Technology in the Marketing Activities of Schools as an Example to Institutional Isomorphism

World Journal on

Educational Technology

Volume 5, Issue 2 (2013) 310-323

Technology in the Marketing Activities of Schools as an Example to Institutional Isomorphism

B. Çağla Garipağaoğlu *, Department of Educational Sciences, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Sinem Vatanartıran, Department of Educational Sciences, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Şirin Karadeniz, Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Suggested Citation: Garipağaoğlu, B., Ç., Vatanartıran, S. & Karadeniz, Ş. (2013). Technology in the Marketing Activities of Schools as

an Example to Institutional Isomorphism. World Journal on Educational Technology. 5(2), 310-323.

Received May 14, 2013; revised June 23, 2013; accepted August 02, 2013 Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Steven M. Ross, John Hopkins University. ©2013 Academic World Education & Research Center. All rights reserved.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand and explore the isomorphic changes in the private school chain sector in Turkey over the last five years regarding the effects of recent technology adoptions for school marketing activities. Qualitative research model was used and the two largest school chains were selected with concept sampling strategy. To collect data, we interviewed the chief marketing officers of the two selected school chains by using a semi-structured interview guideline. The data was analyzed by using content analysis. The results of the study provide a relatively new perspective based on the concept of institutional isomorphism to the use of technologies for marketing purposes (both as a marketing tool and a marketing product) in the private school chain sector. The results show that technology is a powerful marketing product, which is used by schools as a marketing strategy, as well. This eventually leads to convergence of learning environments in different schools. Technology is considered to be a powerful tool for marketing school’s activities, as well, and this power is acknowledged by both school chains. Similarly, use of technology as a marketing tool becomes an isomorphic force for the two competing schools. Keywords: institutional isomorphism; private school chains; school marketing, technology adoption; technology as a marketing product; technology as a marketing tool * This is the enhanced version of a prior study called “Use of Technology as a Marketing Tool in Schools: A Case Study” and

presented at SITE conference in 2013 * ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Çağla B. Garipağaoğlu, Department of Educational Sciences, Bahçeşehir University,

İstanbul, Turkey, Email address: [email protected] / Tel: +90 212 381 5176

mailto:[email protected]

Garipağaoğlu, B., Ç., Vatanartıran, S. & Karadeniz, Ş. (2013). Technology in the Marketing Activities of Schools as an Example to Institutional Isomorphism. World Journal on Educational Technology. 5(2), 310-323.

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1. Introduction

Spatial orientation is defined as the comprehension of the arrangement of elements within a visual stimulus pattern with respect to one’s body, and determines the changes in the orientation of an object (McGee, 1979; Kimura, 2000). Furthermore, spatial orientation is also described as the “ability to imagine the appearance of objects from different perspectives of the observer” (McGee, 1979, p.889).

One of the most influential changes experienced by the schools in this century is perhaps the emerging new technologies. The question of whether technology adoption in education is important will indisputably receive a favorable response from academics, educators, school administrators, policy-makers, parents, and students. A number of studies have identified a positive and significant relationship between the use of technologies and enhanced student learning (Dede, 2008; Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2002; Yi & Hwang, 2003). Schools have realized that technology is pervasive, touching and penetrating every part of our lives, and one of the major forces that shape the environments of the schools. Consequently, many schools have recognized the use of technology as a very important area of innovation and investment. To wisely confront with the challenges and to take advantage of the opportunities presented by emerging new technologies, today’s schools are undergoing major changes. They adapt to and adopt these new technologies both for educational and marketing purposes. They use technology heavily as leverage in their marketing activities both as a window dressing element and as a media through which they market themselves.

