Explaining the Relationships among Self-esteem, Life Satisfaction, and Intention of Academic Persistence of Foreign Students: An Investigation in an International School of Business

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to identify the causal direction between self-esteem and academic continuity intention through life satisfaction. In addition, the purpose of this study is to more clearly confirm the causal relationship that mediates life satisfaction by comparing the causal relationship of these variables with one another.Research design, data, and methodology: One online survey was conducted for foreign students who are attending an International School of Business in Daejeon, Republic of Korea. The survey was conducted in online survey method from March 1, 2024. A total 375 responses were used for analysis, exceptions were used for analysis. A two-stage regression analysis was conducted to examine the mediating effects of life satisfaction between self-esteem and intention of academic persistence.Results: The results of the current study revealed that there was a causal relationship between foreign students’ self-esteem, life satisfaction, and academic continuity. In particular, the results of research showing that foreign students’ self-esteem affects life satisfaction empirically confirm the validity of the social cognitive theory of well-being. The self-esteem of this model can be seen as a component of self-esteem and means self-esteem. In this model, self-esteem directly affects domain satisfaction, and domain satisfaction affects overall life satisfaction.Implications: It seems necessary to engage in educational activities at universities that can strengthen self-esteem and self-esteem, which are the two components of self-esteem. There is a situation in which explicit education for improving self-esteem is not conducted in the school field, and there are aspects that are distributed in various subjects and educational activities. People with high self-esteem have less fear of change. In order to prepare for the future society that students with disabilities will face, it seems necessary to develop and apply a self-esteem improvement program for them.