Analysis of Factors Influencing the Decision of Students and Alumni
in Choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
Sekar Ayu Wulandari
1
1
Magister of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Airlangga University, Surabaya -Indonesia
Keywords: Factors Analysis, Educational Services, Student Choices, University choice, Sustainability in Higher
Education
Abstract: Education is increasingly growing along with the development of information technology, especially in
higher education. These have an impact on the increasing number of universities in Indonesia. One form of
higher education in Indonesia is Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. The conditions of competition
between universities encourage Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo to be able to maintain and get new
students every year. The decision of students in determining their choice is crucial for the sustainability of
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. What factors they consider in their decisions are information that
must be known by Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo to survive or even win the competition in the
education services industry. Information about these factors will help Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
in determining the policies that will be taken later for increasing the competitiveness and the number of
students of Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo for the upcoming years. This research is quantitative
research where the questionnaire used as main instruments for collecting data. Respondents chosen in this
research are students and alumni of Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. As many as 100 questionnaires
are handed out to respondents. Data will be processed using exploratory factor analysis. Based on the result,
eight factors influence students and alumni decision on choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo.
Those eight factors are the reduction result from factor analytic process. They are quality of education and
human resources, promotion and reference, study program, personal factors and alumni success, time and a
scholarship offer, location, university status and job prospects, and cost factor.
1 INTRODUCTION
Education is a significant factor for the survival of
the nation's life and supporting factors that carry out
a crucial role in all sectors of life. Education is
believed to be a strategic tool to improve human life
and investment that provides social and personal
benefits that make the nation dignified and
individuals become a human who has degrees
(Engkoswara and Komariah, 2010).
Education is increasingly growing along with
the development of information technology,
especially in higher education. These have an impact
on the increasing number of universities in
Indonesia. One form of higher education in
Indonesia is Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo.
According to data obtained from the Ministry of
Research and Higher Education of the Republic of
Indonesia, the number of universities registered in
Indonesia reached 4,504 units. One form of higher
education in Indonesia is Akademi Komunitas
Negeri Sidoarjo.
At present, the paradigm in seeing education
begins to shift, which initially education is view and
studied as a social aspect, now people see education
as a corporate (Mundir, 2016). Intensive competition
demands in education encourage universities to be
more oriented to the concept of marketing and
develop it as a strategy (Ming, 2010).
Students are one of the significant resources in
higher education institutions. The increasing number
of students of the higher education institution
usually goes hand in hand with quality improvement
and trust of the public toward the institution. The
existence of students is very influential in the
782
Wulandari, S.
Analysis of Factors Influencing the Decision of Students and Alumni in Choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo.
DOI: 10.5220/0009505807820788
In Proceedings of the 1st Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science (UNICEES 2018), pages 782-788
ISBN: 978-989-758-432-9
Copyright
c
 2020 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

financials of the higher education institution and
influence the learning process to produce good
quality output.
Based on data, the number of students entering
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo experienced
ups and downs. In 2015, the number of students who
study at Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
experienced a decline from previous years. Although
in 2016 the number of students has increased, in
2017 Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo has
decreased again.
The conditions of competition between
universities encourage Akademi Komunitas Negeri
Sidoarjo to be able to maintain and get new students
every year. The decision of students in determining
their choice is crucial for the sustainability of
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. If a university
wants to achieve success in dealing with how to get
the number of students high enrollment in the future
must practice integrated marketing practices
(Alipour et al., 2012). What factors they consider in
their decisions are information that must be known
by Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo to survive
or even win the competition in the education
services industry. Information about these factors
will help Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo in
determining the policies that will be taken later for
increasing the competitiveness and the number of
students of Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo for
the upcoming years.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Decision making is the act of choosing an alternative
from several alternatives (Griffin, 2012). Syamsi
(2007) state that decisions are the result of the
thought process that can be used to solve the
problems faced. According to Terry (2008), decision
making is the choice of behavioral alternatives from
several alternatives. In making decisions, people
who act as decision makers make comparisons and
evaluate the benefits. Kotler and Keller (2016)
explained that consumer decision making includes
all processes that consumers go through in
identifying problems, finding solutions, evaluating
alternatives and choosing between their purchasing
choices. Kotler, (2016) stated that consumer
decisions are influenced by a cultural, social,
personal and psychological of a consumer.
Higher education institutions begin competing,
so it is necessary to anticipate consumer behavior in
choosing. According to Kotler and Keller (2016),
consumer behavior is a study of how the behavior
people in the process of fulfilling the needs of
goods, services, ideas, or experiences to provide
satisfaction with the needs and desires of people in a
society. Schiffman and Kanuk (2010) stated that
consumer behavior influenced by several factors,
namely psychological, environmental, individual,
and marketing mix when buying goods/services.
