Measuring institutions’ country brand authenticity in transnational higher education

When higher education students choose to enrol at a transnational education (TNE) or country-branded institution, they may want, and probably expect, an authentic ‘foreign’ educational experience. Most of the existing authenticity frameworks are not concerned with the contributory factors, and they are generic rather than industry or sector-specific. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop a measurement scale for country brand authenticity, specifically for use in transnational higher education settings. Researchers can use the scale to further explore antecedents and consequences of country brand authenticity. Also, a measurement scale for country brand authenticity enables institutions to map their existing performance against the key indicators, set clear targets and assess improvements in authenticity performance. The research built upon a conceptual framework adopted from the literature, and involved four phases of primary data collection: one with senior management expert informants and three with undergraduate students studying at American, British and Canadian affiliated universities in Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. The data for the research were collected using a deductive qualitative written questionnaire, one focus group, and two online quantitative survey questionnaires. The research results in a robust 29-item measurement scale for country brand authenticity in TNE.