Vietnamese University Students’ Motivation and Engagement with Participating in Extracurricular Activities to Develop Employability

Abstract

Extracurricular activities (ECAs) have been identified as a notable measure to fill students’ lack of soft skills for employability when academic competence is still a dominant goal in higher education in Vietnam. However, the levels of students’ motivation and engagement in ECAs and the influential factors on their engagement are still questionable. In Vietnam, the traditional sociocultural beliefs remarkably drive Vietnamese people’s behaviors, yet little is known about Vietnamese student engagement in ECAs under the impacts of Vietnamese sociocultural values. This quantitative study investigates student engagement in ECAs under cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions with 440 students from various higher education institutions in Vietnam. The findings revealed discrepancies in cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement in ECAs among students of different genders, academic disciplines, and academic years possibly due to the students’ beliefs guided by Vietnamese sociocultural values. Implications for higher education institutions are provided to support thge organizing ECAs and encouraging student engagement in ECAs.