ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

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1 A Confirmation of the Behavioral Intention of College Students in Recreational Sports Related Departments in Taiwan towards Overseas Working Holidays Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior Yu-Ting Huang, Assistant Professor, Physical Education Office, Asia University, Taiwan Chih-Cheng Tseng, Assistant Professor, Department of Recreational Sport Management, Tajen University, Taiwan Chin-Shang Hsu, Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor, Department of Tourism Management, Taiwan Shoufu University, Taiwan ABSTRACT This study primarily uses the theory of planned behavior to confirm the behavioral inclinations of university students in overseas working holidays. The study focuses on university students in leisure and sports departments as research subjects, with questionnaire surveys employed and 453 valid questionnaires obtained, achieving a valid retrieval rate of 90.6%. AMOS 19.0 is used for data analysis to conduct structural equation model. Research results show: 1. The attitudes have no significant effect on behavioral inclinations; 2. The subjective norms have significant effects on behavioral inclinations; and 3. The perceived behavioral controls of have significant effects on behavioral inclinations. Keywords: leisure and sports departments, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior controls INTRODUCTION As the US writer, Miriam Beard, once said Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of life. When travel is not simply the seeing of sights, the search of meaning during travel becomes another motive for people to travel and to go on vacation. In recent years, overseas working holidays have become popular among the youth; according to statistics released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2012) on the number of Taiwanese who have participated in working holiday programs since the promotion and signing of working holiday agreements with other countries, Australia is the most popular destination for working holiday applications with a total number of 51, 761 applicants by the end of 2011, followed by Japan, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Korea, and Germany. Through working holiday programs, youths in Taiwan not only have the opportunity to experience a different culture: at the same time they can put their individual efforts into making the trip more meaningful. As pointed out by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013), working holiday programs aim to promote mutual exchanges and understanding of the youth in Taiwan and other countries. The purpose of applicants is to have a holiday and they work mainly in order to extend their holiday, but not to earn their travel expenses. Yang (2012), however, in her report, initiated a positive and negative discourse on youth engaging in working holidays in Australia by using the words of Taiwanese Labor. Whether youths from Taiwan participated in working holidays for the search of challenges among the unforeseen risks or became cheap labor in foreign countries becomes the focus of discussion. Meanwhile, we need to pay attention to the influential role of the debate with positive and The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 95

2 negative viewpoints toward working holidays on the decision-making behavior of the youth. Literature review mostly shed the light on the self-influence of the education derived from a multi-cultural experience (Lu, 2009; Chiang & Peng, 2010; Chang, 2012) or discussed the value and motive of overseas working holidays (Lin, 2010; Wang, 2012) while others examined working holiday programs from the perspective of the labor market (Clarke, 2004; Kawashima, 2010;Tsai, 2008). But the nature of working holidays is different from that of short-term travel; working holiday programs involve different work content and relevant issues of cultural adaption, where consumers are often engaged in a more complicated decision-making processes. There has been lack of discussion on the behavioral intention of college students in leisure sports-related departments to participate in working holiday programs as well as their decision-making processes. Therefore, this paper uses the theory of planned behavior to construct the behavioral intention model for college students in leisure sports-related departments to participate in overseas working holiday programs to verify whether the model constructed by this study fits. LITERATURE REVIEW The theory of planned behavior (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (1985) has been applied by scholars in different disciplines to predict and understand human behaviors. TPB emphasizes that behavior is influenced by behavioral intention and its three constructs of intention are attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. TPB s main theoretical structure extends from the theory of reasoned action (TRA). From the perspective of social psychology, people adopt a rational attitude to make decisions and people are regarded as rational individuals. Thus, TRA mainly assumes that predictable behavior is based on willpower, but this decision-making process excessively simplifies the complicated decision-making behavior of humans. Ajzen and Madden (1986) argued that internal and external factors such as individual difference, information, technology, ability, will, emotion, forcing function, forgetfulness, time, opportunities, and the dependency on others affect the perceived behavioral control of individuals. Hence, Ajzen (1991), based on the weakness of the theory of planned behavior, proposed the inclusion of the influence of perceived behavioral control on individual behavioral intention. In the structure of planned behavior theory, behavioral intention emphasizes the perceived willingness of individuals to demonstrate specific behaviors, the most direct influential factor of behavior. For example, the more youths would like to be involved in the preparation of working holiday programs including data collection, language abilities, and the skills to live independently, the stronger the intention they have, and the more significant behavior they will demonstrate. Attitude refers to the belief in a specific behavior; for example, the more positive the youth perceive toward working holidays, the more they will believe that working holidays can enrich their lives, teach them about diverse cultures, and cultivate independent personalities. Therefore, they will demonstrate a more positive attitude towards overseas working holidays. Subjective norms refer to people s opinion about how those that they care about perceive the activities in which they are going to participate. For example, when parents or teachers of college students have a positive perception towards overseas working holidays or believe in the benefits of overseas working holidays, college students will be more willing to take working holidays. Perceived behavioral control refers to resources and opportunities required to demonstrate a behavior; for example, if college students can garner support from parents and schools or receive relevant resources in order to take a working holiday, then the overseas working holiday will be made real. In short, it is feasible to examine overseas working holidays made by college students and at the same time, this paper further attempts to explore which behavioral model facilitates the decision process for taking an overseas working holiday. 96 The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol.9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue

3 As shown in the literature review, the theory of planned behavior has been long applied to various disciplines. Yang (2008) pointed out a major study trend of applying the theory of planned behavior since its establishmentt to three aspects: basic theories as well as conceptual exploration and verification. For technological development, the theory has been expanded to examine the abilities of individuals to accept new technology or to utilize the technology. Our intervening variable is included to examine fitness sports. The literature review also indicated that the theory of planned behavior has been used for a discussion on tourism or travel issues; for example, Lin (2007) examined the current state of the servicee behavior of guided tours provided by whale watching tour operators and discovered the significant influence of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control of guided tour providers during whale watching on behavioral intention. Li (2007) on the other hand explored the behavioral intention of Taiwanese tourists to Kinmen and found the positive significant influence of the attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control of tourists towards their behavioral intention. Hsu (2003) used the theory of planned behavior to discuss the behavioral intentionn of participants in adventurous recreational activities and research results indicated that attitude is the most important influential factor of behavioral intention. According to the above literature, this study proposess the research structure shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Research structure. This study also, according to the literature review, suggests the research hypotheses below: Hypothesis 1: The attitude of college students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays has a significant influence on their behavioral intention. Hypothesis 2: The subjective norm of college students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays has a significant influence on their behavioral intention. Hypothesis 3: The perceived behavioral control of collegee students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays has a significant influence on their behavioral intention. The Journal of Human Resourcee and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 97

4 METHODS Research Subjects This study aims to explore the behavioral intention of college students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays. This study utilizes purposive sampling to investigate 500 college students in Taiwan as the research subjects and after removing invalid copies of questionnaires, 453 valid copies were collected for a 90.6% valid returning rate. Research Tool The Behavioral Intention Scale of this study investigating college students in recreational sports-related departments towards overseas working holidays mainly refers to the study of Hsu, Pan & Huang (2011) on the Behavioral Model of Tourists of the Green Island Water Area to include 18 questions in four dimensions: attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention. Statistical Method This study uses the structural equation modeling statistical software AMOS to explore the fit of model constructed by this study and at the same time, to examine the correlation of the variables. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics of Sample Characteristics Through descriptive statistics, the basic information of the subjects is provided in Table 1. Among the 453 valid samples, 139 are male, accounting for 30.7% of the samples while 314 are female, accounting for 69.3%. For the type of colleges studied by subjects, 332 are studying in universities of science and technology, accounting for 73.3% while the lowest number of subjects are studying in general universities, accounting for 26.7%, indicating that the majority of subjects are from universities of science and technology. For levels, 226 subjects are sophomores, accounting for 49.9% of the valid samples, followed by 115 Juniors, 25.4%, and the lowest number of subjects is seniors, 49 and 10.8%. In terms of part-time working experience, 295 subjects said yes accounting for 65.1% of the total valid samples while the lowest number answered no to the question, accounting for 158 and 34.9%. Table 1: Demographic Statistics of Participants Background variables Category Frequency Percentage (%) Cumulated Percentage (%) Gender Male Female Institution University University of Science & Technology School year Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Off-campus Work Experience Yes No The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol.9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue

5 Figure 2: Confirmatory Factor Analysis Structure. Test of Model Offending estimate As shown in Table 2, the error variances in this study model lie between 0.03 and 0.07, all positive numbers. The standardized coefficient is between 0.78 and A result lower than 0.95 indicates that there is no offending estimate in this study model(hair, Anderson, Tatham & Black, 1998). Hence, an overall model fit test can be conducted. Table 2: Results of Offending Estimation Item Number Standardized Regression Coefficient Error Variance 1. ATT ATT ATT ATT ATT ATT SN SN SN SN The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 99

6 11. PBC PBC PBC PBC BI BI BI BI Data analysis for the structural equation model Items are removed according to a standardized coefficient and MI value in confirmatory factor analysis (Hsu, 2010) and among them, the MI values of ATT 1, ATT 2, ATT 3, SN 4, PBC 3, BI 1, and BI 4 are higher than 50. Therefore, the above questions are thus removed. Measurement and structural model analysis (1) Confirmation of convergent validity This study conducts a CFA for four dimensions: attitude, subjective norm, behavioral control, and behavioral intention; all loadings are between ; composite reliability is between ; and the average variance extracted (AVE) is between 0.69~0.87 as shown in Table 3. Construct Attitude Subjective Norm Perceived Behavioral Control Behavioral Intention Table 3: Confirmatory Factor Analysis Index STD Non- STD C.R. S.E. loading loading (t-value) P SMC C.R. AVE ATT ATT *** 0.81 ATT *** 0.79 SN SN *** 0.83 SN *** 0.69 PBC PBC *** 0.79 PBC *** 0.56 BI BI *** 0.86 (2) Confirmation of discriminant validity As shown in Table 4, at a 95% confidence interval of the model of overseas working holidays, the bootstrap correlation coefficient does not include 1. As a result, the overseas working holiday model has discriminant validity(chen & Wang, 2010). Table 4: Bootstrap Correlation Coefficient at a 95% Confidence Interval Parameter Estimated Bias-corrected Percentile method Lower Upper Lower Upper Attitude Subjective norm Attitude Perceived behavioral control Attitude Behavioral intention Subjective Norm Perceived behavioral control Subjective Norm Behavioral intention Perceived Behavioral Control Behavioral intention The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol.9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue

7 (3) Cross validity This study uses cross validity to confirm the model stability of the study and according to Table 5, the TLI variance between two randomly divided groups is smaller than 0..05, indicating that the two models in this study are stable with cross validity (Little, 1997) ). Table 5: Comparison of Invariant Recognition Model DF Chi-square P value NFI Delta-1 IFI Delta-2 RFI rho-1 TLI rho2 Measurement weights Structural weights Structural covariances Structural residuals Measurement residuals (4) Overall model fit The analysis results of model fit of this study are shown in Table 6. The ratio of research model χ 2 and its freedom is 2.77, smaller than 3; GFI, AGFI, RMSEA, CFI, and PCFI are respectively 0.96, 0.93, 0.06, 0.99 and 068, indicating that the overall correlation index lie in the acceptable range (Hsu, 2010). Table 6: Analysis of Model Indices Allowance Research Structural Model χ 2 (Chi-square) As Low as possible χ 2 /df < GFI > AGFI > RMSEA < CFI > PCFI > Determination of Model ness Figure 3: Path diagram for model test result. The Journal of Human Resourcee and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 101

8 As shown in Table 7, the influence of attitude on behavioral intention has not reached the significant level and therefore, Hypothesis 1 is not supported. It is probable that although students in recreational sports-related departments are eager to experience exotic cultures or they have the ability to make their own living, they might have heard negative news about overseas working holidays or lack sufficient confidence. They, thus, are observing or even hesitate to make the decision to participate in the programs and their behavior intention is not influenced. The influence of subjective norm on behavioral intention reaches significance and Hypothesis 2 stands while the influence of perceived behavioral control on behavioral intention also reaches the significant level and Hypothesis 3 is supported and matches with those of Li (2007) and Hsu (2003). Table 7: Empirical Results of Research Hypotheses Hypothesis Path relationship Path value Support of hypothesis 1 Attitude Behavioral intention 0.00 No 2 Subjective norm Behavioral intention 0.48* Yes 3 Perceived behavioral control Behavioral intention 0.42* Yes *p <.05 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion This study investigates college students in recreational sports-departments as subjects and uses the theory of planned behavior as the basis to construct and confirm the study model in order to explore which behavioral model can encourage students to take overseas working holiday. As indicated in the research results, the model constructed by this study fits. In terms of the correlation among variables, except for the influence of attitude held by college students in recreational sports-department on overseas working holidays, their subjective norm and perceived behavioral control toward overseas working holidays both reach to the significant level. Suggestion Recognition of the value for college students in recreational sports-related departments of overseas working holidays: Research results show the most significant influence of subjective norm of college students in recreational sports-related departments on the behavioral intention towards overseas working holidays. In other words, either parents or schools shall encourage students to enhance their self-value and expand their horizons through overseas working holidays with a positive attitude. After all, when participating in overseas working holidays, students in foreign countries need to use languages other than their mother tongue to communicate with others. Thus, they need to overcome language barriers and they also have the chance to meet with people from other countries at either the workplace or in host families. Through mutual exchanges, they are able to enhance their foreign language and communication abilities while improving their self confidence and sense of achievement. In other words, suggestions from people important to the college students in recreational sports-related departments are critical to their decision on whether they shall participate in overseas working holiday programs. Establishment of an information exchange platform of overseas working holiday programs: Research results also indicate the significant influence of perceived behavioral control of college students in recreational sports-related departments on their behavioral intention towards overseas working 102 The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol.9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue

9 holidays. That is to say, relevant agencies shall build an information platform of overseas working holiday programs. Currently, except for relevant information on working holiday programs (youth exchanges) provided by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, information is mostly provided by the private agencies of overseas working holiday programs or related on-line forums; students can only obtain relevant knowledge via previously accumulated knowledge. However, information needed for the makers of overseas working holidays is different from those participating in general tourism activities. Thus, when they collect incorrect or inaccurate information, their willingness to go on overseas working holidays will be reduced. It is urgent to build accurate and useful platforms for overseas working holiday programs. The offices of international affairs of colleges and universities in Taiwan can play the role of facilitating the participation of students in overseas working holiday programs and provide relevant information and assistance as encouragement. Qualitative studies in supplement for the future According to literature review, information and cost requested by and paid by overseas working holiday makers are different from those participating in general travels and the decision-making processes of overseas working holiday makers are relatively complicated. Therefore, it is suggested that in-depth interviews shall be conducted among college students in recreational sports-related departments who are interested in overseas working holidays. Through dialogues, interviewees can express their views on overseas working holidays and their description can improve the lack of interpretation that quantitative information fails to capture as well as help us to understand the behavior model of overseas working holiday makers. REFERENCES Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. B. J. Kuhl (Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp11-39). Heidelberg:Springer. Ajzen, I., & Madden, T. J. (1986). Prediction of goal-directed behavior: Attitudes, intentions, and perceived behavioral control. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, 50, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2013). Reference information of Working Holiday (Youth Exchange) Visa application by citizens of the Republic of China to other countries. Retrieved on May 14, 2013 from: Clarke, N. (2004). Mobility, fixity, and agency: Australia's working holiday programme. Population Space and Place, 10(5), Chiang, Y. R., & Peng, S. J. (2010). A study on cross-cultural adaption and self-identification. Proceeding of 2010 Sports and Leisure Industrial Management and Cross-Strait Academic Seminar. Changhua. Chang, C. Y. (2012). Self-growth and capability improvement of working holiday makers. Unpublished MA thesis, Nanhua University, Chiayi County. Chen, K. Y. & Wang, C. H. (2010). Structural Equation Modeling Amos Operation and Application. Taipei: Wu-Nan Culture Enterprise. Hsu, C. W. (2003). A Discussion on the behavioral intention of adventurous recreational activity participants from the theory of planned behavior- a case study of mountain climbing. Unpublished MA thesis, Providence University, Taichung County. Hair, J. F. Jr., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis (5th ed.). Upper saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Hsu, M. C. (2010). Confirmatory factor analysis and construct validity of the sport tourism constraints inventory for Taiwan college students. Journal of Sport and Recreation Management, 7(1), The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol. 9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue 103

10 Hsu, M. C., Pan, F. C., & Huang, C. M. (2011). The research of behavioral for water sports tourist's in green island: the verification of the theory of Planned Behavior. Journal of Taiwan Society for Sport Management, 11(2), Kawashima, K. (2010). Japanese working holiday makers in Australia and their relationship to the Japanese labor market: Before and after. Asian Studies Review, 34(3), Lin, B. Y. (2010). Contents and value of overseas working holiday. Unpublished MA thesis, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung County. Lu, C. Y. (2009). A study on learning motive and the influence of cultural experience of overseas working holiday makers. Unpublished MA thesis, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung City. Lin, Y. S. (2007). A study on the behavioral intention of guided tour services provided by whale watching tour operators from the theory of planned behavior. Unpublished MA thesis, Chung Hua University, Hsinchu County. Li, N. H. (2007). Construction and confirmation of behavioral intention model of tourists to Kinmen. Unpublished doctoral thesis, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin County. Little, T. D. (1997). Mean and covariance structures (MACS) analysis of cross-cultural data: Practice and theoretical issues. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 32, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2013). MOFA reminds the ROC citizens shall prepare well before making their overseas working holidays and particularly, pay attention to their own safety. Retrieved on May 14, 2013 from: fe91b55db0&opno=fe15c741-bf77-468b- bb7d-0f7eff7b7636 Tsai, K. M. (2008). Attitudes of tourism proprietors being hosts on working holiday: the case in Ken-ting area. Journal of Commercial Modernization, 4(4), Wang, Y. C. (2012). A study on cross-cultural experience, motive, and language learning of overseas working holiday makers. Unpublished MA thesis, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan City. Yang, C. H. (2012). Why a graduate of National Ching Hua University ended up as a butcher in Australia. Business Today, 821. Yang, R. F. (2008). A study on the major trend of the theory of planned behavior-co-citation method. Unpublished MA thesis, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City. 104 The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Vol.9, Num. 2, December 2013 issue