Factors that influence students choice of studying Hospitality and Tourism Management
http://ilokabenneth.blogspot.com/2017/12/factors-that-influence-students-choice.html
Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 27th December 2017
Published: 27th December 2017
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research
background
For every individual, there are times in life that
certain decisions must be made in order to move from one point in life to
another. These decisions can actually be
very sensitive and in some cases very hard to make. However, these decisions
mark the extent of progress as the higher more decisions are made in life; the
better it can be viewed that such person must have come long in life.
One of these decisions is deciding on what course or
career path to choose. For every student entering the university, choosing the
best course is something that can be very difficult and this difficulty is even
enhanced when they start to think about the influence of such course on their
future. The fact is that the large number of courses that students can now
pursue also adds to this difficulty as it is very difficult to make the right
decision with respect to what to go for and what not to go for. However,
choosing a degree and course is a very crucial point in the student’s life as
it helps to build the right block for future success. Students need to be very
much aware of the path they want to pursue as this will help them to establish
a better understanding on how to go about it. In any case, the choice of career
has become a very complex situation with the increase in information
technology, the emergence of post-industrial revolution and increase in job
competition across the globe. Something that is very common in the olden days
is feudalism being converted into a family affair, where the son of a
blacksmith is more or less destined to be a blacksmith, and a feudal was born a
leader. However, the industrial stage and post-industrialization have made it
very easy for common people to be rich and even reach any height they so
desires due to their skills and knowledge (Wattles,
2009). In the present day setting, the problem is not just making the
due career planning but also to cover the exhaustive career research before
making the career choices in order to ensure that the chosen career can allow
the individual to adjust with the evolving socio-economic conditions (Wattles, 2009).
Kerka (2000) made known that the choice of career is largely influenced by a number
of factors that comes in the form of personality, interest, self-concept,
differences in cultures, socialization, globalization, social support, role
models and even resources availability such as information and financial
resources. Supporting this argument, Bandura et al.,
(2001) made known that every individual undertaking the process of
choosing a career path is influenced by a numerous factors such as the contexts
that they live in, their personal aptitudes, social contacts and educational
attainment. Hewitt (2010) also pointed out that
the factors influences career choices can be in either an intrinsic form,
extrinsic form, or even in the combination of both. Further statement by Hewitt
is in the view that most of the people are influenced by career that their
parents favors, while other shift to careers that their educational choices
have opened for them; some of the people however make the decision to stick
with their passion irrespective of how little or higher it will influence their
life success, while other prefer to go for careers that have higher chances of
ensuring success in their lives. other factors that have also been found to
influences students’ choice of career is their perception of being right for
that particular job and it is influenced by a number of factors like ethnic
background, years in school, achievements, choices of science subjects,
attitudes and differences in job characteristics (McQuaid
and Bond, 2003). Perrone et al., (2001) also stated that the support of
role model and the quality of relationship established with people influence
students’ choice of career.
The number of tourists visiting Malaysia has increased
over the years. Statistics shows that the number of tourists visiting Malaysia
in 2011was 24,714, 324 and the total number of hotel being 2,330 according to
the Malaysia Association of Hotels. These numbers are continuously growing each
year which means there is room for the growth of implementation of green
technologies in hotels in Malaysia (ASEAN countries
tourism/hotel report 2011). Such findings support the need to gain an
understanding on the factors that influence students’ decision to choose
hospitality and tourism management sources. This is because it would help to
measure the level of sustainability of the industry in Malaysia and also ensure
that necessary measure are put to place with respect to training the very best
of professionals in the industry.
Basically, the understanding in this case is that
career choice is a very difficult situation and students need to take a number
of factors into consideration when making the career choice sin order to ensure
that they make the right choice and not influenced in any way by forces that they
may end up regretting in the end. This difficulty is even made worse by the
understanding that people are sometimes forced into the wrong choice by their
parents and the advancement of information and technology means that students
now have numerous courses to choose from – as such increasing the difficulties
with making such decisions. So should students follow their heart or choose
based on chances of such course to lead them to greater success in life? This
is the question that this research seeks to address by references students in
the hotel and tourism management courses.
1.2 Purpose
of the research
From the above research background, a number of
understanding have been made with respect to career pathway, and the main
finding is that students are presently faced with high difficulty when it comes
to deciding on the right choice of course for their studies. So what are these
difficulties? How do they come about and how can they be solved? Basically,
this is what this research seeks to understand.
The main purpose of this research is to gain an
understanding of the factors that influences students’ choice of choosing
tourism and hospitality management courses as their career pathways. The
tourism and hospitality industry is rapidly growing and as such the demand for
graduations in this industry is also on the rise. So why do the students choice
this course? Is it because of the huge financial benefit that they are
expecting to gain, or just for the passion of the job irrespective of whether
or not they succeed in the future? Maybe they are influenced by their parents
or role models or just making the decision personally. Whatever is the case,
this research will present such an understanding by the end based on findings
that will be gathered from the research as a whole.
1.3 Research
problem
Just as noted earlier, there are times in everyone’s
life when the decision must be made as to moving from one point in time to
another point in another given time. This can be very difficult especially for
young students who don’t have any experience with such but yet need to decide
on how they future and probably entirely life should be molded by choosing the
career they seek to pursue in the university. Basically, this is the problem
that the research seeks to solve. How can students make this decision in such a
way that they don’t end up regretting their decision as time goes on in life?
What are the factors that they must put into consideration and how can these
factors be used as the serving platform for ensuring future growth through
decisions made in the present days? On that ground, the research problem is to
understand how students make decision to choose hospitality and tourism
management courses with respect to the factors that influence such decisions
making process.
1.4 Significance
of the research
For managers, the understanding of factors that
influences decision to study tourism and hotel management is very important
because the course is a study that features human activity heavily and if the
professionals in the industry are not well regulated, there could be a quick
breakdown of consumers’ rating and adoption of services in the industry because
the rate of consumers’ satisfaction can easily be measured and it is very
direct in most cases.
