"Why did you choose to study Negotiation?": Motivations for joining a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Negotiation Management

Abstract: This study examines the motivations of 300 lifelong learners enrolled in Negotiation Management on a multi-course digital platform, and the impact of Covid-19 on these motivations. The research compares two groups of learners, one studied before Covid-19 and the other during. All answered the question "Why did you choose to study negotiation?" when registering for the course. Learners' answers were qualitatively analyzed and cataloged into four main motivations, extrinsic and intrinsic. The main motivations were professional negotiation skills, and personal negotiation skills. Students who enrolled before the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus were mainly motivated by a desire to improve their professional negotiation skills and status, while students enrolled after the Covid-19 began, wanted to improve personal negotiation skills. Internal motivations were found to be more significant than external motivations, and to be related to learning out of interest.

Keywords: "Negotiation Management" Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Learners motivations, Covid-19 virus.