DETERMINING DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND DEMOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES IN SELECTING HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES AMONG MALAYSIAN

The Malaysian education system is ready for a quantum leap that would bring about changes and create Malaysia as a regional hub as well as a center of education excellence. Hence, there is a need to ensure that the educational services are relevant and useful to potential users. The study attempts to determi ne the decision-making styles for higher educational services among Malaysians. Specifically, the objectives of this research are to delineate the dimensions of decision-making style of Malaysian consumers as well as to examine the effect of demographic consumer groups on decision-making related to high quality and expectation of the services in higher educational institutions. A total 149 usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed . Factor analysis is the main statistical test used in this study apart from the Independent Sample T-Test. Eight-factor solution was obtained which explained 61.52 percent of the variance. The study found six dimensions of price equal quality consumers,price conscious, value for money consumers, novelty and quality conscious consumers,convenience, variety choice conscious consumers, confused by over choice consumers,and promotional conscious consumers. It is found that the demographic consumer grouphas a significant effect on the decision-making styles related to high quality and expectation of services. Malays and Chinese, the two major ethnic groups in Malaysia also showed significantly different decision -making styles