Article: The impact of parasocial interaction toward prospective students' intention to enrol in a university and share information through electronic word-of-mouth Journal: International Journal of Business Innovation and Research (IJBIR) 2020 Vol.21 No.2 pp.176 - 197 Abstract: Nowadays, fierce competition among universities in acquiring prospective students is driving universities to make changes in their marketing activities. Inspired by the concept of parasocial interaction, the authors researched whether parasocial interaction could be used by universities to build a closer relationship with prospective students. Three different constructs of parasocial interaction were researched, to gauge their effect on a prospective student's intention to enrol in a university and share information by electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM): 1) perceived interactivity; 2) openness; 3) knowledge. Data collection was done by surveying 311, 12<SUP align="right"><SMALL>th</SMALL></SUP> grade students in Indonesia, and processed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS SEM). The results showed that parasocial interaction has a positive and significant impact on prospective students' intention to enrol in universities and encourage information sharing through eWOM. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: The impact of parasocial interaction toward prospective students' intention to enrol in a university and share information through electronic word-of-mouth

Authors: Meyliana; Achmad Nizar Hidayanto; Bruno Sablan; Eko K. Budiardjo; Nurul M. Putram

Addresses: School of Information Systems, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta 11480, Indonesia ' Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia, Depok 16424, Indonesia ' School of Information Systems, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta 11480, Indonesia ' Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia, Depok 16424, Indonesia ' Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia, Depok 16424, Indonesia

Abstract: Nowadays, fierce competition among universities in acquiring prospective students is driving universities to make changes in their marketing activities. Inspired by the concept of parasocial interaction, the authors researched whether parasocial interaction could be used by universities to build a closer relationship with prospective students. Three different constructs of parasocial interaction were researched, to gauge their effect on a prospective student's intention to enrol in a university and share information by electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM): 1) perceived interactivity; 2) openness; 3) knowledge. Data collection was done by surveying 311, 12^th grade students in Indonesia, and processed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS SEM). The results showed that parasocial interaction has a positive and significant impact on prospective students' intention to enrol in universities and encourage information sharing through eWOM.

Keywords: parasocial interaction; prospective students; universities; PLS SEM; electronic word-of-mouth; eWOM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2020.104813

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2020 Vol.21 No.2, pp.176 - 197

Received: 19 Dec 2017
Accepted: 13 Jun 2018
Published online: 03 Feb 2020 *

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Title: The impact of parasocial interaction toward prospective students' intention to enrol in a university and share information through electronic word-of-mouth

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