Factors influencing college students’ willingness to continue learning in internationalization at home

Abstract

In recent years, due to the impact of COVID-19 and the continuous improvement of the internationalization level of university education, students’ demand for internationalized learning has been increasing, and Internationalization at Home (IaH), has become a topic of concern. However, internationalization learning is a long-term process that requires students to maintain a strong willingness to learn over a long period of time, existing literature has not yet studied the factors that affect students’ willingness to continue learning in IaH. This paper explores the factors that affect students’ willingness to continue learning in IaH by constructing a theoretical model combining Expectation Confirmation Model and Flow Theory, so as to develop a student-centered internationalized learning model that benefits the students and promotes the development of IaH. It is found that teaching resources, teaching organizers, teaching activities, teaching technology and teaching evaluation positively influence students’ willingness to continue learning, and it is also found that the flow experience has a positive influence in IaH's willingness to continue learning. This paper contributes to IaH literature by identifying factors influencing IaH students’ learning intentions and combines Flow Theory and Expectation Confirmation Model to construct an innovative theoretical model.

Keywords:

• Internationalization at home (IaH)
• expectation confirmation model
• willingness to continue learning
• flow theory
• influencing factors

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Anatoly Oleksiyenko
• The Education University of Hong Kong Faculty of Education and Human Development
• Hong Kong

SUBJECTS:

• Bilingualism/ESL
• Higher Education
• International & Comparative Education

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, Lv Chen; methodology, Li Mei; software, Li Mei and Ma Junjie; investigation, Lv Chen and Li Mei; writing-original draft preparation, Lv Chen, Li Mei; writing-review and editing, Ma Junjie; literature review and part of the paper writing in the R&R process, Wang Junsong. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by National Education Science Planning Project: Research on Multidimensional Identification of ‘Internationalization at Home’ Learning Needs for College Students and Corresponding Teaching Mode Design (DIA220368).

Notes on contributors

Chen Lv

Chen LV holds a Doctorate in Management from Nankai University and serves as an Associate Professor and Deputy Dean at the School of Economics and Management at Tianjin Chengjian University. His primary research interests encompass internationalization in higher education, corporate governance, and intellectual property protection. He is currently leading one national-level project (ongoing, DIA220368), and also directing a sub-project under the Key Tasks of the Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Research Plan of General Colleges and Universities in Tianjin, commissioned by the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (also ongoing, A231079201). Dr. Lv has also previously participated in completing two national-level projects and independently led one bureau-level research project. He has published over 30 academic papers across various journals.In 2022, Lv Chen participated in the 2nd National College Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Competition, where he secured third place (National Third Class Award) and won the first prize at the Tianjin Division (Provincial and Ministerial First Class Award). Throughout his career, he has consistently guided students to achieve notable accolades in various competitions, including a Silver Award in the “Challenge Cup” Tianjin University Student Business Plan Contest, and a second-place provincial and ministerial award in the “Challenge Cup” Tianjin University Student Extracurricular Academic and Technological Works Competition.

Mei Li

Mei Li, an undergraduate student at the School of International Education of Tianjin Chengjian University, mainly engaged in research on internationalization of higher education; Chinese educators publish a paper; Hosted a national level college student innovation and entrepreneurship training program project; Led the team to participate in the Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and won the Municipal Bronze Award and the Tianjin Maker Marathon Final Excellence Award.

Junjie Ma

Junjie Ma, a undergraduate student majoring in Engineering Management, School of International Education, Tianjin Chengjian University. His research interests include internationalization of higher education. Participated in the national project presided over by Associate Professor Chen LV. He won many awards in school, including the third prize of the 2022 Hope Cup Mathematical Modeling Contest and the Excellent student of Tianjin Chengjian University in 2020-2021 academic year.

Junsong Wang

Junsong Wang, a undergraduate student majoring in Engineering Cost at the School of Economics and Management, Tianjin Chengjian University. Her main research interests include higher education internationalization and corporate governance. She has participated in a national-level project led by Associate Professor Chen Lv. In 2023, she completed the national-level university student innovation and entrepreneurship training project in China. She has participated in various competitions, including winning the first prize in the Tianjin division of the 2023 National College Student Maker Marathon and the second prize in the 2022 Hope Cup Mathematical Modeling Competition.