Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are well-known for offering flexible learning; however, they also pose challenges for English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners, particularly in maintaining motivation and engagement in such self-paced learning online courses. This study explored the factors influencing EFL students' participation in a MOOC through the lens of Expectancy-Value Theory and Socio-Cognitive Theory. Employing a qualitative design, involving 31 EFL students from a private university in the Mekong Delta enrolled in a public speaking MOOC, the study collected data of 20 reflective journals and 12 semi-structured interviews from these participants. The data was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings revealed that student engagement increased when learners expected success, perceived the course as valuable, and employed self-regulated learning strategies. Motivation was sustained through goal setting, time management, and persistence; however, language barriers, technological issues, and social isolation impeded learning. Despite these obstacles, students use goal setting, time management, and persistence to sustain motivation. Expectancy–value theory (EVT) explains how perceived value and expectations of success shape engagement, whereas social cognitive theory (SCT) emphasizes self-efficacy and self-regulation as key drivers of motivation. These findings can inform educators, curriculum designers, and policymakers in developing more supportive online learning environments. Alongside recommending inclusive instructional strategies, including linguistic support, interactive content, and community-building, the study urges research into the long-term effects of SRL strategies and the effectiveness of SRL-based training for EFL learners in varied MOOC contexts.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the interrelationships between camping motivation, benefit perception, camping tourism image, and camping intention among Vietnamese youth, using ExpectancyValue Theory (EVT) as a theoretical framework. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 346 participants aged 18–30, recruited through online platforms and oncampus distribution using a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Data were collected via a structured, self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) and FIMIXPLS segmentation. Results reveal that social interaction, skill development, and relaxation significantly influence benefit perception, which positively affects both camping tourism image and camping intention. The camping tourism image also mediates and moderates the relationship between benefit perception and intention. Notably, intellectual stimulation did not significantly impact benefit perception. Importantly, as a key result, the FIMIX-PLS analysis revealed two distinct latent segments with different motivational configurations: one driven primarily by social interaction-oriented benefits and the other emphasizing relaxation and stress-relief motivations, highlighting meaningful heterogeneity within the youth camping market. These findings offer theoretical contributions to EVT and practical insights for tourism stakeholders to design targeted, appealing camping experiences that align with young travelers’ preferences.

ABSTRACT Micro-credentials have emerged as a bridge between formal education and the labour market, yet they are often framed narrowly as tools for acquiring specific, job-related skills. This instrumental view risks overlooking the diverse motivations of adult learners, leaving Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) uncertain about the true nature of demand. To address this, our study moves beyond a purely skills-focused lens to explore three interconnected aspects: the core motivations driving learners, how these motivations cluster into distinct profiles, and the design preferences associated with them. This qualitative study explores learners’ perceptions through focus group sessions with 115 adult learners at ten European HEIs. Findings reveal five distinct profiles: the ‘Upskiller’, the ‘Reskiller’, the ‘Career Launcher’, the ‘Compliance-driven Learner’, and the ‘Curiosity-Driven Learner’. The study’s key contributions are threefold: a novel micro-credential adult learner typology that expands the dominant, instrumentalist view of micro-credentials; the identification of differentiated course design preferences across motivational profiles, and the grounding of this typology in Self-Determination and Expectancy-Value theories which provide a robust framework to understand this diversity. These findings provide HEIs with a more refined basis to understand and cater to the complex preferences of adult learners, moving beyond a narrow focus on skill acquisition.

