Will I stay or will I go? an empirical study of students’ intention to persist
Nguyen Tran Cam Linh, Nguyen Phuong Tam/ MICA 2018 Proceedings
International Conference on Marketing in the Connected Age (MICA-2018), October 6th, 2018
Danang City, Vietnam
Will I Stay or Will I Go? An Empirical Study of Students’
Intention to Persist
Nguyen Tran Cam Linha*, Nguyen Phuong Tamb
aHo Chi Minh City Open University, 97 Vo Van Tan Street, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
bInternational University - Vietnam National University HCMC, Quarter 6, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, HCMC, Vietnam
A B S T R A C T
Higher education always draws mounting concerns from students, who seek for reliable institutions for further
study after high school. The number of universities nationally has recently expanded exponentially, providing
students with numerous choices for consideration. Noticeably, the number of universities using foreign
curriculum is on a progressively rise, creating an upward trend for students, who desire to study in an
international environment within Vietnamese territory. More money saving than studying abroad and living
near family are of common triggers attributed for the strong appeal of this trend. Nonetheless, regardless of its
advantages, the challenges in terms of language, culture, or curriculum when studying in those universities are
posing an inquiry about the rate of student retention.
Student intention has been a focal topic of research in higher education research the last few decades
(Braxton, 2000). Interestingly, this issue yet receives little attention in Vietnam’s higher education. This paper
attempts to fill in this gap, by examining factors affecting student’ intention to persist at foreign-affiliated
universities in Vietnam.
In particular, this paper examines the intention-to-persist implication of five major factors namely Academic
integration, Social integration, Goal and Institutional commitment, Career outcome expectation, and Social
and cultural capital. The paper went through two main stages; the preliminary study and the main study. The
preliminary study employs qualitative method to adjust and supplement the adapted the existing measurement
scales. The main study conducts a quantitative survey with 350 questionnaires distributed to students of five
universities.
The empirical findings support the proposed hypotheses (revised after EFA), showing that five causal
relationships do exist. What is more, Career outcome expectation has strongest effect on students’ intention to
persist (β=0.331), followed Goal and Institutional commitment on Intention to persist (β=0.327), Social and
Cultural capital (β=0.200). In addition, Academic integration (β=0.246) and Peer interaction (β=0.237) have
positive effects on Goal and Institutional commitment.
In short, the results demonstrate the appropriateness of initially proposed model and hypotheses, the model is
fit with the quantitative data. Overall, Academic integration and Social integration (including Peer interactions
and faculty concern for students and teaching) positively affect Goal and Institutional commitment. Besides,
Career outcome expectation, Goal and Institutional, and Social and Cultural capital directly influence
students’ Intention to persist. May this paper be a source of reference for those interested.
Keywords: Intention to persist, Affiliated University, Structural Equation Modeling
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected]
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1. Introduction
Recently, the percentage of high school students seeking for higher educational level continues to increase
dramatically. Indeed, reports show that there were more than 1.8 million applications to register for the college
and university entrance examination (Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, 2012). The number of
students studying colleges increased by 71% rising from more than 400 million to more than 700 million
students, and that of universities increased by 23% from 2007 to 2013 (Vietnamese Ministry of Education and
Training, 2013). Besides, the number of higher education institutions also readily increased to meet the demand
of students, by 29.3% during the period from 2007 to 2013.
These figures demonstrate a positive signal to the development of the country since human capital approach
to higher education ties a nation economic prosperity to an educated labor force (Yorke & Longden, 2004).
Nevertheless, the fact is that not every student could successfully accomplish their degree in college. Instead,
many just drop out of school in the middle of journey owning to various intentions. For instance, the proportion
of UK students failing to complete their degree increased from 13% (1982 - 1983) to 22% in 2007 (BBC News,
2008). The Australian student failure rate at university stands at about 11%, in which the percentage of students
dropping out of school during their first year made up nearly 20% (Herald, 2009). In 2010, two-thirds of
American students terminated their college after the first year (ACT, 2011). One out of every two of the 18.3
million students enrolled in American colleges and universities in fall 2010 will not graduate (Yale, 2010).
Chronicle Almanac (2011) reveals that nearly 20% of undergraduates do not graduate within six years. The
situation of students leaving school prematurely has become popular in many institutions worldwide.
In Vietnam, the increase of recently established higher education institutions is deemed to bring more chances
for those who failed to join in their desirable university, but still could become a student in other universities or
colleges. This unintentionally promotes many students to join in an institution that is not fit to them, leading to a
great growing number of students after a certain period of time experiencing their studies have a tendency to
leave the school. For example, at Ton Duc Thang University, the percentage of students, who quit learning
halfway account for 25% in comparison with 75% of students keep studying until get graduated (Thanh, 2010).
