Characterizing the motivational orientation of students in higher education: A naturalistic study in three Hong Kong universities

David R. Kember · Celina Hong

64 citations0/0 files storedBritish Journal of Educational Psychology

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Education, Achievement, and Giftedness Higher Education Research Studies Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Consideration of motivation in higher education has often been drawn upon theories and research that were based upon school or workplace studies. AIMS: This paper reports an open naturalistic study to better characterize the motivational orientation of students in higher education. METHOD: Open semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 36 students from three universities in Hong Kong. The analysis used an exploratory grounded theory approach. RESULTS: Motivation was characterized as a framework with six continua with positive and negative poles. On enrolment, students had positions on the six facets of motivation, which shifted as they progressed through their degree, according to perceptions of their teaching and learning environment. The positive poles of the six continua were given labels: compliance, individual goal setting, interest, career, sense of belonging and university lifestyle. CONCLUSION: The formulation of motivational orientation is consistent with contemporary social cognitive theories of motivation in that it has been characterized as a multifaceted phenomenon, with students expressing context-dependent multiple motives.

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1985Naturalistic inquiry 2017The Discovery of Grounded Theory 2002Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations 1981Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values 1993Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques 1999A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation.1992Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation.2001A 2 × 2 achievement goal framework.

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