Future work selves : how salient hoped-for identities motivate proactive career behaviors

The term future work self refers to an individual's representation of himself or herself in the future that reflects his or her hopes and aspirations in relation to work. The clearer and more accessible this representation, the more salient the future work self. An initial study with 2 samples (N = 397; N = 103) showed that future work self salience was distinct from established career concepts and positively related to individuals' proactive career behavior. A follow-up longitudinal analysis, Study 2 (N = 53), demonstrated that future work self salience had a lagged effect on proactive career behavior. In Study 3 (N = 233), we considered the role of elaboration, a further attribute of a future work self, and showed that elaboration motivated proactive career behavior only when future work self salience was also high. Together the studies suggest the power of future work selves as a motivational resource for proactive career behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Achievement goals affect academic success and help seeking behavior of undergraduates

The purpose of this study is to determine how achievement goals affect students\u27 academic success and help seeking behavior. The three goal orientations measured in this present study are mastery, performance-approach, and work avoidance. A questionnaire is used to assess the students\u27 goal orientation. The researcher also asked the students to self report their current cumulative GPA and the number of times a semester they visit their professors for help. One way ANOVAs were used to determine which achievement goal had the highest GPA and which had the most help seeking behavior. A correlation was also done to determine if GPA and help seeking behavior correlate. The total number of participants is n=65. The researcher found that students with performance-approach goals had significantly higher GPAs than mastery goals and work avoidance goals. The results also showed that mastery goals had significantly higher help-seeking behavior than work avoidance goals, but not performance-approach goals. No correlation was found between GPA and help seeking behavior. The implications of this study are vast for the education field. Professors should be aware that students who seek help do not in turn get better grades. Reasons for this should be looked at in further research

Persistence and Achievement in Academics

One of the most valuable commodities in modern society is a college education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2016), an estimated 20.5 million students enrolled in American colleges and universities during the fall of 2016, with the majority enrolled in undergraduate programs. When assessing undergraduate success, many studies focus on academic achievement, with grade-point average (GPA) serving as the most common measure. Other studies utilize persistence to graduation as the primary measure of success. Based on the available literature, college success can be predicted by several domains, including personality, motivational influences, and social variables. In the present study, the relationships between both measures of student success and measures from all three domains were examined among undergraduate students (N = 141). Simultaneous regression was used to predict achievement and persistence. Results indicated that motivational factors were the best predictors of actual GPA (R2 = .14), social factors best predicted self-reported GPA (R2 = .17), and personality factors best predicted intention to withdraw from school (R2 = .26). Attempts to predict likelihood to earn a degree were marginally successful, but motivational factors explained only 6% of the variance at best. Results indicated that higher student achievement (i.e., actual GPA) was predicted by greater need for achievement, less fear of failure, and not perceiving schools as being subjective in their treatment of high-achieving students

Explaining Math Achievement;Personality, Motivation, and Trust

This study investigated the statistical significance of student trust next to the well-tested constructs of personality and motivation to determine whether trust is a significant predictor of course achievement in college math courses. Participants were 175 students who were taking undergraduate math courses in an urban public university. The Mini-Markers (Saucier, 1994), an adapted Student Trust Survey (Barnes, Adams & Forsyth, 2004, April), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia & McKeachie, 1991) were used to measure students\u27 Big-Five personality factors, trust in their math instructor, and motivational beliefs and strategies for their learning and performance in one of the math courses they were taking during Spring 2009. Students reported their semester in college, gender and ethnicity their final math grades and math class size information were collected from the university at the end of the semester and their math course group was determined based on the categorization made by the university\u27s math department. The data were analyzed using bivariate correlations, independent samples t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression models. The Conscientiousness factor correlated significantly with students\u27 final math grades, explaining 6 unique variance in students\u27 grades. Students\u27 trust in their math instructor also correlated significantly with their final math grades, contributing another 6 unique variance to the prediction of students\u27 grades. Students\u27 task value, self-efficacy beliefs, test anxiety, and effort regulation were all significantly correlated with their final math grades, and when these were added in the final prediction model, the significant effects of the Conscientiousness factor and student trust on students\u27 grades became non-significant. This showed that students\u27 motivated strategies for learning completely mediated the relationship between students\u27 Conscientiousness factor, trust, and their final math grades. The final prediction mod

