Abstract:

The trend of distance learning in Indonesia has continued to increase since the pandemic because in the end, many campuses are organizing online learning. Competition is getting tougher in getting the number of students each semester, causing universities to have a marketing communications strategy. The university needs to know what factors influence student behavior in determining distance learning. Campuses that organize distance higher education currently require a variety of concrete solutions that can be formulated by considering one's motives for distance learning rather than face-to-face lectures. Each student's behavior motive and decision-making motive in choosing distance learning is a variable that has several indicators to be tested further whether each of these indicators can truly represent the study population. The population of this study was Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia students registered in semester 2023.1 with a total of 439.222 students and a sample of 10,119 students who filled out questionnaires online. By using quantitative research methods through a cross-sectional survey research strategy and the use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to produce six dimensions of student behavior variables in choosing distance learning and five dimensions of decision-making variables in choosing distance learning. This article has produced dimensions of student behavior and decision-making in choosing distance learning that can contribute to the formulation of effective marketing communication strategies and tactics to increase the number of students each semester.

Keywords:

Consumer behavior, decision-making, distance learning, factor analysis.