THE INFLUENCE OF WORD-OF-MOUTH ON PROFESSIONAL COURSE SELECTION AND STUDENT SATISFACTION: A STUDY AMONG EDUCATED YOUTH

The study examines the effects of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication to students’ decision making, satisfaction, and post-chooses remorse within the scenario of professional course selection. As informal communication due to its increasing influence in academia decision-making, this study is examining the origin, credibility and effects of WOM amongst students pursuing a professional related course like CA, CMA, ACCA, CS, LLB and MBA. The research design used was descriptive research and a structured questionnaire was utilized in obtaining the data of 95 respondents. The results indicate that friends and social media are the most common sources of information regarding the course, with students tend to trust the information of their peers more than an official information source. WOM had moderate-high impact in most of the students in pre-enrollment expectation, although most of them fell under none and satisfactory, there were some who expressed regret or their dissatisfaction. Another aspect of the study also shows that students will rather refer to courses because of the personal experiences that they have, and thus they stress the cyclical aspect of WOM. On the basis of insights, recommendations are offered to the institutions on how to avail the positive aspect of WOM and dealing with student expectation. These implications point to the significance of succession plans in nurturing trust and improving the satisfaction of students through effective communication strategies.