Journal of Accounting Management and Economics Vol. 20, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-6 Published by Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman Published online on July, 9 2018 in http://jos.unsoed.ac.id/index.php/jame Print ISSN: 1410-9336 OnlineISSN: 2620-8482  Correspondence to : hadiyantiutami@gmail.com Received: May 14, 2018 Revised: May 28, 2018 Accepted: June 11, 2018 INTRODUCTION Vocational high school is a form of formal education unit that provides vocational education at secondary education level as a continuation of junior high school / madrasah tsanawiyah or other equivalent or advanced forms of recognized learning outcomes equivalent to junior high school / madrasah tsanawiyah. As a secondary education level, vocational high school has the specialty of preparing the graduates ready to work. Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas which was established on January 1, 1968 originally had three majors namely accounting, office administration, and commerce. Based on the revised curriculum of 2017, the names of these majors changed into accounting and institutional finance, automation and office governance, and online business and marketing. In 2012, opened computer and informatics engineering skills program that is major of computer network technology and in 2016 opened major of multimedia. Based on the report of acceptance of new students, fluctuation in the number of prospective new students in 3 majors in business expertise and management field shows that for the last 5 years, applicants of new students in the field of online business and marketing is lower than other majors that are accounting and institutional finance and automation and office governance. These data indicate that there is still doubt in the society, especially prospective new students to the decision to choose the major of online business and marketing. Anticipating these facts then the decision-making process of new students in choosing is very important to be known by the manager of Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas through the study. The society, especially the elderly, now has a high interest in education for their children. Most of the society has a perception that someone who graduates from a particular major will have a greater chance of getting a better job, so parents will choose an alternate major that suits their expectations. The prospective students will pay attention to the quality of a particular school education and what about the job prospects that will be obtained after graduating from the education. Therefore, schools need to develop one marketing strategy that is promotion. Promotional activities can inform or communicate about the activities and advantages of a product so that it will be able Factors considered by prospective students in choosing major of online business and marketing Study at junior high school in Banyumas Sub-district Utami Hadiyanti1, Agus Suroso2, Refius Pradifta Setyanto3 1,2,3 Faculty of Economics, Jenderal Soedirman University, Indonesia Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that become the consideration of prospective students in the decision to choose the major of online business and marketing. The type of research used is exploratory. This study used a sample of 76 prospective students. Data analysis used factor analysis. Results of the analysis show that the factor considered by the prospective students in choosing the major of online business and marketing is the student’s perception factor. While, the factors considered by prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing is due to perception factors that include family perception and perception of friends. The conclusion of this study is that the student perception becomes factor considered by the prospective students in choosing and not choosing the major of online business and marketing at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas. Keywords Factors considered by student; perception; promotion; job consideration Journal of Accounting Management and Economics , Vol. 20, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-6 2 to persuade potential customers to buy a product. Effective marketing can form the image of the school as a product. Marketing in the world of education may still seem strange, but as it develops, marketing is something that is needed by the school. School as a product will continue to compete in the market, and always improve product quality and increase the number of consumers, in this case that is improving the school image and the number of students who register and enter in each year. Muhaimin, Suti’ah, and Prabowo (2009) stated that the function of marketing in educational institutions is to establish a good image of the institution and attract a number of prospective students. There have been studies of factors influencing students in decision making of choosing majors in vocational high school (Turina, 2015; Hilda, 2014) and factors influencing students of public junior high school in choosing vocational high school (Jarot, 2014), but no research has been done yet of factors considered by prospective students in choosing the major of online business and marketing. Referring to the above, the purpose of this study is to analyze the factors considered by prospective students in the decision to choose the major of online business and marketing and to know the factors considered by the prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas. LITERATURE REVIEW & HYPOTHESIS Decision in Choosing Major Decision making is the process of selecting one of the best alternatives among the many alternatives available to solve the problem (Raihan, 2016). Helping the realization of conditions of maximizing expectations is the goal of decision making in the selection of majors using purchasing decision theory. Based on the theory of Kotler and Keller (2011), consumer behavior in the buying decision process begins from the introduction of needs, then followed by the process of searching information about the goods or services needed, evaluation of existing alternative, then the purchase decision