Rafiq and Ahmed (in Goi, 2009) said that the
marketing mix for educational services is a product,
price, promotion, people, physical evidence, and
process. Things that are considered by someone in
buying goods/services will influence the behavior of
the consumer in deciding the purchase of
goods/services.
Bawantara (2007)stated that the things that are
considered by students in continuing their studies at
a college are family income, reference groups, their
own will, and family. Manoku (2015) stated that
most studies tried to understand the process of
selecting higher education included in the category
of economic models, sociological models, and the
incorporation of the two models. Marketing services
are another model which able to explain the process
of selecting higher education institutions which can
be influenced by internal and external factors
included in the communication effort.
3 RESEARCH METHODS
This research is quantitative research where the
questionnaire used as main instruments for
collecting data. Respondents chosen in this research
are students and alumni of Akademi Komunitas
Negeri Sidoarjo. As many as 100 questionnaires are
handed out to respondents. Data will be processed
using exploratory factor analysis. For this research,
respondents will be asked to list questions related to
the factors that influence them in choosing Akademi
Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. The questionnaire
divided into two main parts. The first part is the
demographics of the respondents, such as year of
generation, gender, majors, age, school origin,
regional origin, parent's occupation, the source of
funds and average monthly expenditure. The second
part will discuss factors that influence the decision
to choose Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. The
questionnaire was designed using a Likert scale
where each answer is given a weight of 1 to 5, then
the values processed and used to be a measure of
these variables.
Analysis of Factors Influencing the Decision of Students and Alumni in Choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
783

The data analysis technique uses exploratory
factor analysis which is a multivariate statistical
technique used to reduce and summarize all
dependent and interdependent variables. This
research tries to discover the relationship
(interrelationship) of several independent indicators
that make independent indicators less than initial and
easy to control.
4 ANALYSIS
Profile of Respondents
In this section, related matters presented with the
description of the respondent. The description
provided the characteristics of respondents who
become objects to research. About 80% of
respondents are in the class of 2016 and 2017, and
the rest are alumni from Akademi Komunitas Negeri
Sidoarjo. About 55% of the respondents are male
students, while the rest are female. 75% of
respondents came from Sidoarjo, 8% from Surabaya
and Madura, while others came from various cities
in Indonesia. Furthermore, 74% of respondents came
from SMK, 21% of respondents came from SMA
and the rest of respondents from MA. For the source
of educations funding, 56% of respondents come
from their own, 38% of respondents come from
parents and the rest of respondent from others.
Descriptive Analysis
There are thirty-two indicators (variables) submitted
in the questionnaire. From this number, it was
evident that respondents' perceptions in assessing the
factors that influenced the decision to choose
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo were very
diverse. Table 5 shows the mean of factors that
evaluated by respondents.
Table 1:Description of respondents based on survey
results
No. Indicators Mean
1 The curriculum is as desired 3.94
2
The curriculum fits between
theory and practice
4:00
3 Desired department 3.86
4 Fast completion period 4:07
5 Flexible time to study 4:40
6 Scholarships offer 3.80
7
Tuition fees are relatively
affordable
4.54
8
Tuition fees paid out in
installments.
4.38
9
Tuition fees according to
services and facilities
4.06
10
Locations not far from
home/office
3.93
11
Location in the middle of the
cit
y
4.32
12 Ease of transportation 3.99
13 Facilities are adequate 3.48
14 Quality of service 3.80
15 Quality of education / teaching 3.79
16 Quality of teachers / HR 3.95
17
The teaching method applies a
balance between theory and
p
ractice
4.00
18 Status as State Universities 4.20
19 Job opportunity prospects 3.72
20
Programs offered according to
needs
4.03
21
Programs are in accordance
with m
y
current work/business
3.73
22 Information from banners 3.02
23 Information from brochure 3.48
24
Information from the
exhibition/training
3.18
25 Information from broadcast 3.23
26
Recommendations from old
students/alumni
3.13
27
Recommendations from friends
or famil
y
3.52
28 Own willingness 4.07
29 Parental advice 2.76
30 There is no age limit 4.07
31 Alumni success 3.45
32
Direct interaction with
prospective students and the
communit
y
.
3.65
The results show that the indicator has the
highest mean score is on the seventh indicator with
4.54, which is tuition fees are relatively affordable.
While the indicator that has the lowest mean score
with 2.76 is in the twenty-ninth indicator parental
advice.
