An investigation of travel motivation as a factor in international students’ choice of a foreign university: A Thai case study

Nghiên cứu về động lực du lịch đóng vai trò như một yếu tố lựa chọn trường đại học của sinh viên quốc tế: case of Thailand. Push and Pull approachThis study creates various recommendations for both international education servicessector and tourism sector.This study creates various recommendations for both international education servicessector and tourism sector.

An investigation of travel motivation as a factor in international students’ choice of a foreign university: A Thai

case study

Laddawan JIANVITTAYAKIT Mahidol University, Thailand icljv@mahidol.ac.th

And

Frédéric DIMANCHE SKEMA Business School, France f.dimanche@skema.edu

Full Paper Submitted for presentation and publication to the

4th International Colloquium on Tourism & Leisure

To be held in Bangkok, 6-9 July 2010

June 20, 2010

Contact Author: Laddawan JIANVITTAYAKIT

An investigation of travel motivation as a factor in international students’ choice

of a foreign university: A Thai case study

Introduction

International student mobility

International student mobility is an increasingly important market for both the international education services sector and the tourism sector According to OCED (2007), international student mobility has grown from 0.61 million worldwide in 1975

to 2.73 million in 2005; this represents more than four-fold augmentation The international students market is likely to increase to about 5.8 million by year 2020 (British Council, 2004) The youth and student travel market has been recognized as a growing segment in the global travel market and a significant contributor to the economy of the destination country (British Council, 2004; Kim, Oh, & Jogaratnam, 2007; Llewellyn-Smith & McCabe, 2008; Mazzarol, 1998; OECD, 2007; Richards & Wilson, 2003; Shanka, Ali-Knight, & Pope, 2002; Ward & Masgoret, 2004) According to the UNWTO (2008), the youth and student segment has grown 3-5% a year globally and spending increases by 8% a year, which is growing faster than other travel segments The youth and student segment now accounts for over 20% of international tourist arrivals, and the expenditure of this segment is more than any other group of international travelers

The significance of international student mobility is well recognized in the education sector and is extremely attractive to a country because of its knowledge-intensive, high value-added, and its ability to offer long-term benefits (British Council, 2004) Besides the education sector, the international student segment affects various sectors

that have to be taken into consideration, especially the tourism sector, since the international student segment, as a niche market, has a significant contribution to the domestic tourism while doing their study in the destination country (Shanka et al., 2002)

Furthermore, OECD (2009) reported that the popular country destinations worldwide are USA (20%), UK (11%), Germany (9%), France (8%), Australia (6%), and Canada (5%), and the countries that sent the most students aboard were France, Germany, Japan and Korea in the OECD area, while China and India were the two biggest source countries worldwide OECD (2009) also indicated that international students studying abroad are most likely to learn English in their home country or wish to improve their English language skills through immersion and study abroad especially

in the Major English Speaking Destination Countries (MESDCs), such as USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada

Motivations in Students’ Decision Making Process

The significant growth of international student mobility has been influenced by various driving forces supporting and persuading students to study abroad, such as globalization of economy and society, internationalization of higher education (Jolly, 1997; OECD, 2007), demand for broader cultural experience and language training (Williams, 2008), and extension of new technology (Jolly, 1997; Llewellyn-Smith & McCabe, 2008; OECD, 2007; Shoham, Schrage, & Eeden, 2004) International students’ motivation to study abroad is multi-dimensional which is influenced by various factors The motivation factors that influence international students’

decision-making process are multifaceted because it is a combination of push and pull factors encouraging students to study abroad and, then, attracting students to a destination Jones (2006) states that learning about the factors that international students have

considered when making a decision to study abroad and their experiences when they were studying in the destination country is very important The interrelation between push motives and pull motives, in other words the linkages between motivations and destination choices, is widely studied in order to understand decision-making components The perceived destination attractiveness is an important element of travel decision-making and the tourists’ choice of destination is considerably influenced by perceptions of and satisfaction with that destination (Shanka et al., 2002)

