Customer Perception Towards International Graduate Study ... · Customer Perception Towards International Graduate Study in Thailand 2.1.3 Theory of Planned Behavior and Theory of

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Customer Perception Towards International Graduate Study in Thailand

บทคัดย่อ นขณะที่การศึกษาหลักสูตรนานาชาติในระดับบัณฑิต

ศึกษาในประเทศไทยมีการแข่งขันกันสูงขึ้น บทบาท

ของการตลาดได้มีความสำคัญเพิ่มขึ้นอย่างมาก

เช่นกัน ดังนั้น เพื่อที่จะเข้าใจพฤติกรรมของผู้บริโภค

ในการตัดสินใจเลือกเรียนต่อในประเทศหรือต่างประเทศ

งานวิจัยนี้จึงมีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาการรับรู้ของลูกค้า

(Customer Perception) ที่มีต่อหลักสูตรนานาชาติระดับ

บัณฑิตศึกษาในประเทศไทย และสำรวจดูว่าการรับรู้เหล่านั้น

รวมถึงปัจจัยด้านสถิติประชากร (Demographics) และปัจจัย

ด้านกลุ่มอ้างอิง (Reference Group) ที่เกี่ยวข้อง มีผลต่อ

ความนิยมในการเรียนต่อของลูกค้าอย่างไรบ้าง ผลการวิจัยพบ

ว่าการมีเพื่อนอยู่ต่างประเทศและการรับรู้ที่เกี่ยวกับความน่า

สนใจของหลักสูตรมีอิทธิพลสูงสุดต่อความนิยมในการเรียนต่อ

ของลูกค้า จากข้อมูลผลการวิจัยที่ได้ งานวิจัยนี้อาจมีส่วนใน

การเสนอแนะแนวทางต่อมหาวิทยาลัยต่างๆในประเทศไทย

ในการออกแบบหลักสูตรให้ตรงกับความต้องการของลูกค้า

และการสร้างกลยุทธ์ทางการตลาดให้มีประสิทธิภาพมากยิ่งขึ้น

ได ้

s international graduate education in

Thai land has become increasingly

competitive in recent years, the role of

marketing has grown considerably. To

understand customer behavior in the decision to

pursue study in Thailand or overseas, this research

s tud i es cus tome r pe rcep t i on towa rds Tha i

in te rnat iona l graduate programs , as we l l as

investigates the influences of customer perception,

demographic factors, and reference group factors on

customer preference by conducting a survey of

potential customers of Thai international graduate

programs. The results suggest that having friend(s)

overseas and perceived course attractiveness are the

most influential factors that relate to customer

preference. With these results, this study suggests

effective ways for universities in Thailand to design

international graduate programs and marketing

strategies that better meet the needs of potential

customers.

ABSTRACT

Varapa Rakrachakarn

Lecturer of Marketing and MIS Departments (International Program)

Faculty of Business Administration, Asian University, Chonburi, Thailand

วารสารบริหารธุรกิจ 60


1. INTRODUCTION

The increasing number of students who

attend international graduate programs in Thailand

has caused the Thai education market to become

highly competitive in recent years. The number of

students attending international programs in Thailand

had grown from 16,300 students in 2008 to 19,400

students in 2009 (Kaopa, 2010), an almost 20 percent

increase. Moreover, the total number is expected to

be more than 20,000 students in 884 programs in

2010 (The Office of Civi l Service Commission,

Thailand, 2010). Most major international institutions

in Tha i land have created new programs and

constantly improved the quality of their existing

programs in order to reach international standards. As

a result, the role of marketing in the Thai education

market has become more prominent. In order to draw

customers to the program, it is increasingly important

that Thai universities and institutions employ effective

marketing efforts and strategies, including advertising,

public relations, sales management, pricing policy,

and other techniques. Effective marketing strategies

are enhanced with an understanding of consumer

behavior.

Since perception influences both purchasing

behavior and consumption decisions (Hawkins, 2010),

customer perception towards international graduate

study in Thailand might therefore be expected to

influence customer preference to study in Thailand or

elsewhere. In other words, the way customers

perceive, see, or understand about Thai international

graduate programs might relate to whether they

choose to continue their studies inside or outside the

country.

Unders tand ing cus tomer pe rcept ion ,

including perceived benefits and costs, of Thai

international graduate programs will allow designers

of higher education courses to compete more

successfully in this market by making marketing

strategies and plans more effective in both attracting

more students and increasing customer satisfaction

by creating offers that better suit higher education

needs.

The purpose of this study is to understand

customer perception towards Thai international

graduate study and identify the factors that appear to

relate to customer preference. This information can

be obtained by analyzing the relationship between

customer perception and customer preference as well

as the impact of other relevant factors, which, in this

study, include demographic factors and reference

group factors in particular.

In pursuit of this objective, this study first

discusses prior studies that address issues related to

factors that influence students’ perceptions and

pre fe rences . Th is i s fo l lowed by the s tudy’s

methodology. Next is a comparison of results by

customer preference of the relationship and factors

that are found.

The study employs the techniques of survey

research. A questionnaire was designed according to

the framework of the study and then distributed to

potential customers of Thai international graduate

studies.

In summary, this study investigates the

relationship between customer perception and

customer preference. Moreover, influential factors that

might influence customer perception and customer

preference are also examined. The key findings of

this study provide insightful information regarding

consumer behavior in Thai education market as well

as important implications for marketers in terms of

guidelines for improving the overall effectiveness of

marketing strategies.



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2. LITERATURE REVIEW Inordertoconductthisresearchstudy,

extensiveliteraturereviewisneeded,especiallyin

psychology,consumerbehavior,andmarketing

principles.Moreover,previousresearchstudies

relatedtothistopicshouldalsobeexplored.Thus,

thissectionisdividedintotwoparts:2.1related

theoriesfoundtosupportthisstudy,and2.2related

researchstudiesthatprovideusefulinformationfor

researchdesign.

2.1RelatedTheories

2.1.1CustomerPerception

Perceptioncanbedefinedastheprocessby

whichanindividualselects,organizes,andinterprets

stimuliintoameaningfulandcoherentpictureofthe

world,basedontheindividual’spersonalvaluesand

background(Schiffman,2007).Thethreemain

aspectsofperceptionincludeselectiveattention,

selectivedistortion,andselectiveretention(Kotler,

2009) . Inbus iness , especia l ly in theareaof

marketing,thestudyofconsumerbehaviorhas

emphasizedtheimportanceofcustomerperceptionin

termsoftheperceivedvalueofproductsand/or

services,whichcanbederivedfromthecomparison

betweenperceivedcostsandperceivedbenefitsof

theproducts(Kotler ,2009).Theseaspectsof

perce ivedcostsandperce ivedbenef i t s a re

associateddirectlytoperceivedpriceandperceived

qualityofproductsorservices(Schiffman,2007).The

linkagethatperceptionhastowardthisstudyisthe

partofthatperceptionofthecustomerthatcan

affecthis/herdecision(Hawkins,2009),asshownin

Figure1.Thissupportsthisresearchstudythat,in

thecustomerdecisionmakingprocess,thepreferred

actiontochooseornottochooseaproductor

service,whichwerefertoascustomerpreference,

canbeinfluencedbytheperceptionthattheyhave

towardsthatproductorservice.Theconceptof

customerpreferenceisdescribednext.

Figure1:TheNatureofPerception(Hawkins,2009)

2.1.2TheAttitude-toward-behaviorModel

TheAttitude-toward-behaviorModelcaptures

theindividual’sattitudetowardbehavingoracting

(Schiffman,2007).Figure2providesanexampleof

howtoapplythismodel.Itsuggeststhatattitudeis

formedbyconsumercharacteristics,including

consumerdemographics,consumerpurchase

preference,consumerbenefi tperception,and

consumerlifestyle.Fromthismodel,theprinciplecan

beappliedtothisresearchasconsumerbehavioris

affectedbyconsumerattitude,andconsumerattitude

isformedpartlybyconsumerbenefitperceptionand

demographicsfactors.Thismeansthisstudywillfind

outmoreabouttherelationshipbetweencustomer

benefitperception(perceivedbenefits)andconsumer

behavior,aswellascustomerdemographicsand

consumerbehavior.

TheAttitudetowardBehaviorModelis

appliedfromtheTheoryofReasonedAction(TRA)

whichisalsodescribednext.