Factor Analysis
Factor analysis is one of the multivariate statistics
and used to analyze variables that are thought to
have links with each other so that the linkages
UNICEES 2018 - Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science
784

explained and mapped or grouped into the right
factors. Factor analysis in this research used with the
aim of exploring new indicators that produce a
factor. Model or factor analysis technique using
Principal Component Analysis (PCA).
Bartlett's test of sphericity is used to examine
interdependence between items that are indicators of
a variable or factor. Olkin's Keizer-Meyer (KMO)
measure of sampling adequacy is an index number
to compare the magnitude of the correlation
coefficient of observation with the partial ones.
Table 2: Bartlett's test of sphericity and Keizer-
Meyer Olkin (KMO)
KMO and Bartlett's Test
K
aise
r
-
M
eye
r
-Olkin's Measure
o
f
Samplin
g
Adequac
y
.
.782
Bartlett'sTest
of Sphericity
A
pprox. Chi-
Square
1568,871
df 496
Si
g
. .000
Because the KMO MSA value is greater than
0.5, factor, analysis continued. The next process is to
look at the anti-image correlation table to determine
which variables are eligible for factor analysis.
In the anti-image correlations, If the correlation
value (anti-image) has more than 0.5, can be
analyzed. If the indicator value's below 0.5, must be
eliminated. Based on the calculation results of the
anti-image correlations, in the parental advice
indicator (X
29
) are worth less than 0.5 so necessary
to recalculate without the parental advice indicator.
After recalculation, the KMO value is 0.791.
Because the KMO MSA value is greater than 0.5,
factor, analysis continued. Based on the results of
the calculation anti image correlations, all indicators
are worth more than 0.5 so that they can proceed to
the next analysis.
Table 3: Bartlett's test of sphericity and Keizer-
Meyer Olkin (KMO)
KMO and Bartlett's Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin's Measure of
Sampling Adequacy.
.791
Bartlett's Test of
Sphericity
Approx. Chi-
Square
1529,355
df 465
Sig. .000
After the indicator value's below 0.5 are not
found, the next step is to do the variable extraction
process with the Principal Component Analysis
method and produce the number of factors formed as
shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Value Eigenvalue and variance explained
Total Variance Explained shows the value of
each variable analyzed. The eigenvalue is a value
that indicates the number of variants associated with
each factor. Factors that have an eigenvalue's one are
factors that included in the model. If the eigenvalue
is greater than one, the more representative of these
factors represents the indicator. Table 4. shows that
the factor components formed in this study are eight.
In this research, there are eight Eigenvalue’s more
than 1, which are 9.576, 2.450, 2014, 1,604, 1,351,
1,2251.169 and 1.052, respectively.
Furthermore, to clarify the position of each
variable in each of the factors formed, a rotation
process is produced. The rotation technique used is
varimax. Varimax method is an orthogonal rotation
method to minimize the number of indicators that
have a large loading factor value on each factor.
The results of the rotation process are rotation
matrix components as can be seen in Table 5. The
component matrix can be interpreted if it has a factor
loading value's more than 0.5. The larger the loading
value, the more influence of the observation variable
on the factor.
Table 5: Rotated Component Matrix
Analysis of Factors Influencing the Decision of Students and Alumni in Choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
785

In Table 5 shows that factor rotations that
interpreted are those that have a value of more than
0.5, namely:
1. The first factor that shows having a value of
more than 0.5 is the indicators X
14
, X
15
, X
16
, X
17,
and X
32
.
2. The second factor which shows having a value of
more than 0.5 is the indicators X
22
, X
23
, X
24
, X
25
,
and X
26
.
3. The third factor that shows having a value of
more than 0.5 is the indicators X
1
, X
2
, X
3
, and
X
20
.
4. The fourth factor that shows having a value of
more than 0.5 is the indicators X
28
, X
30
, and X
31
.
5. The fifth factor which shows having a value of
more than 0.5 is the indicators X
4
, X
5
, and X
6
.
6. The sixth factor which shows that it has a value
of more than 0.5 is the indicators X
10
, X
11
, and
X
12
.
7. The seventh factor which indicates having a
value of more than 0.5 is the indicator X
18
, X
19
,
and
X27
.
8. The eighth factor which shows a value of more
than 0.5 is the indicators X7, X
8
and X
9
.
The 13
th
(X
3
) and 21
st
(X
21
) indicators have a
factor loading value of less than 0.5 for all factors
from the first to the eighth factor. Therefore, the 13t
h
(X
3
) and 21
st
(X
21
) indicators eliminated.
