Factors that drives Alumni Engagement

Prepared for:

Mr. S. Bharadhwaj
Instructor of Marketing Research
Great Lakes Institute of Management

Prepared by:

Group A11
FT NUMBER
FT151019
FT151031
FT151018
FT151035
FT151065
FT151083
FT151046
FT151042

NAME
TANMOY BOSE
ANAGHA
ANUJ
ATRAYEE BHATTACHARYA
NAVRAJ
VIDIT
RANJEET MATHEW
MANIKANDAN

Contents
Abstract: .................................................................................................................................................. 3
The Literature Review: ............................................................................................................................ 4
Research methodology: .......................................................................................................................... 5
Qualitative Research: .............................................................................................................................. 5
In-depth Interview .............................................................................................................................. 6
Focus Group Study ............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Hypothesis............................................................................................................................................... 7
Quantitative Research: ........................................................................................................................... 7
Data Analysis ............................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 19
Exhibits .................................................................................................................................................. 19

Abstract:
They are volunteers and partners. Ambassadors, advocates, and donors. Mentors to current students
and lifelong learners. They live in different parts of the globe and work in every field imaginable.
They embody the values, the knowledge, and the passion of the University, and its commitment to
serve the world. They are the Alumni. The alumni plays the role of a former student, an Institutional
Ambassador, Mentor and coach to new incoming students, Community representative, fundraiser and
at many a times Business partner.
Alumni are truly the most important asset to any B-School as the very essence of business starts with
building network into networth and alumni represents an important connecting link in this. The more
older a B-School, the more stronger is its alumni base and all this is possible because of alumni
engagement activities devised by the School. All the efforts in alumni engagement should yield
success stories and in the process increase the spirit of the B-School. The approach to alumni
engagement is to promote a sense of continuing education by facilitating conversations about the
work world, B-School, and work/life balance. The goal is to build an engagement programme such
that the dual role : (i) Value to the institution and (ii) Value to the alumni/alumnus can be achieved.
It is worth noting that not every alum believes that his/her School helped in the best possible way and
might not connect well during all alumni engagement activities. Thus it becomes a prime importance
to plan the alumni engagement programmes in such a way so as to bring together all the alumnus and
the current students on a common platform. An impressive alumni engagement programme should be
able to overcome few barriers such as : Time, Distance, Commitments to job and family, Not knowing
anyone, Value proposition, Fear of solicitation and lack of interest in the Institution.
There are a number of ways in which the alumni engagement can be increased and which are followed
in most of the B-Schools. Few of them are :

Organizing Alumni meets in the College

Alumni interaction with the prospective B-School students through portals like pagalguy
Maintenance of an Alumni database to track all the alumni and their organization
Assigning alumnus as mentor to a group of students.
Seeking alumni networking skills to get information on career services related activities of the
B-School.
Official Online portals such as Facebook and Linkedin where alumni can have both formal as
well as informal conversation.
Guest lectures by alumni.
Alumni invitations to important events organized in the B-School.
Continuous career services to the alumni to help them search for new job opportunities.

The purpose of this study is to find out the important factors which result into better alumni
engagement and also to find the most important amongst them. The methodology to study this is
through qualitative research in which alums of different B-Schools will be contacted to get
information on the ways their alma mater still maintains the bond with them and ways which the
alumnus thinks it can be improved further.

The Literature Review:

The objectives of alumni engagement plan are to foster the network and connections of a B-School
across the globe. Alumni relation programs play a key role in getting the alumni engaged with their
Alma matter in a way that benefits both the alumni and the college.
There are specific drivers and motivators that cause alumni to become and/or not be engaged. By
closely identifying trends and attitudes towards these areas, institutions can be more targeted in their
outreach and better communicate the value of staying engaged and/or giving back to the institution.
Having data from the institutions most valuable stakeholders (alumni) can and should be important to
all departments on campus. Alumni professionals have the ability to enhance their relationship with
other departments across campus and create a more cooperative and unified effort to provide the best
possible outreach and communications to alumni.
The study explores factors affecting alumni relationship- its beginning, maturing and sustenance over
time in a positive engagement between alumni and the B-School
Alumni engagement with B-school could be attributed to the overall experiences of an individual
during his time with B-school. It is also observed that that a B-School which makes it a habit to value
its alumni from start sets up a trend for the upcoming batches to develop relationships with the
students and campus.
There is a mutual interest for both Alumni and B-schools for establishing a relationship. Looking
form B-Schools of the factors they perceive are important for alumni interactions could be that
an alumni doing well in his career may provide referrals for hiring students from Campus, donating
funds to institution. Similarly an alumni just passed out may vouch for B-schools contact in industry
for switching jobs.
Various issues highlighted in the studies are Equity of Degree matters, Career issues percolate to the
top, enhanced opportunities to branding association on campus , more effective communications
, underlying issues regarding alumni events.
These studies suggested that various factors on which affect engagement of Alumni with its Alma
Mater is due to the Career opportunities provided by B-schools i.e. information about new job
openings with the companies they are connected to or referring the Alumni to those companies. The
Networking Platform that B-schools provides to interact with the seniors and with the current batch
also is a major reason why Alumni wants to stay connected with their Alma Mater. Events/Reunions
organized and the location and timings of these meets also decide the participation of Alumni in
Alumni engagement activities. It is also observed that the interest of the alumni to participate is
enhanced by his emotional attachment with the college. Meeting with their friends, cherishing old
memories of their time in the college also trigger Alumni association with the B-school.
B-schools try to increase the interactions by inviting Alumni for the guest lecture of the individuals.
An Alumni of a B-school who goes on to become CEO/CFO of a company is also a good pick for
college to be the Chief guest or guest lecture of the B-Schools event. Such associations build
emotional relationships between Alumni and its Alma Mater.
These studies highlight the fact that Alumni are also interested in telling their success stories to the
world. B-schools judge the level of Alumni engagement by number of new students introduced to the
4

