This chapter presented and explained the results of the influences among international students’ personal factors, university experiences, labor market factors and choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. It also presented the descriptive statistics of the demographic data and the influences among the variables. The statistical procedures that were performed while analyzing the collected data include, correlation analysis and logistic analysis. Towards the end, the study provided a summary of the research findings and discussion of the results.
Results of Demographic Data Analysis
This section presented the findings of the main study. Data was empirically analyzed by SPSS and SmartPLS3. In the first part, demographic information of the participants was presented in terms of frequencies and percentages. In addition to quantitative variables items, respondents were also asked to provide another information pertaining to their gender, age range, marital status, country of origin, the location of study institution in Taiwan, field and level of study.
SPPSS was used to analyze the demographic data and present it according to the respondents’ frequencies and percentages. About 205 international students participated in the formal study and 43 percent were female while 57 were males. The ages of the respondents ranged between less than 18 up to 44 years. The age of 163 respondents ranged between 18 to 29 and this shows that this sample is highly representative of the tertiary education population. 174 of the participants were not married while only 31 were married, this is another notable depiction which shows that these are students. More than 60 of the participants were from Sub-Saharan Africa a region with a lot of developing countries and thus we can conclude that most of the respondents were from developing countries. The demographic data also revealed that most of the participants’
universities were located in the northern part of Taiwan (153) followed by those located in the southern part (32) of the country.
A total of 22 percent of respondents studied Business Administration followed by Civil Engineering and Chinese as a Second Language students. About 86 of the participants were bachelor’s students while 77 were master’s students. For a detailed overview of the study demographic data, please see Table 4.1. below.
49 Table 4.1.
Demographic Characteristics of the Sample
Demographics (categories) Frequency (n) Percentages (%) Gender
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Table 4.1. (continued)
Demographics (categories) Frequency (n) Percentages (%) Level of Study
Biomedical Engineering 3 2
Business Administration 46 22
Chemistry 5 2
Translation and Interpretation 3 2
Notes. N=205.
Numbers in boldface represent the highest response rate in each category.
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Descriptive Results
In this part, descriptive statistics results for personal factors, university experiences, labor market factors, choice of working in Taiwan and Taiwan NHRD action program will be presented and discussed.
Personal Factors
The personal factors variable was made up of career perceptions, family ties and students’
cross-cultural adjustment dimensions. Frequency results revealed that a majority of the students have a neutral (mean= 3.28) protean career approach. In connection with Baruch et al., (2007) assertion that a strong protean career approach has a positive influence on students’ staying intention in host countries, the results of this investigation indicated that international students are moderately influenced by their career orientations to work in Taiwan after graduation.
On average (mean=3.59 and 3.46) the descriptive statistics for the family ties dimension revealed that international students have a strong bond with their family members. These results implicate that if these international students are not living with their families in Taiwan they will leave the country as soon as they complete their studies. The highest and last item’s overall average (mean=4.3) disclosed that the respondents agreed that they received an adequate amount of assistance in their cross-cultural adjustment to the Taiwanese society.
In line with Kruanak and Ruangkanjanases (2014) study, the meaning of this result is that international students are positively influenced by the adequate assistance in their cross-cultural adaptation process and a smooth cross-culture shock to make a choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. The overall mean of the personal factors variable (3.61), meant that the respondents were at an agreement level with all the items of this construct. The meaning of this outcome is that international students are in agreement that they are positively influenced by personal factors to make a choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. See below Table 4.2., which show the descriptive statistics of the personal factors variable.
52 Table 4. 2.
Descriptive Statistics for the Personal Factors Likert
Values in boldface indicate the highest frequency response in each item.
The mean value in boldface is the overall mean of the variable.
University Experiences
As displayed in Table 4.3. below, the descriptive results for the university experiences variable showed that on average (mean=3.16) international students adopted a neutral stance on whether their universities provide them with opportunities for personal growth and development or not. On average (mean=3.51), they agreed the respondents agreed that their universities in Taiwan provide good educational environments. Overall (mean=3.55), international students agreed that they are satisfied with the quality of teaching in their respective universities. In the fourth item (SU1), the descriptive results disclosed that on average (mean=3.79) international students are glad that they chose the universities of study in Taiwan. This item has the highest mean in the university experiences variable.
