Application of Investment Theory to Predicting Maintenance of the Intent to Stay among Freshmen

Abstract

Recently, it has been suggested that constructs from different disciplines should be incorporated into Tinto's (1993) sociological model of the determinants of departure from college (Ackerman & Schibrowsky, 2007). We tested the hypothesis that variables derived from Rusbult's (1983) social-psychological investment theory contribute, above and beyond variables derived from Tinto's model, to the prediction of maintaining the intent to stay at a university. A sample of 218 first-semester freshmen at a large southwestern university who indicated at the beginning of the fall 2007 semester that they intended to stay subsequently completed a questionnaire assessing integration variables (goal commitment, social integration, and academic integration), investment variables (satisfaction level, investment size, and quality of alternatives), and college graduation intention (stay versus transfer). A binary logistic regression analysis revealed that two variables derived from investment theory—satisfaction level and quality of alternatives—affected the log odds of students maintaining their intent to stay.