ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

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The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 95

A Confirmation of the Behavioral Intention of College

Students in Recreational Sports Related Departments in

Taiwan towards Overseas Working Holidays Based on the

Theory of Planned Behavior

Yu-Ting Huang, Assistant Professor, Physical Education Office, Asia University, Taiwan Chih-Cheng Tseng, Assistant Professor, Department of Recreational Sport Management,

Tajen University, Taiwan

Chin-Shang Hsu, Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor, Department of Tourism Management, Taiwan Shoufu University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This study primarily uses the theory of planned behavior to confirm the behavioral inclinations of university students in overseas working holidays. The study focuses on university students in leisure and sports departments as research subjects, with questionnaire surveys employed and 453 valid questionnaires obtained, achieving a valid retrieval rate of 90.6%. AMOS 19.0 is used for data analysis to conduct structural equation model. Research results show: 1. The attitudes have no significant effect on behavioral inclinations; 2. The subjective norms have significant effects on behavioral inclinations; and 3. The perceived behavioral controls of have significant effects on behavioral inclinations.

Keywords: leisure and sports departments, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior controls INTRODUCTION

As the US writer, Miriam Beard, once said “Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of life.” When travel is not simply the seeing of sights, the search of meaning during travel becomes another motive for people to travel and to go on vacation. In recent years, overseas working holidays have become popular among the youth; according to statistics released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2012) on the number of Taiwanese who have participated in working holiday programs since the promotion and signing of working holiday agreements with other countries, Australia is the most popular destination for working holiday applications with a total number of 51, 761 applicants by the end of 2011, followed by Japan, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Korea, and Germany. Through working holiday programs, youths in Taiwan not only have the opportunity to experience a different culture: at the same time they can put their individual efforts into making the trip more meaningful. As pointed out by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013), working holiday programs aim to promote mutual exchanges and understanding of the youth in Taiwan and other countries. The purpose of applicants is to have a holiday and they work mainly in order to extend their holiday, but not to earn their travel expenses. Yang (2012), however, in her report, initiated a positive and negative discourse on youth engaging in working holidays in Australia by using the words of “Taiwanese Labor.” Whether youths from Taiwan participated in working holidays for the search of challenges among the unforeseen risks or became cheap labor in foreign countries becomes the focus of discussion. Meanwhile, we need to pay attention to the influential role of the debate with positive and

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negative viewpoints toward working holidays on the decision-making behavior of the youth. Literature review mostly shed the light on the self-influence of the education derived from a multi-cultural experience (Lu, 2009; Chiang & Peng, 2010; Chang, 2012) or discussed the value and motive of overseas working holidays (Lin, 2010; Wang, 2012) while others examined working holiday programs from the perspective of the labor market (Clarke, 2004; Kawashima, 2010；Tsai, 2008). But the nature of working holidays is different from that of short-term travel; working holiday programs involve different work content and relevant issues of cultural adaption, where consumers are often engaged in a more complicated decision-making processes. There has been lack of discussion on the behavioral intention of college students in leisure sports-related departments to participate in working holiday programs as well as their decision-making processes. Therefore, this paper uses the theory of planned behavior to construct the behavioral intention model for college students in leisure sports-related departments to participate in overseas working holiday programs to verify whether the model constructed by this study fits.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (1985) has been applied by scholars in different disciplines to predict and understand human behaviors. TPB emphasizes that behavior is influenced by behavioral intention and its three constructs of intention are attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. TPB’s main theoretical structure extends from the theory of reasoned action (TRA). From the perspective of social psychology, people adopt a rational attitude to make decisions and people are regarded as rational individuals. Thus, TRA mainly assumes that predictable behavior is based on willpower, but this decision-making process excessively simplifies the complicated decision-making behavior of humans. Ajzen and Madden (1986) argued that internal and external factors such as individual difference, information, technology, ability, will, emotion, forcing function, forgetfulness, time, opportunities, and the dependency on others affect the perceived behavioral control of individuals. Hence, Ajzen (1991), based on the weakness of the theory of planned behavior, proposed the inclusion of the influence of perceived behavioral control on individual behavioral intention.

In the structure of planned behavior theory, “behavioral intention” emphasizes the perceived willingness of individuals to demonstrate specific behaviors, the most direct influential factor of behavior. For example, the more youths would like to be involved in the preparation of working holiday programs including data collection, language abilities, and the skills to live independently, the stronger the intention they have, and the more significant behavior they will demonstrate. “Attitude” refers to the belief in a specific behavior; for example, the more positive the youth perceive toward working holidays, the more they will believe that working holidays can enrich their lives, teach them about diverse cultures, and cultivate independent personalities. Therefore, they will demonstrate a more positive attitude towards overseas working holidays. “Subjective norms” refer to people’s opinion about how those that they care about perceive the activities in which they are going to participate. For example, when parents or teachers of college students have a positive perception towards overseas working holidays or believe in the benefits of overseas working holidays, college students will be more willing to take working holidays. “Perceived behavioral control” refers to resources and opportunities required to demonstrate a behavior; for example, if college students can garner support from parents and schools or receive relevant resources in order to take a working holiday, then the overseas working holiday will be made real. In short, it is feasible to examine overseas working holidays made by college students and at the same time, this paper further attempts to explore which behavioral model facilitates the decision process for taking an overseas working holiday.