2.1.3 Theory of Planned Behavior and Theory

of Reasoned Action

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was

created by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and it was

defined as a comprehensive integration of attitude

components into a structure that is designed to lead

to both better explanation and better predictions of

behavior (Schiffman, 2007). As shown in figure 3,

there are three components of TRA: behavioral

intention (BI), attitude (A), and subjective norm (SN).

TRA suggests that a person’s behavioral intention

depends on the person’s att i tude towards the

behavior and subjective norms (BI = A + SN).

Figure2: The Modified Version of the Attitude toward Behavior Model (Source: Schiffman (2007))

In other words, this theory suggests that

besides attitude, the subjective norm can influence

consumer behavior as well. Subjective norm is seen

as a combination of perceived expectations from

relevant individuals or groups together with intentions

to comply with these expectations.

To apply this theory to this research, the

influences of the reference group has been studied

as influential factors toward consumer behavior,

which, in this case, are referred to as customer

preference.

Figure3: The Simplified Version of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen, 1980)

ConsumerDemographics

ConsumerPurchase Preference

The Attitude towards Product or Service Consumer Behavior

CustomerBenefit Perception

ConsumerLifestyle

Beliefs that the behavior leads to certain outcomes

Evaluation of the outcomes

Attitude toward the behavior

Intention

BehaviorSubjective Norm

Motivation to comply with the specific referents

Beliefs that specific referents think I should or should not perform

the behavior



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The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was

created by Icek Ajzen in 1985 as an extension of the

theory of reasoned action. The TPB adds the concept

of “perceived behavioral control”, which is defined as

an indiv idual’s perceived ease or di f f icul ty of

performing the particular behavior. Later in 2001, it is

assumed that perceived behavioral control is

determined by the total set of accessible control

beliefs. “Control beliefs” are an individual’s beliefs

about the existence of factors that may facilitate or

impede performance of the behavior.

When applied to the concept of perceived

behavioral control, this theory can be used to support

this research study by connecting the concepts of

consumer perception and consumer behavior, which

in this case are referred to as customer perception

and customer preference toward Thai international

graduate programs. For the control beliefs that may

be applied to this study, the research focuses on

perceived difficulty or perceived ease-of-use of Thai

international graduate programs.

2.1.4 Technology Acceptance Model

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

(Davis 1989; Mathieson 1991; Taylor and Todd 1995)

was developed based on TPB. There have been

many studies which have examined TAM, with results

Figure4: The Simplified Version of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991)

(Source: www.valuebasedmanagement.net)

consistently showing a relationship between the two

independent variables: perceived usefulness and

perceived ease of use, and the dependent variable:

attitude towards use.

SubjectiveNorm

Attitude TpwardBehavior

PerceivedBehavioralControl

Intention toUse

UsageBehavior

Figure5: Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis et. Al. (1989), Venkatesh et. Al. (2003))

PerceivedUsefulness

Perceived Easeof Use

BehavioralIntention to Use

Actual SystemUse



For this current study, TAM can provide

useful variables to analyze in terms of customer

perception that is related to customer behavior.

Therefore, perceived difficulty/ease of use and

perceived usefulness can also be applied to support

the relationship between customer perception of and

customer preference for Thai international graduate

studies.

2.2RelevantResearchStudies

The re a re seve ra l s tud i es tha t have

determined students’ factors for university selection.

Hooley and Lynch (1981) examined choice processes

of UK students by qualitative research method; the

result identified 6 attributes which were: 1) course

sui tabi l i ty 2) univers i ty locat ion 3) academic

reputation 4) distance from home 5) type of university

and 6) advice from parents and teachers. However,

this study was based only on 29 students which

limited the result’s generalizability.

Mazzarol (1996) investigated factors that

influence international students’ choice of study

destination, using a sample of foreign students in

Australia. The research found that the most important

factors were: 1) job prospects 2) university reputation

for quality 3) staff quality and expertise.

Lin (1997) examined the reasons for students’

cho i ce o f an educa t i ona l i n s t i t u t i on i n t he

Nether lands . Quest ionna i res were used and

distributed at seven universities. The results showed

that the most important factors were: 1) quality of

education 2) job prospects 3) university reputation 4)

opportunity of traineeship 5) faculty qualifications.

