Applying the Stimulus Organism Response Framework to Explain Student’s Academic Self-concept in Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

AbstractOnline learning has been a challenge for the students in times of the pandemic. In this context, academic self-concept (ASC) is an important aspect that has been under-researched. We develop a research model in this work based upon the Stimulus Organism Response (SOR) framework for explaining student’s ASC, and how it is formed from four unique engagement types and the quality of the online learning systems. Data is collected from a two country study (India and Thailand) across two big public universities specializing in STEM education. A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach is used for the purpose of model building and validation. Results indicate that online system quality affects behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement dimensions of students, while these three engagement dimensions further significantly affect the student’s ASC. Agentic engagement does not have any role in the entire online teaching–learning process. Based on the results, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.KeywordsAcademic self-conceptEngagementOnline learningStructural equation modeling