Motivations of adult postgraduate students for further advancement in Hong Kong

Purpose This research aims to investigate the motivations of adults for postgraduate studies in Hong Kong among general master, EMBA/MBA and doctorate students, focusing on the self-actualization need under Maslow’s model. The questionnaire surveying and related statistics methods are used. The Brief Index of Self-actualization (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996) is applied. The findings are: doctorate students have higher self-actualization motivation than Master students; age only slightly partially supported or largely refuted to covariate with self-actualization motivation; there are no direct results to show that females have higher self-actualization motivation than males. However, on Factor 3 curiosity (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996) females score higher than males. As this is a factor that measures self-actualization, we could argue that females show higher self-actualization needs than males indirectly in this analysis. Fourth, there is significant support to show that income covariates with self-actualization motivation. Design/methodology/approach This research investigates the motivations of adults for postgraduate studies in Hong Kong among general master, EMBA/MBA and doctorate students, focusing on the self-actualization need under Maslow’s model. The questionnaire surveying and related statistics methods are used. The Brief Index of Self-actualization (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996) is applied. Findings The findings are: doctorate students have higher self-actualization motivation than Master students; age only slightly partially supported or largely refuted to covariate with self-actualization motivation; there are no direct results to show that females have higher self-actualization motivation than males. However, on Factor 3 curiosity (Sumerlin and Bundrick, 1996), females score higher than males. As this is a factor that measures self-actualization, we could argue that females show higher self-actualization needs than males indirectly in this analysis. Fourth, there is significant support to show that income covariates with self-actualization motivation. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of this study is the time period is too short to conduct thorough meaningful research within actually a few months. If there is more time a more thorough study could be conducted. The second difficulty or just another major difficulty is the availability of participants. It was not expected at the beginning of the research of the great difficulty to get participants particularly reliable participants. To my surprise, the academic institutions in Hong Kong are not cooperative at all including a number of my former alma maters. They either said it is not convenient or there may be privacy problems. Practical implications This would help academic institutions to fix their course strategies, and the government determine its education policies for full-time student and adult education facilities. Social implications This could help to encourage Hong Kong adults to pursue more studies to enhance their ability for their woks and also for promotion of their interests in life. Originality/value This is an original research that hopefully would bring new light to the topic of the research.