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The image of psychology programs: the value of the instrumental-symbolic framework
- Source :
- JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- As competition for funding and students intensifies, it becomes increasingly important for psychology programs to have an image that is attractive and makes them stand out from other programs. The current study uses the instrumental-symbolic framework from the marketing domain to determine the image of different master's programs in psychology and examines how these image dimensions relate to student attraction and competitor differentiation. The samples consist of both potential students (N = 114) and current students (N = 68) of three psychology programs at a Belgian university: industrial and organizational psychology, clinical psychology, and experimental psychology. The results demonstrate that both instrumental attributes (e.g., interpersonal activities) and symbolic trait inferences (e.g., sincerity) are key components of the image of psychology programs and predict attractiveness as well as differentiation. In addition, symbolic image dimensions seem more important for current students of psychology programs than for potential students.
- Subjects :
- Attractiveness
Value (ethics)
Adult
Male
Adolescent
Universities
Experimental psychology
media_common.quotation_subject
Social Sciences
Sincerity
ORGANIZATION
Interpersonal communication
psychology
POTENTIAL APPLICANTS
Traffic psychology
Education
JOB
Young Adult
instrumental-symbolic framework
Belgium
Mathematics education
Humans
Psychology
image
Students
General Psychology
media_common
Marketing
BRAND PERSONALITY
education
ATTRACTIVENESS
marketing
Trait
Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous)
Female
Industrial and organizational psychology
EMPLOYER
Social psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00223980
- Volume :
- 148
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of psychology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....cf61c64eb68818d549b3ea4b39e47f3e