In the last item (SU2), the results indicated that being enrolled in their respective universities in Taiwan, give international students a sense of satisfaction. All in all, the descriptive statistic (mean=3.50) indicates that international agree that they are academically and emotionally satisfied with their universities in Taiwan. This outcome implies that international are positively influenced by university experiences to work in Taiwan after graduation. This assertion is consistent with Baruch et al., (2007) findings that the overall satisfaction with university
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experiences in the host country has a positive influence on international students’ intention of working in the USA and the United Kingdom after graduation.
Table 4. 3.
Descriptive Statistics for University Experiences Likert
Values in boldface indicate the highest frequency response in each item.
The mean value in boldface is the overall mean of the variable.
Labor Market Factors
The descriptive results for the labor market factors variable in Table 4.4. below, showed that on average (mean=3.29) international students adopted a neutral stance on their perception of Taiwan’s labor market as an ideal place of work after graduation. This construct was assessed by five items. Many respondents (72) agree that there are plenty of job opportunities in Taiwan in comparison to their country. This finding implies that a majority of international students will be influenced this perception to make a choice of looking for a job in Taiwan. The second item (LB2) results show that on average (mean=2.83), international students adopted a neutral position when asked if they can work in Taiwan if they find a job. This outcome indicates that the presence of a job opportunity won’t be a sufficient influence on international students’ decision of working in Taiwan after graduation.
In the third item, the descriptive statistic result (mean=3.11) showed that the respondents were neutrally influenced by Taiwan’s NHRD action program to work in the country after
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graduation. The are many reasons for this neutral position, one of those reasons might be international students’ unawareness of it. This unawareness was disclosed by the data analysis results of the research questionnaires’ question 4, which questioned participants if they were aware or not aware of Taiwan’s government NHRD action program. Descriptive results of this question disclosed that only 13 percent of the respondents were aware of this policy, while a majority of 87% were unaware of it. This research finding is almost similar to Sykes and Chaoimh (2013) who discovered that a small percentage of 25% respondents were informed about the legal procedures for obtaining a residence visa and/or work visa in Germany after graduation. The unawareness on Taiwan’s NHRD action program will definitely decrease its influential power on international students’ choice of working in the country after graduation. See Figure 4.1. below, which display the SPSS results of this action program data analysis.
Figure 4.1. Taiwan NHRD action program
The fourth item descriptive as shown in Table 4.4. below, indicated that on average (mean=3.43) international students disinterestedly influenced by an intellectual job environment to work in Taiwan after graduation. As displayed in Figure 4.2. below, one of the reasons for this neutral influence might be that a lot of the respondents (65%) do not have work experience in Taiwan. Based on the absence of work experience, it is logical to assume that many international
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students do not have first-hand knowledge or experience of the work environment in Taiwan. The absence of this experience means that the respondents are ignorant of whether the working environments are intellectual or not and thus many of them selected the neutral option in the questionnaire.
The average (mean=3.49) of the last item disclosed that the participants are neutral, even though they almost agree that, compared to their countries high annual salaries in Taiwan encourages them to work here after completing their studies. All in all, the overall descriptive statistic mean value (3.29) make it clear that international students have a neutral perception of Taiwan’s labor market as an ideal workplace destination after graduation. This overall outcome signals that Taiwan’s labor market have a moderate influence on international students’ choice of working in the country after completing their studies. There are many reasons that may cause this neutral stance, but one main reason that stands out in the descriptive results is that the respondents are ignorant of Taiwan’s labor market. So this means that they also do not know the advantages that the work environments in Taiwan can offer in comparison to their home countries. This has serious implications and needs to be explored further by future research studies. For the government of the country, this shows that they need to engage on a vigorous advertisement of the country’s labor market.
Figure 4.2. Work experience in Taiwan
56 Table 4. 4.
Descriptive Statistics for Labor Market Factors Likert
Scale
LB1 LB2 LB3 LB4 LB5
Frequency % Frequency % Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
1(SD) 8 4 25 12 25 12 16 8 9 4
2(D) 26 13 43 21 44 22 36 18 17 8
3(N) 56 27 90 44 48 23 40 20 73 36
4(A) 72 35 35 17 59 29 70 34 77 38
5(SA) 43 21 12 6 29 14 43 21 29 14
Mean 3.57 2.83 3.11 3.43 3.49
Notes. N=205.
Values in boldface indicate the highest frequency response in each item.
The mean value in boldface is the overall mean of the variable.