Moreover, the rationale for the increase in dropout rate is extended to various reasons. According to Mr. Nguyen
Duy Anh, Department Head of Student Affairs, Ministry of Education and Training, there were 1,163 students
dropping out of college before graduation because of money insufficiency during the academic year from 2011
to 2012. A majority of students from other provinces and remote areas come to big cities for further study. Many
of them cannot continue their studies due to the lack of ability to finance tuition fee and the basic demands of life
when studying far away from home. In addition, many students state that they fail to pursue their academic
commitment since they feel unconnected with major, school curriculum or environment, dropping out of college
is the best way to save time for other choices. Other common reasons are attributed to their boredom of learning
or hopelessness of future career if they keep spending time on classes (Hau, 2013).
Noticeably, in the process of international integration, the increasingly growth of Vietnamese higher
educational institutions, which include foreign element in their educational curriculum is drawing a lot of
attentions from Vietnamese students, who have desire to study in an international environment in Vietnam.
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, there are nearly 80 Vietnamese higher
educational institutions, which are linked with foreign partners to operate international curriculums. However,
many people still afraid of the quality of such curriculums. It is undeniable that students who studying in such
environment have to deal with a lot of challenges associated with high level of language requirements, cultural
adaptation, pressures from foreign curriculum. Furthermore, in the situation that the higher education student
attrition rates are perceived still high among universities in Vietnam, posing a question how these educational
institutions could increase the retention rate of students.
Student retention is a widely-discussed topic, yet limited research examines factors influencing student
retention among universities in Vietnam which is crucial to improve the education system. In addition, the
consequences of low student retention rate are not negligible. From institution perspective, the loss of students
departing from school at early stage might result in greatly financial loss and lower graduation rate for the
institution since administrators have to spend a huge expenditure for recruitment process. It might also
destructively affect the way that investors, parents, and students view the institution as well as reduce the degree
of college reliability. Low retention rates not only affect institutions that must bear a burden of economic
problems, but also reduce the ability of a country to compete in a global economy (Friedman, 2005; Seidman,
2005a).
From student perspective, the incompletion of higher education also leave behind a variety of serious
consequences associated with it. A study indicates that jobs requiring a bachelor's degree will grow by 25%
(Alliance for Excellent Education, 2003e). According to article in "The Wall Street Journal" (2012) cited by
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Kokemuller (2015) college dropouts encounter more limited career opportunities than graduated counterparts.
Students who hold a bachelor's degree are more opened to the door to enter in higher positions in numerous
fields. As a premature departure, it is difficult to win the job when many people who hold degrees applying for
the same position, even in the job when a degree is not a compulsory. Additionally, it also leads to other
consequences, for instance, a study by Council on Contemporary Families (2012) revealed that divorce rates
were higher for those without college degrees than college graduates. The upshots resulting from dropping out of
colleges are mostly negative, bearing onerous burdens on those involved.
Therefore, now more than ever, higher education administrators of higher education institutions must be
aware of the reasons why students depart from school prematurely and figure out the solutions so as to help
students overcome barriers to achieve their academic goals. Understanding the factors influencing student
retention would be an aid in increasing this rate, benefiting to students, institutions, and the whole society.
Hence, additional research is required to determine strategies to address this issue.
The purpose of the current study is to identify factors affecting student retention at a number of Vietnamese
foreign – affiliated universities in Ho Chi Minh City. Since higher retention rates of students during their college
life are directly linked with their overall satisfaction with the school they are studying (Hanover research, 2010),
an understanding of determinants might be the useful directions of increasing student retention at institutions.
Thus, the main objectives of the current study are as follows: (1) To identify the factors influencing student
intention of retaining at Foreign - affiliated universities in Ho Chi Minh City. (2) To determine the effect of
degree of each factor towards student Intention to persist at Foreign - affiliated universities in Ho Chi Minh City.
(3) To figure out recommendations to increase student retention rate for Foreign – affiliated universities in Ho
Chi Minh City.
2. Related Theories
2.1. Student retention and Intention to persist
Student retention has received an increasing attention from many scholars, especially for those who indeed
concern about higher education. Because higher education is deemed to provide students with benefits and
advantages by learning outcomes and offered knowledge, it should be seriously considered about the increase in
the number of students who do not retain at school. As cited by Strauss (2001), Bowen said the basic educational
task of colleges and universities is to help students achieve cognitive learning, emotional and moral
development, and practical competence. Moreover, the benefits of higher education are definitely extended to the
whole society as a growing number of students are well – educated, resulting in the increase in employment rate,
the decrease in poverty, crimes and environment – related issues.