As accepted widely, the perceptions of internal and external constituencies are very critical to competitiveness in any sector. Latest trends in school marketing have shown that technology is a great tool to boost the promotion of schools in the eyes of their key stakeholders; namely, their parents and students. Therefore, many schools have geared up their resources to take advantage of those opportunities presented by emerging technologies. Schools, particularly school chains, have started to re-assess and re-arrange their marketing activities by utilizing technology both to differentiate their instructional processes from their competitors and also to bring more creative ways to market their schools. However, both in the pursuit of differentiating themselves from their competitors and gaining legitimacy and acceptance by external constituencies, many schools have ironically started to look more alike than they should in their educational systems and marketing strategies. This study attempts to provide a relatively new perspective to the use of technologies in education for marketing purposes based on the concept of institutional isomorphism. We hope that the possible impacts of the various forms of institutional isomorphic pressures/forces discussed here can enhance stakeholders’ understanding of schools’ technology adoption decisions.

1.1. Institutional Isomorphism

Institutional isomorphism explains why organizational fields follow an evolutionary path from

diversity to homogeneity (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Hannan & Freeman, 1984). Institutional theory proposes that isomorphism is the major force explaining why and how several practices (such as technology adoption) have emerged and changed over time (Hassan, 2008). Population ecology theory, on the other hand, explains that organizations subject to similar environmental conditions acquire similar forms over time as a requirement of organizational survival (Hawley, 1968), which eventually results in institutional isomorphism. Gyau and Stringer (2011) argue that “institutional theory has become an important theoretical lens within which processes of change in organizations are explained and interpreted” (p. 134). This argument is supported by other studies highlighting that institutional legitimization is a major factor that drives the decision to adopt certain practices (Mir & Rahaman, 2005; Lai, Wong & Cheng, 2006). DiMaggio and Powell (1983) imply that efficiency or rationalism is not the only drivers for the adoption of new practices but rather seeking of social legitimacy and they explain why social forces put pressures on organizations to adopt certain


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practices. They also argue that once organizational practices are institutionalized, they become diffused and then cause organizations to look more and more alike (Beckert, 2010).

Institutional theory argues that there are certain mechanisms that compel organizations to behave in certain defined ways (Gyau & Stringer, 2011). DiMaggio and Powell (1983) identify three general mechanisms of isomorphism: coercive, mimetic and normative. Coercive isomorphism occurs when organizations are compelled to adopt certain structures or rules over time with the pressures and/or expectations via culturally accepted social norms, state mandates, financial reliance or contract law; mimetic isomorphism refers to likening process when one organization copies another, often because of uncertainty and ambiguity in organization’s goal setting, processes and regulative activities etc.; and lastly, normative isomorphism refers to the homogeneous characterization with professional pressures such as accreditation agencies and professional certification boards (Mızıkacı, 2010). A number of case studies on institutional isomorphism (other than schools) addressed causal connection between isomorphism and gaining legitimacy and support (Deephouse, 1996; Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Scott, 1981; Weick, 1976).

1.2. School marketing and institutional isomorphism

Like many other institutions fighting not only for supremacy but merely for survival (Daft, 2007),

most educational institutions realized that they need to market themselves heavily in the current climate of fierce competition to obtain a competitive edge (Hemsley-Brown & Oplatka, 2006). As we all know, today’s parents and students are more savvy and value-conscious than ever when it comes to school selection. They search for every bit of information about a school on-line, value, and benefit highly from whatever information that they can obtain (Spring, 2013). Therefore, schools have to take advantage of every possible opportunity that may arise and look for ways to be the choice of parents and students (Harvey & Busher, 1996). Yet, it is not that easy to accomplish. First, like every other school striving for the exact same end, they are not alone in this desire. Second, educational marketing is still not perceived as ethically acceptable by many scholars and educators (Harvey & Busher, 1996). Third, organizations have to manage the perceptions of various constituencies (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008), and schools are no exceptions. They eventually must please and meet the expectations of multiple stakeholders including current and prospective parents and students, donors, trustees, faculty, staff, and the community at large. In an effort to meet those expectations, schools adopt and utilize many elements that make themselves legitimate in the eyes of their target market, even sometimes without considering whether or not these elements truly improve their operational performance. Technology is one of those elements that are frequently used by schools as a differentiating factor from their competitors. Especially since many educators, scholars, school administrators, policy makers, parents, and students embraced educational technologies as a way to enhance student learning and enrich learning environments, technology has begun to be used widely as a window dressing instrument by many schools. It is now evident that getting your school noticed in a world of increased competition, conveying to stakeholders why it is different, and demonstrating why it is worth what it costs is important, require marketing your school in many different ways using diverse channels and networking widely (Connor, 2006). Hence, number of schools starting to market themselves through technology on different platforms has increased rapidly.