Therefore, this research is very significant because
it will help to present an understanding of the factors that influences
students’ choice for the course. Such an understanding is also crucial in
helping students with counseling when the factors are deemed to be very
negative in the real sense. For instance, if the majority of the students
choose the course solely for gaining financial success in the future or forced
into it by their parents – the counseling will be to ensure that they students
are convinced to follow their heart. Thus, this research is very significant
both for managers, counselors and individual students as well.
1.5 Research
objectives
In view of the above discussions, the objectives of
this research are:
1.
To gain an
understanding on factors that influences students’ choice of tourism and
hospitality management course as their career pathway.
2.
To understand
how these factors can either be enhanced or mitigated.
3.
To present
necessary factors that will be necessary for counselors to put into
consideration when counseling students on choosing tourism and hospitality
management courses.
1.6 Research
question
In order to address the research objective, the
questions that will be asked are:
1.
What factors
influence students’ decision to choose hospitality and tourism management
course?
2.
How can these
factors be enhanced or mitigated?
3.
How can these
factors be loaded into the counseling program for students that are seeking to
enter the hospitality and tourism industry?
1.7 Limitation
of study
From the researchers view point, there is no given
research that doesn’t have its associated cons because wherever there is a pro;
there will be a con as well. On that ground, this research is limited in its
scope. The scope of the study focuses on only students in the hospitality and
tourism department, eliminating the chances for the study to address the same
issue in order departments and also the chances of gaining a general
understanding of the research topic with respect to other departments. On that ground,
this is a limitation because a broader research that focuses the scope of
understanding the factors influencing students’ choice for choosing courses
from all departments or in all fields of life will be considered better. This
is because it would enhance counseling programs by providing necessary
information about choice in all the departments.
1.8 Organization
of research
Figure 1.1: Research
outline
From
the above illustration, it can be seen that the research is actually divided
into 5 chapters. The first chapter of the research is the introduction and the
purpose of this chapter is to provide a background review of the overall
research – highlighting the main purpose of the research and significance of
the research outcome.
The
second chapter is the review of literatures and it is designed to gain a
background understanding on the existing theories in relation to the research
topic by reflecting on past studies as it is related to the research. Following
this chapter is the methodology and the main purpose is to discuss on how the
primary research will be conducted.
Findings
from the primary research will be discussed in the chapter four. The chapter
five will present a summary of all the findings from the research process as
well as conclusion on the research outcome. Additionally, it will offer
recommendations on how future research will be conducted in the area of the
research topic.
Chapter 2
Literature
review
2.1 Introduction
In the view of understanding presented in the previous
chapter, it was made known that the focus of this chapter is to review relevant
literature that are related to the research topic and present a theoretical
background that will be used to develop the hypotheses to be tested from the
primary research.
2.2 Conceptual
framework
Figure
2.1: conceptual framework for literature review
Basically, the conceptual framework for the review of
literature is very straight forward. The focus will be to review some of the
identified factors such as peer group, parent, role model, future success, cost
of study and other influencing factors that are not yet identified from earlier
discussions. This review will be based on past studies and theories that are
related to the course of study.
2.3 The
concept of career choice
Numerous studies conducted on the decision-making
process for college students have focused on adopting economic and sociologic
theoretical framework in the process or examining the factors that influences
students’ choice of college and course (Hearn, 1984;
Jackson, 1982; Tierney, 1983; Somers, Haines & Keene; 2006). These
frameworks have been used to develop three different theoretical models and
conceptual approaches that are used to model students choice of college and
courses as: 1) economic model, 2) status-attainment mode, and 3) mixed mode.
The focus of the economic model is on the econometric ideologies that view
students’ decision as being influences through the rational thinking and
careful analysis of the related benefits to be obtained from the chosen course (Hossler, Schmit, & Vesper, 1999). This model basically
focuses on highlight the economic benefits of choosing a particular course such
as the facilities to be provided by the university in respect to learning the
course and the overall cost that will be incurred within the course period. The
status-attainment model makes the assumption that there is an utilitarian
decision-making process that students must go through in choosing their
courses, with specific reference to the fact that numerous social and
individual factors lead to occupational and educational aspirations (Jackson, 1982). The mixed model is also known as the
combined model. This model incorporates the rational assumptions in the
economic models and the components of status-attainment models. Most of the
combined models have been noted to divide the decision-making process of
students into three phases as: aspirations development and evaluation of
alternatives, considering options and evaluating the remaining options and the
final decision to choose a course against another (Jackson,
1982).
Besides the approaches above, there are other existing
approaches when it comes to students’ decision-making in higher education and
its puts into consideration three different levels of students’ choices as:
global, national and curriculum level. As an example, James
et al., (1999) made the discovery that in Australia; the preference for
a particular field of study is influenced by the course and institutional
reputation, the entry score for that particular course, easy access to home and
institutional characteristics. Additionally, the teaching reputation of the
university has also been linked as influential with respect to the students’
choice of a course in England (Price et al., 2003).
Foskett (2006) also found that students normally put the economic situations
on high when making decisions in times of financial distress and financial
difficulties. Other factors that have also been found to play significant role
in students choice of course include the job opportunities that the course will
offer in suppressing economic difficulties, cost of accommodation and the
proximity of their homes to the school. In terms of linking institutions to
choice of study, it has been found that the decision to choose a particular
course is highly related with the decision of choosing the particular
university where such course will be obtained. James et
al., (1999) identified a range of factors that also play influential
role with respect to course preference and these factors are: the employment
rate of graduates from that course within the present employees’ sphere, the
level of satisfaction gained from graduating form that course, the quality of
teaching obtained from the course, approaches in the teaching process, and
learning and assessment measures that also include the level of flexibility
offered in the course of study.
Basically, the fields of understanding the factors
that influence students’ decision making process with respect to the course of
study have yielded different perspectives with respect to that view. One of
these approaches have focused on how aspiring students develop their college
and course choice sets, decide on where and when to apply by considering the
admission criteria and finally make the decision to enroll into that particular
course and college (Hearn, 1984). Geographical
location and differences also contributes to the choice of university and as
such can also influence the decision to choice a particular course especially
when there is no university located nearby the student that offers the students
desired course or meets the students’ expectation with respect to teaching
approaches and patter. The researches have shown that most of the students
attend public or state-owned universities and this implies that their choice of
course is also circumscribed by their state of residence with respect to the
availability of such courses (Niu&Tienda, 2008).