Student retention is defined as normal progression, standing for a stayer or retained student, referring to those
who fully participate in each academic semester until degree completion. A dropout, or leaver, is a student, who
leaves college before graduating and never enters to other college or return to the old college. Another type is
called transfers, indicating the students who start studying at one institution and then transfer to another after a
period of time. The definition of retention also can be defined in another perspective as efforts and strategies to
anticipate and identify student needs prior to high school enrollment (Fowler & Luna, 2009). Tilghman (2012)
defined adult student retention as participation in any credit-bearing activity over the course of a year, indicating
the rate at which students fulfill individual courses. Additionally, adult student retention is also defined as the
persistence of a cohort of in-coming students by academic term through graduation.
Tino (1975) classified two definitions of dropout. The first one is dropout refers to those persons, who leave
the college at which they are registered. In other words, it means that they fail to accomplish the program at their
university of enrollment. Those who drop out hurt the institutions in various aspects, such as vacancy of classes,
economic or academic investment of school on them. The second definition of dropout refers to only to those
persons who never received a degree from any institution of higher education.
Bean (1980) defined student attrition is similar to turnover in working institution and place an emphasis on
the significance of behavioral intentions (stay or leave) cited by Cabrela et al. (1993). Behavioral intentions are
captured by a process whereby beliefs shape attitudes, and attitudes, in turn, influence behavioral intents‖. When
studying in a college environment, beliefs are supposed to be influenced by the student's exposures to the various
elements of an institution such as institutional superiority, curriculum, and classmates. Negative beliefs result in
behavioral intent of dropping out, meanwhile those who have positive beliefs tend to persist. Before the decision
is made, behavioral intention was formed by university experiences. In other words, behavioral intent of
persisting or dropping leads to the decision of retaining or leaving.
It is noticeable to differentiate two terms, retention and persistence since many misunderstandings has made
on them, as Reason (2009) pointed out that researchers use these two terms interchangeably. As his view,
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retention is used when institutional needs presented, and persistence when regard to student needs and behaviors.
The term departure is used to describe the contrary meaning of retention, and student attrition is defined as the
termination of individual student involvement in a particular higher education institution (Bean, 1980, p. 157).
2.2. Academic integration
Academic integration is a concept that has repeated a lot of times when its role on students who enter in
academic environment was recognized. Liegler (1997) defined Academic integration as a way to evaluate the
level of student satisfaction, participation, and success in learning. Similarly, Kuh et al. (1994) considered
Academic integration as a reflection of student level of satisfaction towards their curriculum at college.
Academic integration is shaped when a student intellectual competence corresponds with the academic climate
or requirements at the universities or colleges. It also can be perceived as student awareness of their intellectual
growth or attainment when experiencing academic works given by institutions (Tinto, 1975). Lovitts (1996)
compared Academic integration as a key for students to assess their purpose of learning. According to Kuh &
Love (2000), students with high level of Academic integration indicates that their academic performances in
classes are personally satisfied, gain the practical values from their classes, and feel pleased with their
coursework. Students become keenly involved in academic activities when their performances are affirmed and
those activities are useful and interesting to their life (Hardre & Reeve, 2003). Academic integration consists of
several determinants that affect the ability of students in order to assimilate with the academic university climate.
Some factors which can be named are grade point average (GPA), personal interactions with faculty,
participating in study groups, and the superiority of academic advising (Arnold, 1999) as cited by Libby, A. K.
(2006).
2.3. Social integration
As Tinto (1993) defined, Social integration refers to formal and informal social interactions that students
experience at university, which can be seen through student contacts and relations to his or her peers, being
achieved when the connection of students and institution exists. According to ACT (2004), Social integration is
determined by the extent to which an individual feel linked to the college climate, peers, faculty, and engaged in
college activities. Garder (2008) stated that socialization is the process that students observe social behaviors and
learn how to be socialized. Similar to Academic integration, Social integration denotes the correspondence
between an individual with a set of characteristics and other persons of various personalities in social climate of
institution. According to Pascarella & Terenzini (2005), Social integration refers to the extent to which the
individual shares the normative attitudes and values of peers and faculty in the institution and abides by the
formal and informal structural requirements for membership in that community or in the subgroups of it‖. Kuh &
Love (2000) considered Social integration as the student degree of social and psychological contentment with
their school environment, when students feel assimilated to a group of other students and do not need to be
anxious about being isolated from college community. As students are exposed to a variety of formal and
informal interactions of student within a university, their interactions will enhance the degree of coziness or their
match with the institution (Jones, 2011). Carol (2007) shared different view towards Social integration, he
defined Social integration refers to integration of students who possess similarities in their interests, rather than
the general notion that individuals are assimilated into the dominant group.
