Causal Attributions For Success Research Articles

Religion and Entrepreneurial Exits: Divine Attributions and Eternal Time-frames

This conceptual study, drawing upon the literature on causal attributions and time perspectives, explores how religion may influence entrepreneurs' decisions to exit ventures. Religious beliefs and principles will likely shift entrepreneurs' (a) causal attributions of success and failure from internal or external loci to a third locus of causality, i. e., the divine, and (b) temporal depths from weeks, months, or years to eternity. Such shifts may, in turn, influence entrepreneurial exits through the nonmarket logic of religion, with contemplative practices acting as the underlying mechanism. Using the context of Jainism, a minority religion – originating in India – characterized by self-employed adherents and a seeming paradox between austerity and ostentation, this study develops propositions that relate religion to business exits.

The relationship between success and failure causal attributions and achievement goal orientations

The aim of this study was to investigate whether four causal attributions for success and failure each (two internal and two external attributions) can be predicted by four types of achievement goal orientations, and whether achievement goal orientations are connected with the perception of a performance as a success (vs. a failure). We surveyed 690 high school students writing a school-leaving certificate paper over the course of one year. Of these, 565 students (65 % young women) considered their paper to be a success; 101 students (59 % young women) viewed it as a failure. A binominal logistic regression and two separate path models for the success and failure samples were conducted. The main findings showed that the odds of perceiving an outcome as a success were higher with mastery goals and performance-avoidance goals. Mastery goal and performance-approach goal orientation were positively related to internal success attributions. Mastery goal orientation was positively and performance-approach goal orientation was negatively connected with the failure attribution ‘popularity with the supervisor.’ Performance-avoidance goals were positively linked to external success attributions and negatively linked to the external failure attribution ‘luck.’ Work-avoidance goals predicted all types of success attributions but none of the failure attributions. The findings provide in-depth insights into attribution processes and highlight the importance of promoting a mastery goal orientation.

An Examination of the Predictive Validity of a Measure of College Admissions Applicants’ Attributions of Success and Failure

Upon the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of higher education institutions in the United States temporarily or permanently adopted test-optional admissions policies. Growth in the number of test-optional institutions and the longstanding criticism of standardized admissions tests as limited and unreliable predictors of college success have led to the use of broader criteria in the college admissions process. However, there remains a need to validate new predictors of postsecondary educational promise to account for a greater percentage of the variance in college outcomes. Among these potential predictors is applicants’ attributions of the behaviors and events they experience within their environment. Guided by attribution theory of motivation, we examine the predictive validity of a measure of 855 students’ causal attributions of success and failure. The measure, composed of four short-answer questions, was administered as part of a test-optional admissions policy at a large urban research university in the United States. Using hierarchical logistic and linear regression, we find that the measure is valid for use across student subgroups. The attribution score derived from the measure makes a statistically significant but nominal contribution to the prediction of four-year bachelor’s degree completion. We also find that the attribution score does not make a statistically significant nor practical contribution to the prediction of cumulative undergraduate grade point average and five-year degree completion.

Causal attributions for success and failure among athletes: Validation of the Croatian version of the revised Causal dimension scale (CDS-II)

Background and Study Aim. Researchers since the late 1970s have been interested in finding out the reasons attributed to outcomes. To facilitate attribution research in Croatia we translated and validated The Revised Causal Dimension Scale (CDS-II) and examined its invariance when attributing most and least successful competition performances.
 Materials and methods. To achieve our stated aim, 384 kinesiology students completed the translated CDS-II. To test the latent structure of the questionnaire, we used CFA and tested two alternative models (orthogonal solution and model with correlated latent variables). Additionally, we examined the CDS-II invariance when attributing the most and the least successful competition performance in sport using longitudinal CFA. The reliability was tested using Cronbach alpha coefficients. Lastly, we tested differences in latent means between most and least successful performance using pairwise t-test.
 Results. Similar to the originally published findings, CFA indicated the CDS-II structure with correlated latent variables had an adequate and better fit than the orthogonal solution in both situations. Furthermore, we confirmed configural, metric and scalar invariance, as well as partial strict invariance since one item’s residuals differed significantly from the others. Cronbach alpha coefficients were adequate across both situations. Lastly, athletes attributed their most successful performances to more internal, stable and controllable reasons than their least successful performances.
 Conclusions. We confirmed that the Croatian version of the CDS-II has adequate psychometric properties and is therefore suitable for research in sport situations.

