Correlations among Learning Motivation, Life Stress, Learning Satisfaction, and Self-Efficacy for Ph.D. Students

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1 Correlations among Learning Motivation, Life Stress, Learning Satisfaction, and Self-Efficacy for Ph.D. Students Mei-hua Chen, Professor, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan Jui-Lin Liao, Lecturer, Hungkuang University, Taiwan & National Changhua University of Education Ph.D. Student, Taiwan ABSTRACT In recent years, the number of people seeking Ph.D. degrees in Taiwan has increased, despite a shrinking job market. The types of pressure these students experience and the gravity of this situation are critical topics. Therefore, this study explores the correlations among students learning motivations, life stress, learning satisfaction, and self-efficacy. The results can be used as a reference for the career development of Ph.D. students. We use a survey comprising a set of questions concerning Ph.D. students learning motivations, life stress, learning satisfaction, and self-efficacy. The results show that learning motivation was strongly and negatively correlated with interpersonal stress and self-development stress, and the motivation for career development was positively correlated with learning stress and self-development stress. Motivation based on others expectations was positively correlated with learning stress, interpersonal stress, and self-development stress; learning motivation was positively correlated with learning satisfaction; and interpersonal stress was negatively correlated with learning satisfaction. Learning stress, economic stress, and self-development stress affected general self-efficacy; and interpersonal stress affected learning efficacy. However, learning motivation affected self-efficacy, and motivation based on others expectations and social motivation affected learning self-efficacy. Keywords: learning motivation, life stress, learning satisfaction, self-efficacy INTRODUCTION According to the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, the number of Taiwanese doctoral students increased by approximately 1.5 times in the last decade, from 22,000 to 33,000. The number of people seeking Ph.D. degrees in Taiwan has increased, despite the shrinking job market. It is difficult for Ph.D. graduates to obtain a formal faculty position at a university. Moreover, promoting the quality of university lecturers is part of the educational policy in Taiwan. One of the ways of realizing this goal is to attain a Ph.D. degree. The types of pressure these students experience and the gravity of this situation are critical topics. Purpose This study explores the correlations among Ph.D. students learning motivations (i.e., learning interests, career development, the expectations of others, and social relationships), life stress (i.e., learning stress, interpersonal stress, economic stress, and self-development stress), learning satisfaction (i.e., teaching curriculum, course content, learning environment, and learning outcomes), and self-efficacy (i.e., generalized self-efficacy and learning self-efficacy). The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 8 Number 1, April,

2 Learning motivation Motivation is recognized as a complex concept that is connected to self-respect, self-efficacy, internal control, external control, and goal orientation (Harlen & Crick, 2003). Students learning motivation can be broadly divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Lumsden, 1994). In this study, we differentiated intrinsic motivation into knowledge interests and career development, and extrinsic motivation into outside influence and social relationships. Life stress Adults face issues related to family, work, and finance in their daily lives. If these issues exceed the load the individual can undertake, pressure is generated. In addition to these three possible forms of pressure, learning pressure is an additional type of considerable pressure for students. Pressure sources are differentiated into four dimensions: learning pressure, interaction pressure, economic pressure, and self-development pressure (Lin, 2009). Learning satisfaction Learning satisfaction refers to the levels of the learning enjoyment of learners attained through learning processes or attitudes (Pintrich, 2003). In a learning situation, if the inner psychology is consistent, external variables produce a satisfactory external environment (Boshier, 1971). Self-efficacy Self-efficacy is rooted in a person s confidence in his or her own ability, and is correlated with work motivation, cognitive resources, course of action, and specific demands (Wood & Bandura, 1989). Self-efficacy can be defined as people s assessments of their ability to organize their own behavior and to execute tasks in a manner that produces satisfactory results (Bandura, 2002). Self-efficacy can be divided into generalized self-efficacy and specific self-efficacy (Bandura, 1998). General self-efficacy is the holistic assessment of the confidence level of the personal ability to perform well (Bandura, 1998). Specific self-efficacy refers to the specific performance of cognitive assessments (Eden & Zuk, 1995). In this study, we regard learning self-efficacy as specific self-efficacy. Zimmerman (2000) and Holden et al. (2002) have indicated that when students' self-efficacy matches their performance, their motivation to learn is affected. METHODOLOGY Measures We conducted a five-part survey consisting of 98 items. It comprised a set of questions concerning Ph.D. students learning motivations (i.e., learning interests, career development, the expectations of others, and social relationships), life stress (i.e., learning stress, interpersonal stress, economic stress, and self-development stress), learning satisfaction (i.e., teaching curriculum, course content, learning environment, and learning outcomes), self-efficacy (i.e., generalized self-efficacy and learning self-efficacy), and personal background information. We developed these instruments over several stages, and established satisfactory reliability and validity. 158 The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 8 Number 1, April, 2013