2.4. Goal commitment and Institutional commitment
In general, commitment can be defined as the attachment that defines the relationship between a subject (an
individual, group or organization) and its objective (the target of commitment) (Forji, 2007). Commitment is
clearly identified when an individual accepts to deal with obstacles with an aim of continuing with the subject
until the ultimate goal is reached (Tinto, 1987).
According to Locke (1968), goal commitment is defined as the individual consistence of pursuing goal
overtime, meaning that one would not change his or her direction from the beginning until the goal is achieved.
He also indicated that goal commitment facilitates the distance between goal troubles and achievement, which
can be detected when subjects are committed to the goal. Over the years, this term has been explained in various
ways and become more general. Hollenbeck, Williams, & Klein (1989) defined goal commitment as an
individual's determination to make effort for a goal and his or her insistence in engaging in actions to accomplish
the ultimate goal. Similarly, Campion and Lord (1982) cited by Donovan and Radosevich (1998) defined goal
commitment as the expansion of attempt throughout the process of goal attainment, highlighting that the
individual embrace a resistance to change his or her goal. When it comes to higher education, Tinto (1993)
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defined goal commitment as the extent to which the student is devoted or encouraged to acquire college degree
in general. Goal commitment refers to students promise to the educational objectives, for instance, get graduated
or student desire to achieve bachelor degree. It can be realized that students who are greatly commit their goal to
accomplishment, will tend to remain at school to achieve the goal, vice averse, for those who have less goal
commitment, will tend to leave the college before graduation. Tinto (1975) also supposed that goal commitment
is an essential element in predicting student dropout behavior since it clarifies the psychological alignments or
directions which students already set for themselves prior to joining in the university environment, those
prearranged alignments or orientations will direct them and decide their manner they approach and relate to the
college setting.
Organization commitment is relevant to institutional commitment as Bean (1980) who constructed his theory
model based on the similarities between employee retention and student retention. In regard to organizational
behavior, commitment is debatably among of most vital element implicated in employee support for change
creativities (Conner, 1992). Organizational commitment can be understood as employee alignment to an
organization mission and vision. Mowday, Steers & Porter (1979) defined organization commitment is as novel
state of mind which helps employees to identify themselves with their organizations goals and wishes to
maintain membership of their organization. Organizational commitment is a firm belief which can lead
employees towards unconditional acceptance of organizational norm, culture, rules and regulation; it is employee
willingness to exert significant efforts on the behalf of organization organizational commitment is helpful to
inculcate an intense desire in employee to maintain employment in the organization‖. When it comes to
institutional commitment in college setting, Tinto (1975) defined that it is the relation between an individual
commitment of university completion and his commitment to this institution, which can determine whether or
not students opt to leave or remain at institution. Nora and Cabrera (1993) cited by Strauss (2001) defined
institutional commitment as the combination of the certainty of institutional choice by a student already enrolled
at the institution, institutional quality/prestige, a student sense of belonging to the institution, a student
perception of the practical value of their education, the student loyalty to the institution and the student's affinity
of values with those of the institution
2.5. Social and Cultural capital
The concept of Social and Cultural capital was initially developed by Pierre Bourdieu to explain the social
inequalities, it does not refer to individual social positions in terms of financial asset, rather refers to individual
cultural resources (Longden, 2004). Firstly, according to Bourdieu (1986) social capital is the interpersonal
relationship that students are often acquired in connecting with their friends rather than at home. Annette (2007)
defined social capital as the social linkages and associations that reinforce individual educational
accomplishment and completion. It is developed by joining into major social networks in school settings.
Secondly, Cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977) includes culture-based factors and
indicators of symbolic wealth that help define a person class. Cultural capital of individual is often formed based
on their family, their parental education, parental involvement in children learning. Brucker (2004) cited by
Annette (2007) indicated that cultural capital includes valued academic and mainstream cultural knowledge and,
just as importantly, the cultural dispositions that are most conductive for success in various school settings‖. It
can be developed through individual exposure to educational resources such as books, computer, libraries.
According to Jantrasakul (2010), cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge and experience that one can
learn or be affected from the surroundings during their living. Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) cited by Wells
(2008) stated that cultural capital could transfer from one to another, forming the basic of reproduction,
especially related to education‖. Referred to Bourdieu's view, students who are exposed to upper classes are
easily adapt to the environment of higher educational institutions which usually offer high cultural practices. The
triggers are attributed to their various chances to approach high cultural context regarding the facets of the
dominant culture such as visiting to museums, reading good books, and attending concerts as they were born in
family on high status or income. And those of lower classes are hardly to accommodate themselves to the high
cultural climate of the college setting since may there a disparity between their prior accumulated cultural capital
and the culture in institutions. It may create a barrier for them to adapt the college climate, leading to withdrawal
behaviors. For instance, the disparity between the culture of the home environment and the culture of the
university makes it more difficult for students from poor areas to fit in and stay in higher education system as
everything seems to be novel to their cultural capital.
2.6. Career outcome expectation
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Career self–efficacy was developed based on the theory of self-efficacy expectations as a result of behavioral
change. Self–efficacy refers to the beliefs in competencies with respect to the behaviors necessary in particular
career relevant domain‖. Outcome expectations refer to confidence in the outcome of carrying out given
behaviors (Betz & Voyten, 1997). Noticeably, efficacy and outcome expectations are distinct each other since
not every action reach the goal as expected.
Career outcome expectation is defined as desired results of future occupation which draw from the behaviors
or actions of an individual (Lent et al., 1994). To be more specific, outcome expectation is ultimately predicted
upshot of carrying out a specific action. Outcome expectations are also considered an indicator or foundation for
an individual to decide whether he or she should do or do not to reach the perceived expectations of what that
behavior will produce. According to Bialosky et al. (2010) who clarified expectation into four categories:
Predicted expectation which refers to what the individual believes the action will generate; Ideal expectations
which refers to what the individual desires to occur; Normative expectations which refers to what the individual
deems that should occur; and Unformed expectation which refers to the lack of a preconceived notion regarding
a situation or intervention. Additionally, there are other theories mentioning about the outcome expectation with
similar view. Expectation theories explain the individual motivation to involve in a specific action grounded by
the expected result (Atkinson, 1977). Meanwhile, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) concerns about how
the individual judges the behaviors based on the expectation of the consequence (Lent et al., 1994). A concern or
preference for a specific job was formed by considering about possible outcomes regarding income, satisfaction,
social status, responsibilities, etc. When ones determine their job preference, they would likely accomplish the
goal of education (Feldt & Woelfel, 2009).
3. Hypotheses and Research model
Academic integration and Social integration on Goal commitment and Institutional commitment Tinto (1975,
1993) suggested that the level of student Academic integration and Social integration in institutions affects their
commitment to the college, which in turn impacts the possibility of student to continue or leave out of school.
During a few weeks after entering the college, the experiences of academic and social activities will affect
student integration into the institutions (Beil, 1999). The study of Pascarella and Terenzini (1983) found that
Academic integration of an individual is correlated to commitment of whether students remain or drop out of the
current institution (Beil, 1999). Also, in the longitudinal study of Beil, the result showed that Academic and
Social integration do not have direct effects on student retention, rather Academic and Social integration
influence the level of commitment to the institution. The greater academic and social students integrated to their
college, the higher value of commitment is. Another study by Jones (2010) focused on the impact of Social
integration on Goal and Institutional commitment on gender, he found that this correlation does exist both on
male and female, but stronger than on female, which indicates that men and women are distinct in approach to
Social integration. Furthermore, in the recent research, Yong (2013) suggested that the future scholars should
explore the factors affecting student retention, in which two constructs Academic and Social integration were
recommended. Besides, Robinson (1969) cited by Dobbins et al. (2000) found that students who leave school
usually do not feel the match between their satisfaction and offered curriculum which is referred as a notion of
Academic integration. In college environment of diverse cultures and races, Chang (1999) also found that
multicultural interactions in school boosted up student persistence, institutional satisfaction, and intellectual
range and social self-concept. Students who have negative interactions and experiences tend to become
disillusioned with college, withdraw from their peers and faculty members, and ultimately, the institution.
Numerous comprehensive studies have concluded that institutional factors, such as faculty – student
relationships and innovative teaching methods can significantly motivate and challenge students to learn and stay
in school (Lau, 2013).
Therefore, there are two hypotheses proposed regarding Academic integration, Social integration and
commitment.
H1: Academic integration has significant effect on Goal commitment and Institutional commitment
H2: Social integration has significant effect on Goal commitment and Institutional commitment
Goal commitment and Institutional commitment on Intention to persist
Goal commitment is considered a factor which is ―argued to be central to an individual's decision to drop out
of higher education (Tinto, 1975). Given levels of institutional commitment, the lower the individual
commitment to the goal of college completion the more likely is he to drop out. According to Tinto (1993),
commitment acts a mediator between integration and retention. The studies by Zea et al. (1997) and Beil (1999)
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all support for the meditational role of the model proposed by Tinto (1975,1993), which indicates that Academic
integration and Social integration do not directly influence on retention, rather affect the extent to which students
commit to institutions, then ultimately leading to student decision of whether stay or drop out. In other research,
Naskrent & Siebelt (2011) also concluded that commitment plays a central factor of donor retention as it creates
a foundation for an individual to sacrifice and continue attaching to the object. Sandler (2000) studied about the
retention among non - traditional aged students at a private urban research university. His result showed that
institutional commitment had the greatest direct impact on the intent to persist. Mbura (2011) stated in his paper,
goal commitment is the second determinant determining African American student decision of drop out or stay
at college. Nora, et al. (1997) cited by Strauss (2001) studied on retention of Hispanic students, his findings
supported the direct impact of institutional commitment on student retention. The study by Cabrera et al. (1993)
also supported the correlation between Goal commitment and Institutional commitment on Intention to persist.
Hence, the hypothesis is proposing as below:
H3: Goal commitment and Institutional commitment has significant effect on Intention to persist
Social and Cultural capital on Intention to persist
Social and Cultural capital developed from family and surroundings probably imposes an impact on college
student intention. Students with high level of traditional Social and Cultural capital are more likely to feel ―an
entitlement to postsecondary education‖ (McDonough, 1997) and may not only see ―college attendance as an
entitlement but may display persistence as well (Berger, 2000). Although some aspects of cultural capital have
been determined for its impacts on retention, a comprehensive quantitative analysis has not been carried out
(Wells, 2009). There are some studies regarding the effect of cultural capital on student retention. Berger (2000)
stated that students who process higher level of cultural capital tend to stay at colleges compared to those with
lower procession of Social and Cultural capital will possibly drop out. In other words, students with higher levels
of organizational cultural capital will be more strongly positively associated with persistence at institutions.
Moreover, the study of Wells (2009) results in the positive correlation between Social and Cultural capital
possession and the likelihood of student persistence. Access to various forms of capital is also associated with
gender and ethnicity, which must be taken into consideration (Longden, 2004); however, in this study, the
research only focuses on the impact of cultural capital on student retention because ethnicity and gender factors
in Vietnamese international universities are not exceptionally outstanding.
According to the discussion above, there is a hypothesis proposed:
H4: Social and Cultural capital has significant effect on Intention to persist
Career outcome expectation on Intention to persist
The concept of Career outcome expectations has received relatively little empirical attention (Fouad &
Guillen, 2006). As SCCT stated, Career outcome expectation is an indicator to encourage student incentive to
involve in their college works. If an individual optimistically expects about their future career, it turns out a
strong stimulation for students to study harder, vice averse, those who negatively think of the career outcome
will tend to avoid engaging in school works, which leading to drop out. Study by Betz & Voyten (1997)
indicated that outcome expectations are effective predictor of student career indecision and college retention. An
empirical research by Concannon & Barrow (2010) insisted the correlation between students Intention to persist
and Career outcome expectation of both men and women majoring in engineering. The results show that an
engineering student who supposes the outcome of college completion cannot attain for a desirable future career,
he or she will tend to discontinue with the program. Additionally, the result also shows that COE place greater
importance on women than men. Another research result indicated that outcome expectations resulted from the
perceived effectiveness of a higher education associated with the goal of accomplishing a degree have reliable
foundation for forecasting the Intention to persist of the students beyond freshman (Kahn, Nauta, Gailbreath,
2002) as cited by Feldt (2009). Supporting this correlation, Hoyt (1998) indicated that student declaration of a
university major or occupation has an effect on their persistence. If student expectations are satisfied, it leads to
the higher possibility of intent to persist. Additionally, Peterson (1993) cited by Hoyt (1998) found that self–
efficacy of student career is correlated to Academic integration and Social integration.
According to above discussion, a hypothesis can be formed as below:
H5: Career outcome expectation has significant effect on Intention to persist
4. Sampling and data collection
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Normally, with a small simple size, it will equivalent with the less accuracy of data. On the other hand, the
bigger the sample size is the more accurate the data will be, but it is quite time–consuming and costly to collect a
large amount of data. In fact, the appropriate sample size can depend on the analysis method and the number of
items in questionnaire. If SEM is employed to analyse data, Hair & et.al. (1998) suggested the number of
questionnaire needed is at least from 100 – 150. Hatcher (1994) supposed that the number of questionnaire
should be more than 5 times the number of observed variables. Tabachnick and Fidell (2003) suggested that the
minimum sample size is 300. After considering about time, financial ability and the number of items, the
researcher aims to collect 350 questionnaires. This study employed convenience sampling method.
