Title Page
Contents
ABSTRACT 12
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 15
1.1. Background of the study 15
1.1.1. China's outbound tourism 15
1.1.2. China's study abroad tourism market 17
1.1.3. Confucianism academic expectations 21
1.2. Problem statements 23
1.2.1. Education-oriented Chinese parents 23
1.2.2. Approved benefits of study abroad 25
1.2.3. "Parents-as-customer" orientation in study abroad market 26
1.3. Research gaps 27
1.4. Research objectives 29
1.5. Research questions 30
1.6. Scope of the study 33
1.7. Significance of the study 33
1.7.1. Significance to theory 34
1.7.2. Significance to practice 35
1.8. Operational definitions 35
1.9. Organization of the study 36
1.10. Summary of introduction 37
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 39
2.1. Introduction 39
2.2. Theoretical foundation 41
2.2.1. Customer consumption motivation 41
2.2.2. Confucianism parenting style 48
2.2.3. Chinese cultural values 58
2.3. Theoretical framework 65
2.3.1. Means-end chain framework 65
2.4. Literature review 70
2.4.1. Educational tourism 70
2.4.2. Motivation research of study abroad 72
2.4.3. Short-term study abroad tour 74
2.5. Summary of literature review 80
CHAPTER 3. METHDOLOGY 82
3.1. Introduction 82
3.2. The purpose of study 83
3.3. Research method 84
3.4. Research process 87
3.5. Research design 89
3.5.1. Laddering techniques 92
3.5.2. Content analysis 95
3.5.3. Implication matrix 96
3.5.4. Hierarchical value map (HVM) 98
3.6. Population 99
3.7. Time Horizon 100
3.8. Sampling 100
3.9. Data Collection 102
3.10. In-depth interview 103
3.11. Interview-questionnaire design 104
3.12. Pilot test 107
3.13. Proposed data analysis 108
3.14. Reliability and validity 110
3.15. Ethical considerations 111
3.16. Summary of research method 112
CHAPTER 4. DATA ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 113
4.1. Introduction 113
4.2. Qualitative interview 113
4.2.1. Objective of qualitative interview 113
4.2.2. Research design of qualitative interview 114
4.2.3. Profile of interviewees 116
4.2.4. Pilot test 117
4.2.5. Demographic profile of sample composition 117
4.3. Content analysis of qualitative interview 120
4.4. Summary of implication matrix (SIM) 122
4.5. Hierarchical value map 125
4.6. Summary of qualitative research 126
CHAPTER 5. DATA ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH 127
5.1. Introduction 127
5.2. Quantitative questionnaire 127
5.2.1. Objective of quantitative questionnaire 127
5.2.2. Quantitative questionnaire design 128
5.2.3. Questionnaire survey 129
5.3. Data analysis 129
5.3.1. Respondents profiles 129
5.3.2. Summary of implication matrix 132
5.3.3. The hierarchical value map (HVM) 134
CHAPTER 6. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 139
6.1. Introduction 139
6.2. Interpretation of findings 139
6.2.1. The significant relationships among attributes, consequences and values 139
6.2.2. The significant relationship between attributes and consequences 147
6.2.3. The significant relationships between consequences and values 149
6.2.4. Notable attributes, consequences and values 151
6.3. Recommendations 157
6.3.1. Recommendations for product providers 157
6.3.2. Recommendations for Chinese parents 159
6.4. Implications 161
6.4.1. Theoretical implications 161
6.4.2. Managerial implications 164
6.5. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research 165
References 167
Appendices 215
Appendix A. Interview 215
Appendix B. Questionnaire 218
[Table 3.1] Summary of Measurements of Values 109
[Table 4.1] List of Appointed Interview 116
[Table 4.2] Profiles of the Respondents 119
[Table 4.3] Summary of content codes 121
[Table 4.4] Summary of Implication Matrix 123
[Table 5.1] Characteristics of the questionnaire respondent 131
[Table 5.2] The countries were chosen for children to have study abroad tours by... 131
[Table 5.3] Travel days for study abroad tours by respondents 132
[Table 5.4] Summary of A-C Implication Matrix 134
[Table 5.5] Summary of C-V Implication Matrix 134
[Table 5.6] Criterion of cut-off Value 137
[Figure 3.1] Schematic diagram of the research process 88
[Figure 3.2] Compilation of the Research Methods 91
[Figure 3.3] Abbreviated hard laddering-the 3x(1+3+3x3) format for Attribute 1 105
[Figure 3.4] Abbreviated hard laddering-the 3x(1+3+3x3) format for Attribute 2 106
[Figure 3.5] breviated hard laddering-the 3x(1+3+3x3) format for Attribute 3 106
[Figure 4.1] Hierarchical value map by soft laddering (the cut-off level is 3) 125
[Figure 5.1] Hierarchical value map by hard laddering (the cut-off level is 13) 137