1.3. Technology as a marketing product

The effects of educational technologies are many and ubiquitous. Although the major purpose of

emerging educational technologies is to enhance student learning, rapid diffusion of educational technologies created enormous opportunities that can be utilized by schools for marketing purposes, too. Gradually, technology has been seen and used as a marketing product. In Turkey, as more schools adopt an innovative outlook and more parents become enthusiastic about the integration of


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technology into school education, a new wave seems to be hitting the current schooling system all around Turkey. Many school administrators have started to feel that integrating technology into school curriculum is a signal to the community about how innovative the school is, thus presenting a more positive image for the school. As the perceived benefits of this integration continue to boost the appetite of most administrators in schools, growing number of schools and school chains have started to adopt technologies in their school system each year. Schools starting to incorporate emerging technologies into their schooling processes began to look for ways to disseminate the news to as many people as possible. They have spread the news on the social media, organized large launching events and invited politicians and educational reporters from the press into these events, gave advertisements to the press or the billboards, and put the news on their own or related web-sites announcing that they have incorporated emerging educational technologies into their curriculum.

1.4. Technology as a marketing tool

Before the rise of technologies, marketing of schools used to be more simple; schools would “print a gorgeous brochure, mail it out to potential families and waited for the phone to ring and the admissions appointments to be made” (Kennedy, 2013). Yet, it is no longer true. As schools realized that the rapid spread and growing interconnectedness of communication and technologies across the world have transformed the organizations’ view of their marketing activities (Leverick, Littler, Wilson, & Bruce, 1997), they have followed this trend, too. They noticed that unless they invest in technology to produce great websites, take advantage of social media that promise a wider exposure to the target audience, and take place in the listings of popular search engines on top, they would lag far behind the competition. As noted by Kennedy (2013), pace of information technologies has reached such a point that if you are not on the social media exposing yourself to as many people as possible, your market will eventually be reduced. Therefore, marketing efforts of schools geared up to produce clear, concise, authentic, easy-to-understand messages, and disseminate it to as many people as possible and through as many channels as possible in order to stand out from fierce competition. Consequently, schools have started to use professionally designed and secure websites, blogs, facebook, twitter, pinterest, and youtube in order to attract the engagement of their community to their schools.

1.5. Importance of the Study

In their work on the analysis of many adoption studies, Lai et al. (2006) observed that innovation

adoption is insinuatingly asserted to be a purely independent phenomenon which actors are free to choose whether to adopt or not. Yet, there are also studies arguing that people’s freedom of choice of a technology is constrained by certain institutional isomorphic forces that may influence people to adopt certain types of innovations (Gyau & Stringer, 2011). Keeping this argument in mind, the concept of institutional isomorphism, which causes one organization to resemble others in an industry (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), might be considered as an important candidate to further highlight the schools’ decisions to adopt technology both as a marketing tool and a marketing product.

Although the use of educational technologies within the classroom has been investigated widely by scholars, very little is known about the use of educational technologies for marketing purposes in schools. Our approach takes a new perspective to complement the existing literature with a discussion of the concept of isomorphism and how it can influence technology adoption decisions in the education sector with a special focus on school marketing activities in Turkish private school chain sector.


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1.6. Purpose of the Study and Research Questions

This study aims to explore, based on the concept of institutional isomorphism, how the rapid diffusion of technology has affected the marketing strategies of schools over the last 5 years. The research questions are therefore determined as the following:

1. How has technology adoption changed schools’ activities related to instruction and marketing over the last 5 years?

2. Can technology adoption decisions be explained by institutional isomorphism?

2. Method

This is a qualitative study, the purpose of which is to interpret and understand a selected issue,

case, or event in depth and detail. Qualitative study perceives facts and values as inextricably mixed (Howe, 1990).

