Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of cultural distance, governance quality, and market attractiveness on attachment of agents with a university.
Design/methodology/approach
– A single university was chosen as a case study and secondary data were collected. The focus of this paper is on education agents who market higher education institution (HEI) in international market and recruit international students.
Findings
– Multiple regression was performed and the finding indicated that governance quality and market attractiveness are significantly related with a number of agents attached to the marketing department of the university. However, cultural distance showed no significant relationship with agent attachment.
Research limitations/implications
– The availability of data was most challenging in gathering data for this study because the culture of a country may change across time and the sample was based on only one case study, a minimal amount of information was obtained.
Practical implications
– This study addresses the external factors that needed to be considered in selecting new agents.
Originality/value
– This study contributes to the international marketing literature by a focus on HEI and focus on agency approach.