This chapter explains the research framework, the research hypothesis, research procedure, research design, data collection, sample profile, instrument design, measurement, validity and reliability and data analysis methods. The study adopts a quantitative approach in order to achieve its objective to analyze the relationship among four factors that influence international students from developing countries and their intentions to stay in the host country after finishing their studies, as moderated by the perception of the labor market.
Research Framework
Figure 3.1 illustrates the factors that might influence students’ intentions to stay in the host country, which represents the independent variables in this study. It also shows the moderating effect of the perception on labor market between these personal and social factors and the intention to stay in the host country, which represents the dependent variable.
Figure 3.1. Research framework
Research Hypothesis
Hypothesis 1 Perceived level of social support in the host country is positively associated with the intention of foreign students to stay in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 1a. Perceived level of social support from students in the host country is positively associated with the intention of foreign students to stay in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 1b. Perceived level of social support from professors in the host country is positively associated with the intention of foreign students to stay in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 2 The level of support a foreign student receives from the host university is positively associated with the intention to stay in the host country after studies.
Hypothesis 2a. The level of support a foreign student receives from the host university regarding internship inquiries is positively associated with the intention to stay in the host country after studies.
Hypothesis 2b. The level of support a foreign student receives from the host university regarding immigration inquiries is positively associated with the intention to stay in the host country after studies.
Hypothesis 3 The strength of family ties of foreign students to their family members (or significant others) in the home country is negatively associated with their intention to stay in the host country after their studies.
Hypothesis 4 The perceived labor market on job opportunities in the host country will moderate the relationship between personal and social factors of a foreign student and the intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
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Hypothesis 4a. The perceived labor market on job opportunities in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s social support from students and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 4b. The perceived labor market on job opportunities in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s social support from professors and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 4c. The perceived labor market on job opportunities in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s perceived university support regarding internship inquiries and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 4d. The perceived labor market on job opportunities in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s perceived university support regarding immigration inquiries and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 4e. The perceived labor market on job opportunities in the host country will weaken the negative relationship between a foreign student’s family ties and his/her intention to remain in the host country after studies.
Hypothesis 5 The perceived labor market on career advancement in the host country will moderate the relationship between personal and social factors of a foreign student and the intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 5a. The perceived labor market on career advancement in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s social support from students and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies
Hypothesis 5b. The perceived labor market on career advancement in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s social support from professors and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies
Hypothesis 5c. The perceived labor market on career advancement in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s perceived university support regarding internship inquiries and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 5d. The perceived labor market on career advancement in the host country will strengthen the positive relationship between a foreign student’s perceived university support regarding immigration inquiries and his/her intention to remain in the host country after the studies.
Hypothesis 5e. The perceived labor market on career advancement in the host country will weaken the negative relationship between a foreign student’s family ties and his/her intention to remain in the host country after studies.
Research Procedure
This section explains the procedure followed for the completion of this study, as shown in Figure 3.2. The first step of the study was to identify a research topic based on literature. The second step was developing the theoretical framework and to review literature to identify viable areas of interest related to the topic and to support it. After the areas were narrowed down the hypothesis were proposed. Moreover, research framework was developed in order to have a structure of the relationship among the variables.
Some parts of the measurement were adapted and adopted for this study, while some others were self-developed. The instrument for this study was supported by literature, reviewed by a panel of experts, followed by a pilot study in order to ensure the reliability and validity. Data was collected, analyzed, tested and lastly interpreted to obtain the findings.
Finally, the results, conclusions and future research suggestions were proposed.
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Figure 3.2. Research procedure.
Sampling
For this research, quantitative method was chosen through distribution of survey questionnaires to collect the data on the factors that were presumed to influence the students’
intention to stay in the host country. Survey questionnaires were distributed to students from developing countries, who were pursuing a Master Degree in a university located outside of
Findings, conclusions and future research suggestions!
Analisis of data!
Pilot study and collection of data!
Development of research framework!
Design and adoptation of research instrument ! Defining hypothesis !
Research theoretical background and literature review!
Identification of the research topic!
their country of origins. This was because they were the ones about to enter the labor market, settle down to gain work experience, and also decide where to reside. Since there was no sampling frame available for this population, convenience sampling was used and participants were reached through the snowball method. The criteria for inclusion in this study, ensured by two screening questions, were the following:
1. Students’ country of origin was a developing country.
2. The student did not have a solid intention to remain in the host country prior to his arrival.
Data Collection
Initial contact was made with the Embassy of El Salvador and Nicaragua located in Taiwan to ask for their support to this research. It was agreed that a recruiting letter was going to be elaborated to explain to the participants the importance of their contribution and the value that the results were going to provide. An email was sent containing the recruiting letter and a Gmail survey link for those two embassies to distribute to the students in their database.
