Exploring determinants of Malaysian students' motivation for higher education

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of Malaysian students’ motivation for higher education and to explore the mediating influence of lecturer’s instructional methods and strategies (LIMS) between the exogenous and endogenous variables of the study. The instrument was developed based on existing literature and a focus group discussion involving eight undergraduate students of one public university in Malaysia, and content validated by five experts in the field of Social Psychology, Research Methodology, Assessment and Applied Statistics. The instrument was piloted to 264 respondents and generated 5 variables including the mediating one using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) procedures. The final respondents comprised 297 undergraduate students from eight public universities (UM, UiTM, USM, UKM, UPM, UTM, IIUM and UUM) in Peninsular Malaysia who were sampled using simple random sampling. The data were analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and full-fledged Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results indicated that future economic stability (FES), family influence (FI) and social standing (SS) were confirmed as underlying determinants of Malaysian students’ motivation for higher education (MFHE). The SEM procedures indicated that FES, FI and SS significantly influenced Malaysian students’ motivation for higher education. Likewise, the relationship between FES, FI, SS and MFHE was statistically partially mediated by lecturer’s instructional methods and strategies (LIMS). Practically, this study’s findings would be of benefit to government, higher education institutions, lecturers and parents in terms of policy making, recruitment of competent and qualified teachers, adoption of diversified pedagogical approaches and students’ support for university education. Theoretically, the mediating effect of lecturer’s instructional methods and strategies (LIMS) on the relationship between FES, FI, SS and MFHE has been a token of contribution to the body of knowledge, however, future research should work further on the theory tested regarding students’ motivation for higher education.