The role of Cosmopolitanism in the Erasmus enrolment decisions
(A2022-107802)

AUTHORS

Susana Silva, Universidade Católica Portuguesa; Miriam Salomão, IPAM; José Côto, Católica Porto Business School

ABSTRACT

Although consumer cosmopolitanism has been extensively studied in different research fields, the possible link with the Erasmus programme choices has barely been explored. Our research aims at examining the impact of the level and type of consumer cosmopolitanism on the decisions related to enrolling in the Erasmus programme. We propose a model using the three-dimensional C-Cosmo scale (Riefler et al., 2012), which was tested through an empirical study that is based on data from undergraduate and post-graduate students. Contrarily to what could be expected, consumer cosmopolitanism decreases the likelihood for students to enrol on the programme. This study also suggests that cosmopolitan consumers do not reveal preference for countries with similar/different culture or level of globalization to that of their own country, but, conversely, experiencing a different culture remains one of the leading motivations for these consumers. Cosmopolitanism may be attained with other experiences than Erasmus.