Still on the understanding of approaches that influences students’ decision to
study a particular course, another discovery that have been made is that
institutional characteristics such as the course of study, size, distance,
quality of programs and availability of financial aid all play significant role
in one way or the other. Some of the factors commonly associated with students’
choice of course and the university to study such course include background
characteristics (Jackson, 1982), aspirations (Chapman, 1984; Jackson,1982), educational achievement
(Hanson &Litten, 1982), social environment (Hossler& Gallagher, 1987), financial variables (St. John, 1990; 1991), net cost (St. John & Starkey, 1995), institutional climate (Chapman, 1984) and institutional characteristics (Hanson &Litten, 1982; Hossler et al., 1999).
Although there are consensus amongst researchers with respect to some of the
factors that influence students’ choice of a given course, there is also the
need to understand that the significance of factors used in choosing the course
of study amongst students might vary from one person to another based on the
student’s level of exposure to any or some of these factors.
2.4 Opportunities
and career choice
It can be easily believed that the career and
education do not always synchronize the students’ abilities to opportunities.
The timing and location as opportunities are very important factor in terms of
fulfilling the aspirations of the student. While students can show all the
ambitions, talent and skill required for succeeding in any given career, there
is still the need for the student to capitalize on the right location at the
right point in time in order for them to reach the desired career level.
Literatures have made known that opportunities in the
career choice include the technical schools, academic settings, job openings
for entry level, job showing, vocational guidance, industry contacts and job
placements(Super, 1957). Super (1957)
also made a surprising note that the level of students’ intelligence had little
to do with getting entry-level positions; instead the main factor for such
success is the level of maturity as per physical size and manners. In another
discussion, Deml and Reich (2001) highlighted
some of the factors that enrich the students’ potential for career success.
Actually, exploration of career on a constant level can be adopted as a
lifelong strategy in any individual’s life. In any case, changes have also been
found to have an effect on career and career development. Mergers, acquisition,
downsizing and reengineering all play significant role in the employment
pattern and have also altered the direction of many careers.
The basic understanding from the above analysis is
that the level of expected opportunity to succeed in the industry will
influence students’ choice of a course and as such it is hypothesized that:
HP1. The
higher students view tourism and hospitality management as offering potential
for future success in the workplace, the higher their chances of choosing the
course.
2.5 Personal
factors and career choice
Splaver (1977) made known that students should have a great understanding of
themselves and their personality as this is very important in making
intelligent career plan. This understanding will revolve around what the
student would like to be in the future and what they are determined to achieve
form the chosen course. Personality factor can be considered to include their
mental abilities, interests and other special abilities. Splaver (1977) considered the factors of mental
ability to include: verbal comprehension, fluency with words, ability, spatial
ability, numerical ability, memory, and reasoning ability. Splaver (1977) also presented another argument that
students should become very familiar with their personality in order to guide
them towards making the right career choice. Harris and
Jones (1997) made the statement that developing a career plan include
evaluating their personality through a sort of self-assessment, and
communication with professionals in the field – which is also another trait
that is highly dependent on their personality.
Once the career has been narrowed down, the role of
personality will come to life with respect to obtaining and keeping the
employment in the students’ chosen field of study. Personality influences a
number of features in people such as the attitude adopted in interview, in the
workforce when working with other people and communication with the management
– these interactions will also influence career success significantly. Once the
career has been secures, certain factors such as ambition and sincerity,
together with promotion can influence the success level experienced in the
secured career. On that ground, it is very important that students should
always put into consideration the attitude they hold about themselves when making
their career choice (Kroll et al., 1970). The
attitudes about different personalities have been organized into a consistent
thinking mode, feeling and reactions to evaluation of new environment. The
personality traits are also very important when it comes to choosing a career.
The environment such as an individual’s formal education has also been shown to
play a significant role when it comes to their decision and formation of
personality constraints.
The process chosen is influenced by the purpose of such
process and past experience. The experience someone has gained can be limited
by the person’s ability to view only what that particular individual is
interested in seeing. Purpose also has the potential to limit the individual’s
perception. The experience and purpose has been translated into self and
situation, or personality and environment (Kroll et
al., 1970). Factors that determine an individual’s personality include
the entire biological cluster and psychological features, as well as the
individual’s behavioral and physical features with respect to the genetic
origins. Another factor that has been found to influence an individual’s
attitude is the rate of maturity (Kroll et al., 1970).
From the above discussion, it is hypothesized that:
HP2. An
individual’s level of passion will influence the choice of enrolling in tourism
and hospitality course with the view that the higher such passion is, the
chances of a student to choose the above mentioned course.
2.6 Environmental
factors and career choice
Career choice in a simple understanding is the
balancing of recognitions, meeting the needs of the individual while on the
same hand responding effectively to the forces and realities in real life.
There are two sets of input in the career decision factors and they are: the
self and the world of work. Individuals that are undertaking any given career
constantly face the force of having to balance their aspirations in life and
also ensuring that such aspirations are actually fitted into the realities of
the place they work. The occupation of an individual will play crucial role in
determining the kind of person that such an individual will become in the
future; as the individual’s self-cognitions, wants and goals, and interpersonal
responses will be molded through the person’s working hour (Kroll et al., 1970). Kroll went on state that most of
the information and formal knowledge that individuals possess are gained
through the society they exist in and the environment that they have become so
much used to, retention, and utilization of information that are related to the
world in general. Both the individual’s personality and the world come together
to function as an important factor in the attainment of what these people
become in life (Kroll et al., 1970).
Basically, the understanding is that the environment
has a significant role to play in the positioning of an individual’s career and
the attainment of set goals in a number of ways. The environment that is being
referred in this case is the factors that are used for the purpose of nurturing
an individual’s career choice. For instant, the gender of the individual has a
significant role to play with respect to the kind of career that people choose.
Careers that demand strong physical abilities are deemed most fit for men. Greenberger (2002) is the one who made known that, boys
are still being steered into the traditionally “male” jobs that are viewed as
higher in paying, while females are still fixed to the traditional jobs that
demand less stress. Skills possessed by the individual are still driving force
in their decision of making the right career paths. Laleger
(1942) made known that the skills of girls are more likely to be applied
in interest that they view as having lower factor of negative influence from
the external environment – basically; the understanding is that girls are still
more willing to go for passion than money as compared with boys(Cavanagh, 2002).
However, the idea that counselors can draw with
reference to individual’s preference for any given course will come as the top
of reflection on the performance of the individual, clarification of career
preferences, summarization and encouragement for the career performance (Weiler, 1977). The simple understanding is that
counselors should not take into consideration factors that are far expected
beyond the individual’s ability and performance from a given training. On that
ground, it is hypothesized that:
HP3.
Environmental factors such as peer influence, parents and role model will
influence students’ choice of choosing to enroll in tourism and hospitality
management courses.
2.7 Theory
of career decision making: Social cognitive career theory (SCCT)
The theoretical considerations of factors that
influences career choice for this paper is well rooted into the Social
Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett,
1994), and this theory was developed from the Bandura’s general social
cognitive theory with the application already done in numerous career choices
made by students (Akbulut& Looney, 2007, 2009;
Looney &Akbulut, 2007).
The social cognitive theory (SCT) lays its emphases on
the dual-directional interaction that is existing between three elements in the
form of: the person, the environment the person lives in and the individual
behavior of such person. Factors that are intrinsic in individuals include
their cognitive ability, affective and physical attributes. As per the
environment, the factors are extrinsic and they include economic and social
circumstances. The behavior of the individual is influenced by both the
intrinsic and extrinsic factors, but it has also been recognized that people
are not “just mechanical respondents to the external forces that are
deterministic in nature” (Lent et al., 1994, p. 84).
As people take part in numerous actions, they will also have the opportunity to
reflect and regulate their own behavior in order to ensure that past failures
don’t reoccur, and they are also aware of their environment. On that ground, an
individual’s action, and assessment of the outcomes from such actions will
influence the person’s attitude and opinions, with such influence expected to
impact on the environment. This is based on the understanding that individuals
are constantly developing but the context in which they exist are always
changing. Also, people can be proactive and in that case have the power to
anticipate, plan and consciously attempt to predict the consequences of their
actions and gain an understanding of how their behavior will impact on the
environment – these are the features that are recognized by the social
cognitive theory.
From the development of their model as illustrated in
the figure 2.1 below shows that there are three main socio-cognitive mechanism
that have been identified and these mechanism underline the social cognitive
career theory (Lent et al., 1994). These
mechanisms are self-efficacy beliefs, outcome of expectations and the goal
representation. These theories are as discussed below.
Figure 2.1:
social cognitive career theory model
Source as adapted from: Lent
et al. (1994)
2.7.1 Self-efficacy
beliefs – this was defined by
Bandura as how people judge their capability to organize and executive certain
courses of actions that are required for the purpose of attaining designated
types of performance (Bandura, 1986 cited by Lent et
al., 1994, p. 83). Considering the fact that self-efficacy is very
specific to certain skills and competence level, it can be seen that an
individuals’ tourism and hospitality management self-efficacy is the degree at
which such individual believe that he or she can succeed in the course and
industry following graduation.
Brand also considered self-efficacy to be a form of
mechanism that has the highest level of influence on personal agency (Lent et al., 1994). There are also numerous
identifications from different studies that the predominant factors in career
choice and performance is self-efficacy, both during the course of the education and subsequently in their career undertakings (Akbulut& Looney, 2007, 2009; Johnson, Stone, &
Phillips, 2008; Lent et al., 2002; Looney &Akbulut, 2007; Smith, 2002).
Another important thing that must be noted is that while self-efficacy is built
based on previous performance to some extent, students will normally either
over-estimate their own capabilities (Galpin, Sanders,
Turner, & Venter, 2003; Hilberg&Meiselwitz, 2008; Lent et al., 1994;
Looney &Akbulut, 2007; Smith, 2002) or, with particular reference to
women, underestimate them (Beyer, 2008; Zhang, 2007).
On that ground, it can be considered that past results are not the only, or
even necessarily the most important, predictor of self-efficacy.
The central role of self-efficacy is on the development
of career interest, the selection of options with respect to the academic
course of choice and career opportunities, and increase in performance and
persistence that is in line with the career paths, and is becomes a very
important topic for research on the ground of such understanding. Based on the
understanding gained form the SCCT theory, self-efficacy is not passive or
static. Students will need to re-asses their abilities constantly and this
assessment is influenced by active learning experiences, feedbacks form other
people, observations that are based on the success of role models, and to some
extent the psycho-biological states of the individual such as the person’s
level of tiredness (Looney &Akbulut, 2007).
On the ground of such understanding, it is hypothesized that:
HP4.
Individuals with high level of self-efficacy in the tourism and hospitality
management course will likely choose the course as their career path.
2.7.2 Expected
outcome - in the SCCT model, the
second mechanism that is predominantly featured is the mechanism of expected
outcome from an action. This is defined as the perceived consequences that an
individual expects to get from performing a given action (Lent et al., 1994, p. 83) and Bandura (1986 cited by Lent et al., 1994) also made a
distinction between the three types of outcomes in the form of: physical (e.g.
job opportunities), social (images, status, etc.) and self-evaluation
(self-satisfaction). In any case, the expectations of individuals can change
very dramatically overtime and this will give those different values or
preference to the expected outcomes. Additionally, different individuals will
value the same outcomes in a different way and this makes it important to
incorporate the concepts of values together with the expected outcome (Lent et al., 1994). From the above discussion, it will
then be stated that:
HP5. The
higher the expected positive outcome from enrolling into tourism and
hospitality management course, the higher the chances of students choosing the
course.
2.7.3 Goal
representations – the third
mechanism in this case is goals representation and it is defined as the level
of determination that a person gives to an engaged activity or to affect a given
future outcome (Lent et al., 1994, p. 85). Based
on the understanding that goals are a reflection of the future, they will serve
as the building block for the intended outcome and as such act as the means of
self-motivation with respect to the specific aspect of personal standards. The
more specific a given goal is, the shorter the lifespan between that goal and
the actualization date and the higher the level of commitment as people seeks
to achieve such goals (Lent et al., 1994).
HP6.
