CULTURAL INTENTIONS FOR CHINESE STUDENTS TO STUDY AT THAI UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

In 2019 alone, the number of Chinese students studying abroad broke a record high of 703,5000, a growth of 6.25% (41,400 students) compared with 2018. Furthermore, a surging number of Chinese students have chosen Thailand as a study abroad destination at higher education level. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the influencing coefficients behind the fact. This thesis concentrates on cultural intentions and adopts Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory to be its framework. It utilizes five cultural dimensions including power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. The research is based on the data collected by survey and it employs SPSS software to conduct quantitative research in order to find out the correlation between the framework and cultural intentions. Through regression and correlation analysis, it‟s found that independent variable “individualism” is in negative interrelation with the dependent variable “intention to study”. Precisely speaking, “collectivism” acts as a significant influential factor for Chinese students to study at Thai universities in the aspect of cultural intentions.