摘要：Maldistribution of skilled health workers between urban and rural area, especially pharmacist has
become a global phenomenon. Not only the developing countries but also the developed country
like the United States has been facing the same issue for a decades. Thus, many researchers have
been trying to figure it out the reasons behind this occurrence. In their studies, most of the researchers
agreed that fresh graduates from pharmacy school were willing to work in the rural area. Therefore
the primary aim of this study is to identify the important factors that can affect pharmacy
students’ intention to work in rural area. Additionally, this study also tests the mediating effect of
interest on the intention to work in the rural area of pharmacy students. A conceptual model is
developed based on the two popular theories; namely theory of individual behavior and theory of
interest. This model consists of three independent and one mediating and dependent variable. A
quantitative approach is used to test the hypotheses. With a structured questionnaire, this study is
managed to get 675 students from different pharmacy schools. Multiple regression and Sobel tests
are applied to test the direct and mediating effect. Results show that two out of three had a significant
direct effect on pharmacy students’ intention to work in rural area. Similarly, a mediating effect
also reveals the same. Based on the results, it is clear that predisposing variable is the most important
for the pharmacy students’ interest to work in the rural area. The finding of this study,
indeed, fills the paucity of the empirical evidence regarding pharmacy students’ working intention
to the rural area, especially in the Indonesian context. Based on the findings, this study provides
several recommendations for the government as well as pharmacy curricula developer.
关键词：Pharmacy;
Job Intention;
Rural;
Urban;
Interest;
Intention to work
