Impact of Cultural Values on Young Consumers’ Choice of International Tertiary Education

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the following choice issues among young consumers (Generation Y): how cultural values influence a student’s decision on study destinations, and how cultural values influence student’s preferred sources of information for university choice? High school students from Singapore and Malaysia, intending to study in New Zealand were surveyed with an instrument based on Schwartz’s Value Survey and the understanding that cultural values are a powerful force shaping consumers’ motivations, lifestyles and product choices.The results of this research suggests that cultural values have an impact on student’s intended choice of international tertiary education and their preferred sources of information for university enrollment. The results have important implications for marketers of export education. There are few studies which try to understand how cultural values influence a student’s decision on study destinations and their preferred sources of information for university choice.