Soutar (2002) conducted research in

Australia on the major factors that influence high-

school leavers’ university preferences as well as the

degree of importance that they attach to those

factors, by asking students to select the attribute

level they preferred and also rate the importance of

each attribute. The result suggested that the five

most important attributes were: 1) course suitability 2)

academic reputation 3) job prospects 4) quality of

teaching 5) campus atmosphere.

Besides studies that determined factors that

influence students’ choice selection, there are some

studies that concentrated on educational marketing.

Grey, Fam, and Llanes (2003) aimed to identify cross-

cultural influence on the positioning of international

education brands. The study investigated values that

students in three Asian countries place on overseas

university education. The research found that career

opportunities were the highest motivating factor for

students to study overseas. Also, they found that

students assumed that degrees from overseas were

of higher quality than those from a home country

university.

Russell (2005) also conducted research on

service quality perceptions on foreign students in the

UK. They found that foreign students’ expectations

towards overseas studies was significantly higher on

these issues: 1) Expectat ion of better qual i ty

e d u c a t i o n 2 ) E x p e c t a t i o n o f b e t t e r

facilities/environment 3) Ability to learn/improve

languages 4) Recognition by companies in home

country and 5) Family influence.



65

The mentioned research provide some

insight, regarding factors considered important for

students to make decisions regarding university

selection, as well as the expectations that they had

towards overseas study. The present study included

questions regarding customer perception toward Thai

international programs included the most popular

factors from the previous studies. These include: 1)

job prospects 2) course attractiveness 3) academic

quality 4) advice from reference groups 5) self-

improvement and 6) campus atmosphere.

However, some information relevant for

education marketing and development is still missing

and motivate this study. First, there is no specific

proof regarding any direct relationship between

customer perception and customer preference when

comparing local and overseas study. In addition,

there is no study designed particularly for students

who intend to study at graduate level. Finally, this

study aims to clarify the relationship between

customer perception and customer preference in Thai

international graduate studies in particular. Although

researchers have found a connection between

demographics and the reference group towards

consumer behavior, the connection between those

two factors towards customer perception is not clear.

Therefore, this study attempts to find out whether or

not there is also a relationship between these two

concepts towards customer perception.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1ResearchFramework

The research framework was applied from

the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen 1985)

as well as the Attitude- toward-behavior Model and

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis 1989;

Mathieson 1991; Taylor and Todd 1995). The figure

shows the relationship between each of the concepts

to be examined in this study.

Figure6: Research Framework



To illustrate this framework, in the customer

perception concept, there are two main groups of

perception: 1) perceived behavioral control, which

derives from TPB, and 2) perceived usefulness or

benefits, which derive from TAM and the Attitude-

toward-behavior Model. The elements appearing in

each perception group are derived from previous

research studies.

In the customer preference part of the

framework, the concept is applied from the “intention

to use” from TPB and TAM, which, from both of the

models, consumer’s intention to use can be affected

by consumer perception, where perception can be

divided into many categories as already mentioned.

For the influential factors, these can be

considered as influential variables that can affect

either customer behavior in terms of preference, or

customer perception. The influential factors are

divided into two groups: 1) Reference group factors,

which derive from the subjective norm concept in

TPB, and 2) Demographic factors, which apply from

the Attitude- toward-behavior model.

To analyze the data, the variables in this

framework can be categorized into three types as

stated.

Customer Perception Variables:

Group 1: Perceived behavioral control:

1) Perceived ease, 2) Perceived costs

Group 2: Perceived usefulness/benefits:

1) Perceived quality, 2) Perceived

course attractiveness, 3) Perceived atmosphere, 4)

Perceived self- improvement, 5) Perceived job

prospects

Customer Preference Variable:

Customer Preference

Influencing Factor Variables:

Group 1: Reference Group Factors:

Fam i l y P r e f e r ence , F r i e nd ( s )

Overseas, and Relative(s) Overseas

Group 2: Demographic Factors:

Gender, Employment Status, Income,

and Overseas Experience

3.2ResearchMethodandTools

The direct survey method was used to

collect data. The questions in the questionnaire were

designed to gather data on potential customer

perceptions and preferences of international graduate

programs in Thailand, as well as their demographic

and reference group information. The questions were

compiled with all the variables in the framework,

which are combined in the above theories and

previous research studies.

Thus, with the twenty-two perception items,

nine demographic items, four reference group items,

and one preference question, the final version of the

questionnaire had a total of thirty-six questions for

the survey. The detail of how perception items were

used to form perception variable is shown in Table 1.



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Table1: Details of Perception Variables

The respondents were asked to rate survey

items in Part 1 of the questionnaire, which are

questions about perception, and to respond to the

check list in Part 2, which consists of survey items

regarding demographic information, reference group

information, and customer preference.

In part 1, respondents were asked to rate on

a Likert-scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being “strongly

disagree”, 2 being “disagree”, 3 being “neutral”, 4

being “agree” and 5 being “strongly agree”.

To validate the clarity of these survey items,

first, three professors and three potential customers

read through the survey questionnaires. Revisions to

the survey were made based on the feedback

received. Second, a pilot test was conducted to

examine the reliability of the questionnaire. The pilot

questionnaires were distributed to 44 potential

customers. The result of this reliability test indicated

that the Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha was .806.

However, after the pilot test, comments from

the respondents were taken into consideration. The

questionnaire was adjusted accordingly by deleting

three items and adding four more items.

Surveys were distributed to undergraduate

students who are potential customers for international

graduate programs. Two hundred and seventy-eight

(278) participants completed and returned the

questionnaires. The population of this study were

potential customers who may further their studies at

post-graduate level. All respondents were studying for

a bachelor degree. The survey was conducted at four

universities in Bangkok and adjacent areas where

most potential customers are located and most

international graduate programs were offered.

The summary of respondents’ demographic

and reference group information is shown in Table 2.



Table2: Summary of Demographic and Reference Group information

From Table 2 , s ince respondents are

undergraduate students, most of the respondents’

ages are fallen into the same range. Therefore, age

will be excluded from further analysis in the next

sections.

4. RESEARCH RESULTS

4.1OverallPreferenceandCustomer

Perception

For overal l preference of internat ional

graduate programs, a slightly lower percentage of the

respondents would prefer to study on a Thai program

than overseas as shown in the Figure 7.

Figure7: Overall Preference Percentage



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To initially analyze each preference group, the

means and standard deviations of the perception of

customers who prefer to study in Thailand and those

who prefer to study overseas are illustrated in Table 3.

Table3: Comparison of Descriptive Results of Perception Variables

Compared to customers who prefer to study

overseas, those who prefer to study in Thailand

obviously perceive higher course attractiveness and

perceived ease of Thai internat ional graduate

p rog rams . The pe rcep t ion fo r qua l i t y , se l f -

improvement, and costs are also slightly higher.

However, customers who prefer to study in Thailand

perceive poorer study atmosphere and job prospects

*Note: The Customer Perception variables derived from perception survey items (Table 1). All items

utilized Likert-scales ranging from 1 to 5.

from Thai international graduate programs than those

who prefer to study overseas.

To investigate the relationship between

customer preference and customer perception, the

analysis of three non-parametric tests were used. The

results of the tests are shown in Table 4.

Table4: Test Results of mean difference between 2 groups

of customer preference and customer perception

* Significant at p < 0.05, ** Significant at p < 0.01



From the Table 4, the results from all three

tests reveal that there is a statistically significant

difference of course attractiveness perception

between customers who prefer to continue their

graduate studies in Thailand and those who prefer to

study overseas. In other words, there is a significant

relationship between perceived course attractiveness

and customer preference towards international

graduate studies in Thailand.

T o i n v e s t i g a t e p e r c e i v e d c o u r s e

attractiveness further, the mean comparison between

these two groups is shown in Figure 8. The result

suggests that customers who prefer to continue their

study in Thailand perceive higher attractiveness in

courses offered by Thai graduate programs than

those who prefer to study overseas

4.2Theinfluencesofdemographicand

referencegroupfactorsoncustomerperception

To investigate the influences of influential

factors, including demographic and reference group

factors, statistics such as t-test and ANOVA were

used. The results regarding the impact of the

influential factors that have significant effects on each

perception category are discussed.

Figure8: Mean Comparison: Perceived Course Attractiveness and Customer Preference

Note: Lower mean represents lower perceived course attractiveness of Thai international graduate

programs.

Perceived Ease - the results reveal one

factor that significantly influences perceived ease as

described.

• Fami ly preference - Customers with

families who prefer them to study overseas perceive

significantly less difficulty with Thai international

graduate programs than overseas programs.

Table5: Mean comparison: Perceived ease and family preference

Note: Lower mean represents lower perceived ease of Thai international graduate programs.



71

Perceived Costs - the results found one factor

that significantly influences perceived costs as described.

• Overseas experience - Customers who

have overseas experience perceive lower costs of

Thai international graduate programs than those who

do not have overseas experience.

Perceived Quality - the results reveal two

factors that significantly influence perceived quality as

discussed.

• Family Preference - Customers with

families who prefer them to study overseas perceive

signif icantly lower quality of Thai international

Table6: Mean comparison: Perceived costs and overseas experience

Note: Lower mean represents higher perceived costs of Thai international

graduate programs.

graduate programs than overseas programs.

• Employment Status - customers who are

currently working full-time perceive significantly lower

quality of Thai international graduate programs than

those who are working part-time or not working at all.

Table7: Mean comparison: Perceived quality and the two significant factors

Perceived Course Attractiveness - the results

found one factor that s igni f icant ly inf luences

perceived course attractiveness as explained.

• Overseas experience - customers who

Note: Lower mean represents lower perceived quality of Thai international graduate programs.

have overseas experience perceive Thai international

graduate program courses to be less attractive than

those that do not have overseas experience.

Table8: Mean comparison: Perceived course attractiveness and overseas experience

Note: Lower mean represents lower perceived course attractiveness of Thai

international graduate programs.



Perceived Self-Improvement - Considering

other factors that might affect perceived self-

improvement, the results found no statistically

significant relationship with any demographic and

reference group factors.

Perceived Atmosphere – The test results

indicate that there is one factor that significantly

influences perceived course attractiveness as shown.


currently working full-time perceive significantly

poorer study atmosphere of Thai international

graduate programs than those who are working part-

time or not working at all.

Perceived Job Prospects – The results reveal

two factors that significantly influence perceived job

prospects as discussed.

• Relative(s) Overseas - customers who have

relative(s) overseas perceive significantly poorer job

prospects of Thai international graduate program than

Table9: Mean comparison: Perceived atmosphere and employment status

Note: Lower mean represents poorer perceived study atmosphere of Thai international

graduate programs.

those that do not have relative(s) overseas.


currently working full-time and part-time perceive

significantly poorer job prospect of Thai international

graduate programs than those who are not working.

Table10: Mean Comparison: Perceived Job Prospect and the two significant factors

4.3Theinfluencesofdemographicand

referencegroupfactorsoncustomerpreference

To describe the influences of demographic and

reference group factors on customer preference, each

demographic and reference group factor were

analyzed. The results indicate three factors that have

statistically significant relationship with customer

Note: Lower mean represents lower perceived job prospects of Thai international graduate programs.

preference: overseas experience, having friend(s)

overseas, and family preference. The details of the

three significant factors are illustrated as follows:

• Overseas Experience (Significant at p <

.05) - customers who have overseas experience tend

to prefer overseas studies more than those who do

not have overseas experience.



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• Having Friend(s) Overseas (Significant at p

< .001) - customers who have friend(s) overseas tend

Figure9: Preference Percentage and Overseas Experience

to prefer overseas studies more than those who do

not have friend(s) overseas.

• Family Preference (Significant at p < .05) -

for this factor, customers have opposite reaction

toward their family preference. Customers with

Figure10: Preference Percentage and Having Friend(s) Overseas

families who prefer them to study in Thailand tend to

prefer overseas studies, and those with families who

prefer them to study overseas tend to prefer to study

in Thailand.

Figure11: Preference Percentage and Family Preference



4.4LogisticRegressionAnalysis

For an in-depth analysis, logistic regression

was conducted to identify the relative impact when

combining each independent variable, or predictor

variables, on the dependent variable. The purpose

was to be able to explain and predict the outcome of

the dependent variable based on the group of

predictor variables. (Hair et al., 2010)

In this case, the dependent variable is

customer preference, which is categorized into two

groups as “1” being Thai preference, and “2” being

overseas preference. Therefore, the binary logistic

analysis was utilized in data analysis.