2.1. Sampling

In qualitative research, the term used for sampling is purposeful sampling as researchers

“intentionally select individuals and sites to learn or understand the central phenomenon” (Creswell, 2008, p. 214). As a purposeful sampling strategy, theory or concept sampling is used in this study since this strategy samples individuals or sites because they can help the researcher discover a theory or specific concepts within the theory (Creswell, 2008). Because we aimed at describing how technology is used in the marketing activities of large school chains and how it contributes to the theory of institutional isomorphism; two largest school chains in Turkey were selected as samples.

The informant sample selected in these two institutions included the CMOs (Chief Marketing Officer) of both school chains. This type of sample is called the intensity sample. According to Denzin and Lincoln, intensity sampling is the identification of “experiential experts” (1994, p. 89) and these experts have had both experienced an occurrence, possess expertise, and are authorities on the matter investigated. The logic and power behind intensity sampling is that the sample “will be information rich” (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994, p. 89), which is a critical issue for reliability, as well. Both CMOs have been working for their schools in these positions for more than five years and they are the key decision makers for identifying the marketing strategies of their schools. Therefore, they are the “experiential experts” for this study. Both CMOs asked for the non-disclosure of the names of their schools; therefore, schools were named as Chain A and Chain B in this study. Short descriptions of the school chains are provided below:

Chain A

This school chain, established in 2002 in Istanbul, aimed at reaching C1 and B group parents. After 2005, it started to open schools in various districts in Istanbul and all around the country. The chain has grown in a very short time and today it has 84 pre-schools, 62 elementary schools, and 39 high schools. Targeting C1 and B SES parents, it has had a policy of an affordable tuition of 5.000 USD on average countrywide. It has brought many innovative educational models, including technology-integrated learning environments, offering introductory MBA programs for high school students and programs for gifted students. The school chain invested a lot in the use of technology in education by furnishing each class with smart boards and projectors as well as providing its students with ipads and Macs at most of its campuses.


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Chain B

This school chain, established in 1994 in Istanbul, aimed at reaching B and A group parents. As the school operates under the biggest educational group in Turkey comprising of a prestigious university and test preparation centers branched around the country, its name has become acknowledged as a brand in education. It has started to open schools countrywide in 2003. It has opened 44 pre-schools, 34 elementary schools, and 16 high schools. In every city it is opened, high socio-economic status families are targeted and the tuition is set as the highest one amongst the other private schools in that city, with 7.500 USD on average nationwide. This school is known for its innovative ideas and entrepreneurship in education. It started the first science and technology high school in Turkey, the first science museums within the schools in Turkey, brought state-of-the-art educational environments in schools, and pioneered the use of technology in education (for example, the distribution of Classmates developed by Intel for every student in 2006 and the distribution of ipads for every first and fifth grader).

2.2. Data Collection

We interviewed the CMO’s of both school chains using a semi-structured interview guideline that

we used for a prior study focusing on the marketing strategies of one school chain presented in a conference in 2013. During the interview, the respondents were asked to express their views in their school’s current use of technology in education and marketing; changes experienced for the last 5 years in the nature and scope of marketing activities as a result of technology integration in their schools; kinds of opportunities and threats the technology revolution presents in terms of school marketing; the likely future shifts that are expected in the nature of school marketing as a result of emerging technologies; and their school’s projected technology use for their marketing activities over the next 5 years.

2.3. Data Analysis

Although responses are long and detailed and content analysis is difficult because responses are

neither systematic nor standardized in qualitative research, data is more interpretive, creative, and personal (Howe, 1990). To analyze this rich and unsystematic data, content analysis was used by coding the data (locating text segments and assigning a code label to them) and coding the text for themes, which are similar codes aggregated together to form a major idea in the database. Finally, to organize the analysis, the themes were “layered” (Creswell, 2008, p. 259); in other words, the minor themes were subsumed within major themes and major themes were included within broader themes.