Choice of working in Taiwan
Lastly the descriptive analysis procedure was conducted for the choice of working in Taiwan dependent variable. Results showed that a majority (54%) of the respondents indicated that they definitely want to work in Taiwan after graduation. These results are in contrasts to Kruanak and Ruangkanjanases (2014) study, which discovered that 25% of the respondents were willing to make a choice of working and staying in Thailand after graduation. In comparison to Thailand we can say Taiwan stand a huge chance of retaining international graduates. See Figure 4.3., below which illuminate the frequency and percentage values of the choice of working in Taiwan responses.
57 Figure 4.3. Choice of working in Taiwan
Correlations Analysis
The next section will present the SmartPLS3 tests results of the study hypotheses. Before the hypotheses tests were conducted, a correlations analysis of the study variables was first conducted in SPSS. This is one of the necessary steps before conducting logistics analysis.
Correlation analysis was conducted to determine if there is multicollinearity or not in the research model. This analysis was also carried out so to assess the power and direction of the relationship between the variables. Kennedy (1989) warned that the correlation threshold between the variables must not exceed .75, since it will cause problems when testing the relationships among the variables. When we look at correlation Table 4.5., we can see that multicollinearity does not exist in the model.
The absence of multicollinearity implies that it is possible to tests the relationship among the variables without much complexity. However, Khalaf, Mansson and Shukur (2013) defended that, even if multicollinearity does exist in one variable, it does not affect the predictive power of the whole model’s statistical equation, rather it affects the calculation of individual predictors. The following Table 4.5., presented the SPSS correlation results of the research variables which is one of the necessary prerequisite procedures before testing the relationships among variables.
58 Table 4.5.
Correlations Analysis
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1. CP1 1
2. FT1 .473** 1
3. FT2 .708** .533** 1
4. SAP3 -.032 .075 .010 1
5. AS2 .037 .187** .001 -.004 1
6. AS3 .188** .435** .252** .079 .175* 1
7. AS4 .108 .232** .220** .197** .056 .167* 1
8. SU1 .234** .438** .297** .103 .301** .481** .231** 1
9. SU2 .098 .197** .007 .107 .065 .006 -.061 .100 1
10. LB1 -.029 .021 .040 -.128 .151* .099 .217** .164* .153* 1
11. LB2 .049 .137 .036 .001 .192** .052 .190** .172* .032 .334** 1
12. LB3 -.037 .095 -.034 -.189** .174* .137* .162* .124 .179* .592** .469** 1
13. LB4 .075 .120 .067 -.054 .128 .036 .163* .030 .142* .407** .389** .497** 1
14. LB5 .335** .391** .267** .039 .264** .270** .216** .523** .185** .136 .262** .135 .176* 1
15. CWT .103 .066 .130 -.084 -.011 .071 .106 .032 .034 .284** .202** .312** .308** .118 1 Notes. N=205.
* p< 0.05, ** p< 0.01. (2-tailed).
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Factors Influencing International Students’ Choice of Working in Taiwan
After conducting hypotheses tests on the SmartPLS3 statistical software the following section presents the hypotheses tests of the main study.
PF and CWT
As shown in Figure 4.4. below, the SmartPLS3 results indicated a strong and positive influence (β=.220, t=3.053***, p=.002**) of international students’ personal factors on their choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. This strong and significant influence supported the PFCWT relation or H1.
Figure 4.4. Direct influence of PF on CWT
Figure 4.5, below also show a strong and significant positive influence (β=.576, t=10.807***, p=.000***) of personal factors on international students’ university experiences.
This influence indicated a complete and significant support for the PFUE relationship or H2.
The UECWT link or H3 was negatively and insignificantly supported (β=-0.017, t=.212, p=.832).
This meant that international students’ university experiences exerted a negative insignificant influence on their choice of working in Taiwan after graduation.
PF and LM
The two-tailed SmartrePLS3 results further revealed that personal factors have a moderate positive influence (β=.190, t=2.038**, p=.042*) on international students’ perception of Taiwan’s labor market in comparison to their home countries’ labor markets. This outcome confirmed a moderate support of H4, which proposed that personal factors have an influence on international
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students’ perception of Taiwan’s LM as an ideal workplace after graduation. See Figure 4.5., which show the support for this hypothesis.
LM and CWT
We can see from Figure 4.5. below that, Taiwan’s labor market exerted a strong and significant positive influence (β=.551, t=11.697***, p=.000***) on international students’ choice of working in Taiwan after graduation and this meant that the LMCWT or H5 proposition was strongly and significantly supported.