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METHODS Research Subjects

This study aims to explore the behavioral intention of college students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays. This study utilizes purposive sampling to investigate 500 college students in Taiwan as the research subjects and after removing invalid copies of questionnaires, 453 valid copies were collected for a 90.6% valid returning rate.

Research Tool

The Behavioral Intention Scale of this study investigating college students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays mainly refers to the study of Hsu, Pan & Huang (2011) on the Behavioral Model of Tourists of the Green Island Water Area to include 18 questions in four dimensions: attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention.

Statistical Method

This study uses the structural equation modeling statistical software AMOS to explore the fit of model constructed by this study and at the same time, to examine the correlation of the variables.

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics of Sample Characteristics

Through descriptive statistics, the basic information of the subjects is provided in Table 1. Among the 453 valid samples, 139 are male, accounting for 30.7% of the samples while 314 are female, accounting for 69.3%. For the type of colleges studied by subjects, 332 are studying in “universities of science and technology,” accounting for 73.3% while the lowest number of subjects are studying in “general universities,” accounting for 26.7%, indicating that the majority of subjects are from universities of science and technology. For levels, 226 subjects are sophomores, accounting for 49.9% of the valid samples, followed by 115 “Juniors,” 25.4%, and the lowest number of subjects is “seniors,” 49 and 10.8%. In terms of part-time working experience, 295 subjects said “yes” accounting for 65.1% of the total valid samples while the lowest number answered “no” to the question, accounting for 158 and 34.9%.

Table 1: Demographic Statistics of Participants

Background variables Category Frequency Percentage (%) Cumulated Percentage (%)

Gender Male 139 30.7 30.7

Female 314 69.3 100.0

Institution University 121 26.7 26.7

University of Science & Technology 332 73.3 100.0

School year Freshman 63 13.9 13.9

Sophomore 226 49.9 63.8

Junior 115 25.4 89.2

Senior 49 10.8 100.0

Off-campus

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The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 99

Figure 2: Confirmatory Factor Analysis Structure. Test of Model Fit

Offending estimate

As shown in Table 2, the error variances in this study model lie between 0.03 and 0.07, all positive numbers. The standardized coefficient is between 0.78 and 0.94. A result lower than 0.95 indicates that there is no offending estimate in this study model（Hair, Anderson, Tatham & Black, 1998）. Hence, an overall model fit test can be conducted.

Table 2: Results of Offending Estimation

Item Number Standardized Regression Coefficient Error Variance

1. ATT 1 0.88 0.05 2. ATT 2 0.91 0.04 3. ATT 3 0.91 0.04 4. ATT 4 0.94 0.03 5. ATT 5 0.88 0.04 6. ATT 6 0.89 0.04 7. SN 1 0.83 0.06 8. SN 2 0.90 0.05 9. SN 3 0.86 0.06 10. SN 4 0.84 0.06

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The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol.9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 100 11. PBC 1 0.84 0.05 12. PBC 2 0.87 0.06 13. PBC 3 0.79 0.07 14. PBC 4 0.78 0.07 15. BI 1 0.90 0.04 16. BI 2 0.93 0.04 17. BI 3 0.90 0.04 18. BI 4 0.81 0.06

Data analysis for the structural equation model

Items are removed according to a standardized coefficient and MI value in confirmatory factor analysis (Hsu, 2010) and among them, the MI values of ATT 1, ATT 2, ATT 3, SN 4, PBC 3, BI 1, and BI 4 are higher than 50. Therefore, the above questions are thus removed.

Measurement and structural model analysis

(1) Confirmation of convergent validity

This study conducts a CFA for four dimensions: attitude, subjective norm, behavioral control, and behavioral intention; all loadings are between 0.75-0.94; composite reliability is between 0.87-0.93; and the average variance extracted (AVE) is between 0.69~0.87 as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Construct Index _loadingSTD Non- STD _loading S.E. _(t-value)C.R. P SMC C.R. AVE Attitude ATT 4 0.91 1.00 0.83 0.93 0.81 ATT 5 0.90 0.91 0.03 30.49 *** 0.81 ATT 6 0.89 0.97 0.03 29.29 *** 0.79 Subjective Norm SN 1 0.83 1.00 0.69 0.89 0.74 SN 2 0.91 1.18 0.05 24.05 *** 0.83 SN 3 0.83 1.07 0.05 20.98 *** 0.69 Perceived Behavioral Control PBC 1 0.85 1.00 0.73 0.87 0.69 PBC 2 0.89 1.15 0.05 24.29 *** 0.79 PBC 4 0.75 0.94 0.05 18.54 *** 0.56 Behavioral Intention BI 2 0.94 1.00 0.88 0.93 0.87 BI 3 0.93 0.96 0.03 31.99 *** 0.86

(2) Confirmation of discriminant validity

As shown in Table 4, at a 95% confidence interval of the model of overseas working holidays, the bootstrap correlation coefficient does not include 1. As a result, the overseas working holiday model has discriminant validity（Chen & Wang, 2010）.