Students will enroll into hospitality and tourism management course if it is in
line with their set goals in life.
2.8 Summary
of findings
From the above review of literatures, new insights
have been gained from the discussions with reference to the factors that
influence students’ choice of enrolling in tourism and hospitality management
course and choosing this as their career pathway. The general understanding is
that these factors influence their personal will and desires, the environment
in which they live in, and the expected outcome from choosing such courses.
Where these cases are positive, it has been hypothesized that their chances of
that particular student enrolling into the above mentioned course will be
higher. These factors will be tested in the primary research.
Chapter 3
Research
methodology
3.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the focus is to develop the research
method for conducting the primary research. In the process of achieving this
objective, the areas that will be looked into include the importance of the
primary research, research methodology analysis and the questionnaire design.
3.2
Information Needs Specification
The main reason why the primary research is needed is
because it would allow the researcher to test the theoretical findings in the
real world setting with respect to the research topic. This will serve as the
right way for presenting support to the existing theories or even creating a
new theory on its own. From the review of literature, it can be seen that the
findings generally reflect past researchers that seem to be different from the
current research topic – with most of them focusing on the factors that
influence the choice of course in general, and other expanding to include the
choice of university – as such, primary research is necessary in order to
narrowing the understanding down to the research topic and focus primarily on
the tourism and hospitality management course. Thus, conducting primary
research is inevitable in this case.
3.2.1
Reflection of hypotheses – still on
the view of understanding the importance of the primary research, it was made
known in the review of literatures that a number of factors influences
students’ decision to enroll into hospitality and tourism management course.
The factors that influence such decision come in the form of the individual’s
personality with respect to desired goal and expected outcome and environmental
factors.
3.3 Research
Methodologies
3.3.1 Sample
Unit (Target Respondents)
Since the research is all about studying the factors
that influence student’s choice of course, the target will be students in the
tourism and hospitality department at Taylor’s University, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. The reason is because they are best positioned based on their
individual experience to contribute with the most significant and reliable
response to the research question.
3.3.2 Sampling
Method
The sampling method adopted for this research is a
convenience based sampling. The implication is that students will be notified
beforehand about the research and they will allocate the best time based on
their convenience for the study. The most preferred time will be during breaks
when the students are not engaged in any lecture. This is to eliminate the
chances of the research reducing their learning period of ability to grab
whatever lecture that might be on going.
3.3.3 Sample
Size
The size for this research is 50 students. The
students can be either male or female. There will not be any preferential
treatment when it comes to demographic factors, but the total of the
respondents will account to 50 students from the tourism and hospitality
department.
3.3.4 Survey
Location
As noted earlier, the location for this survey will be
at Taylor’s University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and within the tourism and
hospitality department.
3.3.5 Collection
Method
The data will be collected through questionnaire. This
is a quantitative research and questionnaire is the preferred method because it
would allow the respondents to contribute their individual opinions based on
rating and also provide the researcher the opportunity of computing the total
response collectively. It will also eliminate the difficulties attached with
having to translate the respondents’ idea into the researcher’s opinion when
qualitative research is conducted. The data will be collected via 2-point
likert’s rating system in the region of 1 = Yes and 2 = No.
3.3.6 Ethical
Issues
In the process of conducting the research, a number of
ethical issues associated with quantitative research are expected to come to
light and some of these issue as it relates to this research paper are:
3.3.6.1 Influenced
response – in researches (especially
in this kind of researcher where the researcher is well known by the
respondents), the researcher can actually influence the research outcome by
indirectly or directly suggesting to the respondents what to respond. The main
reason for such is that it will allow the research to easily meet set research
objectives. In view of that this issue will be looked into and the researcher
aims to avoid this issue by seeking the help of another student from a
different department to conduct the data gathering process under the
distance-supervision of the researcher.
3.3.6.2 Manipulated
data and forged results – even
when the data have been gathered under clear and favorable ethical settings in
primary research, there is still the issue of the researcher manipulating the
data or even forging the resulting during the analysis section and this is very
unethical. In view of that, the research will analyze the data with SPSS
software and also provide the conducted analysis, this will allow the
supervisors to actually compare finding from the analysis from what is
presented in this paper, as such eliminating any chances of the data being
manipulated.
3.4 Questionnaire
Design
Earlier on, it was made known that the data gathering
process will feature a questionnaire based survey. The questionnaire will be
basically divided into two sections. The first section will be used to gather
demographic profile of the respondents with respect to their race, gender, age
and other features considered important in the research process. The second
section will be used to gather variables that will be used to analyze the
stated hypotheses with respect to meeting the research objective of understanding
factors that influence students’ choice of enrolling into tourism and
hospitality course. The designed questionnaire for this study is as illustrated
in the appendix (A) below.
Chapter 4
Analysis of
finding
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the focus is to present an analysis
of the findings from the primary research. The analysis will come in the form
of demographics, regression, and factor and correlations analysis. The finding
will then be used to test started hypotheses and present a clear discussion of
the factors that influence students’ choice of enrolling in tourism and
hospitality management courses.
4.2 Test of
reliability
Table 41: Reliability analysis
|
Case Processing Summary
|
|||
|
|
|
N
|
%
|
|
Cases
|
Valid
|
50
|
100.0
|
|
Excludeda
|
0
|
.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
|
|
a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the
procedure.
| |||
|
Reliability Statistics
|
|
|
Cronbach's Alphaa
|
N of Items
|
|
.406
|
18
|
|
|
|
In any given primary research, there is a need for the
research to validate the reliability of gathered data in course of achieving
the research objectives. This understanding is because the validation will
serve as a test of whether the gathered data can be used for the purpose of
research and also build an understanding on how reliable the finding from the
research will be. In terms of measuring the value of any given data, Crombach’s
Alpha is the most popular way for testing how reliable a data is. In order for
a data to be considered reliable, the value obtained must be at least 0.50; in
which the higher the value obtained, the higher the reliability of gathered
data.
