Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics

The relationship between attitude and behavior: an empirical study in China

Jianyao Li Dick Mizerski Alvin Lee Fang Liu

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Received January 2008
Revised August 2008
Accepted October 2008

The relationship between attitude

and behavior: an empirical study
in China
Jianyao Li, Dick Mizerski, Alvin Lee and Fang Liu
UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia,
Crawley, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of attitude towards behavior, subject
norm and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on a Chinese subjects evaluation of a tertiary education
program.
Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a 3 (country-of-origin) by 2 (location) betweengroup factorial design. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is used as a framework to understand
the intentions of the Chinese subjects concerning their enrollment in an offshore program.
Findings Results show that a subjects attitude towards behavior, subject norm and PBC had a
significantly positive relationship with the subjects enrollment intentions irrespective of the country-oforigin (COO) of an education program. However, results also indicate that the significance of the three
components on enrollment intention is contingent on which country the offshore program is from.
Practical implications The findings of this study can help foreign education institutions develop a
good understanding of the education market in China.
Originality/value This study is one of the few studies that have adopted the TPB, the widely used
psychology theory, in the Chinese context.
Keywords Higher education, Country of origin, China, Students, Consumer behaviour
Paper type Research paper

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing

and Logistics
Vol. 21 No. 2, 2009
pp. 232-242
# Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1355-5855
DOI 10.1108/13555850910950059

Introduction
International education is a growing export industry for many industrialized countries
such as the USA, Canada, UK and Australia (1989). For example, international
education has become the third largest service export sector in Australia, just behind
personal travel and transportation services (Australian Education International, 2004).
An international education program includes onshore and offshore programs. Onshore
programs refer to programs in which students need to study in foreign countries.
Offshore programs refer to programs offered by foreign institutions in which students
can study in their home countries.
Offshore programs have become increasingly popular in countries that are
experiencing rapid economic growth and are experiencing a dramatic increase in
demand for higher education. There is no doubt that China is one of the largest markets
for offshore programs. From 1995, the Chinese government has opened its education
market to foreign providers in order to meet the countrys demand for higher education
(Huang, 2003). However, the offshore program market in China has become
increasingly competitive. Currently, institutions from the USA, UK and Australia, to
name just a few, are offering their offshore programs ranging from the professional
diploma level to higher degrees such as MA, MBA and PhD.
Understanding how students select an offshore program is important for competing
and surviving in the market place (Moogan et al., 1999). Under this circumstance, it is
very important that foreign higher education providers understand how potential
Chinese consumers evaluate different kinds of offshore program and what factors
influence their decisions.

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There has been a wealth of literature on students enrollment in onshore programs

