Toward Synthesis Model of College Students Motivation and Social and Cultural Capital: A Theoretical Perspective

This article proposes to provide an integrative model of push and pull motivation theory, Bourdieu’s works on social and cultural capital of students in the higher education institutions (HEIs). This study examines how the social and cultural capital such as, social relationship, habits, socioeconomic status and student abilities, as well as the social and cultural capital of HEIs i.e., corporate social responsibility (CSR), faculty-student interaction, leadership for institution and institutional support influence students’ motivation, satisfaction and loyalty. The theory of push and pull is one of the motivation theories that explain why students pursue higher education and choose a specific HEI. The college students come from diverse social and cultural background; therefore, they carry their own social and cultural capitals which influence their choices, motivation, and satisfaction. There is much less knowledge about the correlation between social and cultural capital and higher education, in literature, where ethnicity, race, and sex are the focus of a great deal of study in higher education. Moreover, there is lack of studies targeted in developing countries, which is clear from the intensive work on marketing and higher education service. For that, the study aims to improve the lack of experimental investigations, by developing a model that investigate and understand students’ behaviors, with a focus on social and cultural capital of student and HEI.