Evaluating the Role of Digital Engagement in Shaping Critical Thinking of Students and Graduates during University Selection Process

The advent of digital technologies has transformed how companies interact with their customers. From selling simple products to promoting university study offers, organizations, forced by the need to remain competitive, are increasingly paying attention to their digital presence and engagement. Positioned in one of the most competitive areas, universities have focused heavily in recent years on making the best use of their digital visibility to retain students and attract graduates. Therefore, research in recent years has begun to exert greater focus on this area and to examine the impact of digital engagement on the process of choosing higher education institutions. However, an important issue to evaluate in this field is the role that this type of promotion has in influencing decisions and shaping critical thinking of students or graduates in university selection processes. Thus, this quantitative research uses a questionnaire to identify the impact of digital promotion on critical thinking within the university selection process. Constructed on several indicators, the collected responses from students and graduates focused on three distinct areas: exposure to digital content, their level of interaction with online content, the impact on their decisionmaking process and critical thinking. The results show that digital engagement has a significant impact on the decision-making process of current students intending to choose university and study programs, therefore making a significant contribution to this research field.