Search Results (91)

This study investigated the structural relationships among language learning strategies (LLSs), motivational beliefs (MBs), and English language achievement (ELA) among first-year Thai university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Grounded in self-regulated learning, social cognitive, and expectancy-value theories, the study examined how LLSs and MBs jointly contribute to ELA. A quantitative cross-sectional design was used, with 913 participants from a public university in Thailand. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire measuring learners’ cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies; intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, task value, and self-efficacy; and overall assessment of their perceived English learning achievement and self-rated English proficiency across the four language skills. Descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were conducted. Results indicated moderate use of LLSs, with cognitive and metacognitive strategies used more frequently than social strategies. Students reported moderate-to-high motivational beliefs, with task value emerging as the strongest dimension. EFA and CFA supported the reliability and construct validity of the measurement model. SEM analysis demonstrated excellent model fit and revealed that intrinsic motivation, task value, and self-efficacy significantly predicted strategy use and ELA. LLSs showed the strongest direct effect on achievement, whereas extrinsic motivation had no significant direct effect. In addition, LLSs partially mediated the effects of intrinsic motivation, task value, and self-efficacy on achievement. The SEM results indicated that ELA is shaped by the combined influence of adaptive motivation and effective strategic behaviour. Therefore, instructional interventions should synchronously enhance strategic language learning and increase learners’ motivational beliefs to promote English learning achievement. Full article

Widening participation has expanded access to higher education, yet disparities in retention and completion among mature students persist, indicating limits in existing structural and engagement-based explanations. This study addresses this gap by developing Behavioural Alignment Theory (BAT), a framework that conceptualises persistence as an emergent outcome of alignment between motivational regulation, expectancy recalibration and instructional architecture. Using a conceptual integration and theoretical mapping methodology, the article synthesises Self-Determination Theory, Expectancy–Value Theory and Cognitive Load Theory, grounded in foundational and contemporary literature on mature and widening access students. The analysis shows that persistence is shaped through dynamic interaction between institutional design and behavioural processes. Evidence indicates that misalignment across these domains can destabilise engagement, while coherent alignment supports sustained participation under conditions of role complexity and constraint. The study concludes that persistence is not reducible to individual attributes or isolated institutional factors, but emerges from system-level interaction between psychological processes and institutional conditions. The contribution of BAT lies not in the invention of new constructs, but in providing a mechanism-explicit mid-range integrative framework that specifies how established constructs interact within institutional settings to shape persistence or withdrawal. Full article

Digital game consumption increasingly unfolds across video platforms, comment sections, and community discussions, where platform visibility, creator-mediated information, interaction metrics, and commercialization signals shape users’ expectations. In platform-mediated digital commerce, visible interaction may indicate information use, cultural resonance, payment concern, or consumption-related complaint rather than uniformly positive engagement. Using self-determination theory as a motivational lens within a platform-mediated consumer-behavior framework, this study examines whether platform content cues, public comment responses, and user perceptions provide convergent evidence on differentiated engagement meanings. The empirical setting is Bilibili content related to the Chinese wuxia role-playing game Where Winds Meet. The analysis combines 1164 public videos, 19,919 hot comments, and a content-exposure-anchored survey of 564 valid respondents. The results show differentiated patterns: functional information cues correspond to saving-oriented engagement and useful responses; cultural-aesthetic cues correspond to supportive interaction and cultural responses; and payment-mechanism and experience-problem cues correspond to payment concerns and complaints. The survey further shows that perceived information value, cultural/experiential connection, perceived monetization fairness, consumer autonomy in spending decisions, and perceived monetization risk are associated with continued engagement intention. These findings suggest that engagement quality should be interpreted through platform-mediated consumer relationships rather than interaction volume alone, while recognizing that hot-comment evidence reflects a platform-visible layer of user response rather than the full distribution of comments or player attitudes. Full article

Academic motivation and achievement are central to student success in applied STEM, engineering, and technical and vocational education and training (TVET); however, despite extensive research, the evidence remains fragmented across theoretical traditions, educational levels, and disciplinary settings. This structured narrative review synthesizes research on the factors shaping academic motivation, achievement, and career readiness in these contexts. A literature search was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and PsycINFO for studies published between 2010 and 2025. A total of 58 studies met the inclusion criteria from an initial pool of 2184 records. Guided by self-determination theory, achievement goal theory, social cognitive career theory, and expectancy–value theory, this review identifies self-efficacy, perceived competence, task value, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, goal orientation, metacognitive skills, teacher and peer support, curriculum relevance, and industry-aligned learning opportunities as key factors associated with student engagement, achievement, and career-related development. The synthesis shows that these factors operate through an integrated motivational core linking motivational regulation, self-belief, task value, and goal orientation. The findings suggest that student success is shaped by the interaction between individual beliefs, social support, instructional conditions, and perceived links between learning and future professional pathways. Practical implications are discussed for designing student-centered, career-relevant, and motivation-supportive learning environments in engineering and TVET. Full article

