ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Alumni engagement is considered one of the key strategies for education institutes to stay competitive and resourceful. Students after graduation can enable their institutes to tap a number of resources through their networks, thus helping with marketing, increasing employability, donations, and mentorship opportunities. Though universities have started capitalizing extensively on alumni as a resource, little is known about the factors influencing alumni engagement in the Malaysian universities context. To address the issue, this study tried to look into the factors affecting alumni engagement by using the School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia as a case study. A quantitative research design was used to collect data from the respondents. The results showed that student experience, external environment, and networking opportunities have a significant and positive effect on alumni engagement. The study has significant theoretical and practical implications and warrants the need for future studies.
Bell, E., Bryman, A., & Harley, B. (2022). Business research methods: Oxford university press.
Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research: Guilford publications.
Bruggink, T. H., & Siddiqui, K. (1995). An Econometric Model of Alumni Giving: A Case Study for a Liberal Arts College. The American Economist, 39(2), 53-60.
Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. (2003). Marketing Research: Online Research Applications (4th ed.): Prentice Hall.
Clark, T., & Hordosy, R. (2019). Undergraduate experiences of the research/teaching nexus across the whole student lifecycle. Teaching in Higher Education, 24(3), 412-427.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc.
David, A., & Coenen, F. (2014). Alumni Networks - An Untapped Potential to Gain and Retain Highly-Skilled Workers? Higher Education Studies, 4. doi: 10.5539/hes.v4n5p1
Drezner, N. D., & Pizmony, L. O. (2021). I belong, therefore, I give? The impact of sense of belonging on graduate student alumni engagement. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 50(4), 753-777.
Ebert, K., Axelsson, L., & Harbor, J. (2015). Opportunities and challenges for building alumni networks in Sweden: a case study of Stockholm University. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(2), 252-262. doi: 10.1080/1360080X.2015.1019117
El-Awad, Z., Gabrielsson, J., Pocek, J., & Politis, D. (2022). Unpacking the early alumni engagement of entrepreneurship graduates. Journal of Small Business Management, 1-34. doi: 10.1080/00472778.2022.2125979
Fisher, J. F., & Price, R. (2021). Alumni Networks Reimagined: Innovations Expanding Alumni Connections to Improve Postsecondary Pathways. Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Fugate, J. B. (2019). Life After Graduation: Current Seniors' Perceptions of Alumni Engagement and Their Expectations of the Institution Once They Graduate: University of South Florida.
Gray, J. A., & DiLoreto, M. (2016). The effects of student engagement, student satisfaction, and perceived learning in online learning environments. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 11(1), n1.
Griffin, M. M., & Steinbrecher, T. D. (2013). Large-Scale Datasets in Special Education Research. In R. C. Urbano (Ed.), International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities (Vol. 45, pp. 155-183): Academic Press.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2021). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (Third Edition ed.): Sage publications.
Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & G. Kuppelwieser, V. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European Business Review, 26(2), 106-121. doi: 10.1108/EBR-10-2013-0128
Hamid, O. (2021). A Faculty-Based Approach to Engaging University Alumni. The Organizational Improvement Plan at Western University. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/191
Hanusz, Z., & Tarasi?ska, J. (2015). Normalization of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Shapiro–Wilk tests of normality. Biometrical Letters, 52(2), 85-93.
Helgesen, U. D., & Nesset, E. (2007). What accounts for students' loyalty? Some field study evidence. International Journal of Educational Management, 21, 126–143. doi: 10.1108/09513540710729926
Hoyt, J. E. (2004). Understanding alumni giving: Theory and predictors of donor status. Online submission.
Hummel, R. (2010). Factors influencing alumni connection and commitment. Lethbridge, Alta.: University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, c2010.
Johnson, W. B. (2015). On being a mentor: A guide for higher education faculty: Routledge.
Jonbekova, D., Serkova, Y., Mazbulova, Z., Jumakulov, Z., & Ruby, A. (2023). How international higher education graduates contribute to their home country: an example from government scholarship recipients in Kazakhstan. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(1), 126-140. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2021.2019200
Obukhova, E., & Lan, G. (2013). Do job seekers benefit from contacts? A direct test with contemporaneous searches. Management Science, 59(10), 2204-2216.
Okunade, A. A., & Berl, R. L. (1997). Determinants of Charitable Giving of Business School Alumni. Research in Higher Education, 38(2), 201-214. doi: 10.1023/A:1024933720131
Parimala, V., & Jayesh, S. (2023). Alumni Engagement in Higher Education Institutions: Perspectives from India. In W. Dr. Lee & W. Dr. Sharon (Eds.), Higher Education - Reflections From the Field - Volume 3 (pp. Ch. 17). Rijeka: IntechOpen.
Samani, S. (2016). Steps in Research Process (Partial Least Square of Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) A Review). International Journal of Social Science and Business, 1, 55-66.
Saraeh, U. N., Rahman, N. I. A., Noordin, N., Ramlan, S. N., Ahmad, R., & Sakdan, M. F. a. (2018). The influence of students’ experience on alumni giving in Malaysian Public Educational Institution. Paper presented at the MATEC Web of Conferences.
Saunders, M. N. K., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2019). Research Methods for Business Students (Eight ed.): Pearson.
Starace, M. D. (2012). Transforming nomads into settlers: A study of community college alumni engagement efforts in Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania.
Wendler, C., Bridgeman, B., Cline, F., Millett, C., Rock, J., Bell, N., & McAllister, P. (2010). The path forward: The future of graduate education in the United States. Educational Testing Service.
(Sium et al., 2023)
Sium, M., Prabhakaran, S., Iqbal, A., & Ramachandran, S. (2023). Why Alumni Stay Engaged With Their Alma Mater? Understanding the Factors in Malaysian Context. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(12), 1489–1500.
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode