Soner POLAT1, Gizem GUNCAVDI2, Yaser ARSLAN3
1Kocaeli University, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, TURKEY.
2Kocaeli University, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, TURKEY.
3Kocaeli University, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, TURKEY.
DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2019.84.10
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This study aims to identify the impacts of a university’s organizational reputation and organizational attraction on international students’ intention to pursue post-graduate education in the university they study their bachelor’s degree.
Research Methods: This study is in the model of descriptive quantitative research method. The sample of this study included 231 students from 67 countries who enrolled in Kocaeli University in the 2015-2016 academic year. The data were gathered using a questionnaire that included the scale of intention to pursue and the scale of organizational attraction developed by Highhouse et al. (2003); and the scale of organizational reputation developed by Alessandri, Yang and Kinsey (2006).
Findings: The findings revealed that there were positive relationships between perceptions of international students towards the organizational reputation of the university, intention to pursue university and organizational attraction. Their perception of organizational reputation of university seemed to affect perceptions of intention to pursue university and organizational attraction directly. Also, the results showed that organizational attraction mediated the relationship between the organizational reputation and intention to pursue.
Implications for Research and Practice: The results show that the organizational reputation of university affects international students’ intention to pursue post-graduate e education, and organizational attraction is a mediating variable. Thus, university administrators are suggested to be sensitive to increase the university’s organizational reputation to increase the perceptions towards attraction. In addition, other researchers can conduct this study with international students at other universities to reach a more comprehensive result.
Keywords: University reputation, organizational attraction, intention to pursue, international students.