International students learning Turkish as a Second Language face significant psychological challenges including linguistic anxiety, motivational fluctuations, and cultural adaptation stress that threaten sustained engagement. Despite the critical role of psychological resources in language acquisition, how motivational beliefs and emotional resilience interact to sustain engagement remains underexplored. This study examines the psychological mechanisms through which interest, academic self-efficacy, and academic buoyancy-the capacity to manage everyday academic setbacks-predict classroom engagement among culturally diverse learners. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, Expectancy-Value Theory, and positive psychology frameworks, the research tested a serial mediation model with 348 international students across 28 mother tongues in Turkish language centers. Participants ranged from 17 to 39years (mean = 21.66years). Psychological constructs were measured via validated scales: Academic Buoyancy Scale (resilience to routine challenges), Academic Efficacy Scale (competence beliefs), Language Classroom Engagement Scale (behavioral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions), and Interest Scale (intrinsic motivation). Structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood robust estimation examined psychological pathways. Bias-corrected bootstrapping with 5000 samples tested mediation effects. The structural model demonstrated excellent fit (Comparative Fit Index = 0.976, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.972, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.037, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.032). Interest strongly predicted self-efficacy (standardized coefficient = .805, p < .001), revealing how intrinsic motivation builds competence beliefs. Self-efficacy significantly predicted buoyancy (standardized coefficient = .417, p < .001), demonstrating that confidence fosters psychological resilience. Buoyancy predicted sustained engagement (standardized coefficient = .283, p < .001). The serial mediation pathway was significant (standardized coefficient = .095, 95% confidence interval [0.033, 0.178]). These psychological mediators explained 47.5% of the total effect (standardized coefficient = .844), confirming that sustained engagement emerges through coordinated psychological processes. This study advances motivational psychology in language acquisition by demonstrating a sequential pathway where interest catalyzes self-efficacy, which builds resilience, ultimately sustaining engagement. Psychological resources operate as an integrated system, with nearly half of motivational effects transmitted through this developmental chain. The findings extend positive psychology to culturally diverse contexts and indicate generalizability across 28 linguistic backgrounds. Psychological interventions must adopt holistic approaches targeting the entire motivational-resilience pathway to support learners facing cognitive and emotional challenges.

Abstract Why some individuals vote while others abstain remains a central question in political behavior research, yet little is known about whether civic motivations formed during adolescence endure into adulthood. Drawing on expectancy–value theory, this study examines whether civic motivations in early adolescence (ages 13–16) including political efficacy, perceived political knowledge, political interest, and civic norms are associated with electoral participation in early adulthood (ages 26–29). Using a longitudinal dataset from Sweden, we show that civic norms are the strongest predictor of adult voting, even after accounting for prior participation, socioeconomic background, and immigrant origin. In contrast, expectancy‐based beliefs do not independently predict turnout, suggesting that value‐based motivations may have greater long‐term relevance for electoral participation. Sex‐specific analyses reveal clear differences. Among women, adult electoral participation is associated with a broader constellation of civic motivations, whereas men's participation is primarily predicted by prior voting and structural background factors. Immigrant origin strongly reduces participation for both male and female respondents, but the effect is more pronounced among women, consistent with intersectional disadvantage. Overall, the findings demonstrate that civic motivations held in adolescence have lasting implications for adult electoral participation and underscore the importance of gender‐sensitive, intersectional approaches to understanding political development.

Abstract How does a modified curricular unit about energy change in chemical processes influence self-efficacy, attitudes toward chemistry and learning gains among 9th-grade students? Four 9 th grade classrooms studied a modified energy-change curricular unit: two classrooms in a public school, and two other classrooms in a science magnet school. The modified curricular unit was divided into two chapters: the first addressed the phenomenon of energy change in chemical reactions using several laboratory experiments. The second chapter focused on theoretical explanations of energy change using the model of dissociation / formation of chemical bonds. In contrast, conventional teaching of this unit integrates theory and experiments concurrently throughout the unit and includes little active experimentation. We find that students’ self-efficacy and attitudes toward chemistry increased when learning the modified unit, compared to a control group from the magnet school that learned the same topic using a conventional teaching approach. In addition, we found that the magnet school students’ performance on the posttest was better than the regular school students, but comprehension of energy change improved among students in both groups. Finally, we found that the self-efficacy of students who chose the physics specialization in the subsequent year, were higher than those of students who did not choose physics, but their attitudes towards chemistry - were less favorable. We discuss these results within the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) of motivation, and the big fish little pond effect (BFLPE).

This experimental study investigated the cognitive, behavioral, and physiological responses of 11-year-old children when confronted with uncertainty. Using a reward-feedback-based simulation, participants engaged in decision-making tasks involving ambiguous outcomes while their heart rate, decision time, hesitation behavior, and verbalized thought processes were systematically recorded. Findings demonstrated that uncertainty led to increased physiological arousal, longer decision times, greater hesitation, and lower decision accuracy. Regression analysis revealed hesitation as the strongest predictor of physiological arousal (BPM difference), whereas decision time and accuracy were not significant. Notably, participants' dominant task value orientation-classified according to the situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT)-significantly influenced both physiological and cognitive outcomes. Children with utility-driven motivation exhibited the highest decision accuracy and lowest physiological stress, whereas those motivated by perceived cost showed the opposite pattern. These results provide empirical support for behavioral and physiological responses associated with uncertainty and highlight the importance of developmentally tailored interventions in educational settings. Implications for psychoeducational program design incorporating neurophysiological and technological tools such as EEG, VR, and eye-tracking are discussed.

