The Motivation of Students at Universities as a Prerequisite of the Education’s Sustainability within the Business Value Generation Context

Abstract

The aim of this article is to identify substantial factors affecting the motivation of universities’ students to be actively engaged in the education process and define recommendations for the increase of this motivation. As a result, the sustainability of education at universities will be supported, contributing to the increase of the value of human capital of students and, subsequently, to the generation of value for the stakeholder groups in those enterprises where the graduates will be employed. The research hypothesis is focused on the presence of differences in students’ motivation in relation to their gender, study program, and the year of study. To effectively achieve this aim, the analysis, comparison, and the synthesis of the theoretical background was performed, using available sources of secondary data found in the pieces of domestic and foreign professional literature. The pieces of knowledge obtained were supplemented and combined with pieces of information acquired from the questionnaire survey conducted, focusing on the motivation of students of informatics and management at a university in the Slovak Republic. As tools of statistical analysis, tests of independence suitable for nominal categorical data were applied. It was revealed that young people are motivated to study at a university, specifically at the Faculty of Management Science and Informatics, mainly by the prospect of better chances in the labor market, the possibility of getting a higher salary, and higher qualification. The motivation to study at a university in order to improve the opportunity of getting employed in the labor market was more frequently perceived by women. Despite the fact that the level of teaching is considered to be high by almost 50% of the students regardless of their gender, study program, or the year of study, their motivation also stems from their expectations related to their future jobs. The students of informatics expect to have a team of friendly colleagues, delightful and stimulating working conditions, and the opportunity to do meaningful work. Among the students of management, meaningful work was replaced by the opportunity for self-fulfillment. When focusing on other factors, the differences based on the gender, study program, or the year of study were not statistically significant. Based on these findings, specific measures for the faculty’s management were proposed.