Moreover, the project manager of Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Funds (TaiwanICDF) at National Taiwan Normal University was also contacted to become another distribution channel. She forwards the email containing the recruitment letter and the Gmail survey link to other TaiwanICDF project managers at Tamkang University, Ming Chuan University, National Cheng Kung University and National Chung Hsing University who distributed to their students. TaiwanICDF is an organization that provides scholarship to students from developing countries and therefore, more students were reached through this channel.
Furthermore, the snowball sampling method was used trough social media (Facebook), and in this way students from a wide variety of developing countries studying in many different countries all over the world participated in this study. In Facebook, a request for participation as well as the Gmail survey link, was posted in different pages of
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Americans community groups who are studying in many different countries all over the world.
Having a multi-country sample (different home countries and host countries) adds value to this study because it allowed the researcher to test the theoretical framework and hypotheses across different countries.
In this research, 344 students coming from different developing countries participated.
Of the 344, 41 responses were used for the pilot test and 303 were used for the formal study.
The 41 responses for the pilot study were from participants personally contacted by the researcher of this study. All students came from developing countries such as Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Gambia, and Swaziland, were enrolled in the Master Degree program, and were between the ages of 24-41 years old. Of the 41, 25 were enrolled in National Taiwan Normal University, while the remaining studied mainly in Spain, United States of America, and Italy.
The 303 respondents for the formal study varied in their countries of origin:
Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Swaziland, India, Venezuela and other developing countries around the world. All of them were pursuing a Master level study abroad at different countries such as Taiwan, Germany, and United States of America. The majority were females at the age of 25 years old. They were mostly single without dependents.
Measurement
This section describes how the independent variables, moderator and the dependent variable were measured. For a full view of items utilized in this instrument please refer to the Appendix.
Social Support
For the purpose of this study the perception of social support entails a collection of support, aid and advices that a student receive from her/his friends, professor, classmates in a personal level, that help them to have the feeling of belonging in the host country and also get guidance for daily life events. This type of support, promotes a positive influence for a student to decide to remain in the host country (Martin & Dixon, 1994).
Social support was measured by examining the support they receive from their professors and the relationship they developed with fellow students that are considered their friends as well.
Two 5-item scales by Pearce, Sommer, Morris and Frideger (1992) were slightly modified to examine the relationship of foreign students with their professors and fellow local students. Some sample items are: ‘I can rely on my professors if I encounter a daily life inconvenience’; ‘Students at the University are friendly even when I am a foreigner student’.
The alpha reliability scores of the two 5-items scales by Pearce, et al., (1992) are .87 for the measurements of social support perceived from professors and .90 for social support perceived from students. The questions were answered using a 5-point Likert scale from
“strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”
Perceived University Support
Student’s orientation programs that helps students to get in contact with government agencies can make a good significantly influence on students who studies abroad and be of good influence for them to remain in the host country (Martin & Dixon, 1994). Therefore, if the university contributes to provide guidance, information and support through the staff or programs, the student will feel more comfortable and envision a promising future regarding their career future success in the host country.
To measure the perceived university support, a set of questions was developed for this study. The questions regards the programs and information about foreign labor policies in the
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guidance or information related to internship or job opportunities are provided to the foreign students as well as to face legal immigration challenges.
To support the items developed, the literature was used as well as the personal experience from the researcher who is a foreign student going through the same decision making process.
This section of the questionnaire used a 5-point Likert scale from “strongly disagree”
to “strongly agree”. It has 6 items that addressed the most important subjects regarding the university support students receive related to the labor market opportunities and legal matters that students need to take into consideration if they have the intention to remain in the host country.
The sample items include: ‘The university share with the students information regarding internship and/or job opportunities’, and ‘University provides guidance or answer inquiries regarding working permit’. All questions were tested during the pilot test, which is explained in detail later in this document.
Family Ties
For this study family ties were consider to be the strong ties, attachments and commitment a student in the host country has with the family back home in which case, worked as a push away factor that influence the student to return to the home country (Park &
Leassig, 1977; Bearden & Eztel, 1982).
To measure the family ties a questionnaire was slightly adapted from Touliatos, Perlmutte and Straus (2001) and Hofstede (1984) and taken from Baruch et al., (2007). These 4-items measurements asked about the commitment and the close ties the student has with his/her family. Items asked are: ‘My family and I are very close’, ‘Living with my family is crucial to me’, ‘I miss my family when I am away from them’ and ‘Family ties are very important to me’.