This study examines the effects of integrating adaptive learning (AL) and expectancy-value theory of motivation (EVTM) interventions on second language (L2) learners' writing skills, error tolerance (ET), and feedback tolerance (FT). By investigating integration of EVTM instruction within AL environments, the study addresses the need to harness the transformative potential of adaptivity and EVTM in language learning, contributing to effective pedagogical approaches that promote students' writing proficiency and resilience. A total of 120 intermediate-level English proficiency students were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (AL-application use and AL-application use enriched with EVTM instruction) and one control group (technology-enhanced non-AL application use). The study employed writing tasks, ET, FT, EVTM questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews as data collection instruments. Findings indicate that the AL application significantly improves participants' writing outcomes, ET, and FT. Moreover, integration of EVTM interventions within AL environments enhances not only writing skills, ET, and FT but also EVTM. Furthermore, qualitative results suggest a positive impact of AL and EVTM interventions on students' learning processes. Results highlighted that integration of AL and EVTM instruction enhances students' motivation, beliefs, and metacognitive awareness, provides personalized instruction and immediate feedback, and creates a comprehensive and supportive learning environment.

Purpose This study examines how sustainability message frames and consumers' sustainability attitudes influence brand relationships and purchase intentions in the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Design/methodology/approach A 4 (message type: control, economic, social, environmental) × 3 (sustainability attitude: negative, neutral, positive) between-subjects experiment was conducted with a nationally representative US sample (N = 1,532). Participants viewed a mock Instagram post and completed measures of trust, satisfaction, commitment, mutuality and purchase intention. Findings Results revealed significant main and interaction effects. Environmental frames generated the most positive relational outcomes and strongest purchase intentions, particularly among sustainability-positive consumers. Economic frames were largely ineffective and backfired among sustainability-negative participants. Research limitations/implications The use of a fictitious brand allowed isolation of message effects but limited ecological validity and produced modest purchase intention ratings. Future research should examine how first-impression dynamics interact with established brand equity using longitudinal designs. Practical implications Findings suggest environmental messaging is most effective in building EV brand relationships and purchase intentions, while economic appeals pose risks among sustainability-skeptical publics. Practitioners should tailor sustainability frames to audience attitudes and prioritize strong first impressions in digital contexts. Originality/value The study advances framing and expectancy–value theory by showing how first-impression encounters with sustainability messages shape relational judgments in digital environments. It highlights opportunities for practitioners to strategically design messages that cultivate EV brand relationships and purchase intentions.

This study proposes an integrated model to investigate how destination experience, destination love, and perceived value drive tourist loyalty, underpinned by attachment theory and expectancy-value theory. Addressing gaps in previous loyalty research, it combines emotional and cognitive constructs that have often been examined in isolation. Based on survey data from 642 respondents and analyzed using PLS-SEM with SEMinR, the findings reveal that destination experience significantly enhances destination love, perceived value, and loyalty. Moreover, destination love and perceived value act as mediators, strengthening the formation of loyalty. The model shows moderate explanatory power, validating the theoretical integration. This study contributes novel insights by unifying emotional attachment and value perceptions within a single framework, offering a more comprehensive understanding of loyalty-building mechanisms. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of delivering emotionally engaging and value-rich experiences to foster tourist loyalty and enhance destination competitiveness. The results extend existing theories and provide a strong foundation for future research in cross-cultural and emerging market contexts.

Music holds a distinctive place in Hungarian culture, yet school music lessons are often perceived as less meaningful than other subjects. Building on McPherson and O’Neill's eight-country study, the present research introduces data from Hungary, a nation strongly associated with Zoltán Kodály's influential educational legacy. Grounded in expectancy–value theory, the study examined students’ motivation toward music in comparison with seven other school subjects (Hungarian language, mathematics, science, physical education, art, history, and foreign language) using a single-item measure for each expectancy–value component. A total of 4,073 students from Grades 5 to 12 (aged 10–19 years) participated. Results revealed that both competence beliefs and value components (interest, importance, usefulness) declined across grade levels, whereas perceived task difficulty remained low and stable for music. Girls and students engaged in extracurricular music activities reported significantly higher motivation than boys and non-music learners. Notably, the decline in music motivation in Hungary was steeper than that observed in the original eight-country comparison. This suggests that the motivational decrease cannot be explained by perceived difficulty but rather points to the weakening of value components within a changing social and cultural context. The findings underscore the need to revisit music pedagogy in Hungary and to adapt the Kodály tradition to contemporary learners’ motivational realities.

Expectancy-value theory: Linking uncertainty tolerance, grit, and academic engagement among EFL learners

Mathematics is a fundamental subject that supports logical reasoning, problem-solving, and it provides analytical skills which is essential for all students in academic and professional development. The main objectives of this study were to identify the perceptions of students about the impact of instructional methods on students’ motivation and mathematics achievement in Nepal and to determine the relationship between instructional methods, students’ motivation and mathematics achievement. Expected value theory and Self-determination theories were taken as the theoretical base. In this study, only a quantitative approach was used, and 196 students were used as a sample, which was selected using a stratified random sampling method. Likert 5-point scale questionnaire was used to examine the perceptions of students in different headings, and the validity of items was tested by the expert judgement method, and the reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha value. The findings show that the students had positive perceptions about all three variables: instructional methods, motivation in mathematics, and mathematics achievement. Also, there was a strong positive correlation between the variables which shows that effective and engaging teaching methods increase a higher level of motivation of students in learning mathematics, and to achieve good achievement in mathematics. Therefore, the teacher must prioritize different teaching methods which helps students in psychological engagement and academic success in mathematics.

Abstract Many students disengage from mathematics throughout their school careers, a pattern often attributed to declines in motivation. While long-term motivational trajectories are well documented, far less is known about short-term motivational fluctuations in self-paced online courses; a setting that becomes increasingly popular in mathematics education and which places high demands on learners’ autonomy, possibly increasing the risk of disengagement when motivation decreases. Drawing on situated expectancy-value theory, we investigated the relations between dispositional (trait-like) motivation, situational (state-like) motivation, and parental help in an extracurricular enrichment online course designed to foster children’s proof competency. Longitudinal data from 159 talented primary school students indicated considerable within-person variability in motivation. Dispositional motivation at the beginning of the course was only modestly related to children’s average situational motivation during the course. Notably, across different course sections, motivational declines seemed more pronounced when students encountered cognitively demanding content (e.g., construction of formal-deductive proofs). For situational utility value—children’s perceived usefulness of the specific course section for school life—parental help emerged as a critical moderator, significantly buffering declines between two mid-course sections. Critically, our data indicated high dropout rates among children. Survival analyses suggested that greater situational motivation (particularly self-concept), but not greater dispositional motivation, reduced the risk of dropout, highlighting the importance of momentary motivational states in sustaining engagement.

This study aims to integrate motivational hadiths with modern educational motivation theories to create a more comprehensive motivational model in the context of Islamic education. The method used is library research with content analysis and comparative analysis of hadith texts in Al-Lu’lu’ wal Marjan and contemporary motivational theories. The results of the study indicate that the motivational messages in the hadiths such as patience in the first test, sincerity in good deeds, the process of training in developing patience and the importance of small deeds, have a strong alignment with the theories of Growth Mindset, Grit Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Expectancy-Value Theory. All the hadiths studied have the status of muttafaqun alaih so that they have high normative legitimacy as a theoretical basis. These findings show that spiritual values in the hadiths can strengthen modern psychological explanations and provide answers to the need for a motivational model that combines transcendental dimensions with empirical dimensions. This study concludes that this integration produces a more complete motivational framework and has the potential to improve the quality of Islamic education by developing students with more character, resilience, and strong intrinsic motivation.

This study delves into the relationship between goal orientation and scientific creativity, crucial for driving innovation and solving complex challenges. Drawing on goal orientation theory and situated expectancy-value theory, we investigated how different goal orientations influence scientific creativity among 248 university researchers. The findings indicate that both learning and performance approach goals significantly enhance scientific creativity through knowledge collaboration. Additionally, the strength of perceived work-related stressors modulates this relationship; stronger perceptions of these stressors intensify the positive effects of learning and performance goals on creativity. The study contributes to theoretical understandings in several ways. First, it expands on how goal orientation influences creativity within scientific domains. Second, it sheds light on the role of stress as a catalyst in scientific creativity. Finally, it links stressor perspectives to organizational behaviour literature, providing valuable insights for organizational managers. These insights suggest that promoting learning and performance-oriented goals may be especially beneficial in environments where researchers encounter significant stressors, enhancing their creative outputs in public research institutions.

