What can keep students in a city after completing their studies?

• Main Authors: Belyaeva, Anna, Eleweisi, Khaled, Kozubenko, Valeriia
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF) 2016
• Subjects: Sweden; Växjö; City branding; LNU – Linnaeus University; Students; Satisfaction; Retention; Intention to switch
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-53519

Cities throughout Europe, including Växjö, a college city in the south of Sweden, have been developing and managing their city brands actively to attract young talents and students. Växjö has been a destination for students from Sweden and all over the world to study in Linnaeus University (LNU). However, the city, and according to its managers, has not been able to keep students in it after completing their studies. There are many previous studies that focus on destination and place marketing in general, however, only a few highlight the topic of city brands and branding.   This research has been conducted in order to explore the factors that can contribute to Linnaeus University students’ (customers) satisfaction with the city of Växjö, and examine the relationship between Customer satisfaction and Customer retention and Intention to switch in relative to Växjö. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been used. The primary data for this research has been collected through an online questionnaire survey from 84 LNU students who fitted the target sample criteria, and 6 semi-structured interviews. The findings of this research suggest that majority of the students are satisfied with Växjö as they take their current situation as students into consideration, however, they have shown a low rate of city retention, and a high rate of intention to switch to another place in future. The results are limited to the city of Växjö.