differences,between,UK,China,doctorial,intentions,explained,attitude,subjective,norm,self,efficacy,Chinese,negative,attitude,lower,subjective,norm,and,lower,than,British,completed,postgraduate,women,men,differ,their,intentions,pursue,an,academic,career,Women,lower,academic,career,intentions,Attitude,subjective,norm,self,efficacy,as,related,to,a,PhD,will,be,positively,associated,with,the,intention,to,pursue,a,PhD,Gender,differences,in,doctorial,intentions,can,be,explained,through,attitude,subjective,norm,and,self,efficacy,Female,will,have,a,more,negative,attitude,lower,subjective,norm,and,lower,self,efficacy,than,male,The,differences,between,the,UK,and,China,in,doctorial,intentions,can,be,explained,through,attitude,subjective,norm,and,self,efficacy,Chinese,will,have,a,more,negative,attitude,lower,subjective,norm,and,lower,self,efficacy,than,British,A,phenomenon,is,observed,all,over,the,world,that,few,women,in,top,positions,in,academia,Sugimoto,et,al,2013,The,proportion,of,female,students,in,higher,education,has,increased,gradually,over,the,last,20,years,In,China,female,and,male,students,have,made,up,half,of,the,undergraduate,and,postgraduate,students,for,example,52,54,of,undergraduate,and,51,18,of,the,master,are,female,Mantle,2020b,A,similar,condition,happens,in,the,United,Kingdom,and,the,female,of,postgraduate,taught,is,even,much,higher,than,half,60,87,Nevertheless,there,is,a,metaphor,called,the,Leaky,Pipeline,which,means,that,the,proportion,of,females,in,the,academic,field,gradually,decreases,through,the,academic,process,Equality,Challenge,Unit,2014,Cooper,2019,Cooper,2019,indicated,the,reasons,that,females,withdraw,the,academic,area,are,because,females,lack,of,the,confidence,to,apply,for,promotion,and,the,UK,Higher,Education,UKHE,is,not,being,designed,for,females,Pursuing,an,academic,pathway,usually,requires,a,PhD,or,an,equivalent,doctorate,e,g,ScD,or,MD,with,several,published,papers,It,is,worth,noting,that,many,studies,attempted,to,find,the,difference,and,reasons,between,genders,in,the,job,seeking,of,doctoral,e,g,Zhao,Hong,2018,and,researchers,promotion,e,g,Cooper,2019,Garcı,́a,Gonza,́lez,et,al,2019,Cooper,2019,found,a,statistically,significant,change,between,gender,ratios,at,four,key,stages,Three,of,them,are,researcher,promotion,processes,from,teaching,fellow,research,follow,to,professor,and,the,last,stage,is,from,Masters,level,PGT,to,Doctoral,level,PGR,There,is,a,lack,of,analysis,of,this,stage,in,previous,articles,until,now,Theory,of,Planned,Behaviour,TPB,which,proposed,by,Icek,Ajzen,in,1985,is,a,theory,predicting,and,explaining,the,process,of,human,behaviour,Ajzen,1985,It,involves,a,plethora,of,aspects,in,order,to,explore,the,behaviour,comprehensively,and,has,applied,to,numerous,research,areas,that,are,relevant,to,human,behaviours,such,as,marketing,and,public,relations,Theory,of,Planned,Behaviour,TPB,is,based,on,the,content,of,Theory,of,Reasoned,Action,TRA,which,believes,that,the,intention,of,individual,pursuing,particular,behaviour,is,influenced,by,the,support,from,others,and,the,attitude,from,oneself,and,will,affect,human,behaviours,Ajzen,Fishbein,1977,However,it,merely,hypothesizes,that,human,behaviour,is,controlled,by,the,individual,will,and,neglect,the,external,factors,Therefore,Icek,Aizen,added,the,external,elements,as,the,variables,of,behaviour,control,which,indicates,that,individuals,have,the,perception,of,behaviours,difficulty,and,the,behaviors,will,be,affected,by,the,experience,and,expectation,According,to,TBP,model,individual,s,beliefs,including,the,behavioral,normative,and,control,beliefs,will,affect,individual,s,attitude,subjective,norm,and,perceived,behavioural,control,respectively,Ajzen,1989,These,factors,will,generate,the,intention,afterwards,and,cause,the,behaviour,Theory,of,Planned,Behavior,is,considered,as,a,better,model,of,behaviour,intention,and,is,more,accurate,in,predicting,behaviours,This,study,aims,to,clarify,the,factors,that,might,affect,the,intention,of,master,students,pursuing,a,PhD,degree,The,experiment,in,this,study,is,based,on,the,Theory,of,Planned,Behaviour,and,will,examine,the,beliefs,of,master,students,in,deciding,to,or,not,to,pursue,a,higher,education,level,Gender,differences,ethnicity,and,social,norms,are,the,main,factors,that,will,be,explored,This,study,aims,to,explore,masters,motivations,to,decide,whether,to,pursue,a,PhD,In,particular,it,is,necessary,to,determine,the,factors,that,affect,the,motivation,of,graduate,students,to,use,TBP,to,pursue,a,doctorate,and,evaluate,their,relative,importance