Table 4: Bootstrap Correlation Coefficient at a 95% Confidence Interval

Parameter Estimated Bias-corrected Percentile _{Lower Upper Lower Upper}method

Attitude←→Subjective norm 0.88 0.84 0.92 0.84 0.92

Attitude←→Perceived behavioral control 0.89 0.85 0.92 0.85 0.92

Attitude←→Behavioral intention 0.79 0.73 0.85 0.73 0.85

Subjective Norm←→Perceived behavioral control 0.84 0.78 0.88 0.78 0.88

Subjective Norm←→Behavioral intention 0.83 0.77 0.88 0.76 0.88

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As shown in Table 7, the influence of attitude on behavioral intention has not reached the significant level and therefore, Hypothesis 1 is not supported. It is probable that although students in recreational sports-related departments are eager to experience exotic cultures or they have the ability to make their own living, they might have heard negative news about overseas working holidays or lack sufficient confidence. They, thus, are observing or even hesitate to make the decision to participate in the programs and their behavior intention is not influenced. The influence of subjective norm on behavioral intention reaches significance and Hypothesis 2 stands while the influence of perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention also reaches the significant level and Hypothesis 3 is supported and matches with those of Li (2007) and Hsu (2003).

Table 7: Empirical Results of Research Hypotheses

Hypothesis Path relationship Path value Support of hypothesis

1 Attitude →Behavioral intention 0.00 No

2 Subjective norm →Behavioral intention 0.48* Yes

3 Perceived behavioral control →Behavioral intention 0.42* Yes

*p <.05

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion

This study investigates college students in recreational sports-departments as subjects and uses the theory of planned behavior as the basis to construct and confirm the study model in order to explore which behavioral model can encourage students to take overseas working holiday. As indicated in the research results, the model constructed by this study fits. In terms of the correlation among variables, except for the influence of attitude held by college students in recreational sports-department on overseas working holidays, their subjective norm and perceived behavioral control toward overseas working holidays both reach to the significant level.

Suggestion

Recognition of the value for college students in recreational sports-related departments of overseas working holidays:

Research results show the most significant influence of subjective norm of college students in recreational sports-related departments on the behavioral intention towards overseas working holidays. In other words, either parents or schools shall encourage students to enhance their self-value and expand their horizons through overseas working holidays with a positive attitude. After all, when participating in overseas working holidays, students in foreign countries need to use languages other than their mother tongue to communicate with others. Thus, they need to overcome language barriers and they also have the chance to meet with people from other countries at either the workplace or in host families. Through mutual exchanges, they are able to enhance their foreign language and communication abilities while improving their self confidence and sense of achievement. In other words, suggestions from people important to the college students in recreational sports-related departments are critical to their decision on whether they shall participate in overseas working holiday programs.

Establishment of an information exchange platform of overseas working holiday programs:

Research results also indicate the significant influence of perceived behavioral control of college students in recreational sports-related departments on their behavioral intention towards overseas working

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The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 103 holidays. That is to say, relevant agencies shall build an information platform of overseas working holiday programs. Currently, except for relevant information on working holiday programs (youth exchanges) provided by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, information is mostly provided by the private agencies of overseas working holiday programs or related on-line forums; students can only obtain relevant knowledge via previously accumulated knowledge. However, information needed for the makers of overseas working holidays is different from those participating in general tourism activities. Thus, when they collect incorrect or inaccurate information, their willingness to go on overseas working holidays will be reduced. It is urgent to build accurate and useful platforms for overseas working holiday programs. The offices of international affairs of colleges and universities in Taiwan can play the role of facilitating the participation of students in overseas working holiday programs and provide relevant information and assistance as encouragement.

Qualitative studies in supplement for the future

According to literature review, information and cost requested by and paid by overseas working holiday makers are different from those participating in general travels and the decision-making processes of overseas working holiday makers are relatively complicated. Therefore, it is suggested that in-depth interviews shall be conducted among college students in recreational sports-related departments who are interested in overseas working holidays. Through dialogues, interviewees can express their views on overseas working holidays and their description can improve the lack of interpretation that quantitative information fails to capture as well as help us to understand the behavior model of overseas working holiday makers.

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