The Role of Decision-Making in Suicidal Ideation

Students who have trouble in learning to read become a risk group as they experience more difficulties associated especially to emotional and motivational levels. Therefore, to characterize the emotional and motivational problems of adolescents with reading disabilities, 19 adolescents with reading disabilities were compared to 20 adolescents with normal development. The participants were balanced in chronological age, gender and IQ. All participants were interviewed. They self-reported anxiety, manifested depressive symptoms, self-concept, causal attributions for success / failure and motivation for reading. Overall, no significant differences were found regarding anxiety or depressive symptoms between adolescents with reading disabilities and adolescents in the control group. The ANOVA results show that adolescents with reading disabilities had a significantly lower academic self-concept and more extrinsic and intrinsic reading motivational problems. The participants also showed signs of a maladaptive attributional pattern. That is, adolescents with reading disabilities attribute their successes less to ability rather than external factors. They associate failure with lack of ability and bad luck. The results are discussed in relation to the specialized literature. The paper highlights the need to include an evaluation of the emotional and motivational aspects within a more comprehensive framework of assessment among students with learning disabilities.

Reading-Related Causal Attributions for Success and Failure: Dynamic Links With Reading Skill.

The present study investigated the relation among reading skills and attributions, naming speed, and phonological awareness across a wide range of reading skill. Participants were 1,105 school-age children and youths from two understudied populations: African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Individual assessments of children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years were conducted for reading outcomes, cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading, and attributions for success and failure in reading situations. Quantile regressions were formulated to estimate these relations across the full skill span of each outcome. Reading-related attributions predicted contextual word recognition, sight word and decoding fluency, and comprehension skills. Attributions to ability in success situations were positively related to each outcome across the full span. On three reading outcomes, this relation strengthened at higher skill levels. Attributions to effort in success situations were consistently and negatively related to all reading outcomes. The results provide evidence that the strength of the relation between reading and attributions varies according to reading skill levels, with the strongest evidence for ability-based attributions in situations of reading success.

Academic self-concept and causal attributions for success and failure amongst elementary school children

ABSTRACTA great deal of research shows that the way in which children attribute causes to their successes and failures in school has implications for the development of their academic self-concept (ASC). The most common attributions are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. The present study asked 68 elementary school children aged seven to eight years how they explained their successes and failures in school subjects. The aim of the study was to examine whether there were gender differences in the children’s responses which might indicate differences in ASCs or in their explanations for the causes of success or failure. Data were collected via quantitative questionnaires. Results showed no gender differences in ASC but, within the group, boys were more likely to attribute their success to high ability; on the other hand girls were more likely to attribute their failures to low ability or the difficulty level of task. This suggests that boys are more likely than girls to provide positive, self-enhancing reasons for their success while girls are more likely than boys to provide negative, self-deprecating reasons for their failures.

High school students’ academic causal attributions in the cultural-political context of the Arab school system in Israel

While motivation is commonly interpreted as an individual student’s characteristic, motivational perceptions and beliefs, such as causal attributions of success and failure, are embedded in cultural meanings and contextual practices. The current study aimed to investigate causal attributions among Arab high school students in Israel and to interpret them in the light of their cultural-political context. Two hundred and five 11th-grade Arab students from three different geographic regions in Israel responded to open-ended and closed survey questions about events of success and failure in school. The analysis indicated that students overwhelmingly considered exams when thinking about events of success and failure, reflecting the normative teacher-centred pedagogical practices in schools. The analysis also manifested patterns of a self-serving bias. These findings are interpreted in the light of the cultural-political characteristics of the Arab school system in Israel.

Causal Attributions of Success and Failure and Mood States in Football Players

Abstract Introduction. The aim of the study was to determine the causal attributions of success and failure in a football match in a group of football players, as well as to investigate the association of the players’ attributions with their level of achievement and the relationships between their causal attributions and affective states. Material and methods. The study involved 75 football players, including 44 players from the first league and 31 players from the third league. The research was carried out using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) by D.M. McNair, M. Lorr, and L.F. Droppleman and a specially designed questionnaire concerning the causal attributions of success and failure. Results. It was found that the football players who participated in the study tended to attribute success to internal causes and failure to external causes. More frequent use of external attributions most likely had an adverse impact on the mood state of the players. Conclusion. Information concerning the attributions that a given player makes can be useful for coaches, as it can help them develop the athlete’s mental abilities more effectively. Beliefs related to attributions can be modified. It is worth considering the benefits of encouraging internal attributions in the case of success and external attributions in situations of failure.

