According to Abdelhadi et al. (2014) the economic cost of consumer misbehaviour is significant for the end consumer, the costs of misbehaviour greatly increase the prices; reduction in particular not only misbehaviour leads to monetary loss, it also impacts financially in terms of resources spent by the business firm which could be reflected on the brand image of the institution. Unsurprisingly, the participants identified economic consequences for the brand image of Jordanian universities and the kingdom as a whole. It was argued that this negative impact could hurt surrounding communities, businesses and tourist facilities. In addition, it can reduce per capita income; the number of international students and the flow of foreign currency and investors. Furthermore, it may harm universities by reducing their income. For example, one participant commented:
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“Customers’ misbehaviour has caused the withdrawal of foreign students studying at Jordanian universities. I think there has been a withdrawal of many students from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. In addition, a friend of mine from Malaysia told me that the number of Malaysian students has fallen. All of that will reduce the number of international students in Jordan, which depicts Jordanian universities in a negative way and gives them a bad image. Furthermore, this reduction deprives Jordanian universities of the ability to achieve their goals in the short term and the long term through a lack of fiscal revenues for the universities. For example, the Saudi embassy decided to give university students the freedom to choose to stay here or choose other nations in which to complete their studies, due to the increased campus violence in Jordan which could hurt the brand image of the education sector”. P2 (22yrs, male, Saudi, 2)
Others also mentioned the reduction in the number of international students and the negative impact on the flow of foreign currency. Some gave examples of Saudi and Omani students who had changed their destination of study to other places because of customers’ misbehaviour, such as Europe and America, rather than the Jordanian universities, for example:
“I know many students were thinking of coming to Jordan to study, but the Saudi government discouraged them from coming here because of the negative brand image that Saudi Arabian students have about Jordanian higher education institutions. This low number of international students will reduce the hard currency that these students spend in Jordan, which will hurt the Jordanian economy”. P18 (24yrs, female, Saudi, 2)
The negative impact of violence on JHE was also evidenced by one of the participants, who stated that he had obtained a scholarship from his government to study in Malaysia, and that this scholarship had been awarded so that he could complete his studies in a calmer environment with less reported violence. This participant also mentioned that:
“…. A similar situation applied to my brother who was meant to have gone to Jordan to study for a Master’s, but had been given a scholarship by the government to study in the USA instead, for the same reason, that of avoiding a violent environment not just in Jordan but because of the political uncertainty of the middle east after the Arab Spring. It cannot be stressed enough how much of a negative impact this sort of thing will have on the brand image of JHE”. P17 (21yrs, male, Kuwait, 2)
Another student from Kuwait told the researcher that he had been thinking of doing his Master’s in Jordan, but the previous summer’s problems had scared many Kuwaiti students and led them to stay at home. He states that:
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“I am trying to go to Morocco to do my Master’s studies when I am done here with my undergraduate degree because many people or even businesses start to perceive the brand image of JHE sector in a negative way when it comes to hiring their employees. Some feel that the brand image is not as good as before.” P3 (22yrs, male, Saudi, 1)
These views have also been reflected in previous research where it is stated that a direct financial loss often results from a reduction in international student numbers (see Fullerton & Punj, 1993; Lawrence & Robinson, 2007; Vitell & Muncy, 2013)
It is clear that when customers misbehave continuously misbehave in a violent manner. This shows that institutional policies are not working well or are not implemented correctly, and enhances the violence, which is so costly for all stakeholders of the JHE system in the short as well as the long run. It can be concluded thateconomic costs are a consequences of consumers’ misbehaviour on the brand image of JHE.
According to Maraqa & Oehring (2013) consumer misbehaviour occurs as result of unresolved tensions at the university level as well as at social and political levels. Similarly, some participants identified a political impact resulting from customers’ misbehaviour. For example, when Kuwaiti, Saudi and Omani students were involved in a fight with misbehaved customers, they complained to their embassies and asked them to intervene with the Jordanian government to stop the attacks on their students. Such customers’ misbehaviour could also harm Jordan’s relationships with these other countries. For example, one participant states that:
“Last year, our fights with many Jordanian students made us scared and we called our embassy in Amman, which made the Kuwaiti government talk about this issue because many Kuwaiti families who have children studying in Jordan called the Kuwaiti government to take action to force the government of Jordan to stop these customers’ misbehaviour. That happened when the Kuwaiti parliament attacked verbally the King of Jordan, which made many Jordanian students mad at Kuwait. If these issues were not resolved, international students would be scared to go back to Jordanian universities which would give a negative reputation and bad brand image of the JHE”. P23 (21yrs, female, Kuwait, 3)
“We complained and emailed our embassy in Amman and the ambassador of my country met with the university president to discuss our safety and the safety of all Malaysian students in Jordan. The ambassador promised if our students are not safe then we would stop sending more students to the Kingdom. This negative consumers’ misbehaviour leads to less demand from Malaysian students”. P1 (23yrs, male, Malaysia, 3.5)
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“Many Omani students wrote a petition to the Omani Higher Education regarding the bad treatment and the attacks, many students encountered in some Jordanian universities and requested the government to interfere because many of them left Jordan in the middle of the semester and missed all classes and some never came back”. P12(22yrs, male, Oman, 3)
Thus, the political impact is a major factor affecting the brand image of JHE. The case of Jordanian students attacking students from Kuwait because of political reasons, described above, is an example of this. Kuwaiti students complained to their embassy about the bad treatment they faced in Jordan, their families complained to the government of Kuwait and the Kuwaiti government in turn complained to the Jordanian government. All this made the Jordanian government look bad in the eyes of the outside world. The Kuwaiti ambassador promised that if Kuwaiti students were not safe in Jordan, the government would stop sending students to Jordan. If such matters are not resolved, international students will be scared to study in Jordan. Furthermore, last year one Kuwaiti student was killed in Jordan, many Kuwaiti members of parliament asked their government to take action against Jordanian government, especially as Kuwait is a leading country in the Middle East that offers financial support to Jordan of more than a $1 billion a year. Prime Minister of Jordan Abdullah, Al-Insour also believes that campus violence has its roots in social, economic and political factors.