Conscientiousness and procrastination predict academic coursework marks rather than examination performance

Peter E Morris,Catherine O Fritz

doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2015.03.007

Peter E Morris, Catherine O Fritz

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.03.007

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Abstract

Past research has reported a consistent but small relationship (e.g. r=.23) between conscientiousness and university academic performance. However, in almost all cases the nature of the academic work has not been divided into the major elements of coursework and examination performance. We examined the relationships between conscientiousness and procrastination and the coursework and examination performance of psychology students in their second and third year modules. Both conscientiousness (r=.45) and procrastination (r=−.39) were significant predictors of overall coursework marks and significantly predicted coursework marks for all but one of the individual modules. Correlations with examination marks were smaller and less consistent. Regression analysis showed that conscientiousness was the more dominant predictor than procrastination. These results extend the literature relating conscientiousness to academic performance, demonstrating that the relationship is stronger with coursework than with exams.

Highlights

The relationship between personality and academic performance has interested many researchers
We examined whether there was a substantial relationship between procrastination and coursework performance when conscientiousness was statistically controlled, or whether predictions based solely upon conscientiousness tests would be sufficient, and we compared the general dominance weights of conscientiousness and procrastination using the technique recommended by LeBreton, Hargis, Griepentrog, Oswald, and Ployhart (2007)
We begin with a description of the measures and data, followed by reporting the relationships between conscientiousness and procrastination with overall final academic performance, before turning to the main focus of the paper, examining the relationships between conscientiousness, procrastination, coursework, and examination performance

Summary

Introduction

The relationship between personality and academic performance has interested many researchers (see Furnham, Nuygards & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2013, and Poropat, 2009 for reviews). Examination and coursework performance were addressed separately by Furnham, et al (2013); they analyzed the relationship between these separate measures of academic performance and the big five personality variables. They recruited a sample of 1,013 university students from four British universities across four faculties (arts/humanities, social science, life/biological sciences and mathematical sciences). The personality measures consisted of the student version of the procrastination scale (Lay, 1986) composed of twenty questions rated on a six-point scale, and the 50 item IPIP scales (Goldberg et al, 2006) that include ten, five-point rating questions to assess each of the five personality dimensions of conscientiousness, agreeableness, stability, openness and extraversion. Because not all students took every module, the measures of performance were the mean coursework, examination, and final marks for the modules taken

Description of the data

Correlations with mean final marks

Discussion