In order to f ind the results of logist ic

regression, the stepwise estimation was employed as

a procedure to select the variables to enter into the

equation. This procedure maximizes the incremental

explained variance at each step of model building

(Hair et al., 2010). Therefore, as a measure used for

selecting variables in the stepwise procedure, the log

l ike l ihood va lues and score stat is t ics of the

independent variables are calculated in the Table 11.

From the Table 11, the four variables that are

significant and have the highest scores are 1) having

friend(s) overseas, 2) family preference, 3) overseas

experience, and 4) perceived course attractiveness.

Hence, to follow the stepwise estimation procedure,

having friend(s) overseas, family preference, overseas

experience, and perceived course attractiveness are

the first four variables to enter into the model.

Table11: Logistic Regression Base Model Results

*Significant at p < 0.05, **Significant at p < 0.01

In the backward stepwise logistic regression,

the final model indicates two variables: having

f r i e nd ( s ) o v e r s e a s , a nd p e r c e i v ed cou r s e

attractiveness, with logistic regression coefficient of -

1.149 and -.260, respectively, and a constant of 2.64,

with classification accuracy of 64.4 percent, as shown

i n t h e Tab l e 12 and 13 . Bes i de t hese two

independent variables, family preference and overseas



75

experience are excluded from the model as it neither

improves the accuracy, nor increases significant of

the model.

From the results in the Table 12, customer

Table12: Variables in the equation

Note: B = Logistic coefficient, Exp(B) = Exponential coefficient

Table13: Classification of Prediction

In terms of the direction of the relationship of

each variable, we can interpret from the equation by

considering the meaning of each variable. For

customer preference, respondents were asked to

choose between 1 and 2, wi th 1 being “Thai

preference” and 2 being “overseas preference”. For

having friend(s) overseas, respondents were asked to

choose between 1 and 2, with 1 being “Yes (I have)”

and 2 being “No (I do not have)”. For perceived

course attractiveness, respondents were asked to

rate the scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being “strongly

disagree”, 2 being “disagree”, 3 being “neutral”, 4

being “agree” and 5 being “strongly agree”.

Therefore , f rom the model above, the

direction of the relationship can be concluded that

customer preference has a negative relationship with

having friend(s) overseas. In other words, when

preference can be estimated from the equation:

customers have friend(s) overseas they tend to prefer

to study overseas. In addition, customer preference

also has a negative relationship with perceived

course attractiveness, which means customers who

perce ive h igh course a t t rac t i veness o f Tha i

international graduate programs tend to prefer to

study in Thailand.

In terms of the magnitude of the relationship,

the exponential coefficient (Exp(B)) is the most direct

method to ind ica te magn i tude o f change in

probability due to each independent variable (Hair et

a l . , 2010 ) . As Exp(B) m inus one equa ls the

percentage change in odds, an increase by one point

increases the odds by 68% for having friend(s)

overseas , and by 23% for perce ived course

attractiveness.



5 . D I S C U S S I O N A N D C O N C L U S I O N As shown in the previous section, there are

various significant relationships and factors that affect

customer perception and preference that a university

or an institution who offers international graduate

studies should focus on

First, the main findings regarding relationship

between customer percept ion and customer

p r e f e r ence i nd i ca t e t ha t pe r ce i v ed cou r se

attractiveness is the only customer perception that

has a s ign i f icant re la t ionsh ip wi th customer

preference. The result implies customers who prefer

to study overseas tend to perceive Thai graduate

programs as unattractive, or not as attractive as

overseas programs. When investigated further in the

e lement of perce ived course at t ract iveness ,

customers were asked to ra te the i r leve l o f

agreement on whether the courses being offered in

Thailand are interesting and have enough choices.

The lower rating of those items also implies that they

do not perceive that Thai graduate programs are

offering enough choice of programs and/or provide

interesting choices.

Regarding the issue of perceived course

attractiveness discussed above, the academic

institutions offering international graduate programs

should therefore be aware of these issues as they

have a significant impact on customer preference. In

order to apply these results into marketing strategy,

inst i tut ions should try to improve customers’

perceived course attractiveness to attract more

people who generally prefer to study overseas. This

can be done by offering more variety of courses as

well as more interesting programs.

