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ABSTRACT The Malaysian education system is ready for a quantum leap that would bring about changes and create Malaysia as a regional hub as well as a center of education excellence. Hence, there is a need to ensure that the educational services are relevant and useful to potential users. The study attempts to determine the decision-making styles for higher educational services among Malaysians. Specifically, the objectives of this research are to delineate the dimensions of decision-making style of Malaysian consumers as well as to examine the effect of demographic consumer groups on decision-making related to high and expectation of the services in higher educational institutions. A total 149 usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Factor analysis is the main statistical test used in this study apart from the Independent Sample T-Test. Eight-factor solution was obtained which explained 61.52 percent of the variance. The study found six dimensions of equal quality consumers, conscious, value for money consumers, novelty and conscious consumers, convenience, variety conscious consumers, confused by over choice consumers, and promotional conscious consumers. It is found that the demographic consumer group has a significant effect on the decision-making styles related to high and expectation of services. Malays and Chinese, the two major ethnic groups in Malaysia also showed significantly different decision-making styles. Keywords: Decision-making styles; Educational services; Consumer dimensions; Higher education; Demographic group. I. INTRODUCTION The Malaysian higher education sector has undergone substantial growth as a result of efforts taken by the Ministry of Education to expand the education industry. It is the government's long-term goal to make Malaysia a regional center of excellence in education. The growth of higher education in Malaysia can be seen in several areas: increase in students' enrolment, increase in number of higher education institutions (HEIs), increase in government spending, additional government policies in promoting education, and the country's continuous need for human resources. Decision making in selecting educational services is more complex and even more important for consumers today than in the past. Consumers are besieged by advertisements, news articles and direct mails that provide abundant information on education services, much of it with mixed messages. It has broadened the sphere for consumers' and has complicated decision-making (Hafstrom, et al., 1992). Although many factors influence consumers' decision making, consumers are thought to approach the market with certain basic decisionmaking styles. For example, consumers have been categorized as quality, novelty-fashion, price comparison shoppers, information seekers and habitual or brand loyal consumers (Thorelli, et al., 1975; Miller 1981; Sproles, 1985). Identifying the basic characteristics styles is central to the consumers' interest studies. This identification helps to profile an individual's consumer styles, educate consumers about their specific decision-making characteristics and counsel families on financial management (Sproles and Kendall 1986). The consumer literature suggested three ways to characterize consumers' styles. First, psychographics or lifestyle approach identifies over 100 characteristics relevant to consumers' behavior (Lastovicka, 1982; Wells, 1974). Second, consumer typology approach attempts to define general consumers' types (Darden and Ashton, 1975; Moschis, 1976). Third, consumer characteristics approach focuses on cognitive and affective orientations specifically related to consumer decision-making (Sproles, 1985; Sproles and Kendall, 1986). The consumer characteristics approach, however, is one of the most promising and explanatory as it deals with the mental orientation of consumers in making decisions. …
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