Exploring Situational Factors for Female International Students and Their Satisfaction in Higher Education Using CB-SEM

While the topic of attracting and maintaining inbound international students has received much scholarly attention in higher education, attracting female international students has rarely been discussed. This study addresses the issue of attracting degree-seeking female international students. Based on the notion of situational factors and total quality management (TQM), we assumed both institutional design and students’ satisfaction are core concepts for attracting and retaining female international students that will make a difference in higher education. A total of 215 survey responses were analyzed, and a covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) approach was developed. The results confirm female international students’ perception of 14 observed variables in the three first-order components and suggest that they can create a second-order construct of push factors, institutional situations, and satisfaction (latent variables). This study demonstrates that higher-order modeling leads to theoretical parsimony and reduces model complexity in the proposed CB-SEM. The findings suggest that the casual relationship works well and both institutional leadership and international strategy can play crucial roles in the process of transforming female international students’ learning satisfaction.