Abstract
South Korean universities have been facing student shortages to sustain their growth due to its severe population decline. The Korean government has since introduced policies to attract more international students to the country. The present study examined the prestige-seeking tendencies of international students in Korea and their influence on students’ satisfaction levels. The five dimensions of prestige-seeking behavior were adopted to help explain students’ satisfaction levels. Research samples were current and former international students in Korea. The findings reveal the quality of the education did not contribute directly to the students’ overall satisfaction level. Instead, it was hedonic elements that affected satisfaction. Moreover, status, snob, and bandwagon effects contributed significantly to the quality and hedonic motives.
Highlights
Korea does not possess some of the attributes typically considered desirable, such as being an English-speaking nation and having a global reputation for its higher education, the government still introduced policies to attract more international students from the early 2000s [9]
Two sets of factor analyses were performed on the items of the snob effect and the bandwagon effect
This process allowed for a thorough test for convergence and discriminant validity of the items as well as the ability to reduce irrelevant dimensions and items [90]
Summary
South Korea strategically promotes its universities to attract foreign students to help fulfill the language needs in the international trade sector and to offset the declining population [2,3]. Korea does not possess some of the attributes typically considered desirable, such as being an English-speaking nation and having a global reputation for its higher education, the government still introduced policies to attract more international students from the early 2000s [9]. The Korean government targeted international students to account for 5% of the entire higher education enrollment by 2023. They mobilized funds for universities to expand English-track programs, easing visa requirements, and enhancing employment support to help achieve this target [2,3,10]
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