3 Data Analysis The data were collected using a web-based survey. A 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree) was used to rate the items. In this study, we used SPSS 12.0 for data analysis, which included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS Participants for the study included 105 Ph.D. students. Regarding participant demographics, 52 (49.5%) men and 53 (50.5%) women participated. Participant age varied significantly: 15 participants (14.3%) were under 30 years of age; 22 participants (21%) were between 31 and 35 years of age; 24 participants (22.9%) were between 36 and 40 years of age; 22 participants (21%) were between 41 and 45 years of age; and 22 participants (21%) were over 45 years of age. Most of the participants were teachers (72.4%), with 49 working full time (46.7%) and 27 working part time (25.7%). Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations of learning motivation, life stress, learning satisfaction, and self-efficacy. Table 1: The Basic Statistics of Learning Motivation, Life Stress, Learning Satisfaction, and Self-efficacy dimension Mean Std. Deviation 1.learning interest career development others expectation social relationship learning stress interpersonal stress economic stress self-development stress teacher s curriculum course content learning environment learning outcomes generalize self-efficacy learning self-efficacy The results showed that motivation for learning interest was strongly and negatively correlated with both interpersonal stress (-.314 ** ) and self-development stress (-.408 ** ), whereas learning interest was strongly and positively correlated with self-efficacy (.427 ** ). The motivation for career development was positively correlated with both learning stress (.216 * ) and self-development stress (.220 * ). Motivation based on others expectations was positively correlated with learning stress (.305 ** ), interpersonal stress (.429 ** ), and self-development stress (.285 ** ). The motivation for learning interest was positively correlated with learning satisfaction, whereas interpersonal stress was negatively correlated with learning satisfaction. Table 2 shows additional details of the correlations The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 8 Number 1, April,

4 Table 2: The Correlations among Learning Motivation, Life Stress, Learning Satisfaction, and Self-efficacy Pearson Correlation learning interest 2.career development others expectation ** 4.social relationship.264 ** ** 5.learning stress *.305 ** interpersonal stress ** ** * 7.economic stress *.301 ** 8.self-development stress **.220 *.285 ** **.494 **.373 ** 9.teacher s curriculum.529 ** ** ** 10.course content.591 ** * ** **.832 ** 11.learning environment.429 ** ** **.656 **.718 ** 12.learning outcomes.511 **.243 * ** **.776 **.803 **.707 ** 13. generalize self-efficacy.427 ** ** ** **.447 **.483 **.415 **.501 ** 14.learning self-efficacy *.479 ** * * ** ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). The motivation for learning interest affected self-efficacy (β =.453 ** ), and motivation based on others expectations (β =.619 ** ) and social relationships (β = * ) affected learning self-efficacy. Learning stress (β = * ), economic stress (β =.252 ** ), and self-development stress (β = ** ) affected generalized self-efficacy. Interpersonal stress (β =.296 ** ) affected learning efficacy. Tables 3-5 provide additional details of the prediction model. Table 3: The Relationship between Learning Motivations and Generalized Self-efficacy learning interest.453 ** career development others expectation social relationship Dependent Variable: generalize self-efficacy Table 4: The Relationship between Learning Motivations and Learning Self-efficacy learning interest career development others expectation.619 ** social relationship * Dependent Variable: learning self-efficacy 160 The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 8 Number 1, April, 2013

5 Table 5: The Relationship between Life Stress and Generalized Self-efficacy learning stress * interpersonal stress economic stress.252 ** self-development stress ** Dependent Variable: generalize self-efficacy Table 6: The Relationship between Life Stress and Learning Self-efficacy learning stress interpersonal stress.296 ** economic stress self-development stress Dependent Variable: learning self-efficacy CONCLUSION This study shows that higher motivation based on learning interests results in higher generalized self-efficacy. Higher motivation based on learning interests leads to lower interpersonal stress and self-development stress. Higher motivation based on career development indicates higher learning stress and self-development stress. Higher motivation based on others expectations results in higher learning stress, interpersonal stress, and self-development stress. The principal findings suggest that most participants believed that learning interest plays a positive role in their Ph.D. learning experience. Motivation based on learning interests, learning stress, economic stress, and self-development stress are significant predictors of generalized self-efficacy. Motivation based on others expectations and on social relationships and interpersonal stress are significant predictors of learning self-efficacy. Higher motivation based on learning interests and economic stress results in more generalized self-efficacy. A higher learning stress and self-development stress indicate lower generalized self-efficacy. Higher motivation based on learning interests and economic stress leads to higher generalized self-efficacy. Higher motivation based on others expectations and interpersonal stress results in higher learning self-efficacy. Higher motivation based on social relationships indicates lower learning self-efficacy. REFERENCES Bandura, A. (2002). Social foundations of thought and action. In D.F. Marks (ed.), The health psychology reader (pp ). London: Sage. Bandura, A. (1998). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Boshier, R. (1971). Motivational orientations for adult education participants: A factor analytic exploration of Houle's typology. Adult Education Journal, 21(2), Eden, D., & Zuk, Y. (1995). Seasickness as a self-fulfilling prophecy: Raising self-efficacy to boost performance at sea. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(5), 628. Harlen, W., & Deakin Crick, R. (2003). Testing and motivation for learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 10(2), The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 8 Number 1, April,

6 Holden, G., T. Meenaghan, J. Anastas, and G. Metrey. (2002). Outcomes of social work education: The case for social work self-efficacy. Journal of Social Work Education 38: Lin, S. Q. (2009). A study on graduate student's studying motivation, life stress, and learning satisfaction- Based on universities in eastern Taiwan. Unpublished master s theses, National Dong Hwa University. Lumsden, L. S. (1994). Student Motivation To Learn. ERIC Digest, Number 92. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED ) Pintrich, P. R. (2003). A motivational science perspective on the role of student motivation in learning and teaching contexts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, Statistics Department of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, Retrieved from Wood, R., & Bandura, A. (1989). Impact of conceptions of ability on self-regulatory mechanisms and complex decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, Zimmerman, B.J. (2000). Self-efficacy: An essential motive to learn. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25: The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 8 Number 1, April, 2013