In the context of this research, the obtained value
from crombach’s alpha is 0.406. This value fails short of the required value by
some margin but this should not be seen as negative in this research because
the validity of the data is well documented and approved. The reason why the
reliability earned a lower score is because the variables measured are very
high when compared with the total respondents. The rule of thumb states that in
any given primary research, the total respondents should be higher than the
variables at least twice whereby the higher the difference the higher the
quality of the study. Although this research meets that mark, the total number
of respondents is not much higher than the loaded variables by the recommended
figure. This statement can further be validated by the test of validity below.
Table 4.2: individual variables test of validity
|
Descriptive Statistics
|
|||||
|
|
N
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
Mean
|
Std. Deviation
|
|
Race
|
50
|
1.00
|
4.00
|
2.1600
|
.95533
|
|
Gender
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.7600
|
.43142
|
|
Age
|
50
|
1.00
|
3.00
|
1.8600
|
.60643
|
|
My decision to study this course was made?
|
50
|
1.00
|
3.00
|
1.8400
|
.91160
|
|
I prefer Tourism and hospitality management course
because?
|
50
|
1.00
|
4.00
|
2.6400
|
1.19112
|
|
I understand what career choice is all about?
|
50
|
1.00
|
1.00
|
1.0000
|
.00000
|
|
If yes, how hard was it for you to choose this course?
|
50
|
1.00
|
4.00
|
3.0200
|
1.03982
|
|
How many years have you studying this course?
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.6800
|
.47121
|
|
Do you find it easy at this stage?
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.2000
|
.40406
|
|
Are the tuition fees affordable?
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.8200
|
.38809
|
|
My parents played a role in my choice of this course
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.2800
|
.45356
|
|
My friends and/or role model played a role in my
choice of this course
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.8000
|
.40406
|
|
I choose this course because job demand for current
professionals is very high
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.1600
|
.37033
|
|
I choose this course because I am very comfortable
with it
|
50
|
1.00
|
1.00
|
1.0000
|
.00000
|
|
I have a big goal of gaining financial stability in
the future and it influenced my choice for this course
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.1000
|
.30305
|
|
I choose this course because most the school is close
to my house
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.7600
|
.43142
|
|
This is my dream course and profession since childhood
and that is why I choose to study it.
|
50
|
1.00
|
1.00
|
1.0000
|
.00000
|
|
I feel a higher sense of self-actualization by
studying this course.
|
50
|
1.00
|
2.00
|
1.1600
|
.37033
|
|
Valid N (listwise)
|
50
|
|
|
|
|
The above table clearly shows that all the loaded
variables are valid because of the fact that none of them has a missing value.
On that ground, it further strengths the quality of the data. Therefore, the
finding from this research can be considered valid and reliable.
4.3 Demographic
data
As per say the fact that, the test of reliability
above have proven the gathered data to be reliable and valid, this analysis can
proceed further to analyze the demographic features of the respondents.
Figure 4.1: race of respondents
Figure 4.2: Gender of respondents
Earlier on in the review of literatures, it was made
known that gender has traditionally being used to describe the form of work an
individual might undertake as opposed to others. The implication of such is
that male are normally attracted to works that will give them higher economic
gains even when the requirement can be hard, but women don’t really look into
the economic gains when choosing courses. From the above analysis, 77% of the
total respondents are female while 23% are male. Although this is might not be
a clear reflection of the actual percentage of genders that enroll into the
course (because not all students in the department participated in the study
and the study is based only on one particular university), it can still be
stated that the literature review is to some extent validated. This is because
the higher figures of female respondents’ means that females seek jobs that
doesn’t require much stress and might not be all that interested in the
financial gains as long as they can be able to perform the required tasks
comfortably. However, this research is not validating or supporting such claims
vividly because it is not the main purpose and the fact that one variable
applies doesn’t necessary validate a claim.
Figure 4.3: Age of respondents
4.4 Regression
analysis
Figure 4.3: regression of variables
|
Coefficientsa
|
||||||
|
Model
|
Unstandardized Coefficients
|
Standardized Coefficients
|
t
|
Sig.
|
||
|
B
|
Std. Error
|
Beta
|
||||
|
1
|
(Constant)
|
1.350
|
.672
|
|
2.008
|
.052
|
|
My decision to study this course was made?
|
.038
|
.060
|
.056
|
.627
|
.534
|
|
|
I prefer Tourism and hospitality management course
because?
|
-.009
|
.049
|
-.017
|
-.175
|
.862
|
|
|
If yes, how hard was it for you to choose this course?
|
-.386
|
.061
|
-.661
|
-6.314
|
.000
|
|
|
How many years have you studying this course?
|
-.118
|
.092
|
-.091
|
-1.283
|
.207
|
|
|
Do you find it easy at this stage?
|
.065
|
.145
|
.043
|
.448
|
.657
|
|
|
Are the tuition fees affordable?
|
.018
|
.134
|
.012
|
.138
|
.891
|
|
|
My parents played a role in my choice of this course
|
-.216
|
.193
|
-.162
|
-1.123
|
.269
|
|
|
My friends and/or role model played a role in my choice
of this course
|
.425
|
.116
|
.283
|
3.657
|
.001
|
|
|
I choose this course because job demand for current
professionals is very high
|
.429
|
.193
|
.262
|
2.222
|
.033
|
|
|
I have a big goal of gaining financial stability in
the future and it influenced my choice for this course
|
.241
|
.241
|
.121
|
1.001
|
.324
|
|
|
I choose this course because most the school is close
to my house
|
.014
|
.183
|
.010
|
.077
|
.939
|
|
|
I feel a higher sense of self-actualization by
studying this course.
|
.378
|
.113
|
.231
|
3.332
|
.002
|
|
|
a. Dependent Variable: Age
|
||||||
The focus of this regression analysis is to understand
how age influences the variables that have been loaded in this study. The
significance of this is because the analysis of respondents age shows that most
of the respondents are aged 18 years and below – thus, making it necessary to
understand how their age might have influenced their analysis of the variables
in this study.
From the above table, the first variable that age is
linked to is the decision of respondents to study the course. It is based on the
understanding that the older a respondent is, the more positioned the person is
to make the decision personally without being influenced by peer groups and
other human factors. The significance of this variable is also very high at
0.583, which mean that age plays crucial role in determining whether an
individual will make the decision to enroll into tourism and hospitality
management personally or be influenced by other externally factors such as
parents, role models and peer groups. Basically, this is leveled on the measure
of an individual’s level of maturity. Supporting these statements are the
variables: “my friend and/or role model played a significant role in my
decision to choose this course,” and “I find the course easy at this level.”
