The role of organizational culture in the process of students’ identification with a university

The article presents the results of the research conducted in one of the top-ranked universities in Russia. The paper aims at identifying the relationship between the levels of identification and of students’ adherence to the university and their perception of organizational culture. The study reveals the peculiarities of students’ perception of culture and differences from their own ideas about it. There is measured the degree of the respondents’ identification with the organization and, as a result, the degree of their adherence to the university. The survey demanded three methods to be applied and 150 people to participate. The data have been processed with the help of various statistical methods (dispersion, correlation, factor, and regression analysis). The results show the discrepancies in students’ ideas of the prevailing culture, but at the same time a general tendency to their positive relationships with the university. The interest in the discussed questions of the research is related to the role of an educational institution’s image in the aspects of management and attractiveness for its students. Modern universities are considered to be a type of organizations, which provide educational services and therefore are forced to compete with others at the market. As a result, they are required to find optimal solutions and to create competitive advantages according to the expectations of potential «customers». The paper describes a case of undergraduate students, which allows us to draw conclusions about the peculiarities of the organizational culture and the image of the university as influencing students’ loyalty. The fact of a loyal attitude is considered to be an advantage necessary for a modern university to save and strengthen its own positions at the educational services market, as well as to form a development strategy based on analyzing the current situation.