Ensuring that government-led large-scale online public services evolve from formal participation to substantive quality represents a key governance challenge. This study extends the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by integrating value identity as a core value-rational driver and by taking self-reported teaching practice quality as the ultimate outcome variable. Based on a cross-sectional survey of 2226 teachers analyzed via structural equation modeling, our findings reveal a stark ‘Governance Paradox’: at the aggregate level, both Behavioral Intention (β = −0.213) and Social Influence (β = −0.098) are unexpectedly associated with lower self-reported teaching practice quality, despite Value Identity being a powerful predictor of intention (β = 0.900). We conceptualize this statistical paradox not as an anomaly, but as a diagnostic for misaligned subsystems within a complex socio-technical system. Crucially, this paradox is systematically resolved through multi-group analysis; disaggregating the sample by institutional context reveals the expected positive relationships within homogeneous subgroups. This suggests that hidden heterogeneity and contextual factors are responsible for distorting the aggregate picture. Theoretically, this research offers two contributions: it reframes statistical aggregation artifacts as a systems-diagnostic framework for governance and introduces “Motivation Fusion” as a micro-foundational mechanism to explain the institutional and psychological conditions that produce such artifacts. Practically, the study provides a micro-foundational diagnostic framework for designing more targeted and effective public service policies. Full article

Studentpreneurship has gained prominence in South Africa as universities are increasingly expected to foster innovation, job creation, and youth participation in the economy. However, despite the establishment of incubators, entrepreneurship centres, mentorship programmes, and EDHE-aligned initiatives, support for studentpreneurs remains unevenly implemented, poorly integrated, and inconsistently accessible, particularly within a historically disadvantaged university. This study examines how university support mechanisms shape the experiences, challenges, and business development trajectories of studentpreneurs in a South African university. Guided by Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Theory, the study adopts a qualitative research design involving in-depth interviews with 15 studentpreneurs. Thematic analysis reveals significant gaps in awareness, accessibility, and continuity of institutional support. While students valued motivational workshops, pitching opportunities, and limited mentorship, these interventions lacked sustained follow-up, sector-specific guidance, and financial or infrastructural resources necessary for business growth. The study contributes to South African entrepreneurship scholarship by highlighting the lived realities of studentpreneurs at a historically disadvantaged university and by proposing institutional reforms to build more coherent, equitable, and sustainable studentpreneurship ecosystems. Full article

Teacher coaching is a widely used approach to support teacher professional development, yet the relational and psychological factors that influence coaching outcomes remain underexplored. Guided by the Expectancy-Value Theory and prior literature, this study examined the role of coaching relationships, teacher self-efficacy, and teachers’ motivation for coaching in the coaching process, with two key outcomes: teachers’ acceptability of coaching and perceived stress. A sample of 308 K-12 teachers from the United States completed relevant measures. Structural equation modeling revealed that high-quality coaching relationships were significantly associated with greater acceptability, self-efficacy, and motivation, particularly increased perceived benefits and reduced reservations. Coaching relationships and coaching acceptability were indirectly associated via self-efficacy and perceived benefits. The indirect association between coaching relationships and stress was fully explained through self-efficacy. These findings underscore the importance of fostering strong relationships with teachers and addressing motivational components to enhance the effectiveness of coaching interventions. Full article

White lie-telling reflects children’s integration of moral cognition and situational adaptation, yet its mechanisms in prosocial dilemmas remain understudied in Chinese cultural contexts that prioritize “face-saving”—a core construct that shapes interpersonal behavior in Eastern societies. This study investigates how situational cues and developmental differences shape children’s white lie decisions by disentangling the interactive effects of external expectations and recipient presence. A total of 629 children aged 4–11 years (Study 1) and 6–11 years (Study 2) participated in two studies using a modified “painting evaluation task” Study 1 manipulated emotional expectation and recipient presence to establish baseline situational effects, while Study 2 introduced target expectation to create a prosocial value conflict between providing immediate emotional comfort and supporting long-term developmental goals. The Study 1 showed the highest white lie rate under the “emotional expectation + recipient presence” condition, with white lie rates exhibiting a significant developmental increase with age. Binary logistic regression identified these two factors as critical predictors of children’s white lie behavior. In Study 2, amid such prosocial value conflicts, older children showed lower white lie rates than younger peers, who prioritized others’ long-term goals via cost benefit analysis. Notably, recipient presence still moderated face-saving decisions, even for older children. This research makes three key contributions to the field. Firstly, it integrates Chinese “face culture” into situational manipulation, highlighting recipient presence as a culture-specific moderator and mitigating the Western-centric bias in prior research. Secondly, it constructs a prosocial moral dilemma to uncover children’s developmental transition from emotion-driven to value-based rational decision-making, extending existing developmental theories on moral cognition. Thirdly, it advances understanding of prosocial lying motivation beyond blind empathy by quantifying the interactive effects of dual expectations and revealing that children engage in deliberate cost benefit analysis that aligns with others’ overall long-term interests. Full article

