Purpose: Given the strong dependence of Generation Z (Gen Z) on social media, this research was designed to develop objective criteria and a measurement scale to assess the students’ intention to choose a university, giving particular attention to institutions’ social media engagement.

Methodology: The present study utilized a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Students’ Intention to Choose University Scale (SICUS). Semi-structured interviews with first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students from 10 universities in Northern India were conducted to elicit qualitative insights into university selection using social media platforms. The qualitative data informed the creation of an item pool for the scale, which was evaluated for face and content validity, followed by exploratory factor analysis (120 respondents), confirmatory factor analysis (120 respondents), and assessments of construct reliability and validity.

Findings: The findings resulted in a valid and reliable scale (SICUS) with three dimensions: social media responsiveness, institutional social media popularity, and strategic media information, which effectively measured the intention to choose a university among Gen Z, with satisfactory validity and reliability indices. Practical

Implications: SICUS is a valuable tool for researchers and higher education institutions to measure students’ intention to choose a university based on institutional social media engagement (ISME) and to inform the development of their social media strategies.

Originality: A scale was developed to measure students’ intention to choose a university, taking into account institutions’ SME. It also provides a step-by-step guide to developing a scale using an exploratory mixed-methods research approach.

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