Determinants of International Student Retention and Settlement Intentions : Testing an Integrated Ecological- Psychological Framework Juraev Otabek Abdimalikovich Business Administration PhD Program

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This dissertation examines the determinants of international students’ retention-related institutional attachment and settlement intention in South Korea through an integrated ecological-psychological and relationship-marketing framework. Responding to the growing strategic importance of international student retention in Korean higher education, the study conceptualizes international students not only as temporary education consumers but as long-term relational stakeholders whose academic, social, and life experiences may develop into institutional loyalty and host-country settlement intention. A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted among 348 international degree-seeking students enrolled at Korean universities. The model was tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling in SmartPLS 4. The framework integrates personality traits, institutional resources, and socio-cultural conditions as antecedents of academic satisfaction, sense of belonging, and life satisfaction, which then feed into institutional pride, institutional loyalty, and settlement intention. The findings show that the relational core of the model operates strongly. Academic satisfaction increases institutional pride and institutional loyalty, while institutional pride further strengthens loyalty. Sense of belonging enhances life satisfaction and institutional attachment, but does not directly predict settlement intention. Instead, its effect is transmitted indirectly through life satisfaction and institutional loyalty. Life satisfaction is the strongest direct predictor of settlement intention, followed by institutional loyalty, indicating that students’ intention to remain in South Korea is shaped by both overall host-country well-being and relationship continuity with the university. Among antecedents, institutional support emerges as the most influential managerial lever, while personality traits and socio-cultural stressors operate more selectively. The dissertation contributes to marketing scholarship by extending the satisfaction–pride–loyalty logic to international higher education and by positioning settlement intention as a distal relationship-marketing outcome. Practically, the findings suggest that sustainable international student recruitment requires universities to move beyond intake expansion and actively manage support, belonging, well-being, and institutional attachment after enrolment.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1 INTRODUCTION 1
• 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND 1
• 1.2 RESEARCH GAP 5
• 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 7
• 1.4 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY 9
• 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 12
• 2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 12
• 2.2 INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 15
• 2.3 PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES 16
• 2.4 INSTITUTIONAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL ANTECEDENTS 18
• 2.5 PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS AND INSTITUTIONAL ATTACHMENT 21
• 2.6 DETERMINANTS OF SETTLEMENT INTENTION 24
• 2.7 MEDIATION EFFECTS 26
• 2.8 RESEARCH MODEL 28
• 3 METHODOLOGY 36
• 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 36
• 3.2 RESEARCH PROCEDURE 36
• 3.3 SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION 37
• 3.4 MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES 39
• 3.5 DATA ANALYSIS 40
• 4 RESULTS 43
• 4.1 SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS. 43
• 4.2 MEASUREMENT MODEL ASSESSMENT 45
• 4.3 STRUCTURAL MODEL ASSESSMENT 50
• 4.4 HYPOTHESIS TESTING 52
• 4.5 MEDIATION EFFECTS 58
• 4.6 ROBUSTNESS CHECKS. 59
• 5 GENERAL DISCUSSION 64
• 5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 64
• 5.2 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 86
• 5.3 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS 88
• 5.4 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH 89
• CONCLUSION 103
• REFERENCES 107
• REFERENCE (NEWS PAPERS, WEBSITES, STATISTICS DATA) 122