Questionnaires were delivered to students studying in foreign – affiliated universities via 2 main channels: online
and offline. With online channel, the researcher created an Internet survey in terms of Google docs form, then
sent the link to respondents. This method is perceived as time saving and convenient. With the offline channel,
the researcher directly delivered paper-and-pencil questionnaires to students at foreign – affiliated universities in
Ho Chi Minh City. This method is quite time, but the advantage is that the researcher could observe whether
surveyed people answer seriously or not. Qualitative research data is collected by one–on–one discussion method
with one staff and six students separately. Quantitative data is collected via 2 channels. Via the online channel,
the researcher took advantage of social network which links a large number of people together. Thanks to great
supports from friends, the researcher found out a variety of student personal facebook address. Based on their
personal information on their page, research could determine whether they are right targets or not. After finding
the right targets who meet the requirements of the study, researcher asked for their willingness to complete the
survey. Questionnaire link were sent to those who are serious with it. Via the offline channel, the researcher
came to foreign – affiliated universities. The printed questionnaires with designed structure of 3 parts would be
directly delivered to the respondents within the appropriate time when they are free from busy works. To easily
access to the right target, researcher asked for the helps from some lecturers and friends to deliver questionnaire
to students in their classes.
5. Data analysis and result
There were 350 questionnaires dispatched to respondents, in which 163 questionnaires were collected via online
survey, and 177 questionnaires in terms hard copies were collected. After filtering and eliminating
questionnaires, which violate the requirements as presented in methodology part, 307 questionnaires officially
were used for data analysis. As can be seen, the appropriate response rate accounts for 87.7% which is
considered relatively good.
The questionnaires were delivered to five universities in Ho Chi Minh City, which apply foreign curriculum in
teaching, including International University (IU), RMIT, FPT, Hoa Sen, and Bach Khoa (UT) – ILLINOIS.
The allocation of observations shows disparity among universities, especially International University. Out of
307 valid surveyed questionnaires, there are 128 students who are studying in International University (IU),
which occupy the largest proportion, 41.7 % of the total. This greatest rate can be explained that the researcher is
also a student of this university, making it easier for researcher to approach and do survey on the students here
compared to those of other universities. Besides, the percentages of others universities in this list are
approximately the same, in which RMIT's students stand for 15%, followed by 14.7% of both FPT's students and
Bach Khoa (UT) – ILLINOIS’ students. The least one is Hoa Sen ‘s students with 14% in total.
Table 1 also shows the tuition fee of each university. It can be seen that RMIT and FPT universities are the most
expensive ones, both of them require students to pay more than 60 million per year. IU, Hoa Sen and UT –
ILLINOIS have similar yearly tuition fee ranging from 40 to 60 million. It is obvious that students seeking
higher education in these foreign – affiliated universities have to pay a much larger amount of money compared
to the other Vietnamese conventional universities.
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Table 1: Description of respondent information
Characteristic
Frequency Percentage (%)
Male
140
167
307
107
135
65
45.6
54.4
100.0
34.9
44.0
21.2
100.0
30.6
11.1
6.5
Gender
Female
Total
Academic
year
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Total
Business Administration
Biotechnology
307
94
Major
34
Food Technology
Electronic – Electrical Engineering
Finance - Accounting
IT
20
45
14.7
11.1
7.2
34
22
Restaurant and Food Service Management
Communications
Others
15
4.9
33
10.7
3.3
10
Total
307
1
100.0
0.3
Permanent
Address
The South
The Middle
22
7.5
The West
36
11.7
80.8
100.0
3.9
The Southeast
248
307
12
Total
Monthly
Family
income
< VND 10 million
VND 10 – 20 million
VND 20 – 30 million
> VND 30 million
Total
91
29.6
39.4
27.0
100.0
121
83
307
Barlett’s test of Sphericity is significant < 0.05 (Sig. = 0.000), the value of KMO is 0.906 which is much higher
than 0.5. Total variance explained is also satisfactory with 59.324% (> 50%). All the factor loadings are greater
than 0.5, ranging from 0.53 to 0.917, and there is no cross factor – loading. Therefore, this result meets all
requirements for an acceptable factor analysis. The software of AMOS 20.0 was employed, demonstrating the
results as following: The CFA results show that most of criteria are acceptable: CMIN /df = 1.783, TLI = 0.91,
CFI = 0.919, AGFI = 0.807, and RMSEA = 0.51, except only GIF = 0.835 which is less than 0.9.
As can be seen that the reliabilities for all constructs are greater than 0.7, except Foreign Cultural Capital (0.68).
This can be explained that this construct only contains only 2 items to measure and it is the result extracted from
EFA test, so the reliability test for this one is not really powerful. Its AVE is above 0.5 (0.515), which is satisfy
the convergent validity and discriminant validity. According to Hair (2010), reliability ranging from 0.6 to 0.7 is
sometimes acceptable when other construct validities of model are good. Moreover, this content validity of these
two scales is confirmed by qualitative results and its meaning is particular appropriate to the purpose of this
study which aims to focus on students studying in foreign – affiliated universities. Therefore, this construct is in
an attempt to retain for the further hypothesis test. On the other hand, all other constructs reach the standard of
tests, reliability, convergent and discriminant tests are satisfactory:
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Table 2: Construct validity
CR
0.819
0.886
AVE
0.533
0.566
MSV
0.508
0.279
ASV
0.202
0.181
FI
COE
SCC
0.881
0.604
0.341
0.212
PI
0.832
0.784
0.854
0.889
0.867
0.680
0.504
0.550
0.596
0.672
0.621
0.515
0.263
0.341
0.360
0.375
0.508
0.315
0.200
0.181
0.207
0.260
0.244
0.136
GIC
AI
ITP
FCS
FCC
The SEM results show that most of criteria are acceptable: CMIN /df = 1.721, TLI = 0.942, CFI = 0.951, AGFI =
0.873, and RMSEA = 0.49, except only GIF = 0.835 which is less than 0.9. All of measures satisfy the
standardized criteria for measurement model fit as can be seen from the SEM round 3’s result summarized table.
Therefore, the model fits with the data.
6. Findings
Hypothesis 1: Academic integration has a significant effect on Goal and Institutional commitment.
The result of SEM shows that Academic integration has no effective on Goal and Institutional commitment is
rejected (P – value < 0.05). This means that Academic integration has a positive impact on Goal and Institutional
commitment at a degree of 0.246. Beil (1999) and Pascarella & Terenzini (1983) also support this relationship,
which indicated that academic integration does not directly affect student retention, instead strongly impact
student commitment.
Hypothesis 2: Social interactions has a significant effect on Goal and Institutional commitment.
Hypothesis 2 proposes that Social interactions positively affects Goal and Institutional commitment. This
hypothesis is supported as the result of SEM (P – value < 0.05) with the degree of 0.237, which is slightly less
than that of Academic integration. This finding is in line with Jones’s (2010) study that shows the impact of
social integration on Goal and Institutional commitment, in which peer interactions are included in the social
climate.
Hypothesis 3: Goal and Institutional commitment has a significant effect on Intention to persist
The result of SEM shows the hypothesis that Goal and Institutional commitment has a significant effect on
Intention to persist is supported (P – value < 0.05). This means that Goal and Institutional commitment has a
positive impact on Intention to persist at a degree of 0.327. This result is similar to the results of studies by Weng
(2010), Pascarella & Terenzini (1983), Cabrera et al. (1993), which indicated that Goal and Institutional
commitment have greatest impact on students’ intention to persist.
Hypothesis 4: Cultural capital has a significant effect on Intention to persist
Hypothesis 6 proposes that Social and Cultural capital has a significant effect on Intention to persist. This
hypothesis is supported with a statistical significance of P – value < 0.05. The result shows that Social and
Cultural capital affects Intention to persist at a degree of 0.200. This result is consistent with the study of Wells
(2009) which resulted in the positive relationship between Social and Cultural capital possession and the
likelihood of student ̳s persistence.
Hypothesis 5: Career outcome expectation has a significant effect on Intention to persist.
The result of SEM confirms the right of causal correlation between Career outcome expectation and Intention
to persist (P – value < 0.05). More specifically, Career outcome expectation has positive effect on Intention to
persist at a biggest degree (0.331) compared to other factors. This result is consistent with the result of study by
Concannon & Barrow (2010) which confirmed the positive correlation between Career outcome expectation and
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engineer student intention to persist.
7. Conclusion
This study aims at exploring the factors influencing student’s Intention to persist in foreign – affiliated
universities in Ho Chi Minh City. Given this purpose, the study was conducted on students studying in five
universities using foreign curriculum in teaching. Students who were surveyed are mostly freshmen, sophomores
and juniors, while seniors are of rejection of target as they are nearly in the edge of graduation during the thesis
time. Four independent factors and one dependent factor were initially proposed in the research model to have
effects on students’ Intention to persist. The study employed qualitative results of one-on-one discussion with six
students of various universities in order to adjust measured scales adopted by various scholars researching on the
same concern and concurrently supplement some more items to fully represent the factors.
In short, the results demonstrate the appropriateness of initially proposed model and hypotheses, the model is fit
with the quantitative data. Overall, Academic integration and Social integration positively affect Goal and
Institutional commitment. Besides, Career outcome expectation, Goal and Institutional, and Social and Cultural
capital directly influence students’ Intention to persist.
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