Qualitative data provide depth and detail through direct quotation and careful description of program, situations, events, people, interactions, and observed behaviors (Robert, 1996, p. 245). Direct quotations are a basic source of raw data in qualitative research; that is why we used direct quotations when reporting the findings of the study.

2.4. Validity

Accuracy of the findings and interpretations is the main concern for the researchers throughout the

process of data collection and analysis (Creswell, 2008) in qualitative studies. To enable accuracy, the participants were briefed about the purpose of the study and were interviewed in an office with no distractions. Full transcriptions of the recorded interviews were used to enable “rich data” (Maxwell, 2005). Then, the interviewer summarized what she learnt from the interview, repeated her interpretation of what she heard to get confirmation or disconfirmation from the interviewee.


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Another validity threat to a qualitative study is the researcher bias, which occurs when the researcher selects data that fit the researcher’s existing theory or preconceptions and selects data that stand out to the researcher (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Therefore, we asked another colleague to conduct a thorough review of the study and report back if the findings were grounded in the data, if the themes were appropriate, and if the inferences were logical or not. Both the inter-coding steps described below and the inclusion of an outsider colleague helped to overcome this threat of researcher-bias to the validity of the study.

2.5. Reliability

For reliability purposes, each researcher read the data several times and conducted an analysis of

codes, themes, and when appropriate, subthemes, each time. Each time we read the database; we developed a deeper understanding about the information supplied by the participants and went over our own analysis. This step is crucial for intra-coder reliability. For inter-coder reliability of the analysis, we shared our coding with each other, discussed them together with our reasoning, and finally agreed mutually on the final version of the codes and themes after two rounds of discussions with 3 days of intervals in between.

3. Findings

Both school chains have been investing in integrating technology into their instruction. The

following table (Table 1) summarizes how they have integrated technology into the learning environments over the last five years.

Table 1. Technology integration of both schools into instruction for the last five years

Chain A Chain B

- Smart boards in each classroom - Adapting curriculum and content to be used

via technology (computers) - Training for teachers - I-pads for students - LMS

- Educational portal with an internet TV (video taped lessons)

- Adapting curriculum and content to be used via technology (computers, classmates/laptops)

- Interactive science museums with simulations and animations

- Classmates for each student (small laptops produced by Intel)

- Live lessons (streamed online) - I-pads for students - Cloud LMS

As can be seen in the table, both school chains have similar investments to integrate technology

into their educational systems. This has an important implication for this research, because although these schools target different socio economic level of parents, they both find the worth of investing in technology and also develop similar learning environments for their students. It is evident that there is a convergence in the creation of educational environments by different school chains.

After the content analysis conducted, we identified the following themes and subthemes:

Theme 1: Technology as a Marketing Product Theme 2: Technology as a Marketing Tool

2.1. Marketing tools preferred 2.1.1. New Media

Social Media (twitter, facebok, linkedin, pinterest)


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Interactive websites 2.1.2. Old Media

Call centers

SMS&MMS

Email 2.1.3. Integrating online and offline media

2.2. How to leverage the new media the most 2.2.1. Redesign of websites 2.2.2. Increase traffic in new media

2.3. Coping with the challenges Theme 3: The vision for the future of marketing tools

Interviews conducted by the CMOs of both school chains revealed that integrating technology into

classroom learning is perceived as a sign of prestige for schools over the last five years and utilized widely as a marketing product. Findings in the first theme suggest that both chains use technology as a marketing product to appear more innovative, professional and legitimate in the eyes of their stakeholders indicating mimetic and normative mechanisms of institutional isomorphism that compels organizations to resemble each other by adopting similar structures over time. Even if they target different socio-economic level of parents, both chains accepted that they heavily emphasize their use of educational technologies in their marketing activities. Chain A, posited that they highlighted the role of educational technologies in enhancing student learning and enriching learning environments extensively in their marketing strategies. Chain B, on the other hand, explained that they introduced educational technologies to the parents as a way of ensuring standardization in instruction across the school chain. Furthermore, Chain B expressed that in their marketing activities, they also drew attention to the role of educational technologies in involving parents into the process of student learning. In general terms, both chains admitted that they use educational technologies in order to differentiate themselves from their competitors, attract prospective students and parents by looking more ‘technology driven school’, and retain their current students and parents by satisfying their expectations in this respect.