B-school through alumni, number of alumni volunteers on campus, percentage of Alumni

supportingthe B-school for placement and referrals or providing career guidance to the new students,
percentage of bad addresses for alumni, annual survey measuring the impact of activities on alumni
attitudes.
Certain factors that prove bottlenecks in the Alumni engagement programs are Time and busy
schedule of the Alumnis. Similarly location problem as to where the alumni activities are organizes is
also considered important for Alumni to attend those events. Similarly the subjectivity of the event is
also important for the Alumnis as some perceive Alumni events to have fun and enjoy while for
others learning opportunities and associations with peers or distinguished industry professionals is a
major factor.

Research methodology:
Data type

: Primary Data

Research tool

: Questionnaire, Literature Survey, Social network, people interactions (In

Depth Interview)

Sample Units

: Individual, Friends and Family members

Sampling Method

: Stratified Sampling

Assumptions:

Samples collected are a representative of the entire population

Qualitative Research:
In-depth Interview
For Qualitative Analysis we implemented the method of In-depth interview. We got in touch with
around 7 Alumni across different B-Schools including IIM-A, Great lakes, Army Institute of
Management, SCIT, SIMC. Each interview lasts around 15-30 minutes. Through these interviews we
could get insights on what could be the possible factors of which would drive the Alumni engagement
in B-School
Based on the literature review and in-depth interview, our finding is that below are the reasons for the
alumni to participate:
1. Career opportunities
A lot of alumni respondents keep in touch with the b-school for career opportunities and
services, guidance and prospects to them.
2. Networking platform
The events conducted by the alumni stakeholder group increase network opportunities with
and for the group. This creates solid platform for forming business partnership and mutually
beneficial relationship with each other.
3. Invitation to B-School Events
Alumni attending B-school events will increase the face-to-face networking opportunities
with and for this group, thereby creating a solid foundation for the implementation of a
relationship.
4. B-School reputation
It has been observed that alumni of reputed B-schools take pride in keeping in touch with
their B-schools.
5. Experience in college as a student
Those who had good memories about the B-school show tendency to engage more with the Bschool later.
6. Location and Timing of Alumni meets
Location and timing of alumni meet plays important role in alumni attending B-school alumni
events. It could be due to factors like work, family etc.

Independent Variable:
Certain factors that influence alumni engagement identified are

Nostalgia
Career Opportunities
Networking
College Communication
Career Opportunities
Alumni meets
College Reputation

Dependent Variable:

Alumni Engagement

Hypothesis:
Based on the above mentioned independent and dependent variables, we have formed the
following hypothesis which we would test in our scope of study:

Hypothesis 1: Relationship between Alumni engagement and career opportunities

H0: Alumni Engagement is not affected by career opportunities provided by the b-school
Ha: Alumni Engagement is affected by career opportunities provided by b-schools
Hypothesis 2: Relationship between Alumni engagement and Networking platform
H0: Alumni Engagement is not affected by career opportunities provided by b-schools
Ha: Alumni Engagement is affected by networking platform provided by the b-schools
Hypothesis 3: Relationship between Alumni engagement and Communication by college
H0: Alumni Engagement is not improved by quality of college communication
Ha: Alumni Engagement is improved by quality of college communication
Hypothesis 4: Relationship between Alumni engagement and reputation of the college
H0: Alumni Engagement is not affected by the reputation of the college
Ha: Alumni Engagement is affected by the reputation of the college
Hypothesis 5: Relationship between Alumni engagement and college-life experience of
alumni(nostalgia)
H0: Alumnus are less engaged if they do not Have a good college life experience
Ha: Alumnus are more engaged if they Have a good college life experience
Hypothesis 6: Relationship between Alumni engagement and location and timing of alumni
meets
H0: Alumni engagements is not affected by the location and timing of alumni meets
Ha: Alumni engagements is affected by the location and timing of alumni meets

