The internationalization of for-profit higher education institutions in the US: seeking legitimacy and responding to market forces via student mobility

• In Event: Education Abroad in Different Countries and Contexts

Proposal

The internationalization of for-profit higher education institutions in the US: seeking legitimacy and responding to market forces via student mobility

Purpose
The internationalization of higher education (HE) is a widely researched and discussed phenomenon that is key to addressing the mission of many higher education institutions (HEIs) (de Wit & Altbach, 2021). Prior research on this topic has primarily focused on the internationalization of either public or private nonprofit HEIs instead of HEIs that distribute profits to owners/shareholders. Internationalization research’s focus on public and nonprofit HEIs is logical, as a vast majority of HEIs fall in one of these two categories (Altbach, 2016). However, numerous private, for-profit, HEIs, particularly in the United States (US), provide post-secondary educational services to hundreds of thousands of students per year (Hentschke et al., 2023). Given the significant role that these institutions play in the US HE landscape, analysis of how and why private, for-profit HEIs engage in internationalization is warranted.

This study answers the following research questions:
1. What is the profile of for-profit HEIs in the US that enroll a high number of international students or offer study abroad programs?
2. How do these institutions market themselves to compete for international students?
3. What kind of strategies do the institutions employ to promote study abroad?
4. What is the relevance of their market niche regarding their student mobility activities?

Theoretical Framework
This study analyzes the phenomena of internationalization of for-profit higher education institutions using neo-institutionalist and market forces frameworks. For-profit institutions employ various mechanisms to compete in the broader HE market. According to sociological neo-institutionalism, these institutions seek legitimacy by emulating ideal-typical forms. These pressures to gain legitimacy often lead organizations to become “isomorphic” over time (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Meyer & Rowan, 1977). While many institutions aim to increase their research output, it is equally true that lower-status, non-elite institutions do not rely on the prestige associated with research focus and selectivity to compete with others (Levy, 2006). In contrast to high-tier private nonprofit and public institutions, for-profit HEIs show less concern for demonstrating adaptation to higher-tier institutions (Milian, 2018). Often, for-profits seek new niches and portray themselves in unconventional ways in promotional materials. Instead of mimicking institutions in other tiers, isomorphic forces in for-profit HEIs operate within similar types of institutions, legitimizing and differentiating them from institutions with other missions and characteristics (Milian, 2018).

The theory of imperfect markets identifies this behavior as one of the main underlying forces motivating the internationalization of private firms (Morgan & Katsikeas, 1997; Rugman, 1980; 1985). Applying this theory in the private, for-profit HE sector, the imperfect local market conditions push institutions to market and expand their reach internationally beyond their defined geography to appeal to more potential consumers (i.e., students) abroad, whose enrollment then generates more profit (Malhotra et al., 2003).

Methods
To respond to our research questions with a focus on institutional behaviors that reflect neo-institutionalism, market imperfection, and niche firm status, we adopted an explanatory mixed-methods research design. This approach to mixed-methods research begins with a quantitative phase that provides a general overview of the research area followed by a qualitative phase that explains or expands on the quantitative results (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018).

Findings
Our mixed-methods approach revealed descriptive profiles of US for-profit HEIs that enroll a high number of international students and/or offer study abroad and explored how these institutions market themselves and their programs to recruit international students and/or internationally-inclined domestic students.

The online marketing of every case institution exhibited behavior described by theories from the business and economics literature, but the cases varied in which activities and target audiences they exhibited this behavior towards. The two cases selected due to their large percentage of international students, Southern States University and L3 Commercial Training Solutions, both geared their marketing messaging to attract international students to overcome the local market imperfection of few prospective students, to be seen in the eyes of prospective students as legitimate global institutions in comparison to peer HEIs, and to exploit their discipline- specific niches (business and IT for SSU; aviation for L3). The online marketing of Miami Ad School, which reported a substantial amount of study abroad activity, prominently featured their study abroad offer in a way that also matched all three business and economics theoretical explanations. The two institutions we selected from our quantitative analysis because of their descriptive statistics in both study abroad offering and international student recruitment, Academy of Art University and the School of Visual Art, also engaged in online marketing toward international audiences and in promotion of their study abroad programming that matched the theories from our framework.

However, the findings also point to two deviations from our framework. First, our theoretical work would suggest that the organizational form that is common to each of our case institutions (for-profit, niche market oriented HEIs) would lead all of them to exhibit behaviors described by all three business and economic theories in their online marketing to general prospective domestic students. This was true for all but one, Southern States University. Second, there is the case of DeVry University, which reports having study abroad programming at multiple locations but exhibited no online marketing efforts which promoted these programs, breaking from our framework.

Thus, for the selected cases, our theoretical framework is generally applicable, as the online marketing of their student mobility activities confirms the influence of their for-profit nature as motivation for exploiting the economic rationales of internationalization as a financial viability strategy. Namely, the pursuit of these initiatives helps improve the financial status of these institutions via the increased enrollment of international students and internationally inclined domestic students, helping these for-profit HEIs overcome marketing imperfections, leverage their niche focus and expertise, and establish legitimacy.

Authors

• Jonah Michael Otto, University of Augsburg

• Melissa Whatley, William and Mary

• Dante J Salto, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee