Exploring the determinants of class attendance among students of the Venice School of Management at Ca’ Foscari University, located on the San Giobbe campus

This thesis investigates the factors influencing students’ decisions to attend in-person classes at the Venice School of Management of Ca’ Foscari University in the San Giobbe campus, within a voluntary attendance and post-pandemic hybrid learning context. Drawing on fifty-three semi-structured interviews with Bachelor’s and Master’s students, the study adopts a qualitative approach to capturing the experiences, perceptions and decision-making processes influencing attendance behaviour. The findings reveal that class attendance is a multidimensional phenomenon shaped by five interrelated antecedents: 1. intrinsic and goal-oriented motivation; 2. teaching style and pedagogical engagement; 3. practical and real-world learning value; 4. social and relational dynamics; 5. logistical and structural constraints. Attendance emerges not only as compliance or habit, but as a strategic, context-dependent and socially embedded decision. Students weigh the perceived benefits of attending - learning, professional relevance and social connection - against costs such as commuting, scheduling, and competing obligations. Building on these insights, the thesis develops an integrative framework in which perceived value mediates the relationship between antecedent conditions and attendance behaviour. The research highlights the importance of relational pedagogy, practical applicability and hybrid flexibility, while revealing systematic differences between Bachelor’s and Master’s students in how attendance decisions are made. The study contributes to the theory by extending existing models of student attendance to include relational, motivational and contextual dimensions, and in practice, by providing actionable implications for faculty and university management. Recommendations include encouraging engaging teaching, enhancing real-world relevance, supporting social cohesion, and designing flexible hybrid learning strategies that balance accessibility with in-person engagement. Overall, this research offers one of the first qualitative, context-sensitive analyses of attendance at the Venice School of Management of Ca’ Foscari University on the San Giobbe campus, advancing understanding of how students navigate attendance decisions in a post-pandemic and voluntary attendance higher education environment.