Quantitative Research:

Methodology:
The factors identified based on the Qualitative research and the literature survey, was used as an
input to the quantitative research. We rolled out our questionnaire a week before we started our
analysis on the data. We had a total of 23 questions.
We have used the 5-point Likert scale for the survey. The format of scale was from
Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5).
In a weeks time we could collect more than 150 responses. We used the survey data and SPSS tool
for further analysis. Also we performed the following steps in the below mentioned order to test the
data1. Test of reliability (Cronbach alpha)
To check the validity of internal consistency, that is, how closely related a set of items are as
a group we calculated Cronbach Alpha.The responses which required reverse scoring,

were reverse scored After collecting the first 40 responses the Cronbach alphas were
calculated for all constructs to check the reliability of the questions and scales.We
used the value of alpha at 0.6 as the threshold value and rejected any variable which had a
score below that.
2. Test of Multicollinearity
For further analysis of the data we performed a test of multi-collinearity was performed on
each of the variables using SPSS.
3. Factor Analysis
As we found multi-co linearity amongst the independent variables, we performed a Factor
analysis to extract components for further analysis
4. Regression Analysis
After extracting the factors we finally performed a regression analysis to test the
relationship between the DV and the IVs. We also calculated interaction terms between the
IVs and applied Mean-centring Theorems remove co linearity between the interaction
terms

Results:
1. Test of reliability (Cronbach alpha)
After performing the Cronbach alpha test we found the following results:
Dependent Variable-Amluni Engagement

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.714

Independent Variable 1- Nostalgia

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.745

Independent Variable 2- Career Opportunities

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.750

Independent Variable 3- Networking

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.713

Independent Variable 4- Alumni Meets

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.696

Independent Variable 5- College Reputation

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.732

Independent Variable 6-Communication from College

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.879

10

2. Test of multi collinearity

The final data for each construct was generated by taking the mean of the responses for
the questions of that construct.
Interaction among Network and Alumni Variables were supposedly assumed. An
interaction term AlumniNetwork is created.
The output of the bivariate- co-linearity test was the following:Correlations
Nostalgi

Carrer

College

College

Alum Networkin

a-Var1

Opportuniti

Reputatio

Communicati

ni

es- Var2

n- Var5

on- Var6

Meet

g- Var3

AlumniNetw
ork

sVar4
Pearson
Correlati

.502

**

.608

**

.329

**

.470

**

.431

**

.484

**

on
NostalgiaVar1

Sig. (2-

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

116

116

**

tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlati
Carrer
Opportunities
- Var2

.502

.592

**

.640

**

.602

**

.664

**

.714

**

on
Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

116

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati
College
ReputationVar5

.608

**

.592

.560

**

.636

**

.633

**

.682

**

on
Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

116

116

116

11

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

Pearson
Correlati
College
Communicati
on- Var6

.329

**

.640

**

.560

**

1 .641

**

.579

**

.681

**

on
Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati

.470

**

.602

**

.636

**

.641

.623

**

.881

**

on
Alumni
Meets-Var4

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

.000

.000

116

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati

.431

**

.664

**

.633

**

.579

**

.623

.900

**

on
NetworkingVar3

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

.000

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati

.484

**

.714

**

.682

**

.681

**

.881

**

.900

on
AlumniNetwor
k

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

116

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

12

116

We find that there is significant correlation between interaction variable AlumniNetwork

and independent variables.

Thus we perform Mean Centering of the given data and we try to remove the multi
collinearity due to the interaction term. But even after performing Mean Centring of the
data for Alumni Network we find that the Correlation due to the interaction variable is still
significant.

Correlations
Nostalg

Carrer

College

College

MCNetw

MCAlu

MCAlumniNet

ia-Var1 Opportuniti Reputati

Communicat

ork

mni

work

es- Var2

ion- Var6

on- Var5

Pearson
Correlati

.502

**

.608

**

.329

**

.430

**

.470

**

-.284

**

on
NostalgiaVar1

Sig. (2-

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

.002

116

116

116

116

116

116

116

**

tailed)
N
Pearson
Correlati
Carrer
OpportunitiesVar2

.502

.592

**

.640

**

.664

**

.602

**

-.220

on
Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

116

.000

.000

.000

.000

.017

116

116

116

116

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati
College
ReputationVar5

Sig. (2tailed)

