The management of master of education special programs : analysis of market structures, competitive behaviors and factors related to students' decision-making
Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to analyze current states, market structures and competitive behaviors of Master of Education special programs and to analyze factors related to students decision making in order to recommend management guideline for the programs. The sample consisted of 215 program administrators and 921 students in Educational Administration. Two sets of questionnaires were used for data collection: one for program administrators and the other for students. The analyses of market structures and determination of Concentration Index were based on Concentration Ratio (CR), Herfindahl Hirschman Index (HHI) and Comprehensive Concentration Index (CCI); analysis of competitive behaviors consisted of price and non-price competition. The examination of factors related to decision making of students was based on services marketing mix (7Ps) proposed by Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) such as 1) Product 2) Price 3) Place 4) Promotion 5) Process 6) People, and 7) Physical Evidence. The data were analyzed for percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA and factor analysis.
The findings of this research were, first, Master of Education special program had currently 237 curriculums, 32 fields of study in 70 universities which is consisted of 39 Rajabhat ,17 private, 12 public, 1 Rajamangkala and 1 Autonomous University. Next, market structure of the program is Monopolistic Competition because of many buyers and sellers. Products are differentiated but can be substituted. The lowest concentration and the most highly competitive field of special programs in Master of Education is Educational Administration. The Competitive behaviors were non-price more than price. According to opinions of students, factors related to decision-making were sequenced from high to low as follows: Product, Process, Promotion, Physical Evidence, Place, People and Price. Regarding the management guidelines, the program administrators should consider the priorities of factors related to students decision-making.