These variables have 0.425 and 0.429 regression values respectively. Linking
this finding to the age analysis where it was determined that majority of the
respondents are aged 18 year and below, it can be seen that the lower a student
is aged during the course of deciding on career to pursuit, the higher the
chances of such decisions being influenced by peer group or role model. This
can be linked back to maturity level as such individuals might not be so
matured when compared to their compatriots that have vast experienced in life
and have made many life changing decisions in the past.
Another reflection of age with respecting to students’
decision to study is that it influences their potential of deciding based on
set goals and also their level of self-actualization. The understanding is that
the older students are, the better positioned they are to analyze and plan
self-goals and the more likely they will make necessary decisions based on
those self-goals. It was also noted that the older the respondents are, the better
positioned they are to analyze their level of self-actualization and actually
link it to their courses. Clearly, age plays a number of significant roles with
respect to the loaded variable and the over idea presented is that the older a
student is, the better positioned such person is in making decisions that
related to course of study and career path to follow – and also the more likely
the person will make this decision without having to consult other people or be
influenced by peer groups.
4.5 Influence
of cost and study scope on choice
Table 4.4: measuring cost and scope of study
|
I prefer Tourism and hospitality
management course because?
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
cheap tuition fee
|
11
|
22.0
|
22.0
|
22.0
|
|
easy to study
|
14
|
28.0
|
28.0
|
50.0
|
|
|
all of the above
|
7
|
14.0
|
14.0
|
64.0
|
|
|
none of the above
|
18
|
36.0
|
36.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Earlier on, it was made known from the analysis in
table 4.3 that the age of students significantly influences their understanding
of each variable and how they react to the variable in decision making process.
On that ground, it is considered necessary to measure how cost of study and
scope actually influences choice of studying hospitality and tourism management
course. The above analysis shows that majority of the respondents (36 percent)
prefer to study hospitality management because the cost of study is affordable
and the scope is easy to understand. This can be combined with the 22% and 28%
of respondents that agree to such statements individually. The outcome is very
significant because they serve as support to the claim that students enroll
into the course because the fees is affordable compared to other courses and
the scope of study is easier to understand compared to other courses. Thus, the
conclusion is that cost of study and scope of study both have significant
impact on the students’ decision to enroll in any given course.
4.6 Decision
making and associated difficulties
Figure 4.5: How decisions are made
|
My decision to study this course was made?
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
personally
|
25
|
50.0
|
50.0
|
50.0
|
|
influenced by other people
|
8
|
16.0
|
16.0
|
66.0
|
|
|
both
|
17
|
34.0
|
34.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
The interesting thing here is that irrespective of the
fact that majority of the students are aged 18 or below, 50% of the respondents
actually made the decision to enroll into the course by themselves, while the
other 34% made the decision by combing their own personal view with
recommendations from other. The outstanding 16% made the decision based on
external influence. Considering the figure that made the decision based on
external influence, it can be seen that the arguments in literature review are
validated in the sense that parents, peer groups and role models can have a
significant influence on students’ decision to enroll into the course.
Figure 4.6: difficulties experienced in decision
making
|
If yes, how hard was it for you to choose
this course?
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
not hard
|
6
|
12.0
|
12.0
|
12.0
|
|
somewhat hard
|
8
|
16.0
|
16.0
|
28.0
|
|
|
Hard
|
15
|
30.0
|
30.0
|
58.0
|
|
|
very hard
|
21
|
42.0
|
42.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
The literature review presented the understanding that
making the decision of a career path to follow is something that comes with
numerous headaches. This was loaded into the above variable and it can be seen
from the analysis that 42% of the total respondents agree that the decision of
which course to study was “very hard” to decide. Adding this to the 30% who
said its “hard” and the 16% who agreed that it is “somehow hard” clearly shows
that it is not easy to decide on which career choice to follow. This is based
on the understanding that numerous variables need to be loaded and analyzed
before people can actually choice a specific career path.
4.7 Proof
of hypotheses: Descriptive statistics
HP1. The higher students view tourism and hospitality
management as offering potential for future success in the workplace, the
higher their chances of choosing the course.
|
Table 4.7: I choose this course because
job demand for current professionals is very high
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
1.00
|
42
|
84.0
|
84.0
|
84.0
|
|
2.00
|
8
|
16.0
|
16.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
|
Table 4.8: I have a big goal of gaining
financial stability in the future and it influenced my choice for this
course
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
yes
|
45
|
90.0
|
90.0
|
90.0
|
|
No
|
5
|
10.0
|
10.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
From the variables analyzed in the above table 4.7 and
4.8, it can be seen that majority of the students choose to study the course
because they view job demand as being high, and all the respondents agree to
choosing the course because they are very comfortable with it. Still on the
same hand, all the students agree to choose the course because it falls
perfectly in line with their dreams. Thus, the hypothesis has been proved as
students enroll into the course because they associate it as having the
potential to allow them to achieve their desired life goals.
HP2. An individual’s level of passion will influence
the choice of enrolling in tourism and hospitality course with the view that
the higher such passion is the chances of a student to choose the above
mentioned course.
|
Table 4.9: This is my dream course and
profession since childhood and that is why I choose to study it.
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
Yes
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
This have also been proven in the above table 4.9
where it was shown that all the responders agree that enrolling to this course
was influenced by their passion for hospitality and tourism management. While
this might seem complicated with earlier understanding where it was shown that
the decision to enroll into this course was to some extent influenced by peers,
parents and role models, there is the need to understand that these people
might have influenced the students’ passion for the subject positively through
their interactions with these students. On that ground, it is possible that at
the end of the day, the students enrolled into the course due to gained passion
for the subject and this validates the findings for hypothesis 2 above.
HP3. Environmental factors such as peer influence,
parents and role model will influence students’ choice of choosing to enroll in
tourism and hospitality management courses.
|
Table 4.10: My decision to study this
course was made?
