Driving university brand value through social media

In light of higher education's growing reliance on social media interaction, this study proposes a valid mechanism of social media interaction which includes social media use (SMU) and social media validation (SMV) and analyzes its effects on university brand value. The authors also include future orientation (major offering and career warranty) in the proposed relationship. Drawing on the dynamic capability perspective and based on data from 265 universities' Facebook accounts, the authors found that private universities are more actively engaged in social media interactions than public ones. The findings further indicated that SMU and SMV positively influence university brand value more strongly at high levels of career warranty and major offering, respectively, under the controlling condition of international cooperation capability. Accordingly, implications for educational practitioners and theory are discussed.