WHEN STUDENTS DO NOT DECIDE ALONE: IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENT-CENTRIC MARKETING IN PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION

Student-centric marketing has become a dominant approach in higher education, particularly among private universities operating in competitive and expanding markets. Most existing models assume that enrollment decisions are made by individual students who respond directly to institutional branding, digital promotion, and employability narratives (Kotler & Fox, 1995; Hemsley-Brown & Oplatka, 2015). However, growing evidence from collectivist and transitional contexts suggests that this assumption does not adequately reflect how enrollment decisions are formed in practice. In such settings, higher education choices are frequently negotiated within families, where parents and relatives participate actively in evaluating institutional legitimacy, perceived value, and long-term security (Hofstede, 2011; Maringe, 2006).