Moderating effect of program characteristics on the relationship between student attributes, social support, perceived stress and intention-to-complete doctor of administration programme

Student dropout in the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme has emerged as
the main barrier in achieving the targeted 60,000 doctoral graduates as envisioned in the 10th Malaysia Plan. The dropout rate shows that almost 80 percent of the DBA students did not
complete the programme within the stipulated time frame. However, there has not been much
research focused on doctoral programme completion in Malaysia. Hence, this study
investigated the determinant factors of intention to complete DBA in Malaysia. Specifically, the aim of this study was to examine whether student attributes, social support and perceived stress determine the intention to complete DBA. Additionally, the moderating effect of programme characteristics on the proposed relationships was examined in this study. The survey method was employed to collect data for this study. DBA students who had completed at least two semesters of their studies in Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia and Universiti Utara Malaysia were chosen as respondents for this study. Seven research hypotheses were proposed in relation to the determinants of intention to complete the doctoral study. Structured questionnaires comprising 42 questions were used to measure the four independent variables and one moderating variable. Out of the 750 questionnaires sent out, only 413 were returned and usable, thus yielding a response rate of 55. l percent. The findings revealed that positive relationships exist between student attributes, social support and intention to complete DBA. Unfo11unately, perceived stress was not indicative of any significant relationship with intention to complete DBA. The findings also revealed that programme characteristics moderate the relationship between student attributes and intention to complete DBA. The study concluded with a discussion on theoretical and practical implications and suggestion for future research.