(Dembowski, 1980; Chapman, 1981; Coccari and Javalgi, 1995; Broekemier and
Seshadri, 1999; Baharun et al., 2001; Dalgety and Coll, 2004). However, studies on
potential students intentions of enrolling in an offshore program without leaving their
home countries are hard to find. This study attempts to examine Chinese students
enrollment intentions towards offshore programs from Australia, the UK and the USA
by adopting Ajzens Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This study will particularly
look at the subject norm construct underneath TPB and try to examine whether other
peoples perceptions of an individuals behavior will have a strong influence on this
consumers decision-making in a society with a strong collectivist orientation like
China. This study will also examine the effect of three components of the TPB on
enrollment intention towards offshore programs from different countries.
Literature review
The TPB has been widely adopted as one of the most powerful tools to test consumers
behavioral intention (Ajzen, 2001). Ajzen (1985) extended roots from the Theory of
Reasoned Action (TRA) and hypothesized three components underneath a persons
behavioral intentions. He adopted two components from the TRA: an attitudinal
component and a normative component. The TRA, which consists of only the
attitudinal and normative components, was often criticized because it assumes that all
human behaviors are volitional and rational (Chang, 1998); in other words, an
individual has full control over his or her behavior. However, not all behaviors are fully
volitional or fully controlled by consumers due to various factors (Sheppard et al.,
1988). For example, when a student chooses an offshore program in his home country,
some factors may prevent him from making a rational decision. He may like Program
A, but it is very expensive so he has to turn to his parents; in this case, his parents have
more controlling power than him. This is why the TPB adds a third component called
perceived behavioral control (PBC) (Hansen et al., 2004). Many studies have confirmed
that the TPB predicts behavior intention more accurately than the TRA (Madden et al.,
1992; Taylor and Todd, 1995).
According to TPB, attitude towards the behavior (AtB) is referred to the positive or
negative feelings an individual has on a particular behavior (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980).
It is an attitude which has been conceptualized from the evaluation of the behavior.
Attitude towards behavior is a function of ones salient belief (B) about performing the
behavior and an evaluation of the outcomes resulting from the behavior (E) (Chang,
1998). In this study, AtB is specified as the attitude toward enrolling in an offshore
program in China. Thus it is hypothesized that:
H1. A Chinese students attitude toward enrolling in an offshore program has a
positive relationship with his or her enrolment intention in this program.
Subjective norm (SN) refers to the social pressure an individual has on whether to
complete behavior or not. This is a persons belief that the salient referent thinks he or
she should (or should not) perform the behavior (Chang, 1998). A number of studies
revealed that, at a certain level, social pressures, such as peers, parents, teachers and
relatives, influence enrollment choices (Ray, 1991; Koballa, 1998). However, a number of
researchers (Sparks et al., 1995) have found that the SN component of the TPB is
inadequate and rarely predicts intention. In regard to enrollment intention, some
researchers (Dawson and OConnor, 1991; Crawley and Black, 1992; Butler, 1999) also

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found that subject norm was less important in determining enrolment choices than
attitude towards the enrolment.
Cross-cultural studies regarding TPB were rarely found; and yet there were a couple
of attempts to verify the relative strengths of the three components of TPB on
intentions. Lee and Green (1991), for example, found that SN had no effect on predicting
US consumers intentions towards purchasing sneakers, but had a strong positive
effect on predicting Korean consumers intentions towards purchasing the same
product. Triandis (1989, 1994a, 1994b) also claimed that individuals with a strong
collectivist value are more likely to behave in accordance with the opinions of those
who are important to them than individuals with a strong individualistic value. The
Mainland Chinese society has been characterized as culturally collective and highly
adherent to group norms (Hofstede, 1980; Yau, 1988); therefore, their purchasing
behavior may be strongly influenced by the perception of other peoples thoughts.
Thus it is hypothesized that:
H2. A Chinese students SN towards enrolling into an offshore program has a
positive relationship with his or her enrolment intention in this program.
Perceived Behavior Control (PBC) refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of
performing the behavior. Since the introduction of the TRA, many researchers have
questioned the theory. Researchers suggested that besides individuals control
behavior, there were other factors which also influence human behavior, such as
facilitating factors (Triandis, 1977), the context of opportunity (Sarver, 1983), resources
(Liska, 1984) or action control (Kuhl, 1985). To increase the prediction capacity, Ajzen
(1985, 1991) extended the TRA by adding a third construct, namely PBC. For students,
whether they choose to study through an offshore program is also influenced by the
PBC factors, such as how easily they can find the tuition fee, and how easily they can
make a decision about the choice of programs. These factors will also influence their
decision making and their intention of enrollment. Thus it is hypothesized that:
H3. A Chinese students perceived control towards enrolling in an offshore program
has a positive relationship with his or her enrollment intention towards this
program.
Since 1960s, there has been an extensive literature on country-of-origin (COO) and how
that influenced consumer attitudes (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Khachaturian
and Morganosky, 1990; Ahmed and dAstous, 1993; dAstous and Ahmed, 1999) and
purchasing intentions (Morello, 1984; Han, 1990; Lawrence et al., 1992; Lin and
Sternquist, 1994; Ahmed and dAstous, 1995) towards foreign products and services.
COO tends to influence consumer evaluations of foreign products on two perceptions,
quality (Khachaturian and Morganosky, 1990) and purchase value (Ahmed and
dAstous, 1993). For example, a consumer perceptions about a countrys natural,
economic and social environment may influence consumers perceptions about
products, services, or brands originated in that foreign country (Bilkey and Nes, 1982).
In contrary, some researchers also questioned the capability of COO in explaining
consumers selection of foreign products. For example, Erickson et al. (1984) claimed
that COO may affect consumers certain beliefs about a foreign product but it does not
appear to have a direct impact on the overall attitude towards this foreign product.
Numerous researchers have explored the effect of COO in the context of onshore
program selection. Lawley (1993), for example, studied how students from Hong Kong
evaluated Australia, the UK, Canada and the USA as destinations for their higher