The scale’s alpha reliability from Baruch et al., (2007) is .77 and this measure uses a 5-point Likert scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”.
Moreover, the item: ‘My family is expecting for me to return to achieve family goals’
was self-developed and added to the questionnaire when designing it, based on Garcia-Ramirez et al., (2005) that proposed there is a trend of students coming from developing countries, to return home because of commitments they have with their own family such as aging parents or to take the lead of family business.
Perceived Labor Market
For this study the variable “perception of labor market” is the perception of opportunities a student has access to, based on their own skills, abilities and knowledge and other factors that represent job opportunities and opportunity for career advancement or the lack of it (Vos et al., 2009). The measurement was developed by Churchill, Ford, and Walker’s (1974) questionnaire and adapted by Baruch et al., (2007). This measure has 5 items using 5-point Likert scale. Sample items are: ‘My opportunities for advancement in the host country are limited’ (reverse-scored); ‘I have good chances of getting a job in the host country’, ‘The remuneration for working in my field at the host country is better than in my home country’, ‘My opportunities for advancement are limited in my home country’ and ‘I have a good chance of getting a good job in my home country’ (reverse-scored). The alpha reliability for job market in the host country is .73 (Baruch et al., 2007).
Intention to stay in the host country
Intention to stay in the host country was examined by a five level options from Baruch et al., 2007. The option includes: I intend to: ‘return to my home country as soon as I finish my studies’, ‘return to my home country after some formal work experience in the host country’, ‘return to my home country after a few years after I graduate’, ‘I may consider staying in the host country to further my career’ or ‘I intend to reside in the host country’.
Two questions were self-developed to reinforce the intentions of the student to remain in the host country: I prefer to remain in the host country after graduating; if there is an opportunity to stay in the host country I would like to do so. For these two questions a 5-point Likert scale was used.
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Demographics
The participants were asked general and basic questions regarding gender, age, home country, country in which they study and local language proficiency with the purpose of understanding the sample profile and exploring how demographics affects major research variables.
“Home country” was asked instead of “nationality” because for the purpose of the study the countries where they reside for a long time is considered home country (not necessarily the one in which they were born). Many students may have been born in Europe or other countries but if they lived for the majority of their lifetime in Nicaragua, for example, that is going to be considered “home country” and the respondent was able to participate meeting the sample criteria ‘students coming from developing countries’.
It was also asked if the student have their family (dependents) living with them in the host country to later on find the relationship and influence when analyzing the results with the family ties variable. A summary of items used in this questionnaire as well as their
10 items Pearce, Sommer, Morris and Frideger (1992)
Perceived Support
from University 6 items Developed for this study
Family Ties 4 items Touliatos et al. (2001) and Hofstede (1984) and Baruch et al., (2007
Perceived Labor
Market 5 items Churchill, Ford, & Walker (1974) and Baruch et al., (2007).
Intention to Stay in the Host Country
1 items Baruch et al., 2007.
2 items Developed for this study
Instrument Design
A survey questionnaire was developed and adopted to collect data needed, which includes established measure of research variables for this research. The participants were asked basic questions regarding age, home country and highest degree of study and others with the purpose of understanding the sample profile and exploring how demographics affect major research variables. Eight items were designed in the questionnaire to collect demographic information including age, gender, home country, proficiency of host language, country in which studying (host country) and two items asking the location of their families, significant others and dependents.
For this research, the questionnaire contained 28 items, which were organized in six sections. The six sections are to measure the perception of social support with 10 items, the perception of support from the university with 6 items, perceived support from family with 4 items, perceived labor market with also 5 items and finally the intentions of remaining in the host country after graduating with 3 items. The language used for the questionnaire is English. A screening question was added at the beginning of the questionnaire to make sure the participants did not have the intention to stay in the host country before arriving at the host country. If the student did have the intention to stay prior to his/her arrival to the host country then the questionnaire was dismissed.
Before collecting data content validity was ensured by the identified literature review, panel of experts and informal interviews with university personnel. Moreover, common method variance was minimized by arranging the order of the sections in the questionnaire, in such a way that the items measuring the dependent variable were located at the beginning of it. Some questions were reverse coded and a pilot study was conducted with a sample of 41 foreign students, items were tested and one problematic item was identified and deleted to
Before collecting data content validity was ensured by the identified literature review, panel of experts and informal interviews with university personnel. Moreover, common method variance was minimized by arranging the order of the sections in the questionnaire, in such a way that the items measuring the dependent variable were located at the beginning of it. Some questions were reverse coded and a pilot study was conducted with a sample of 41 foreign students, items were tested and one problematic item was identified and deleted to