The Effect Of Digital Promotion And Word Of Mouth On University Choice Interest Among 12th-Grade Students In West Java Province

Abstract

Competition among higher education institutions in West Java Province has intensified as the number of public and private universities, polytechnics, and colleges offering competitive study programs continues to grow, compelling each institution to build a strong appeal in an increasingly saturated education market. This study aims to examine the effect of digital promotion and word of mouth (WOM), both partially and simultaneously, on the interest of 12th-grade students in choosing a university in West Java Province. A quantitative approach with a survey method was applied to 150 twelfth-grade students from senior high schools, vocational high schools, and Islamic senior high schools in West Java, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using an online questionnaire based on a 1–5 Likert scale and analyzed using multiple linear regression following tests of validity, reliability, and classical assumptions. The results indicate that digital promotion has a positive but not statistically significant effect on university choice interest (? = 0.128; sig. = 0.162), whereas word of mouth has a positive and significant effect (? = 0.256; sig. = 0.003). Simultaneously, the two variables affect university choice interest, with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.021, indicating that digital promotion and WOM jointly explain only 2.1% of the variance in university choice interest, while the remaining 97.9% is explained by other factors outside the model. These findings confirm that word of mouth is a more dominant determinant than digital promotion in shaping 12th-grade students' interest in choosing a university, suggesting that universities should strengthen alumni- and counselor-based interpersonal communication strategies while simultaneously improving the quality of their digital promotional content.