The argument of primary students’ motivations has been discussed Ritchie and

Priddle (2003) suggest that the university student segment is primarily motivated by education and learning; educational attributes are more important motivational factors than general destination and tourism attributes in encouraging students to study in a foreign country and also in choosing a destination Additionally, Richie (2003a) classifies university/college students and exchange students as the “education first” type, which is primarily motivated by education and learning while tourist experiences may be secondary to the educational aspect or intentions On the contrary, Llewellyn-Smith and McCabe (2008) argue that exchange students should

be classified as “tourism first” educational tourists, with travel being the primary

motivator and education secondary In addition, they also suggest the criteria for the

“education first” and “tourism first” segments of educational tourism market probably

need to be reassessed

Moreover, Mazzarol and Soutar (2002) examine three distinct stages of international students’ decision making-process when selecting a final study destination In the first

stage, students must decide to study internationally, rather than locally This can be influenced by push factors within the home country After a student has decided to

study abroad, the second stage is to choose a host country At this point, pull factors

of country destination become important to make one host country relatively more attractive than others Then, the third stage is the selection of host institution A variety of additional pull factors make a particular institution more attractive than its competitors

As a result, countries and universities are increasingly devoting marketing efforts to attract international students A few researchers have investigated the international student phenomenon (e.g., Llewellyn-Smith & McCabe, 2008; Michael, Armstrong,

& King, 2003; Ritchie & Priddle, 2003) However, much is yet to be understood about international students’ motivations and decision-making processes to choose a

university in a foreign land The purpose of this study was to investigate travel (pleasure travel) motivation as a factor in international students’ choice of a foreign university

Methodology

The study was conducted on the population of international students who were studying at the Mahidol University in Thailand The entire international student population of International College, Mahidol University was selected as the sample population of this study The convenience sample technique was applied in this study

A sample of 153 international students, defined as students who are not permanent residents of their country of study or alternatively students who received their prior education in another country of study (OECD, 2007), was drawn for this study A structured questionnaire was sent by email to ascertain the respective roles of international students’ travel motivation factors and academic motivation factors in

their choice of a foreign university The questionnaire was developed to compile data

in terms of travel and academic motivation factors, travel behavior, and

socio-demographic of respondents The final sample of 132 international students who had active email addresses generated 117 responses The response rate was 88.63% The responses received were coded in the SPSS version 17 At the first stage, respondents were asked to express their attitudes with each statement by using the Likert attitudinal rating scales range from 1 = “Not important at all”, 2 = “Somewhat unimportant”, 3 = “Somewhat important” and to 4 = “Very important” Thirty travel

motive factors and thirty-two academic motive factors were identified in this part The standard deviation (SD) and frequency were used to describe the basic features of the data gathered In addition to the scaling technique, the multiple-choice questions, which required respondents to choose only one answer, attempted to understand specific attitudes toward travel and academic dimensions Afterwards, an exploratory factor analysis via principal component analysis with the Varimax was conducted to underlie the importance of travel motivation factors and the academic motivation factors that lead international students to choose Thailand as a study destination Four dimensions of variables – which are “travel push motivations”, “academic push motivations”, “travel pull motivations”, and “academic pull motivations” – were used

to conduct factor analysis separately

Findings and Discussions

The demographic profile of respondents showed that 52.1% of the respondents were female, and the ages of respondents ranged from 17 years to 30 years More than half

of the respondents (60.68%) came from Asia, followed by North America (20.51%) and Europe (18.80%)

An investigation of choice of study destination showed that most of respondents (65.8%) chose a destination country before choosing a university, which is relevant with the work of Mazzarol and Soutar (2002), who indicated the second stage as a

selection of a host country and followed by a selection of a particular institution Respondents indicated that tourist attractions in Thailand (29.9%) was the influential factor in making a final decision to study in Thailand, followed by reasonable cost of study and cost of living (22.2%) Those who indicated other factors (30.80%) specified that family/friends suggestions (11.97%) and partnership with home institution (10.26%) made them choose to study in Thailand

