Self-leadership as the ability for self-management in relation to academic procrastination of engineering students

Abstract

Introduction. In the modern educational environment, attention is increasingly focused on the development of students’ personalities. The ability to self-organize, self-discipline and self-motivation becomes a necessary skill both for achieving educational goals and for successful integration into the professional environment of a future specialist. The purpose of the study is to study the influence of self-leadership, self-management and self-esteem on the level of academic procrastination of engineering students. Materials and methods. The sample is represented by 138 students of the St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, the average age was 20 years. The following methods were used: «Questionnaire to determine the level of self-leadership», adapted by Kim E-sung, «Scale for assessing academic procrastination», adapted by M.V. Zverev, questionnaire «Ability to self-government» N.M. Peysakhova, test «Determination of the level of self-esteem» S.V. Kovaleva. Results. The self-leadership and self-management skills of engineering students are at the «above average» level, there is also an average level of procrastination, and a low level of self-esteem was found. Students' academic procrastination decreases with a high level of goal-setting ability (r=-0,19; p≤0,05), introspection (r=-0,19; p≤0,05), self-control (r=-0,20; p≤0,05). Procrastination increases when using the strategies of «self-reward» (r=0,18, p≤0,05) and «visualization of one’s own success» (r=0,19, p≤0,05), as well as with high self-esteem (r=0,23; p≤0,001). Girls are more likely to procrastinate, care about the quality of work, and reward themselves after achieving results than boys. The most significant contribution to the academic procrastination of engineering students is made by goal setting (B = -0,36) and «visualization of one’s own success» (B = 0,40). Conclusion. Academic procrastination is one of the common problems in education. Self-leadership as the ability for self-management has a significant impact on procrastination, reducing it. Further research into the phenomenon of self-leadership may contribute to the development of programs for developing selfmanagement skills, which will improve learning outcomes.