This research focussed Singaporean student decision-making when choosing an institution for university studies. It is contended that if a university does not understand the dimensions of how prospective students make decisions when choosing an institution it cannot meaningfully offer representation to these potential customers. Fittingly, this thesis drew on past research from buyer behaviour and college choice studies. Adapting an established model of consumer decision-making (Engel, Blackwell and Miniard, 1990), the study investigated the degree of compliance with the Extended Problem Solving concept (Howard, 1963), including what factors determined and influenced choices, and whether students learn from past decisions. To this end, an exploratory / descriptive study used mixed methods (Creswell, 1994) to map out the dimensions of student decision-making within an Australian University and Singaporean Association case. Results indicated students? decision-making was closely aligned to simple models and their decision-making steps could be best described as (1) having a need, (2) searching and gathering information, (3) evaluating alternatives, (4) making choice/s, and (5) accepting an offer and enrolling in a university program. Further, respondents did not necessarily engage in extensive searching and gathering activities, as theorised, demonstrated limited learning and had few discernible influences on their choices. The implications for the University-Association case included the need to guide students through their decision-making processes by providing relevant data on which they could make informed choices, relative to career and income advancement. For those indicating that they would choose an institution for postgraduate studies, ensure undergraduate post-choice regret is minimised and offer more choices of management programs so that respondents would consider continuing their studies with the same institution. The study contended that, despite delimits and limitations, contributions to both theory and practise had been made and concluded with several ideas for future research, including proposing two alternative hypotheses.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/221111 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Rivers, Gary James |
| Publisher | University of Western Australia. Graduate School of Management |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Gary James Rivers, http://www.itpo.uwa.edu.au/UWA-Computer-And-Software-Use-Regulations.html |
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