With the increasing competitiveness of the higher education industry in Malaysia, each higher education institution is competing to recruit more students or increasing the students’ enrolment to sustain in the industry. However, the determinant factors that influence students’ behavioural intention in selecting a university have to be identified to come out with a more effective marketing strategy. Therefore, this study aims to identify the determinant factors that have a significant influence on the students’ university selection decisions. A total of 133 valid responses were collected from secondary school students in Sarawak and analysed using partial least squared structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that infrastructure, placement opportunities and parental advice were significantly influenced the students’ behavioural intention in selecting a university, while cost and peer influences have no significant relationship towards the students’ selection decision. This study offers new evidence on the factors that influenced students’ behavioural intention in selecting a university by focusing on the secondary school students in Sarawak. Besides that, this study also discusses the implications, limitations and suggestions for future study.
Agrey, L., & Lampadan, N. (2014). Determinant Factors Contributing to Student Choice in Selecting a University. Journal of Education and Human Development, 3(2): 391-404.
Ahmad, S. Z., Buchanan, F. R., & Ahmad, N. (2016). Examination of students’ selection criteria for international education. International Journal of Educational Management, 30(6): 1088-1103.
Alfattal, E. (2017). International students’ college choice is different. International Journal of Educational Management, 31(7): 930-943.
Awadallah, E., & Elgharbawy, A. (2020). Utilizing the theory of reasoned action in understanding students’ choice in selecting accounting as major. Accounting Education, 30(1): 86-106.
Byrne, B. M. (2013). Structural equation modelling with AMOS: basic concepts, applications and programming. Routledge, New York.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Routledge Academic.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, 1. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behaviour. Reading, M.A: Addison-Wesley.
Gefen, D., Straub, D., & Boudreau, M. C. (2000). Structural Equation Modeling and Regression: Guidelines for Research Practice. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 4: 1-70.
Gold, A. H., Malhotra, A., & Segars, A. H. (2001). Knowledge management: An organizational capabilities perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(1): 185-214.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2017). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Haron, H., Abdul Hamid, N. A., Jamaludin, J., & Ku Azan, K. N. (2017). Students’ Decision Factors in Choosing Private Higher Education Institutions. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(11): 1372-1382.
Hu, L-T., Benlter, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1): 1-55.
James-MacEachern, M., & Yun, D. (2017). Exploring factors influencing international students’ decision to choose a higher education institution: A comparison between Chinese and other students. International Journal of Educational Management, 31(3): 343-363.
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. 2nd Edition, Guilford Press, New York.
Mahdzar, M., Omar, M. K., Jaapar, A., Zaini, W. Z. W. M. (2021). Factors Influencing Orang Asli Students’ Intention to Study at A Higher Educational Institution in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education & Development, 10(2): 233-244.
Mishra, A., Yousaf, A., & Amin. (2021). An attribute-based framework for students’ motivation to join an HEI: a self-determination theory perspective. International Journal of Educational Management, 35(1): 201-215.
Mitic, S., & Mojic, D. (2020). Student choice of higher education institutions in a post-transitional country: evidence from Serbia. Economic Research-Ekonosmka Istrazivanja, 33(1): 3529-3527.
Yusuf, M. B. N., Ghazali, M. Q. M., Abdullah, M. F. S. (2017). Factors Influencing Local and International Students Decision in Choosing Public Higher Learning Institutions in Northern Region of Malaysia. International Journal of Social Sciences, 48(1): 29-41.
Nanath, K., Sajjad, A., & Kaitheri, S. (2021). Decision-making system for higher education university selection: comparison of priorities pre- and post COVID-19. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. doi: 10.1108/JARHE-08-2020-0277
Ramalu, J. C. D., Abu Bakar, N., & Nijar, N. N. (2013). Factors that Determine Students’ Preferences in Selecting Higher Learning Institution. Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur Research Journal, 1(1): 27-38.
Roscoe, J. T. (1975). Fundamental research statistics for the behavioural sciences. Second Edition. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Sarkodie, N. A., Asare, A., & Asare, D. (2020). Factors Influencing Students’ Choice of Tertiary Education. Africa Development and Resources Research Institute (ADRRI) Journal, 28(11(5)): 58-92.
Shah, M., Kansal, M., & Chugh, R. (2021). Why do Mongolian students choose to study in Australia? International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, 23(1): 1-13.
Sim, A. K. S., Tan, K-L., Sia, J. K-M., & Hii, I. S. H. (2021). Students’ choice of international branch campus in Malaysia: a gender comparative study. International Journal of Educational Management, 35(1): 87-107.
Songan, P., Sam, H. K., Tonga, G., Abdul Rahman, M., & Wah, T. K. (2010). Factors Influencing Student Choice: A study of a Malaysian Public University. Asian Journal of University Education, 6(1): 75-89.
Wagner, K., & Fard, Y. 2009. Factors Influencing Malaysian Students’ Intention to Study at a Higher Educational Institution. Accessed at https://www.g-
casa.com/PDF/malaysia/Wagner-Fard.pdf [17 August 2021].
Wong, W. P. M. (2019). Destination Choice of Higher Education among the Local Secondary School Students in Sarawak. Borneo Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 1(1): 1-17.
Yamamoto, G. T. (2006). University evaluation-selection: a Turkish case. International Journal of Educational Management, 20(7): 559-569.
In-Text Citation: (Ling et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Ling, P.-S., Hong, L. C. M., & Yun, L. S. (2021). Determinant Factors in Selecting University: Evidence from Secondary School Students in Sarawak. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 10(3), 1015–1030.
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
