Students’ achievement motivation in Finnish and Chinese higher education and its relation to perceived teaching-learning environments

This cross-cultural study of Finnish and Chinese students set out to compare the levels of achievement motivation (AM) in order to investigate whether the differences in them might be explained by the different cultural response styles and whether these response styles could be controlled for with a method which includes response style variables as covariates in ANCOVA. This study also scrutinizes relationships between perceived teaching-learning environments (TLE) and AM within each cultural group. The survey sample consisted of 3,035 Finnish and 2,309 mainland Chinese university students. Finnish students were found to rate the level of AM markedly higher than do Chinese students. It was determined that the method applied for response style controlling is not suitable for cross-cultural studies, even though it is recommended for this use. A modification of the method, which is based on robust statistical tools, was found not to change this conclusion, but it can nevertheless be used to obtain useful information about the effects of response style differences. The results also show that similar relationships between AM and TLE could be identified in the data of both groups. However, for the Finnish group AM is related to perceived suitable workload, whereas for the Chinese group it is related to teacher encouragement.     

Psychometric properties and factor analyses of the achievement motivation measure

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretically-driven instrument of achievement motivation and determine its validation. The Achievement Motivation Measure (AMM) is closely aligned with Atkinson and McClelland's (1948, 1953, 1961) theoretical constructs of achievement thoughts and behaviours. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis (CFA and EFA) methods evaluated the structural validity of a newly developed instrument, the AMM, by assessing achievement thoughts and behaviours. Participants included 632 graduate and undergraduate university students. EFA supported two factors (Achievement Thoughts and Achievement Behaviours) with 13 items. Findings of a CFA supported the modified two-factor model as fitting the data. The theoretically supported AMM effectively measured achievement motivation by assessing achievement thoughts and behaviours.     

“My goal is to do the best that I can in this class”: Relevance of potential-based achievement goals for intrinsic motivation and course performance

Goals are a core aspect of motivation. Elliot et al. (2015) introduced potential-based goals as a type of self-based goals that are conceptualised as seeking to do as well as one possibly could (potential approach goals) or seeking to avoid doing worse than one possibly could (potential avoidance goals). We follow up on this construct by examining its factorial structure and investigating its associations with intrinsic motivation and performance. We assessed 436 Iranian university students' potential-based goals at the beginning of an English course, intrinsic motivation during the semester and end-of-course performance. Results attested factional separability similar to the original work, supporting generalisability concerning more collectivistic contexts. Potential approach goals were positively associated with intrinsic motivation and performance, while potential avoidance goals were negatively associated with performance, also after controlling for demographics. Overall, this affirms the relevance of potential-based goals for a comprehensive understanding of how goals motivate individuals.     

Achievement motive and sport participation

Three studies investigated the relationship between the achievement motive and sport participation. It was expected that both the implicit and the explicit achievement motives are positively associated with how frequently people engage in sport activities. The implicit achievement motive was assessed with indirect motive measures; the explicit achievement motive was either inferred from participants’ personal goals or measured with self-reports. Two hundred five athletes participated including college students enrolled in leisure sport programs offered at their university (Study 1), amateur athletes registered in sports clubs (Study 2), and elite tennis athletes (Study 3). The implicit achievement motive consistently predicted sport participation in all three studies. In contrast, the explicit achievement motive was uncorrelated with sport participation. The interaction between the two motives did not yield an effect on sport participation. The results indicate that the implicit, unconscious need to achieve facilitates regular engagement in sport activities, but the explicit, conscious orientation toward achievement does not. The enrichment of sports environments with incentives for the implicit achievement motive may thus attract more people to participate in sport activities.     

Do performance avoidance goals moderate the effect of different types of stereotype threat on women’s math performance?

Stereotype threat is considered to be a robust effect that explains persistent gender gaps in math performance and scientific career trajectories. Some evidence suggests stereotype threat effects are buffered by adoption of performance avoidance goals (Chalabaev, Major, Sarrazin, & Cury, 2012). With 590 American female participants, we closely replicated Chalabaev et al. (2012). Results showed no significant main or interaction effects for stereotype threat or performance avoidance goals, despite multiple controls. We conclude that effects of stereotype threat might be smaller than typically reported and find limited evidence for moderation by avoidance achievement goals. Accordingly, stereotype threat might not be a major part of the explanation for the gender gap in math performance, consistent with recent meta-analyses (Flore & Wicherts, 2015).