Factors influencing the decision to enroll in an engineering PhD program

This research investigates the contributing factors for considering enrollment in engineering doctoral programs by offering responses´ analysis of two groups; the first consists of 274 graduate students enrolled in various engineering programs in Lebanon and the second consists of 187 working engineers scattered in several countries around the world working in different social and multicultural settings. Both groups of participants completed a survey investigating the factors that may impact their decision to pursue a PhD degree. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Likert-scaled items aimed to identify the attitudinal and normative factors leading to the intention of enrolling in PhD program. An Independent t-test revealed no significance between students and engineers´ intention. An exploratory Factor Analysis provided four factors: professional attitude, social attitude, financial attitude, and subjective norm. Repeated measures ANOVA showed the Professional attitude as the most important for participants followed by the Financial attitude, the Subjective norm, and the Social attitude. The findings are discussed and recommendations for future studies are offered.