A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USER EXPERIENCE ON THE BRAND PERCEPTION AND CHOICE OF CHONGQING VOCATIONAL COLLEGE STUDENTS: A GENDER-BASED MODERATING EFFECT

With the vigorous development of social media in China and the increasing demand for enhancing the brand value of higher vocational colleges, the impact of students' brand experience and perceptual behavior on the brand value of higher vocational colleges on social media has become a focus that every higher vocational college cannot ignore. There are few studies in the academic community on the impact of students' brand experience and perceptual behavior on the brand value of higher vocational colleges on social media, and most of them still remain at the level of ordinary undergraduate colleges and social media teaching. However, with the rapid development of information technology, social media has become an important platform for students to obtain information, exchange views, and shape personal cognition. Therefore, this study is crucial for brand marketing and brand construction of higher vocational colleges, as well as future enrollment. This study selected 462 students in Chongqing as the research object, using AMOS structural equation modeling, through the design of social media brand experience, student perceptual behavior questionnaire, and higher vocational college brand value evaluation tool, we collected relevant quantitative data. The aim is to comprehensively understand the impact of social media brand experience and student perceptual behavior on the brand value of higher vocational colleges. The focus of particular attention is the possible moderating effect of gender on student perceptual behavior and higher vocational college brand value. The research results show that student perceptual behavior as an intermediary has a significant positive partial mediating relationship between social media brand experience and higher vocational college brand value. At the same time, gender as a moderating variable plays a significant moderating role in student perceptual behavior and higher vocational college brand value. Moreover, the moderating effect of female students is significantly greater than that of male students. This finding provides practical guidance for brand management in higher vocational colleges and helps to develop more targeted brand promotion strategies.  Article visualizations: