Time Management, External Motivation, and Students’ Academic Performance: Evidence from a Malaysian Public University

Abdul Rahman Hamzah,Mohd Hasanur Raihan Joarder,Esuh Ossai-Igwe Lucky

doi:10.5539/ass.v10n13p55

Abstract

Societies all over the world have used education as the instrument for the national development while students’ academic performance has the real impact on their professional career development. There are many factors which can directly affect students’ academic performance. However, after extensive reviews of the past literatures, the researchers argued that time management and external motivation have relatively higher influences on students’ academic performance. The quantitative questionnaire survey method was employed for this study. The findings of the study indicated that there is a significant and positive relationship between time management and students’ academic performance. In the light of the findings, we discuss the importance of time management in order to improve students’ academic performance. Implications, suggestions and recommendations for students, parents, policy makers and educational stakeholders were discussed.

Highlights

There is no doubt that today’s students are the future leaders for nation building
According to Sansgiry, Bhosle, and Sail, (2006) and Womble, (2003), among the various factors cited by previous researchers, cognitive and learning issues for example, time management skills play a significant role in achieving students’ academic performance, while psychologists believe that motivation seems to be gaining more popularity, and seems to be a necessary ingredient for learning which is essential for students’ higher performance (Tella, 2007; Biehler & Snowman, 1986)
The primary objective of the study was to identify the influence of time management and external motivation on students’ academic performance

Summary

Introduction

There is no doubt that today’s students are the future leaders for nation building. the journey of transforming a nation’s dreams into reality is not easy. Students in every discipline in universities should overcome various obstacles in order to achieve better academic performance measured by the GPA system. Some factors can be cited as the barriers to students’ high performance during the stay at the university. These factors may be categorised as a cognitive and learning factors, social activities, job responsibilities (Devadoss & Foltz, 1996). There is hardly any study done, in the context of Malaysia, combining effects of cognitive and motivation factors on students’ academic performance. The study has attempted to examine the effects of time management and external motivation on students’ academic performance in Malaysia

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion