social media, especially after COVID-19, reflected their dependency on non-diversified (China case) and diversified resources (UK case). This insight is significant for policymakers and university staff who manage international student recruitment and also for the critical debate about students as ‘resources’.