Motivation for enrolling in tourism management postgraduate studies in Greece

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide information about the issue of students’ motivation for participating in master degree programs in Tourism Management in Greek public universities. A quantitative research approach on a sample of 136 students was employed to identify and document the findings of a web-based questionnaire used for the purposes of this research. The survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis techniques. The results emerged yielded five motivational factors influencing master degree students’ decision-making to study Tourism Management, namely “cognitive development”, “opportunities for professional and networking investment”, “esteem”, “academic development” and “escape”. The respondents to this survey regard the first three factors as the most important reasons. Further interesting results were obtained by outlining students’ background profile and some positive correlations were identified linking their profile variables with the motivational factors. The implications of this small-scale survey can facilitate policy makers in academic settings to plan and develop quality curricula, instruction and learning resources with the aim of achieving effective learning outcomes which meet tourism industry or related areas requirements.