After the stage of factor rotation, the next step
taken is the interpretation of factors. This step aims
to determine which indicators can be included in a
factor and which cannot be included in a factor.
After the stage of factor rotation, the following step
taken is the interpretation of factors. This step aims
to determine which indicators included or not. The
naming factors apply the surrogate method, based on
the highest factor loading value (Simamora, 2008).
There are eight factors formed in factor rotation. The
naming factor is according to the larger loading
factor value. The following are the naming factor:
Table 6: Naming Factors
Fac-
to
r
Naming
Facto
r
Indicator
Factor
L
oading
1
Quality of
Education
and Human
Resources
Quality of education /
teaching (X15)
0789
Quality of teachers / HR
(X16)
0771
Quality of service (X
14
) 0.645
The teaching method
applies a balance between
theory and practice (X
17
)
0.529
Direct interactions with
prospective students and
community (X
32
)
0.515
2
Promotions
and
References
Information from banners
(X
22
)
0.779
Information from
exhibitions
/
training (X
24
)
0.774
Information from broadcast
(X
25
)
0.675
Recommendations from
old students/alumni (X
26
)
0.661
Information from
b
rochures (X
23
)
0.629
3
Departement
Programs
Desired dpartements (X
3
) 0.762
The curriculum fits
between theory and
p
ractice (X
2
)
0.647
The curriculum is as
desired (X
1
)
0.644
Programs offered
according to needs (X
20
)
0.516
4
Personal and
alumni success
There is no age limit (X
30
) 0.730
Own willingness (X
28
) 0.670
alumni success (X
31
) 0.523
5
Time and
Scholarship
Offer
Fast completion period
(X
4
)
0.765
Scholarships offe
r
(X
6
) 0.671
Flexible time to study (X
5
) 0.606
6 Location
Location not far from
home/office (X
10
)
0800
Ease of transportation (X
12
) 0.725
Location in the middle of
the city (X
11
)
0.718
7
Status of
Higher
Education
and Prospects
for Job
Opportunities
Status as State Universities
(X
18
)
0.601
Job opportunity prospects
(X19)
0.570
Recommendations from
friends or family (X
27
)
0.543
8 Tuition
Tuition fees according to
services and facilities (X
9
)
0.725
Tuition fees are relatively
affordable (X
7
)
0.636
Tuition fees paid out in
installments. (X
8
)
0.616
5 RESULTS
The factors that influence the decisions of students
and alumni in choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri
Sidoarjo based on the results of the reduction in
UNICEES 2018 - Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science
786

factor analysis are eight factors. The results of the 31
items that have been rotated form eight factors
called the education and HR quality promotions and
references, departement programs, personal and
success alumni, scholarship time and offer, location,
college status and job prospects, and cost factors.
5.1 The Quality of Education and Human
Resource
The quality of education and human resources, as
well as the teaching methods taught, are a
benchmark of assessment in a college in the view of
a prospective student. Before registering,
prospective students try to find information about
the quality of education and human resources in
higher education. If qualified, prospective students
will be confident in the decision to choose a
university.
The better and more appropriate education
services offered by higher education institutions
with the desire of prospective students, the
prospective students will tend to be more willing to
continue their studies in higher education institutions
that offer such education services (Widikusyanto
and Satria, 2015)
5.2 Promotional and Reference
The purpose of promotion is to inform, influence,
persuade and remind target customers about the
company. Wijaya (2012) explained that promotion
on education services, the ability to communicate
the benefits acquired by universities to potential
customers of a university.
Information from alumni will be more
reliable instead of information obtained from
advertisements because they can first see and
observe what they get if they choose to study at
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo.
5.3 Departemen Factor
Programs offered by a university will influence
decision making in choosing a university. This fit
with Ford in Mehboob, Shah and Bhutto (2012)
research that various study programs, the flexibility
of critical changes and varying degree's choice were
the most important factors for students to choose
higher education institutions. The more available
faculties or favorite department owned by
universities, the more considerate prospective
students to choose.
5.4 Personal Factors and Success of Alumni
By students choosing the Akademi Komunitas
Negeri Sidoarjo on their own and without coercion
from other parties, they will encourage students to
learn new things and to develop skills that students
have had before.
The success of alumni is also a factor that
influences student decisions to choose Akademi
Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. If most college alumni
have successful careers, it shows that entering the
university will provide students with a higher chance
of getting a better-paid job (Kusumawati,
Yanamandram and Perera, 2010).
5.5 Time and Scholarship Offer
Flexible schedule holds a critical role in the student's
decision to choose Akademi Komunitas Negeri
Sidoarjo. Students can increase their knowledge in
the afternoon after they go to work. One of the
reasons choose Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
is time to complete a study fast.