Purpose Grounded in the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and expectancy–value theory (EVT), this study aims to investigate how user trust fosters the adoption of generative AI (GenAI) sustainability recommendations. It evaluates the impact of central cues (information quality), peripheral cues (anthropomorphism) and expectancy–value factors (perceived ease of implementation and personal relevance) on trust and examines whether perceived information complexity moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach The authors tested a unified ELM–EVT framework using survey data from 673 GenAI users in Indonesia. Data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach in SmartPLS 4.1. Findings High-quality, transparent information and anthropomorphic design significantly enhance trust, which in turn increases intentions to adopt GenAI sustainability recommendations. Trust is further strengthened when recommendations are easy to implement and personally relevant, whereas perceived information complexity has no significant moderating effect. Originality By integrating ELM and EVT in a sustainability context, this study offers a model for explaining GenAI recommendation adoption. Specifically, the authors unify central (information quality) and peripheral (anthropomorphism) routes with motivational drivers (ease of implementation, personal relevance) in a single model of trust formation and test perceived information complexity as a boundary condition. The results guide designers toward user-centric systems that balance clarity, anthropomorphic engagement and motivational alignment to advance sustainable consumer behavior.

Enhancing students’ learning motivation is crucial in higher education. This paper presents a flipped-classroom teaching system that combines the expectancy-value theory and timely adjustments of course contents to improve student engagement. A newly developed evaluation framework assesses instructional effectiveness by analyzing students’ learning behaviors. The study first designed a Moodle-based learning management system that incorporated the theoretical framework, practical structure of the flipped-classroom course, and a course-adjustment model. Then, it developed a new evaluation framework for data acquisition, behavior analysis, and instructional effectiveness assessment. Teaching practice statistics using this system enable instructors to obtain a comprehensive picture of students’ learning behaviors, while descriptive statistics of learning behaviors provide an overview of students’ learning engagement. Finally, the paper summarizes the significance and contributions of this study and outlines future directions.

Abstract This study investigates the relationships between students’ motivational constructs and emotional responses during the mathematical modelling process. Drawing upon situated expectancy-value theory and control-value theory, the study explores how intrinsic value, utility value and expectancy are linked to students’ emotions, including enjoyment, curiosity, boredom and anxiety. The findings reveal that intrinsic value is of great relevance to positive emotions, particularly enjoyment and curiosity, while expectancy supports positive emotions and reduces boredom and anxiety. Utility value interacts with expectancy, fostering curiosity among students with lower confidence levels. The study also examines the role of gender and prior achievement in shaping emotional experiences. Boys reported higher boredom but lower anxiety compared to girls, and higher-achieving students experienced less boredom and anxiety while demonstrating greater curiosity. These results underscore the importance of curiosity as a central emotional response in mathematical modelling tasks as well as its potential to engage students and promote deeper learning. The findings contribute to theoretical frameworks by bridging situated expectancy-value theory and control-value theory, illustrating the interplay between motivation and emotions during complex problem-solving. Regarding practical implications, the findings emphasise the need for carefully designed modelling tasks that balance cognitive challenge, relevance to real-world contexts and opportunities for student autonomy to foster motivation and engagement. By addressing both motivational and emotional dimensions, this study provides insight into effective learning environments for mathematical modelling.

Career decision-making among university students is increasingly shaped by both psychological beliefs and sociocultural expectations, particularly in collectivist contexts such as China. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, Expectancy Value Theory, and the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study proposes and tests a moderated mediation model explaining how self-efficacy and personal utility influence career choice decisions through support-seeking behavior, with subjective norms acting as a moderator. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 368 undergraduates from public universities in Liaoning Province, China. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results indicate that self-efficacy and personal utility significantly predict support-seeking behavior, which in turn has a strong positive effect on career choice decisions. Support seeking also partially mediates the relationships between the psychological predictors and career outcomes. Furthermore, subjective norms significantly moderate the relationship between support seeking and career choice, strengthening this link under higher perceived social expectations. These findings highlight the integrated influence of personal agency and social context in shaping students’ career decisions in collectivist societies. The study contributes to career development literature by validating a culturally responsive moderated mediation model and offers practical implications for career counseling, family engagement, and policy design in higher education.