The travel and academic push motivation factors are both important in students’

internal socio-psychological characteristics and these encourage students to decide to study abroad The investigations of push factors motivating the decision to study overseas highlight three travel push motivation factors (table 1) – which are “desire to travel”, “exploring other environments and social interaction”, and “relaxation and fun” – and three academic push motivation factors (table 2) – which are “expected experiences and benefits”, “knowledge development”, and “future career path and educational perception” – these account for the significantly high mean scores (above than 3.0) It is notable that the “desire to travel” factor is ranked the most influential factor in encouraging students to study abroad, followed by the “exploring other environment and social interaction” factor These two factors are core-driving factors

to decide to study abroad rather than in their home country, which is consistent with the work of Jones (2006), Llewellyn-Smith and McCabe (2008), and Williams (2008)

Investigations of pull factors motivating a choice of study destination emphasize three travel pull motivation factors (table 3) – which are “financial issues”, “tourist attractions”, and “safety and infrastructure” that account for the significantly high

mean scores (above than 3.0) in choosing a university in Thailand as a study destination The three travel pull motivation factors are highly influential in the stage

of selecting a host country The “financial issues” factor, which consists of cost of

travel, cost of living, and value for money in Thailand, is seen as the most important factor in students’ choice of Thailand The perception that Thailand is a good-value

for money destination is generally well knows This finding is consistent with other studies (Rittichainuwat et al., 2001; Sangpikul, 2008; Siriangkul, 2005) stating that the positive image of Thailand as a good-value for money is a strong factor in attracting tourists to the country In addition, Jones (2006) found that reasonable cost

of living was the highest influential country characteristic when making a decision to study in Thailand Additionally, the “tourist attractions” factor is also considered an influential factor in students’ choice of a destination country Students placed

importance on the tourist attractions in Thailand, such as natural scenery, landscape, cultural, and historical attractions Students also specified that tourist attractions and reasonable cost of living and cost of study led them to make the final decision to study in Thailand This result is relevant with students’ travel behavior engaging in

travel activities Almost all students have traveled while studying in Thailand to various regional destinations On the other hand, academic pull motivation factors do not play an important role in attracting students to choose Thailand (table 4) The findings show that the “reputation of institution” factor is only one influential

academic pull factor The reputation of an institution consists of academic reputation and quality, reputation for innovation in research and teaching, reputation for quality and expertise of faculty/staff, and facility and services for international students The institution’s international alliances and partnerships factor is relatively important for

exchange/visiting students in order to select a university to undertake their exchange Since exchange students undertake a study abroad program as a part of exchange agreement between their home university and a host university they have a limited choice of study destination

Table 1: Travel push motivation factors

Travel push motivation factors (Reliability Alpha) Factor

loadings

Cumulative variance explained (%)

Eigen value Mean

Factor 1: Exploring other environments and social interaction (0.69) 16.85 2.53 3.23 Experience of living in a different country 0.67

Opportunity to interact with local people 0.58

Meeting new people and making friends 0.39

Being able to talk about my travel experiences 0.76

Going places that I have not visited before 0.74

Table 2: Academic push motivation factors

Academic push motivation factors (Reliability Alpha) Factor

loadings

Cumulative variance explained (%)

Eigen value Mean

Factor 1: Parental influence and educational difficulty in home

Academic program being unavailable in home country 0.77

Difficulty to gain entry to particular study 0.67

Factor 2: Expected experiences and benefits (0.72) 35.26 2.10 3.46 Educational experience of studying in a different country 0.88

Factor 3: Future career path and educational perception (0.66) 52.01 2.01 3.02

Experiencing different teaching methods 0.51