MOTIVATIONS AND MEANINGS OF PURSUING A DEGREE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AMONG STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY: A CONSTRUCTIVIST GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH

Abstract

This study aimed to: 1) understand the motivations and meanings students construct around choosing Public Administration; 2) explain how family, media, personal interests, and university experiences interact with educational choice and reinterpretation of the discipline; and 3) develop a substantive grounded theory explaining meaning formation and future-oriented identity. A qualitative constructivist grounded theory design was employed. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 participants: eight first-year students, five second-year students, five third-year students, and five graduates. Maximum-variation and theoretical sampling were used. Data were analyzed through initial coding, focused coding, constant comparison, and analytic memoing. Five theoretical categories emerged: 1) anchoring the future in security and family care; 2) negotiating personal interests with social expectations; 3) encountering images of the state and civil service through networks of meaning; 4) reinterpreting Public Administration through learning experiences; and 5) forming a future-oriented self and occupational identity. The core category was “constructing a secure life trajectory through negotiated meanings and the reinterpretation of Public Administration.” The findings indicate that security is not merely an external incentive; it becomes an internalized meaning tied to family responsibility. University learning subsequently expands the meaning of the degree from a gateway to civil service employment into a space for developing reasoning, competencies, and identity.

Keywords: Motivation, Meaning-Making, Public Administration, Constructivist Grounded Theory, Career Security