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education. His study revealed that different countries were perceived differently among
the potential students in Hong Kong. In other words, students often choose their
destinations based on their perceptions of a particular foreign country. This conclusion
has been empirically supported by a number of other studies (Agarwal and Winkler,
1985; Baker and Currie, 1993; Wilkinson et al., 1996; Mazzarol et al., 2001; Mazzarol and
Soutar, 2002; Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002; Reisberg, 2004; Academic Cooperation
Association (ACA), 2005). The question here is: will the relationship among the four
components of the TPB such as: AtB, SN, PBC and intention, be different if the offshore
programs are from different countries. Given the fact that students may have different
perceptions about different counties, we hypothesize that:
H4. Country moderates the effect of the three components of the TPB on enrolment
intention towards an offshore program.
Methodology
Questionnaire design
This study adopted the method proposed by Ajzen (2002) to identify items for
measuring each component of the TPB. A pilot study was conducted in Guangzhou,
China with a group of 20 high school students in order to identify accessible behavior,
normative and control beliefs associated with enrolling into an offshore program in
China. As a result, AtB was measured by using four 5-points, bipolar, evaluative
adjective pairs (beliefsoutcomes). The scales for SN and PBC were developed using
similar methods. The scale for intention had three 5-points, bipolar adjective pairs of
unlikely and likely. This questionnaire did not include a section on actual behavior
since the study only focused on the intention of enrollment. A completed questionnaire
was then back-to-back translated from English into Chinese and vice versa to achieve
the best degree of accuracy.
Country selection
This research tests the images of three countries including Australia, the UK and the
USA. The criteria of selecting countries for comparison was based on: (1) all countries
need to have English as the first language; (2) all countries are major players in the
international education market; (3) all countries need to have offshore programs
running overseas. Australia, the UK and the USA were chosen for this study based on
these criteria.
The reason for selecting Australia is obvious as the researchers are from an
Australian institution. The UK and the USA have been considered as the major study
destinations for decades and they are the main competitors with the Australian higher
education export market. In 1982, around 336,990 international students studied in the
USA (Agarwal and Winkler, 1985). In 2004-2005, the total number of international
students who went to the USA reached 565,000. The USA remained the largest
international education destination although its international enrollments decreased
1.3 per cent during 2004-2005 as compared to that of 2003-2004 (American Council on
Education (ACE), 2006; Online, 2006). The UK ranked second in terms of higher
education export only behind the USA (Glaser, 1978). For offshore program activities in
China, the UK, USA and Australia are also major competitors. In 2004, Australia and
the USA accounted for 56 per cent of the total number of offshore programs offered in
China (29 per cent for Australia and 27 per cent for the USA), Canada led the UK by 2
per cent (9 per cent for Canada and 7 per cent for UK) (Ministry of Education (MOE),

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2007 Online). However, the UK had 115 offshore programs to be approved in 2005
compared with only 16 Canadian programs to be approved in 2005. In total, the UK had
30 per cent of the total programs to be approved in 2005; this was twice that of the US
and Australia, and seven times that of Canada (Feng and Gong, 2006). So, it is
reasonable to predict that the UK, USA and Australia would be the major competitors
in China for the offshore program market.