or selection. Behavior after purchase is the last process after purchase decision. Motivation Motivation is the driving force within a person who forces him/her to perform an action (Shiffman and Kanuk, 2010). Other terms of motivation, such as needs, wants, drives, spirits, or impulses. Theory of motivation according to Robbins (2008) is that a process that produces an intensity, direction, and persistence of individuals in an attempt to achieve a goal. According to Setiadi (2010), consumer motivation aims to improve satisfaction, maintain loyalty, efficiency, effectiveness, and create a harmonious relationship between producers or sellers and buyers or consumers. Promotion According to Kotler and Keller (2011), promotion is an effort made by marketers to communicate with the target market. In the promotion mix according to Lupiyoadi and Hamdani (2006), there are several components of promotion that can be described as follows: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity and public relations, word of mouth, and direct marketing. Perception Perception by Shiffman and Kanuk (2010) is a process whereby a person chooses, organizes, and interprets stimuli into information that can provide a picture of something meaningful. Daft (2010) mentioned that perception is a cognitive process that a person uses to understand his/her environment by selecting, organizing, and interpreting information from his/her environment. Robbins (2008) stated that perception is as a process by individuals to organize and interpret their sense impression to give meaning to their environment. Image of Major Kotler (2008) defined the brand image as a set of beliefs, ideas, and impressions that a person has for a brand, therefore the attitude and action of consumers towards a brand are determined by the brand image. Brand image represents the overall consumer perception of the brand formed by the information and the consumer’s experience of a brand (Suryani, 2008). Journal of Accounting Management and Economics , Vol. 20, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-6 3 RESEARCH METHOD Method of this research is exploratory where researchers did not nor had no knowledge or theory or a hypothesis that make up the structure of the factors that will be formed. This study used a sample of 76 prospective students. This study used random sampling to take sample of prospective students, sampling quota was used to take sample of prospective students and purposive sampling for prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing. Analysis of this research data used factor analysis. RESULT AND DISCUSSION Result of Research Analysis of Prospective Students Data Data analysis used SPSS from 76 prospective students with 71 variables obtained the following output. Table 1. Component Transformation Matrix Component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 .552 .366 .346 .350 .326 .278 .298 .217 2 -.577 -.169 .691 .339 .140 -.103 -.062 .110 3 .222 -.644 .008 -.089 .628 .124 -.084 -.335 4 -.217 .327 .183 -.778 .404 .024 .111 .176 5 -.148 -.208 .021 -.108 -.252 .898 -.087 .214 6 .348 -.291 .114 -.143 -.075 -.261 -.439 .703 7 -.298 .264 -.508 .334 .492 .103 -.394 .253 8 .185 .345 .312 -.075 -.080 .106 -.730 -.440 Source: Data Processing Result, 2018 In table 1, it can be seen the numbers that exist on the diagonal from the top left to the bottom right, the three factors that are formed and have a high correlation are between component 1 with 1 of 0.552 that is above 0.5. While, factor 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are not formed because it has small correlation value below 0.5. Based on these results, one factor is formed and has a high correlation that is factor 1 called the factor of student’s perception. Result of In-Depth Interview The data of this study were obtained through in-depth interviews conducted by researchers conducted with an individual approach. Based on interviews with 5 prospective students, researchers can describe that the factor considered by prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing is a family that is from parents and relatives. Discussion From the results of this study, it can be seen that the factor of perception is a factor that plays an important role as consideration of prospective students in choosing the major of online business and marketing at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas. Factor of student perception gives big influence because of way of thinking, opinion, or assumption in choosing the major of online business and marketing department at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas. Where students interpret and provide responses and impressions of information that they heard especially from the environment, family, and friends. The results of this study indicate that student perception is the factor considered in choosing the major of online business and marketing in line with the results of the study of Fracture (2016) which states that parents and students have their own perceptions and expectations in determining the school. Based on the results of in-depth interview, obtained data that there are several reasons that ultimately become factors considered by prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing. The first factor is the family that is parents and relatives. Job consideration they will gain or future job expectation are the reasons parents recommend and advise and choose major for prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing. The results of this study are in accordance with the results of previous studies. Al-Rfou (2013) stated that family is considered as a factor that students consider when choosing a school or major. Siblings are considered as an important source in choosing major. In addition, the results of the study of Patah and Zakaria (2016) mention that parents and Journal of Accounting Management and Economics , Vol. 20, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-6 4 students have their own perceptions and expectations in choosing the type of school. Another study notes that the influence of parents is a decisive factor in the student decision