Digital marketing in Māori higher education: A case study of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa

Abstract

The shift to neoliberalism in the 1980s meant that higher education in Aotearoa New Zealand became business-orientated—a situation which prevails today (Narayan, 2020; Olssen, 2002). The digitisation of business means that for businesses to remain relevant, they must embrace digital marketing (Herhausen et al., 2020; Makrides et al., 2020). Indeed, in higher education, too, the need for digital marketing is inescapable (Sawlani & Susilo, 2020). This paper will discuss digital marketing in higher education and will look specifically at some aspects of the digital marketing approach of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. This paper will begin with a very brief history of Māori business during the early colonial period, as well as a short description of contemporary Māori business. This article will discuss the most current understandings of digital marketing in higher education. Importantly, this paper will use the three relationship marketing success factors identified by John (2020)—trust, commitment, and service orientation—and relate these to the four values of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (2020)—Te Aroha, Te Whakapono, Ngā Ture, and Kotahitanga—as a means of identifying gaps in Te Wānanga o Aotearoa’s current digital marketing approach.