Exploring the Mediating Effect of Digital Versus Traditional Marketing Communication on Students’ Selection of Higher Education Institutions in Developing Countries

This study is aimed at determining the primary factors influencing students’ selection of higher education institutions in the relatively newly formed region of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). It investigates how students’ characteristics moderate the selection process and explores the mediating effect of digital versus traditional marketing communication tools employed by higher education institutions in shaping students’ choices. Three main hypotheses were formulated based on a literature review, and data were collected online from a convenience snowball sample of 1058 freshman undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in higher education institutions in the KRI at the time of the data collection. The study mainly found that academic quality and reputation, variety of programs, and social benefits have statistically significant direct impacts on the selection of higher education institutions. The study also found that, among the student characteristics variables, only gender and family income had a significant direct moderating effect. All the marketing communication mix tools, digital and traditional, have a significant positive mediating effect. However, digital advertisement has the greatest mediating effect in comparison to other tools. Higher education institutions should take the results of this study into consideration when developing their positioning and communication strategies.