Building Trust in Higher Education Institutions: Using Congruence to Overcome Scepticism and Increase Credibility, Reputation, and Student Employability Through CSR

The purpose of this study is to understand how students perceive social responsibility in HEIs, based on scepticism and congruence, it impacts HEIs´ desired outcomes like credibility, reputation, the employability their students. Moreover, importance impact credibility highlighted, investigating its influence reputation employability. cross-sectional data collected through a structured questionnaire using two samples HEIs students: one had 430 Brazilian students, other 321 Portuguese enrolled different public private HEIs. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) used test proposed hypotheses. Results show that congruence significantly perceptions CSR student employability, reinforced by credibility. findings help guide marketing management actions regarding building preference, loyalty, retention. especially