Secondary school mathematics student teachers’ causal attribution for success and failure in mathematics

Attribution theory deals with the question of how individuals make judgments and seek to explain how they consider the causes of their behaviours and those of others. Attributions have the potential to affect beliefs, emotions and behaviour. Therefore, attribution theory has significantly contributed to the studies on motivation. This study examined student teachers’ causal attributions for success and failure in mathematics. The participants in this study were 28 student teachers in the department of secondary school mathematics education at a public university in the north of Turkey. To collect data, a questionnaire composed of one open-ended question was administered to the student teachers and they were asked to write their opinion about the causes of a student’s failure and success in mathematics. Student teachers wrote and submitted a reflection of one or two pages. Their written responses were examined and qualitatively analysed to determine the common themes by means of qualitative analysis software. The results have revealed that the student teachers categorize four causes to attribute for the students’ failure in mathematics: causes originating from students, causes originating from teaching and learning methods, causes originating due to the nature of mathematics itself and physical causes. The most frequent cause mentioned by the student teachers was innate math talent, an internal, stable and uncontrollable cause.

Perfiles motivacionales en estudiantes españoles de Ecuación Secundaria Obligatoria: Análisis diferencial en autoatribuciones académicas

Academic goals and academic self-attributions are relevant variables in school settings. The objective of this study is to identify whether there are combinations of multiple goals that lead to different motivational profiles and to determine whether there are significant differences between the groups obtained regarding causal attributions of success and failure (ability, effort, or external causes) in Mathematics and Language and Literature, and in overall academic performance. The <em>Goal Achievement Tendencies Questionnaire </em>(AGTQ) and the <em>Sydney Attribution Scale </em>(SAS) were administered to a sample of 2022 students of compulsory secondary education, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years (<em>M </em>= 13.81, <em>SD </em>= 1.35). Cluster analysis identified four motivational profiles: a group of students with a high generalized motivation profile, a group of students with low generalized motivation profile, a group of students with predominance of learning goals and achievement goals, and a final group of students with predominance of social reinforcement goals. Results revealed statistically significant differences between the profiles obtained in academic self-attributions.

Exploring the Influence of Students’ Attributions for Success on Their Self-Regulation in Pathophysiology

Pathophysiology is a difficult course both for students to take and for instructors to teach. However, little research has explored learner characteristics that teachers may address through targeted instruction to make both the teaching and learning experience better. This study examined the influence of students' causal attributions for success on their self-regulated learning, which is strongly associated with positive learning outcomes. Results indicated that ability, effort, and luck attributions for success collectively influenced Pathophysiology students' self-regulated learning and that ability was the most potent influence. The findings and the implication for teaching are discussed.

Interest, enjoyment and pride after failure experiences? Predictors of students’ state-emotions after success and failure during learning in mathematics

The current investigation was designed to identify emotion states students experience during mathematics activities, and in particular to distinguish emotions contingent on experiences of success and experiences of failure. Students’ task-related emotional responses were recorded following experiences of success and failure while working with an individualised computer-based mathematics learning environment. In addition, relations between these patterns of emotional responses after success and failure experiences and trait-like motivational variables, self-concept of ability, subject value, orientation to learning from errors, goal orientation and causal attributions, were examined. Two separate studies are reported. In Study 1 emotions associated with success and failure experiences in mathematics were investigated in relation to self-concept of ability, subject value and orientation to learning from errors. In Study 2, patterns of emotion following success and failure were examined in relation to students’ goal orientation and their causal attributions for success in school.

Causal attributions of success and failure made by undergraduate students in an introductory-level computer programming course

The purpose of this research is to identify the causal attributions of business computing students in an introductory computer programming course, in the computer science department at Notre Dame University, Louaize. Forty-five male and female undergraduates who completed the computer programming course that extended for a 13-week semester participated. Narrative interviews were conducted to obtain their perceptions. While some research confirmed that the four most responsible causes for success and failure in achievement contexts are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck, this research shows that in its context ‘ability’ and ‘luck’ were absent, and ‘task difficulty’ and ‘effort’ were almost absent. In all, participants made 10 causal attributions that were either cultural or specific to computer programming. The 10 causal attributions are ‘learning strategy’, ‘lack of study’, ‘lack of practice’, ‘subject difficulty’, ‘lack of effort’, ‘appropriate teaching method’, ‘exam anxiety’, ‘cheating’, ‘lack of time’, and ‘unfair treatment’. All high achievers cited appropriate ‘learning strategy’.

Causal Attributions for Success or Failure of Students in College Algebra

Research in the field of attribution theory and academic achievement suggests a relationship between a student's attributional style and achievement. Theorists and researchers contend that attributions influence individual reactions to success and failure. They also report that individuals use attributions to explain and justify their performance. Studies in mathematics education identify attribution theory as the theoretical orientation most suited to explain academic performance in mathematics. This study focused on the relationship among a high risk course, low success rates, and attribution by examining the difference in the attributions passing and failing students gave for their performance in College Algebra. Students from a large urban community college in South Florida (n = 410) self-reported their performance on an in-class test by providing open-ended attribution statements to explain the cause of their performance. They then attributed their performance along the dimensions of locus of causality, stability, personal controllability, and external controllability using the Causal Dimensions Scale (CDSII). The open-ended attribution statements were coded in relation to ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck and compared using a Pearson chi- square procedure. The quantitative data compared the passing and failing groups and their attributions for performance on the test using One-way ANOVA and Pearson chi-square procedures. The results of the quantitative data comparing passing and failing groups and their attributions along the dimensions measured by the CDSII indicated statistical significance in locus of causality, stability, and personal controllability. The results comparing the open-ended attribution statements indicated statistical significance in the categories of effort and task difficulty.

Causal attributions for success and failure: the effects the explanation of a performance upon the evaluation of the format quality of an exam paper

L'objectif de cette étude est de mettre en évidence le caractère normatif des attributions causales de la réussite et de l'échec. Deux expérimentations ont été menées auprès de 616 étudiants de premier cycle universitaire. On demandait aux participants d'évaluer la qualité formelle (ortho­graphe, présentation, soin, écriture, style) de la copie d'un étudiant qui avait expliqué sa perfor­mance (réussite vs échec) à un examen (très important vs peu important) au moyen d'une des 4 causes de Weiner. Les résultats montrent que globalement, c'est un pattern attributionnel contre-défensif qui est valorisé par les juges : pour la réussite, la copie est mieux évaluée lorsque la réussite est expliquée par un facteur externe alors que pour l'échec, l'évaluation est meilleure lorsqu'elle est expliquée par un facteur interne (en particulier : le manque d'effort). La discussion porte essentiellement sur la question de l'interprétation de l'attribution de l'échec au manque d'effort par les juges, en relation avec la sincérité perçue de cette attribution.

Effects of Cultural Tightness and Collectivism on Self-Concept and Causal Attributions

Previous research investigating the influence of cultural variables on the psychological constructs of self-concept and causal attributions has employed responses of individuals within cultures. In the present research, ethnographies of 16 cultures were examined using the CD-ROM version of the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF). As predicted, self-concept was related to both cultural tightness and collectivism. Specifically, interdependent self-concepts were more likely to occur in tight and collective cultures, whereas independent self-concepts occurred in individualistic and loose cultures. Causal attributions for failure were found to be more external for more collective cultures, but no relation between failure attributions and cultural tightness was obtained. Causal attributions for success were not systematically related to either cultural tightness or collectivism. Additional variables that are speculated to influence attributions, in conjunction with culture, are proposed for future research. The usefulness of the CD-ROM version of the HRAF for addressing psychological questions is discussed.

Secular and Religious Attributions of Success and Failure Among Polish Students

Causal attributions of success and failure as functions of different religious orientations (intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest) were explored among a sample of Polish university students ranging in age from 18 to 28 years (M = 21 years). The participants, 182 religious and 85 nonreligious, assessed secular and religious attributions on three dimensions: controllability, stability, and locus. Religious as well as nonreligious participants attributed both success and failure to secular rather than religious causes. The attributional differences among representatives of the different religious orientations were related primarily to religious attributions: answer to prayer and God's help. The prominence of good luck and bad luck as plausible causes of success and failure, respectively, was examined in terms of traditional religious considerations and recent political changes in Poland.

Gender and Ethnic-Group Differences in Causal Attributions for Success and Failure in Mathematics and Language Examinations

The purpose of the present study was to examine gender and ethnic differences among Jewish and Arab high school students in Israel with respect to their causal attributions for success and failure in mathematics and language examinations. The entire sample included 333 ninth graders. Nine causal attributions were examined. It was hypothesized that cultural differences in general and in gender role socialization in particular, between the two ethnic groups, will result in different attributional patterns. The findings indicated larger effects of ethnicity than of gender. The effects were more pronounced in success than in failure attributions. Arab students, compared to Jewish students, exhibited higher endorsement levels on success attributions and lower levels with less differentiation on failure attributions for all four subjects. These results were discussed within the frame work of particular cultural norms.

Motivation and Mathematics Achievement: Comparisons between Asian-American and Non-Asian Students

Constructs related to mathematics achievement in 353 Asian-American and non-Asian fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are examined. Students were surveyed regarding beliefs and expectations about ability in relation to mathematical tasks (self-concept of ability, perception of parental beliefs, causal attributions of success and failure), perception of mathematics, and reasons for engaging in the task (task-involved or ego-involved motivation). Additionally, how well these constructs predict mathematics achievement was investigated, noting potentially different weightings between Asian-American and non-Asian students. Results show Asian-American students differ significantly from non-Asian students on several constructs, partly reflecting Asian-American students′ lower self-concepts of mathematics ability and their belief that their parents share that conception. Groups also differed in the relative importance of the motivational constructs in predicting mathematics achievement. Results are discussed in relation to the comparative mathematics achievement of both ethnic groups.