The second theme emerged from the study was the “technology as a marketing tool”. Within that first sub-theme explains the marketing tools preferred. Both chains voiced that in addition to the use of relatively conventional media such as call centers, SMS & MMS, and direct e-mailing systems, new media tools, namely interactive web-sites and professional use of social media, are widespread in school marketing. Properly used, social media is known to be a very powerful marketing tool. It helps students, parents and other significant stakeholders acquire and learn information they need to know to make better judgments about schools. For instance, facebook sites are great places for schools to store, share and disseminate their photo galleries of alumni events, sports events, games and all other exciting happenings and news (Britland, 2012; Kennedy, 2013); 140-character long tweets are highly influential means to reach potential students, parents and community at large; and blogs as online journals are great tools to inform the community about the projects, events and pictures and to publish students’ and teachers’ work, create discussions and share questions (Ellison &Wu, 2008).

Findings revealed that both chains are intensely using social media and interactive websites to create awareness about their schools and to position themselves in the minds of current and prospective students and parents. Creating a twitter account for the schools and using it for promotional materials (photos, links to websites) and public announcements (like results of their sports activities, achievements, and events) are seen as common practices in both chains. Both chains explained that they have their own corporate facebook accounts to reach their current and prospective students and alumni. Both school chains agreed that they used twitter for real-time, newsy bursts of text; facebook for an in depth exploration of their school and its community to the larger audience; youtube to offer a window into all exciting activities their school offers; pinterest to create a photo album about their school as a way of showcasing their school and community. The


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following excerpt of the CMO of Chain A clearly manifests why they started to use more technology driven marketing tools:

First of all, it is cheap and more accessible. In addition to that, you can receive the fastest feedback on social media. Its effect is viral and powerful and it provides the most possible widest exposure. Since everything on social media is measurable and the effects can be tracked easily, the results enable us to re-direct and re-shape our marketing strategies on time for the better improvement of our marketing activities.

Similarly, the CMO of Chain B states that “if you plan all your communication channels effectively and make them interactive, you can create a significant number of loyal followers on the new media. You can realize more effective campaigns with the least possible costs. You need to learn to manage all your marketing tools in harmony to make it more effective”. Even though both chains prefer to use new media tools more often, they do not put aside offline marketing totally. CMO of Chain B pointed out that they were now integrating offline and online marketing. She explains this strategy as such:

Of course, we never gave up using conventional marketing tools. We still widely benefit from offline marketing, for instance. What is new is that, in our offline marketing channels (print and outdoor advertisements) we also provide our institutional social media addresses to lead customers to our online pages for more detailed information.

The second sub-theme subsumes the strategies that these school chains use in order to leverage the effects of the new media the most. Related findings revealed that both chains seek for professional support to redesign their websites in such a way that would enable more interactive use for the customers. They both noted that in the past, they used to have more complex web pages heavily loaded with flash animations to make them look more attractive and fun. However, they recently started to give more importance to content rather than the complex design of the web pages. Their recent websites developed by professional agencies focus more on the simplicity and user-friendly designs over more visual and animated designs. Chain B explains this issue as the following:

We recently changed our school website to make it more interactive and user-friendly, and receive help from professional design agencies. We closed the dead links and added cloud systems, feedback forms, satisfaction forms, and blogs. This time, instead of visual and animated designs, we focus on the simplicity and the content.

Similarly, CMO of Chain A mentions the importance of using the websites to communicate with their customers (present and prospective parents and students). In the past, their websites were only one-way platforms of declaring what they were doing to their customers; however, with the help of the redesigning, the present websites are venues for two-way communication where visitors share their ideas, ask their questions, and offer their feedbacks.

