Abstract
Many studies have examined separately the impacts of goal orientations and epistemological beliefs on intrinsic motivation; however, they have not investigated the two concepts in combination to examine their interrelationships with intrinsic motivation. Using Self-Determination theory, this study utilized a cross-sectional research design involving 338 international engineering students who were selected by multistage sampling. Data were analyzed through SPSS v.23. Results of the correlation analysis revealed a significant association between goal orientation and intrinsic motivation. However, associations with epistemological beliefs were found to be insignificant. Moreover, multiple regressions revealed that goal orientations were found to be the only and the main predictor constructs that account for variance in intrinsic motivation. The results of this research provide support for a growing body of evidence regarding the positive outcomes of goal orientation adoption among the students. The findings can be used by educational instructors to offer and establish the optimal learning environment by the inclusion of interesting and enjoyable activities, along with helping students to foster their intrinsic motivation by setting optimal and realistic goals during their academic activities in the university phase.
Highlights
Engineers are some of the most challenging job positions for employers to fill
The current study suggests a framework to inspect the association between psychological factors including goal orientation and epistemological beliefs which may explain the predictors of intrinsic motivation as well as demographic factors, i.e., level of the study, age, and gender
The findings of this study indicate that goal orientation and intrinsic motivation are significantly associated with one another
Summary
In the past twenty years, the number of graduates in engineering has decreased despite various endeavors to expand enrolments in this field (Alias, Lashari, Akasah, & Kesot, 2014; Benlahcene, Lashari, & Lashari, 2017). One of the greatest challenges that educators face is finding effective ways to increase the number of engineering graduates such as preventing the associated etiology, and enhancing and fully understanding the factors that empower persistence among engineering students (Hernandez et al, 2014; Esa, Padi, & Hassan, 2015). Retention in the engineering educational curriculum does not ensure persistence into the career life of engineering (Ibrahim, DeMiranda, Lashari, & Siller, 2017). To address this issue, researchers have suggested numerous. Motivation has been considered as the most critical factor as argued by the researchers
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