The availability of financial assistance provides
motivation selecting a university and help
underprivileged and accomplished students with
tuition fee. Yusof in Ming (2010) analyzed that
financial assistance offered by universities is one of
the four critical attributes expected from certain
higher education institutions.
5.6 Location Factor
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo located in the
city, easily accessible to public vehicles and location
not far from house or office is quite a consideration
for prospective students to choosing Akademi
Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. Those are in line with
the opinion of Mehboob, Shah and Bhutto, (2012),
the location of tertiary institutions is a predictor in
influencing interest in continuing to college.
5.7 Status of Higher Education and Prospects
for Job Opportunities
Institutional reputation is a crucial factor that
considered when choosing higher education
institutions. Those are in line with previous research
which also found that the image of institutions is the
most critical factor in the decision of prospective
students to choose a university. It believed that the
more reputable the university, the higher the chance
to find work easily after graduation or the higher the
guarantee for students to get a good salary job after
graduation (Kusumawati, Yanamandram and Perera,
2010).
5.8 Cost Factor
The cost factor will be a consideration. The cost of
education is one of the crucial instrumental
components in the implementation of education
(Supriadi, 2010). Without adequate support for
education costs, the education process will not run
well.
Analysis of Factors Influencing the Decision of Students and Alumni in Choosing Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo
787

6 CONCLUSION
There are eight factors formed which influence the
decisions of students and alumni in choosing
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Sidoarjo. These eight
factors are the result of a reduction in the processing
of factor analysis called educational quality factors
and human resources, promotion and reference
factors, study program factors, personal factors and
alumni success, time factors and scholarship offers,
location factors, college status factors and prospects
job opportunities, as well as cost factors.
REFERENCES
Alipour, M. et al. (2012) ‘A new educational marketing
mix: The 6ps for private school marketing in Iran’,
Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering
and Technology, 4(21), pp. 4314–4319.
Bawantara, A. (2007) Lulus SMA Kuliah Dimana?
Panduan Memilih Program Studi. Jakarta: PT. Kawan
Pustaka.
Engkoswara and Komariah, A. (2010) Administrasi
Pendidikan. Bandung: Alfabeta.
Goi, C. L. (2009) ‘A Review of Marketing Mix: 4Ps or
More?’, International Journal of Marketing Studies,
1(1), pp. 2–15.
Griffin, R. W. (2012) Manajemen. Jakarta: Erlangga.
Kotler, P. (2016) Marketing Management. 15th edn.
United Stated America: Pearson Education, Inc.
Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2016) Marketing Management.
16th edn. New Jersey: Pearson.
Kusumawati, A., Yanamandram, V. and Perera, N. (2010)
‘University marketing and consumer behaviour
concerns : the shifting preference of university
selection criteria in Indonesia’, Biennial Conference of
the Asian Studies Association of Australia in Adelaide,
5, pp. 1–16.
Manoku, E. (2015) ‘Factors That Influence University
Choice of Albanian Students’, European Scientific
Journal, 11(16), pp. 1857–7881.
Mehboob, F., Shah, S. M. M. and Bhutto, N. (2012)
‘Factors Influencing Student’s Enrollment Decisions
in Selection of Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s)’,
Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research
In Business, 4(5), pp. 23–73.
Ming, J. S. K. (2010) ‘Institutional Factors Influencing
Students’ College Choice Decision in Malaysia: A
Conceptual Framework’, International Journal of
Business and Social Science, 1(3), pp. 53–58.
Mundir, A. (2016) ‘Strategi Emasaran Jasa Pendidikan
Madrasah’, Jurnal Malia, 7(1), pp. 27–40.
Schiffman, L. G. . and Kanuk, L. L. (2010) Perilaku
Konsumen. Jakarta: PT. Indeks.
Simamora, B. (2008) Panduan Riset Perilaku Konsumen.
Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Supriadi, D. (2010) Satuan Biaya Pendidikan Dasar dan
Menengah. Bandung: PT. Remaja Rosdakarya.
Syamsi, I. (2007) Pengambilan Keputusan dan Sistem
Informasi. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.
Terry, G. R. (2008) Dasar-Dasar Manajemen. Jakarata:
Bumi Aksara.
Widikusyanto, M. J. and Satria, J. (2015) ‘Faktor-Faktor
Yang Memengaruhi Keberlanjutan Perguruan Tinggi
Di Banten’, Jurnal Sains Manajemen, 1(1), pp. 2–16.
UNICEES 2018 - Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science
788