236
Sample
The questionnaire survey was conducted in September 2006 in the metropolitan areas
of Nanjing. Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province on the eastern coast of China and
it is next to Shanghai. It is among the top ten most developed cities in China. Year 12
students were chosen for this study. Surveys were conducted in the normal class
setting. This study intends to compare three offshore programs which were identified
from Australia, the UK and the USA. Thus in each class a mixture of questionnaires
for Australia, the UK and the USA was distributed. Students picked up their
questionnaires randomly. A total number of 633 valid questionnaires were collected
(Australia n 211, UK n 228 and USA n 194).
Data analysis
Data analysis started with grouping data into different country. Confirmative factor
analysis was conducted for each group after data had been carefully screened and
cleaned. All outliers were identified. An identical model was achieved after
confirmative factor analysis.
Multi-group SEM analysis was conducted to test the overall model fit (see Figure 1).
All goodness of fit tests indicated that the model was fit to the multisampling data
(see Table I). For example, the X2/df scores were between 1 and 3; GIF, TLI and CFI were

Figure 1.
SEM model with
measured variables

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more than 0.90; the RMR was close to or less than 0.5, and RMSEA was at the good fit
with result of 0.037. The reliability tests also showed that all constructs (i.e. AtB, SN,
PBC and intention) are highly reliable (all -values were between 0.70 and 0.90).
A chi-square difference test was also conducted to investigate the equivalence of the
discriminant validity between the model in which the correlations among constructs
were freely estimated and the other model in which the correlations among the
constructs were pre-determined. The chi-square difference was 4.4 (df 6, p 0.622,
p > 0.05) for this study, which indicated that two models were not statistically different.
Structural equation modeling showed path coefficients with each causal pathway.
Path coefficients were equal to the meaning of standardized beta weights in a multiple
regression (Rodgers and Rodgers, 1999). The path coefficients were consistent with all
our expectations (see Table II). For example, the path coefficient from AtB to intention
was 0.268 for Australia, 0.476 for the UK and 0.362 for the USA, respectively. Thus, H1
was supported. The path coefficient from SN to intention was 0.274 for Australia, 0.11
for the UK and 0.285 for the USA, respectively. Thus, H2 was also supported. Finally,
the path coefficient from PBC to intention was 0.311 for Australia, 0.355 for the UK and
0.209 for the USA, respectively. Thus, H3 was also supported.
A further look at the causal relationship regarding each country found interesting
patterns. For Australia, PBC had the largest path coefficient ( 0.311) among the
three components of the TPB. However, for both the UK and the USA, AtB had the
largest path coefficient ( 0.476 and  0.362). The larger size of a path coefficient
revealed the relative strength of a causal pathway (Rodgers and Rodgers, 1999).
These results indicated that PBC has a stronger effect on enrollment intention for an
Australian offshore program as compared to a US or UK offshore program. AtB appeared
to play a more important role in predicting the behavioral intention for a US and UK
offshore program as compared to an Australian program. Therefore, H4 is supported.
To explore the effect of country on each component, we also conducted a series of
ANOVA tests. The results showed that among all four latent variables, three of them,
SN, PBC and intention are significantly different across countries (see Table III). More
specifically, Tukeys HSD test showed that PBC had significantly different mean
between Australia, UK and USA, UK but intention had significantly different mean
between Australia and UK only.
X2/df
1.669

Path
AtB intentions
SNs intentions
PBC intentions

GIF
0.929

RMR
0.042

RMSEA

TLI

0.037

0.961

CFI
0.971

Australia

UK

USA

0.268
0.274**
0.311

0.476*
0.110
0.355**

0.362*
0.285***
0.209

Notes: *p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.05

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Table I.
Overall model fit with
multi-group SEM

Table II.
Summary of path
coefficients

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Table III.
The effect of country on
TPB components

Conclusions and discussion

This study found that irrespective of the COO of the program (either from Australia,
the UK or the USA), a students AtB, his or her SN, and his or her PBC all had positive
effects on the students intention to enroll in the offshore program. It has always been
questioned (e.g. Bagozzi et al., (2000)) whether a theory (such as TPB) that was
conceptualized in the western context (the US context, more specifically) could be
applied into other contexts such as the Asian context. Supported by empirical results,
this study has found that TPB could be well applied in China to predict potential
students enrollment intention towards an offshore program.
It is also interesting to find that the effect of the three predictive components on
intention is contingent on which country the offshore program is from. AtB, for
example, has a more positive and significant effect on intention for an US or UK
offshore program, as compared to Australian offshore program. This may suggest that
the sample might be more familiar with the education programs provided by the USA
or UK in general, as compared to programs from Australia; thus their enrollment
intention to programs offered by the first two countries was based more on AtB rather
than SN or PBC. Although PBC had a positive effect on enrollment intention for all the
three countries, the effect was significant only for the UK sample. This could be
explained by the education cost. It was generally believed that the receiving higher
education in UK costs more than receiving higher education in Australia or the USA
(Education Travel Magazine, 2005).
Results showed that AtB had a significant effect on intention for both UK and US
offshore programs. However, there are some differences between these two countries.
For example, AtB has a relatively stronger relationship for the UK than for the USA
( 0.476 for the UK and  0.362 for USA) whilst SN is higher for the USA than
the UK ( 0.285 for the USA and  0.11 for the UK). This may indicate that, on
one hand, Chinese students may not be so familiar with the UK as compared to the
USA, while on the other hand, the USA may have a better image regarding higher
education programs. Mazzarol and Hosie (1996)s study also found that the USA was
perceived to be a centre of excellence in nearly all the areas such as business, computer
science and engineering, while the UK was perceived to be excellent in law and
medicine. The USA has been a study destination since 1847 (Yunan, 2002). As at 2005,
there were more than 50,000 Chinese students studying in the USA, which accounts for
more than 10 per cent of total foreign students studying in the USA. Chinese students
are no doubt more familiar with the USA than with any other country.
Country appeared to play a moderating role in the three components of TPB on
enrolment intention. This finding indicated that Chinese students do have different
views on these three countries. Although all of the three countries are developed
countries, the enrollment intentions towards their offshore programs were different.
Main effects

df

F-value

Significance

Country
AtB
SN
PBC
Intention

2
2
2
2

1.598
3.092
3.658
4.252

0.203
0.046*
0.026*
0.015*

Note: *p < 0.05

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This finding was consistent with Ahmed and dAstouss (2004) claim that Chinese
consumers tend to have different perceptions about different developed countries.
This study only tested the applicability of TPB on the enrolment intentions of
Chinese students in one city. Therefore, one of the limitations for this study is that it
does not take Chinas regional differences into account. However, we are aware that
there might have been some difference from different regions due to the availability of
information, traditional links with specific countries (for example, people in Shanghai
prefer go to the USA and Japan) and other factors. Further study may consider the
regional disparity. Moreover, the effects of COO could be explored further. COO has
been developed into different concepts such as general country image and specific
country image (e.g. product-country image) and it remains an interesting pursuit to
examine how different country images could influence the three components of TPB as
well as the enrolment intention. The current study only looked into the first stage of a
potential students decision-making process (programs based on country) and future
study could have a further exploration of the decision process, for example, providing
students with the cost of an offshore program. It may also be interesting to have a
follow-up study in order to compare those who actually enroll in an offshore program
with those who showed their intention in the current study but do not enroll in the end.
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Corresponding author
Jianyao Li can be contacted at: jianyao.li@uwa.edu.au; jianyaoli@hotmail.com

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