Causal Modeling of Students' Attitude and Choice of Majors in Business Administration

Abstract

Emphasizing the student as consumer, this study investigates a causal model of student attitudes and choice of a major in business administration. The impact of academic, vocational, and social influence factors on both attitude and choice were studied. Separate causal models are examined for the four majors of marketing, management, finance, and accounting. Although there were many differences between majors, the academic factors appear to have the greatest effect on attitude and choice.Increasingly, education is being viewed as provision of a service rather than as a factory designed to turn out educated students (Bell 1974). If education is a service, the views of students as consumers must be considered in curriculum evaluation and design (Enis 1977; I-Iomans and Sargent 1977;Kerin et al. 1978). Current and projected declines in college enrollments, coupled with the increased career orientation of college students, have emphasized the need for faculty and administrators to become more aware of the means by which students evaluate and select academic areas of study. Educators can no longer ignore the need to evaluate the educational process from the student consumer point of view (Enis 1977).Recent research has suggested several possible factors that may be important in determining how students evaluate major areas of study in a school of business. Kerin, Harvey and Rothe (1978) found that personal interest in a subject area, job opportunities, and perceived relevance of the subject area were important in the selection of a major. Willenborg, Pitts and Lewison (1978) reported that such factors as course interest, long-term earnings potential, job image, and job orientation were related to a student's attitude toward a major. Gaertner, Terpening and Pitts (1980) expanded these concepts to include specific course offerings, perceptions of faculty, and specific career opportunities. These studies indicate that various aspects of the curriculum, faculty, and future career potential are related to the way a student evaluates major areas of study. However, the literature in psychology and vocational counseling also suggests that various personal factors also affect a student's attitude and choice. Two types of factors may be especially relevant. Vocational orientation would appear to be one such personal factor that may influence a student's evaluation of major areas of study. It is also widely accepted that the individual's social environment is a major influence on attitudes and behavior. Thus, such influences would be expected to affect the student's attitude toward, and subsequent choice of, a particular major.Social influences would be expected both from the home environment and from student peers in the university.Thus, three general types of factors can be postulated to affect the attitudes and choice of majors in the functional areas of a business school: vocational orientation factors (an orientation toward scientific, social, artistic or enterprising occupations); academic factors (such as the perceived ...

Predicting Students' Attitudes and Satisfactions: Implications for Strategic Planning in Higher Education

“…This result is somewhat contradictory to that of Terpening et al ( 1982) in that vocational orientations do influence attitudes toward a major in the business school. This result is somewhat contradictory to that of Terpening et al ( 1982) in that vocational orientations do influence attitudes toward a major in the business school.…”

“…This result supports Terpening et al (1982) in that career orientation and academic quality factors had a direct influence on attitude toward one's major among students in business administration. Within the academic/career factors, perceived career image (i.e., job lifestyle, long-term earnings potential), and course perceptions (i.e., variety of course offerings, interesting courses) were broadly important in predicting several aspects of favorable attitudes toward one's major.…”

University Student Satisfaction: Implications for Departmental Planning

“…Second, Shim et al (1989) also found that learning experiencs related to careers were important in predicting students' satisfaction with their majors. Third, Terpening et al (1982) found that career orientations of the major and academic quality factors had a direct and dominant influence on positive attitude toward the major among graduating students. Finally, in a study examining students' evaluations of satisfaction with their chosen college, Schmidt et al (1987) found that the quality of instruction and faculty, the academic standards, and the college's helpfufncss in finding employment after graduation were among the most important factors to the graduating students.…”

“…Gaertner, Terpening, and Pitts (1980) found that specific course offerings, perceptions of faculty, and specific career opportunities were factors determining college students' evaluation of their major area of study. More recently, Terpening, Gaertner, and Pitts (1982) found that evaluations were related to various aspects of three factors: vocational orientation, academic factors, and social influence factors. These studies indicate that various aspects of the curriculum, the faculty, career potential, and social influences are related to the way a student evaluates major areas of study.…”

Relationships among freshman background characteristic variables, misconceptions about major and satisfaction with major area of study

“…A number of researchers have investigated the factors that influence students' satisfaction with their majors. Some studies indicate that occupation orientation is a significant predictor of satisfaction with major Terpening et al, 1982). Using six categories, Morgan and Shim (1990), found that students oriented towards managerial and sales occupations were more satisfied compared to students interested in artistic-fashion, social, investigative, artistic-interior, or conventional occupations.…”