Open Educational Resources (OER) have emerged as a cost-effective alternative to traditional commercial textbooks in higher education, towards the goal of alleviating college students’ financial burden of educational expenses. However, mixed findings about the influences of the integration of OER on student learning are present. To address the gap, this study investigated whether student motivation in OER served as a latent factor that impacts their academic achievement in online asynchronous courses offered in public universities. Particularly, this study (N = 247) implemented an advanced person-centered approach—stepwise latent class analysis—to profile student achievement goals in an OER-based course and examined their relationships with academic achievement. The 7-point Likert responses were collapsed into three categories to address sparse response distributions. The analysis identified four latent classes based on students’ responses to a validated survey aligned with the 2 × 2 achievement goal theory framework, including highly ambitious, cautious, strategic, and low-goal learners. Subsequent analysis revealed that these four latent classes showed differences in academic achievement as well as task value and expectancy beliefs. The implications of these results for researchers and college instructors and future research directions are discussed. Full article

Zero-shot generalization to out-of-distribution (OOD) teammates and opponents in multi-agent systems (MASs) remains a fundamental challenge for general-purpose AI, especially in open-ended interaction scenarios. Existing multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) paradigms, such as self-play and population-based training, often collapse to a limited subset of Nash equilibria, leaving agents brittle when faced with semantically diverse, unseen behaviors. Recent approaches that invoke Large Language Models (LLMs) at run time can improve adaptability but introduce substantial latency and can become less reliable as task horizons grow; in contrast, LLM-assisted reward-shaping methods remain constrained by the inefficiency of the inner reinforcement-learning loop. To address these limitations, we propose LLM-TOC (LLM-Driven Theory-of-Mind Adversarial Curriculum), which casts generalization as a bi-level Stackelberg game: in the inner loop, a MARL agent (the follower) minimizes regret against a fixed population, while in the outer loop, an LLM serves as a semantic oracle that generates executable adversarial or cooperative strategies in a Turing-complete code space to maximize the agent’s regret. To cope with the absence of gradients in discrete code generation, we introduce Gradient Saliency Feedback, which transforms pixel-level value fluctuations into semantically meaningful causal cues to steer the LLM toward targeted strategy synthesis. We further provide motivating theoretical analysis via the PAC-Bayes framework, showing that LLM-TOC converges at rate $O(1/\sqrt{K})$ and yields a tighter generalization error bound than parameter-space exploration under reasonable preconditions. Experiments on the Melting Pot benchmark demonstrate that, with expected cumulative collective return as the core zero-shot generalization metric, LLM-TOC consistently outperforms self-play baselines (IPPO and MAPPO) and the LLM-inference method Hypothetical Minds across all held-out test scenarios, reaching 75% to 85% of the upper-bound performance of Oracle PPO. Meanwhile, with the number of RL environment interaction steps to reach the target relative performance as the core efficiency metric, our framework reduces the total training computational cost by more than 60% compared with mainstream baselines. Full article

This study explores how immersive e-learning technologies influence entrepreneurial intention among business education students, with a focus on the mediating role of learning satisfaction. Using a quantitative approach, data were collected from 561 final-year undergraduate students enrolled in business and entrepreneurship programs at globally ranked universities. The relationships between immersive learning design features, learning satisfaction, and entrepreneurial intention were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The study draws on Experiential Learning Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Expectancy–Value Theory to explain how immersive learning experiences shape entrepreneurial motivation. The results show that interactivity, experiential engagement, and personalization positively influence entrepreneurial intention, primarily by enhancing learning satisfaction. Students are more inclined toward entrepreneurial careers when immersive learning environments support autonomy, meaningful engagement, and perceived value. In contrast, high levels of realism and multisensory intensity do not consistently strengthen entrepreneurial intention, suggesting that excessive immersion may create cognitive strain or diminishing motivational returns under certain conditions. These findings highlight the importance of balanced and learner-centered immersive learning design rather than increased technological intensity alone. From a practical perspective, the study suggests that business schools should integrate immersive technologies in ways that emphasize experiential learning, adaptability, and cognitive balance. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional design, reliance on self-reported data, and focus on final-year students. Overall, the study provides a nuanced understanding of how immersive e-learning can support entrepreneurial intention while also identifying important boundary conditions that shape its effectiveness. Full article