Besides customer perception, the results of

the influential factors affecting customer perception

and customer preference also suggest that there are

several demographic and reference group factors that

s ign i f icant ly af fect customer percept ion and

preference. The factors that influence customer

perception are overseas experience, employment

status, family preference, and having relative(s)

overseas, whereas the factors that impact customer

p re fe rence a re ove rseas exper i ence , fam i l y

preference, and having friend(s) overseas. Although

there are several significant factors, the demographic

and reference group factors that have effects on both

customer perception and preference are 1) having

friend(s) overseas, 2) overseas experience, and 3)

family preference.

This information about influential factors can

be useful for academic institutions when they create

marketing strategies for each target group of

customers. For example, as it is clear that people

who have work experience perceive poorer quality

and job prospect of Thai international studies than

those who do not work. Thus, if an institution offers

graduate programs that can be study part-time and

the target groups of these programs are those who

have full-time jobs, marketers could advertise by

emphasize on the quality of the programs and the

career advancement opportunities that the graduates

can gain.

The logistic regression analysis helped to

provide meaningful information on how perception

variables and influential factors work together in

predicting customer preferences. This is useful for the

understanding the bigger picture of this research, by

not basing solely on the one-to-one relationship. The

analysis reveals the two most influential factors as

well as the magnitude of each factor’s influence on

customer preference. The result suggests that having

friend(s) overseas is the most influential factor that

has strongest relationship with customer preference.



77

To further analyze this factor, having friend(s)

overseas can imply the power of word-of-mouth

(WOM) on customers, especially in the education

market. Knowing this, the marketing strategies relate

to personal level communication and WOM should be

heavily employed to persuade customers. Marketers

can uti l ize marketing strategies such as Buzz

marketing or any marketing plan, campaign, or

advertising, which communicates directly to attract

customers to join the programs. In order to employ

these types of strategies, it is also important to

ensure the effectiveness of communication channels

used to reach the customers. The information

regarding communication channels has not been

investigated in this research study, but it could be

further explored in future studies.

In addition to having friend(s) overseas, it is

quite clear that overseas experience also has

considerable influences on both customer perception

and preference. This suggests that those who are

fami l ia r wi th fore ign countr ies have a bet ter

perception of overseas programs and tend to prefer

to study overseas. Thus, in order to increase the

number of customers in Thailand, marketers must

change or improve the way this group of customers

perceives any Thai graduate programs.

When considering having friend(s) overseas

and overseas experience together, the main concerns

for both variables are the low level of 1) perceived

quality, 2) perceived course attractiveness, 3)

perceived self-improvement, and 4) perceived job

prospects. Therefore, to persuade this group of

customers , marketers should focus on these

pe r cep t i ons . The adve r t i s emen t and o t he r

communication plans should focus on these elements

and effectively convey the message to create a better

image on these matters.

One mo re i n t e r es t i ng f i nd i ng i s t he

importance of perceived ease as the second most

influential perception. From the research results, those

who prefer to study overseas tend to think that

courses being offered in Thailand are easier than

courses provided overseas, while those who prefer to

study in Thailand perceive that courses in Thailand

are more difficult. This result implies that customers

prefer not to choose a program that they consider as

an easy-to-study course. This perception is also

assoc ia ted w i th cus tomers ’ pe rce ived se l f -

improvement expected from the graduate programs

as the average means of both types of perceptions

are in the same direction. This information is very

important for academic institutions and marketers to

know as easiness of study would lead to a negative

impact on customer preference for the programs.

Therefore, by knowing this, they must be more

cautious on designing the message that delivers

through advertising or PR efforts to avoid the

negative impacts on customer perception towards the

programs.

F ina l l y , i n o rde r to ach ieve a be t te r

understanding of all of the critical factors in customer

perception and preference towards international

graduate programs in Thailand, future research

should gather more samples and also include

additional survey items that can help to enhance the

effectiveness of marketing communication, such as

customer lifestyle including activities, hobbies, media

cho ices , e tc . Fur thermore , inves t iga t ing the

characteristics of courses that make the programs

more attractive and better suited as international

courses would benefit higher education institutions in

striving to better meet the needs of their customers.



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