making process (MANIU, 2014). The results of this study also support that close family relationship is one of the important factors that affect students (Ayiah, 2014). Further research also notes that factor of parents influence student career choice (Okinyi, 2016). Factor of family determination as a determinant factor of students in choosing a school or major is also supported by research which concludes that factor family is an important criterion after the personal factor of the student in choosing the major (Shen, 2017). The next factor of consideration is friends. Recommendation or input of family especially parents and relatives and invitation of friends to enter certain majors become the reason of prospective students in choosing a certain major in vocational high school. The wishes of parents in prospective students to choose in a particular major and information and invitation from relatives and friends will affect the way of thinking, opinion, or assumption that the major that will be the student’s choice is the most appropriate. So the greater the desire of parents and the invitation of relatives and friends will strengthen their consideration to enter certain majors. Daft (2010) mentioned that perception is a cognitive process that a person uses to understand his/her environment by selecting, organizing, and interpreting information from his/her environment. Prospective students interpret and provide responses and impressions of information that they heard especially from family, relatives, and friends that eventually form a perception of one of the majors to be selected. Prospective students get information about the major of online business and marketing from junior high school teachers, vocational high school teachers, junior high school friends, vocational high school seniors, junior high school graduates, and vocational high school graduates, but the information obtained is not sufficient to provide an overview of the majors at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas. This is what makes prospective students do not know clearly and ultimately not interested in choosing the major of online business and marketing. The main purpose of promotion is to modify the behavior of consumers, inform, influence, and persuade and remind the target consumers about the company and the products or services it sells (Sawsta and Irawan, 2005). Not only major of online business and marketing, but prospective students also have not get enough information about other majors at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas. It is also what makes prospective students confused to determine what direction that will be chosen. Lack of interest or even disinterest in prospective students to the major of online business and marketing becomes a determinant of prospective students to do not choose the major. This is in accordance with the results of research of Shen (2017) which shows that personal factor that is interest is one of the keys for students when choosing a major. Based on the discussion of the factors considered by the prospective students who choose and do not choose the major of online business and marketing, the results of previous research that states the distance of school with residence is a factor considered in the selection of schools as proposed by Jain (2013), residence is a factor considered in the selection of schools as proposed by Ahmad (2014), and location is a factor that determines the place for student to learn as stated in research of MANIU (2014) are not dominant factors considered by students and prospective students in choosing majors. The research results of Ahmad (2014) state that school quality is a factor that students consider in the selection of schools or majors, and the research results of Renate (2010) state that the quality of education is also one of the major aspects that are taken into account that determines students in choosing schools, are not dominant factors of students and prospective students in choosing the major of online business and marketing and not factors considered by prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing. CONCLUSION Based on the results of research and discussion of the factors considered by the students and prospective students, through the questionnaires to student and prospective student respondents who choose the major of online business and marketing at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas and Journal of Accounting Management and Economics , Vol. 20, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-6 5 from the in-depth interview for prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing, the following conclusions can be taken: (1) The factor considered by the prospective students in choosing the major of online business and marketing at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas is student perception; (2) The factors considered by the prospective students who do not choose the major of online business and marketing at Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas is student perception which includes the perception of family and friends. Based on these conclusions, the implication of the research result is to increase the interest of new prospective students to choose the major of online business and marketing, so that need to be considered carefully by the Public Vocational High School 1 Banyumas is to always pay attention to the image of the major of online business and marketing by improving the quality and service for students and prospective students so that raises a good perception on students and prospective students, and schools need to increase promotion to the society and prospective students. In addition to the above, the results of this study cannot be generalized to other vocational majors. This is because the purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that become consideration of prospective students in the decision to choose the major of online business and marketing and know the reasons why prospective students do not choose the major of online business and marketing. 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