Another strategy to leverage the use of media is to increase the traffic (number of visitors) of their social media usage. Both chains get professional support in this respect, too, in order to increase the traffic in their websites and social media accounts. They use google advertorials and banners, provide sponsorships to the related websites, or create independent websites for special topics such as bilingual education, gifted education, music, art, sports, etc. as a fish bait to attract parents with special interests. The following quote from the CMO of the Chain A explains this strategy:

Recently we have created an independent website about gifted education. We invested in search engine optimization systems so that this page could appear first in line when searched for this topic. By doing this, parents who are digging for information about their


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gifted children would see and visit this page first to learn about gifted education. On this webpage, we also offer information on what educational programs our school offers for gifted students. This way, it does not sound like pure advertisement, which can be disturbing for some parents, as well. Parents who visit this page eventually visit our school’s main webpage.

Besides these strategies, CMO of Chain B mentioned that they encouraged each school in their chain and everyone in their headquarters to be frequent users of the new media, and offer them special training for this purpose. By doing so, school administrators are learning ways of encouraging their current parents to use their schools’ social media pages. The more parents follow their social media pages, the more they invite their friends, and eventually, the more traffic in the school’s social media and web pages is obtained.

The third sub-theme in ‘Technology as a Marketing Tool’ is dealing with challenges of using social media. Despite the advantages of using technology as a powerful tool to market their schools, there are some challenges, as well. If not dealt with effectively, a bad comment on a facebook or a negative reply to a twitter message by a customer can make the school look notorious nationwide in just a blink of the eye. The most frequently used strategies to deal with such challenges are the crisis management, managing with 360-degree integrated communication principle, and tight tracking for the intentional or unintentional wrong news on social media about the school that can damage the reputation of the school. As put forward by the CMO of Chain B, coping with the challenges on social media requires professional support:

The pace and power of technology are at such levels that the daily agenda changes hourly, even momentarily. You need to follow this change closely and adapt quickly. You need to take action in time. This, of course, requires serious professional help, because any crisis starting at one point can infect all your marketing activities. Even the simplest and the most naive mistake can bring about an enormous crisis. You need to follow every bit of information about yourself on social media and analyze any single news that may have an effect on your school, and direct your marketing strategies accordingly. Agencies help you gather this information regularly.

Remaining not quiet to the negative comments on social media and responding immediately to them is the strategy used by Chain B. However, CMO of Chain A shares slightly different views about coping with the negative comments about themselves on social media:

When we see negative comments about us on social media, we try not to intervene at all. If they seek for a direct response and share an unjust treatment they had at school, for example, we try to contact with that person in face. We try not to turn it to a quarrel on social media. If we want to answer any accusation, we do it individually as direct messages to the commentator, not on the social media. On the social media, we try to provide others with information so that they can learn more about the issue in general, but not as a response to a personal inquiry.

CMO of Chain A first takes the attention to the challenge of educational marketing as a concept. According to her, in the sector of education, marketing is deemed as even unethical. Legally, educational institutions are not allowed to give commercials on TV. She mentions the importance of marketing the school in such a way that it does not ‘smell marketing’:

As an educational institution, in order to look legitimate and to preserve your dignity, instead of using advertisement sounding catchy words or sentences, you need to prepare a


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sound content and offer a kind of service to your target customers. If, for example, your promotional video does not feel or sound like an advertisement, but, instead, convey right messages about an important issue such as bilingual or gifted education, then it can become viral. Because such a video would be shared on the social media by a very large population and you can obtain much better results than allocating huge advertisement budgets for TVs or newspapers just for a catchy phrase.

After sharing this difficulty of the negative perception of marketing in education, she explains how they deal with this difficulty by pointing out her observation on the use of social media:

We realized that the more we talk on behalf of our institution on social media; the less positive effect we make on social media. This is what I observe. I think that these two things are inversely proportional. Therefore, we try not to talk too much about our school on social media; instead we try to make others talk on behalf of us. We try to create our volunteer brand ambassadors. This is much more effective. Now, we see statistically significant results. We aim to decrease the number of negative and neutral comments about us on social media.