.592

.560

**

.633

**

.636

**

-.411

**

.000

.000

116

116

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

**

Pearson

Communicatio Correlati
n- Var6

**

on

N
College

.608

.329

**

.640

**

.560

on

13

.579

**

.641

**

-.229

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

.000

.000

.013

116

116

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati

.430

**

.664

**

.633

**

.579

.623

**

-.418

**

on
MCNetwork

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

.000

.000

116

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati

.470

**

.602

**

.636

**

.641

**

.623

-.407

**

on
MCAlumni

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

.000

116

116

**

Pearson
Correlati

-.284

**

-.220

-.411

**

-.229

-.418

**

-.407

on
MCAlumniNet
work

Sig. (2tailed)
N

.002

.017

.000

.013

.000

.000

116

116

116

116

116

116

116

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

From above table we find Multi Collinearity due to interaction term and independent
variable still exists. Thus we avoid using the mean centred data and interaction terms for
factor and regression analysis

14

3. Factor Analysis:
The result of the factor analysis as performed in SPSS was following:

Communalities
Initial
College Communication-

Extraction

1.000

.795

Alumni Meets-Var4

1.000

.977

Networking- Var3

1.000

.732

Nostalgia-Var1

1.000

.922

Carrer Opportunities- Var2

1.000

.794

College Reputation- Var5

1.000

.746

Var6

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Total Variance Explained

Compon

Initial Eigenvalues

Extraction Sums of Squared

Rotation Sums of Squared

Loadings

Loadings

ent
Total

% of

Cumulativ

Variance

e%

Total

% of

Cumulativ

Variance

e%

Total

% of

Cumulativ

Variance

e%

3.730

58.172

58.172

3.730

58.172

58.172

2.323

38.722

38.722

1.727

14.119

72.291

1.727

14.119

72.291

1.527

25.447

64.168

1.508

10.461

82.752

1.508

10.461

82.752

1.115

18.583

82.752

.406

6.760

89.512

.370

6.162

95.674

.260

4.326

100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

As seen in the component matrix a total of 3 factors (Principal components) were

extracted based on the criteria of Eigen value > 1. Based on the component matrix,
we identified the high loading (having magnitude of more than 0.6) and medium
loading (having magnitude between 0.45 and 0.59) variables for each factor:

15

Component Matrix

Component
1
College Communication-

.769

-.451

.028

Alumni Meets-Var4

.760

.097

.625

Networking- Var3

.820

-.206

-.130

Nostalgia-Var1

.697

.638

-.172

Carrer Opportunities- Var2

.833

-.184

-.257

College Reputation- Var5

.842

.179

-.067

Var6

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

a. 3 components extracted.

Since the factor nostalgia was contributing to both the components we performed a factor rotation
which resulted in the following rotated matrix:

Rotated Component Matrix

Component
1
College Communication-

.829

.036

.327

Alumni Meets-Var4

.307

.278

.898

Networking- Var3

.766

.307

.225

Nostalgia-Var1

.178

.924

.192

Carrer Opportunities- Var2

.801

.371

.118

College Reputation- Var5

.530

.603

.318

Var6

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.
a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations.

Based on these results, we named the 3 factors as follows:

1) to be filled
2) to be filled
16

3) to be filled

4. Regression Analysis:

17

18

Conclusion

Exhibits
Exhibit 1: Questionnaire for Survey
1) How often do you go to Alumni Meets?
Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

2) How often do you refer alumni of your college to your organization?

Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

3) Are you Updated with the Current Activities of your the Alma Matter?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

4) Would you be willing or are already mentoring the current students of your college?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

5) You highly rate your college experience?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

6) When you think of your college you feel nostalgic?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

7) If given a chance would you like revisit your college for reviving memories?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

19

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

8) Graduation ceremony conducted by your college was satisfactory?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

9) Does college's alumni portal update you with the current events, job opportunities etc?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

10) You are satisfied with your college's Placement office in providing you your desired job?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

11) You find opportunities of getting referred by the Alumni of your college?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

12) Your college facilitates entrepreneurship ventures that you wish to carry?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

13) You agree that your college has contributed to your professional network?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

14) Alumni groups on college Portals allow you to be in regular touch with friends and seniors?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

15) Alumni groups on Social Networking sites(Facebook,linkedIn,etc) allows you to be in regular

touch with your batch-mates and Seniors/juniors?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

16) College organizes alumni meets as per your convenience?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

20

17) Your college organizes enough alumni meets so as to result into higher engagement?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

18) You agree there is any positive outcome from the alumni meets?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

19) You agree the college takes enough steps to ensure that most of the alumni are present in the
meets?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

20) You rate the reputation of your college highly?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

21) You feel proud being associated to your college?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

22) You will be more participative if your college was ranked higher?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

23) Do you agree that your college hosts topnotch events(Cultural,technical,etc), which adds to your
college reputation?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

24) You get regular mailer from your college?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

25) You get timely invites from your college for guest lectures and events?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

21

Disagree

Strongly Disagre

26) Your College regularly updates the contact details of the alumni?
Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree or disagree

22

Disagree

Strongly Disagree