Figure 4.5. Complete model results
Mediating Influence of UE
This thesis drew insights from the work of Preacher and Hayes (2004) and used the online Sobel test calculator to test the mediating influences of university experiences and labor market on the PFCWT link. This thesis drew insights from the work of Preacher and Hayes (2004) and
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used the online Sobel test calculator to test the mediating influences of university experiences and labor market on the PFCWT link. The path coefficient of PFCWT in Figure 4.6. below, together with the online Sobel test calculator for the significance of mediation showed that university experiences have a negative insignificant mediating influence (β=.161, t=-0.205, p=.837) on the PFCWT link. This implies that H6 was insignificantly supported.
Figure 4.6. Mediating influence of UE
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Mediating Influence of LM
When taking a look at Figure 4.7. below, we can realize that Taiwan’s labor market has a moderate and positive mediating influence (β=.073, t=2.169**, p=.030**) on the PFCWT relation. This means that H7 was partially and positively supported.
Figure 4.7. Mediating influence of LM
Combined mediating influence of UE and LM
On the basis of the PFCWT path coefficient in Figure 4.5. and the results of the online Sobel test calculator for the significance of mediation in Figure 4.8. below, we can realize that there was an intertwined strong and significant positive mediation influence (β=.067, t= 3.277***,
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p=.000***) of university experiences and Taiwan’s labor market on the PFCWT link. View Figure 4.5 in connection with Figure 4.8. below, for an overview of the results of hypothesis 8 test.
This test asserted a strong and positive support for H8. The following section discusses the meaning of the study results which have been presented in the foregoing section.
Figure 4.8. Combined mediating influence of UE and LM
Discussions
The results of this research can be applied towards developing a strategic way of retaining international students in host countries after graduation as future and foreign professional talent.
The detailed discussions of the study hypotheses results are presented below.
PF and CWT
According to the results, there was a positive and significant relationship between international students’ personal factors and choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. This relationship suggested that international students loved Taiwan thus they will be influenced by their attitudes and feelings to choose in Taiwan after graduation. Since a lot of international students (111 or 54%) have an intrinsic motivation to work in the country after graduation, it means that Taiwan stands a huge chance of winning the global war for foreign professional talent by retaining international students.
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PF and UE
The findings also revealed that personal factors have a huge influence on international students’ university experiences. This means that more than influencing their choice of working in the country, personal factors exert a larger influence on their university experiences. This is the case because while attending universities in Taiwan, foreign students’ main goal is to satisfy their career expectations which is part of the dimensions of personal factors. Another supporting fact is that; many families support international students’ decisions and migration plan to Taiwan universities. While attending the universities, family members also keep in constant touch with foreign students and provide them with emotional support from time to time. Another way that personal factors relate to international students’ university experiences is the cross-cultural adaptation process. The more adapted international students are to the Taiwanese society, the more they are going to be satisfied with their academics and universities but the vice versa is also true.
UE and CWT
The results showed that there is still need to create a positive university environment in order to influence international students’ choice of working in the country after completing their studies. This need is made imperative by the result that showed a negative influence between university experiences and international students’ choice of working in the country after graduation. This negative influence implies that university experiences exert a negative influence on international students’ choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. This negative influence might arise from international students’ dissatisfaction with their universities and educational environments. However, it is very important to note that this negative influence is insignificant and thus there is a need to investigate this relationship in the future with a different sample maybe there will be positive results. This future investigation is also made necessary by the fact that the pilot study results, revealed an insignificant positive influence of university experiences on international students’ choice of working in Taiwan.
PF and LM
According to the results of H4, personal factors have a moderate influence on international students’ perception of Taiwan’s labor market as an ideal workplace in comparison to their
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countries’ labor markets. That is to say, Taiwan’s labor market meets international students’ career perceptions at a moderate level. It is also most likely that family members influence international students’ positive perception of Taiwan’s labor market at a moderate level. International students’
cross-cultural adaptation level also exerts a moderate positive influence of foreign students’
perception of Taiwan’s labor market.
LM and CWT
The results of hypothesis 5 showed a positive and significant influence of Taiwan’s labor market on international students’ choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. This is the highest significant influence in the whole model. This is not surprising since over and above everything else, international students are most likely to consider the incentives offered by Taiwan’s labor market before making a choice of working in Taiwan after graduation. These incentives include available job opportunities, salaries, and labor policies. The results revealed that international students perceive that there are more job opportunities in Taiwan compared to their home countries.
International students also like the labor policies in Taiwan such as the NHRD policy in comparison to their home countries’ labor policies.
International students also like the labor policies in Taiwan such as the NHRD policy in comparison to their home countries’ labor policies.