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
Personally
|
25
|
50.0
|
50.0
|
50.0
|
|
influenced by other people
|
8
|
16.0
|
16.0
|
66.0
|
|
|
Both
|
17
|
34.0
|
34.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
|
|
From the above 4.10, it can be seen that 16% of the
respondents agree that their decision were influence by external forces such as
their parents, peer groups, and role model. However, this is not significant
when compared with the figure (84%) that made known that their decisions were
based on personal terms. On that ground, it will be stated that while external
influence can play significant role on students’ decision to study tourism and
hospitality management, the final decisions are normally made by the students
personally.
HP4. Individuals with high level of self-efficacy in
the tourism and hospitality management course will likely choose the course as
their career path.
|
Table 4.11: I choose this course because I
am very comfortable with it
|
|||||
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Percent
|
Valid Percent
|
Cumulative Percent
|
|
Valid
|
yes
|
50
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
100.0
|
Interesting as it may be, all the respondents noted
that their decision to enroll into the course was because they feel very
comfortable with it when compared with other courses. On that ground, it proves
the hypotheses that a higher level of self-efficacy is necessary to enhance
students’ desire and potential for enrolling into the above named course.
HP5. The higher the expected positive outcome from
enrolling into tourism and hospitality management course, the higher the
chances of students choosing the course.
HP6. Students will enroll into hospitality and tourism
management course if it is in line with their set goals in life.
Based on the tables 4.7 and 4.8 above, it can be seen
that this is true because majority of the respondents agree that they choose
the course because the demand for professionals from the field is high and they
have intention of establishing sustainability financial power in the future
with the course capable of making such desire a success. Thus, the hypotheses 5
and 6 are corrected based on the gathered understanding from above analysis.
Chapter 5
Conclusion
and recommendation
The basic approach to any successful research is
having a clear plan that the research desires to follow. This clear plan will
serve as a guideline to what is obtainable and how the research process will be
conducted. This is the case of this research as it was divided into 5 different
chapters with each chapter designed to serve a particular purpose – all geared
towards meeting the research objectives.
The first chapter is the introduction of the research.
In this chapter, the purpose of the research was highlighted to be to gain an
understanding on the factors that influences students’ decision to choose
hospitality and tourism management as their preferred course of study. Thus,
the whole research was built around this understand with the significance of
the study stated to be that it would allow both managers, counselors and
researcher to understand these factors and build a better understanding of
professional in the field. It will also help in counseling programs to advice
the students on whether their abilities meet what is expected in the field.
Following the introduction, a review of literatures
was conducted in chapter 2. A number of findings were made from this chapter.
These findings are that students’ decision making process when it comes to choosing
a career path way is influenced by their personalities (self-efficacy,
determination, commitment etc.), the environment (cultures and patters), and
other people (parents, peer groups and role models). These factors together
with the decision are guided by the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT),
which states that students will choose courses based on their self-efficacy,
expected outcome from studying the course and overall goal representation with
respect to what they aim to achieve in life.
Following the success of the two chapters, the chapter
3 was developed as the methodology that will be adopted for primary research.
The significance of primary research was reflected to be the fact that it will
allow the researcher to test hypotheses from the literature review. The
research was conducted in Taylor’s University Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the
Hospitality and Tourism Management Department, with 50 students from the
department.
The fourth chapter is the analysis of findings from
the primary research. The findings reflection confirmation of the stated
hypotheses as personalities, environmental, and peer group factors influenced
the decision by the students to enroll into the course. Additionally, it was
also found that the level of influence depends on the age of the student – in
which the older the student, the lower the level of such influence.
The final chapter is the chapter 5, and the conclusion
of the whole paper is presented in this chapter. Considering the discovery made
in the analysis of finding in which it was seen that the most dominant race in
the study is Chinese, it was also recommended that further studies should be
conducted in order to understand whether the Chinese people are the most
dominant race in the industry with respect to Malaysian settings.
In conclusion, it can be stated that the choice made
by students to study any given course is influenced by their personality –
whether or not they like the course, whether or not they find the course easy,
and whether or not the course is in line with their set goals in life; the
environment – that is the cost of studying that particular course, how close
the school is to their house and the course is in the desired college, how easy
it is to get job upon graduation as well as gain admission into the course; and
other people – their friends that will be convincing them to join them in the
same school and course, parents that would like them to study a given course,
and even their role models that will convince them to pursue a specific career.
In these, choosing a career path is not easy for anybody and in any course.
Appendices
Appendix
A: Designed questionnaire for the research
Objectives
- To understand the needs of customers in the car
wash industry.
- To understand how the availability of Wifi,
Mini-mart, Bar and Home-call services will influence the level customers’
satisfaction in the car wash industry.
- To understand the competitive sphere in the
industry and the factors that influences consumers’ preferences
Instruction
1.
Answer ALL questions.
2.
Fill _ in the box available based on the
legend stated.
3.
All information will be treated as
confidential. It will be used ONLY for academic purpose.
4.
All information will be on aggregated
basis and no individual data will be published.
A. DEMOGRAPHIC
a. Race :
……………………………………………………………………………
b. Sex :
……………………………………………………………………………
c. Age . :
……………………………………………………………………………
Note: Please fill up
this form. The information given will be treated as highly confidential
B. FACTORS THAT
INFLUENCE STUDENTS’ CHOICE OF STUDYING HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
1.
My decision to study this course was made?
Personally
Influenced by other people
Both
2.
I prefer Tourism and hospitality management course because?
The tuition fees are cheap
It’s easy to study
All of the above
None of the above
3.
I understand what career choice is all about?
4.
If yes, how hard was it for you to choose this course?
Not hard
Somewhat hard
Hard
Very hard
5.
How many years have you studying this course?
6.
Do you find it easy at this stage?
7.
Are the tuition fees affordable?
8
My parents played a role in my choice of this course
9.
My friends and/or role model played a role in my choice of this course
10.
I choose this course because I am very comfortable with it
11.
I choose this course because job demand for current professionals is very high
12.
I have a big goal of gaining financial stability in the future and it
influenced my choice for this course
13.
I choose this course because most the school is close to my house
14.
This is my dream course and profession since childhood and that is why I choose
to study it.
15.
I feel a higher sense of self-actualization by studying this course.
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