Overall, the findings of the second theme show that in order to survive and outrun in the competition, both school chains utilize and leverage technology as a marketing tool in similar ways. This commonality in the preferred marketing tools, the ways utilized to make the most of those marketing tools, and the ways to cope with the challenges could also be explained by institutional isomorphism.

The last theme emerged from the findings is ‘the vision for the future of marketing tools’. Both CMOs have foreseen that they would benefit from 3D environments, Quick Response Codes, and augmented realities in the future both as a marketing product and a marketing tool. In fact, they both have already started to use QR codes on their advertisements to direct the customers to their webpages. They are excited when they talk about how 3D and augmented realities such as the use of images created with holography and how such techniques could create more innovative ways of marketing.

4. Conclusion

This study draws on the concept of isomorphism to explain technology adoption decisions in the

field of education focusing on the school chains. The aim of this study is to understand how school chains utilize the emerging educational technologies both as a marketing product and a tool in their marketing activities and to explain whether this trend contributes to institutional isomorphism in the field of education.

Turkey has begun to witness dramatic changes in the marketing strategies of schools over the last five years. There might be many factors leading to this change, including the increased use of educational technologies. Educational technology is a growing sector with its diverse implications. In Turkey, both public and private schools made huge investments in emerging educational technologies as a means to enhance student learning and empower students to take responsibility for their own learning (Garipağaoğlu, 2013). In line with these developments, many schools, particularly those belonging to large school chains, have started to utilize these technologies extensively for marketing purposes, too. In the face of increasing competition in private school sector, many schools have come forward to take advantage of emerging educational technologies in their promotional strategies both as a marketing product and a marketing tool.


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Findings in our study confirmed that schools, indeed, exert special effort to differentiate themselves from the others and stand out from the competition. Looking from this perspective, perhaps, one of the most important findings revealed from the study is that over the last five years, schools have made an important amount of share of their investments in technology. In order to differentiate themselves from the others and to obtain a competitive edge, both chains explained that they have heavily invested on their technical superiority both for the improvement of their learning environments and marketing activities. This finding is also supported by Aaker (1992) who recognized technical superiority as a differentiating strategy for organizations. When an intangible association such as being technologically advanced is established, Aaker (1992) suggests that competitors are at a substantial disadvantage and whoever has technological advantage will win.

In our study, both school chains declared that they are aware of the advantages of having a technical superiority. They have also confirmed that that’s why they have been investing heavily on technology inclusion and utilize technology both as a product and a tool. However, it was interesting to find out that technology was not really a differentiating factor between these two large school chains. On the contrary, it made these schools look more alike. The findings of this study show that while adopting an innovative outlook and making a difference by using emerging educational technologies, both the learning environments and the marketing strategies of the schools have started to converge more than they should.

This finding is even more striking when considering that even if these schools target parents from different socio-economic status, they adopt similar marketing strategies and invest to provide similar technological learning environments. This shows that schools do not differentiate their marketing strategies related with the use of technology even if their target populations are from a variety of socio economic status groups.

Another important finding of this research is that despite slight differences in implementations, both chains integrate new and old media, weigh on online platforms like social media and interactive websites, and use similar strategies to increase the traffic of their customers on their online platforms. Similarly, both school chains stated that they were aware that brand loyalty is an important differentiation strategy in creating sustainable competitive advantage (Aaker, 1992). Therefore, they both expressed that they are using technology heavily to increase the number of their loyal followers especially by using the interactive feature of new media effectively.

Our findings revealed that similarities between the learning environments and the marketing activities of the school chains outweigh the minor differences. In the light our findings, we conclude that although many schools claim to make a difference from their competitors by the innovative use of educational technologies, the marketing of these educational investments and the general marketing strategies focusing on the wide use of technology make these schools look more alike to each other rather than different from each other. This study proposes that this process can be explained by the institutional isomorphism. To sum up, the perceived benefits of using technology in education both as a marketing product and a marketing tool and the need to look legitimate and acceptable in the eyes of the parents and the larger community create an isomorphic force on competing schools to grow more and more alike.

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Technology in the Marketing Activities of Schools as an Example to Institutional Isomorphism

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