Explaining Math Achievement;Personality, Motivation, and Trust

This study investigated the statistical significance of student trust next to the well-tested constructs of personality and motivation to determine whether trust is a significant predictor of course achievement in college math courses. Participants were 175 students who were taking undergraduate math courses in an urban public university. The Mini-Markers (Saucier, 1994), an adapted Student Trust Survey (Barnes, Adams & Forsyth, 2004, April), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia & McKeachie, 1991) were used to measure students\u27 Big-Five personality factors, trust in their math instructor, and motivational beliefs and strategies for their learning and performance in one of the math courses they were taking during Spring 2009. Students reported their semester in college, gender and ethnicity their final math grades and math class size information were collected from the university at the end of the semester and their math course group was determined based on the categorization made by the university\u27s math department. The data were analyzed using bivariate correlations, independent samples t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression models. The Conscientiousness factor correlated significantly with students\u27 final math grades, explaining 6 unique variance in students\u27 grades. Students\u27 trust in their math instructor also correlated significantly with their final math grades, contributing another 6 unique variance to the prediction of students\u27 grades. Students\u27 task value, self-efficacy beliefs, test anxiety, and effort regulation were all significantly correlated with their final math grades, and when these were added in the final prediction model, the significant effects of the Conscientiousness factor and student trust on students\u27 grades became non-significant. This showed that students\u27 motivated strategies for learning completely mediated the relationship between students\u27 Conscientiousness factor, trust, and their final math grades. The final prediction mod

Vodcast Impact on Students\u27 Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions

Purpose: This paper uses structural equation modeling to assess the effectiveness of Vodcasts (video podcasts) as part of a university’s communication strategy with prospective students. Design/methodology/approach: Three theoretical models were tested using a structural equation model. Findings: We find that perceived informativeness, credibility, and irritation of the advertising are directly related to the value of the Vodcast advertising. However of those three factors, only the informativeness is directly related to the intent to take further action toward enrollment. In addition, while prior work has suggested that perceived entertainment of advertising positively influences its perceived value, we find that for these university Vodcasts, perceived entertainment is not a statistically significant factor. Research limitations/implications: The results suggest that for Vodcasts used for these purposes, less attention should be given to entertainment value, and more attention should be focused on providing useful information in a manner that is credible and not irritating to students. Originality/value: Vodcasts have become part of the Internet multimedia experience and have been integrated into universities’ web-based promotion strategies. While prior work has examined general advertising on the web, few studies have considered the impact of the interactive medium of Vodcasts on attitudes and behavioral intentions

American Indian Student Motivation at a Tribal College

The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between motivational characteristics of American Indian college students attending a tribal college. The Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) was utilized to identify motivational constructs. The literature in general continues to portray American Indian students as the lowest academically achieving subgroup as well as having a lack of persistence and high dropout rate in higher education. This study identified areas that support motivation to attend college, which then can be shared with the tribal college to develop programs and innovations to recruit and sustain American Indian students in education, as well as contribute to much-needed American Indian education literature. The study distinguished the motivational characteristics among American Indian students that supported them in attending college

The role of goal structures and peer climate in trajectories of social achievement goals during high school

Students’ social goals—reasons for engaging in interpersonal relationships with peers—are consequential for students’ interactions with their peers at school and for their well-being. Despite the salience of peer relationships during adolescence, research on social goals is generally lacking compared with academic goals, and it is unknown how these social goals develop over time, especially among high school students. The aim of the study was to assess trajectories of students’ social goals and to determine how relevant individual and contextual variables predicted initial levels and trajectories of students’ social goals. Participants were 9th through 12th grade students (N = 526) attending a U.S. high school. Students filled out surveys of their social goals (social development, social demonstration-approach, and social demonstration-avoidance) 6 times across 2 school years. Nonlinear growth curve analyses and piecewise growth curve analyses were used to assess trajectories of social goals across time. Students’ initial levels of social goals differed based on their gender, grade level, prior achievement, and perceptions of classroom goals structures and peer climate. Furthermore, despite substantial stability over time, the shapes of these goal trajectories were predicted by students’ gender, grade level, and perceptions of classroom goal structures and peer climate. In particular, students who perceived an increase in performance-avoidance classroom goals maintained higher demonstration social goals and decreased in developmental social goals over time, and students who perceived an increase in positive peer climate decreased in demonstration-avoidance social goals. Implications and directions for future research on social goals are discussed