Digital detox has emerged as a response to the growing intensity of social media use among young adults. This study examines digital detox intention among Indonesian Generation Z by situating disengagement from social media within social and informational contexts. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value–Attitude–Behavior perspective, the study investigates how eudaimonic values, perceived information overload, and subjective norms are associated with intentions to reduce social media use, with self-efficacy conceptualized as a mediating expression of individual agency. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among Indonesian university students who actively use multiple social media platforms. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that self-efficacy constitutes the main pathway through which subjective norms influence digital detox intention. Eudaimonic values and perceived information overload are also positively related to digital detox intention, indicating that both value-driven motives and cognitive strain contribute to disengagement. These findings suggest that digital detox reflects a socially embedded practice shaped by the interaction of social expectations and individual agency. The study contributes to discussions on digital practices and generational change by highlighting the social dimensions of intentional disengagement. Full article

Global employee work engagement remains critically low, with only 21% of employees engaged worldwide in 2024 and Switzerland ranking near the bottom in Europe at 8%. Existing theories and models that explain employee engagement (Reinforcement Theory, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Equity Theory, Social Exchange Theory, Expectancy Theory, the Job Characteristics Model, Social Identity Theory, Self-Determination Theory, Conservation of Resource Theory, Psychological Empowerment Theory, Affective Events Theory, and the Job Demands–Resources Model) have been criticized for oversimplifying engagement processes, neglecting cultural and individual differences, and overemphasizing either intrinsic or extrinsic motivators. Addressing these gaps, this study proposes new principles for work engagement that integrate intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, cognitive and environmental variables, and dual employee–organization responsibilities. The framework emphasizes employee contributions (sincere effort, striving for excellence, ownership of meaningful tasks), organizational practices (fair treatment, participation, recognition, meaningful work), and effort–reward alignment as a central mediating mechanism. Moderating factors, including a culture of excellence and shared responsibility, ensure adaptability across diverse employee values, personalities, and motivational orientations. Ten propositions and associated measurement instruments are developed, grounded in established theories while operationalized for the Swiss organizational context, bridging theory and practice. The proposed framework offers a holistic, culturally sensitive, and actionable approach to enhancing engagement, providing both conceptual rigor and practical relevance for scholars and managers aiming to improve employee motivation and performance in complex, knowledge-based workplaces. Full article

This study investigates students’ motivation and engagement when participating as pedagogical partners in co-creating assessment rubrics for English language learning. Grounded in self-determination theory, this research explores how students’ sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness influence their motivation to engage in co-created assessment practices. Data was collected from 143 undergraduate students at a university in Dubai. Findings showed generally positive perceptions of autonomy, with many students valuing opportunities to contribute ideas to assessment design and reporting that co-creation enhanced their ownership of learning. Students also believed that co-created assessments improved their understanding of learning objectives. Students reported that co-creation clarified expectations, reduced anxiety, and allowed them to develop broader academic and soft skills. Despite these benefits, unfamiliarity with assessment design at times hindered effective participation. These findings suggest that co-created assessment can strengthen motivation by enhancing competence, autonomy, and relatedness, but it is also important for the students to have clear guidelines to support meaningful student involvement. Full article

Drawing on digital agency theory, expectancy–value frameworks, and self-regulated learning perspectives, this study proposes and tests a moderated mediation model explaining students’ intentions to use AI. Using data from 673 university students, we examined whether sense of positive agency (SOPA) predicts intention to use AI indirectly through perceived value and perceived benefits of AI, and whether these pathways are conditionally shaped by sense of negative agency (SONA). Conditional process analysis (PROCESS Model 59) showed that SOPA had no direct effect on intention to use AI (b = 0.013, p = 0.882). Instead, its influence was fully indirect and conditional. SOPA predicted perceived value and perceived benefits of AI only at moderate to high levels of SONA, with significant SOPA × SONA interactions for both mediators (p = 0.040). Perceived value strongly predicted intention to use AI (b = 0.385, p < 0.001), and this relationship was amplified at higher levels of negative agency (b = 0.138, p = 0.002). In contrast, the effect of perceived benefits on intention weakened as SONA increased (b = −0.125, p = 0.005), becoming non-significant at higher levels of negative agency (Johnson–Neyman point ≈ 2.99). The final model explained 50.4% of the variance in intention to use AI. Overall, the findings indicate a conditional appraisal mechanism: as negative agency increases, perceived value becomes a stronger predictor of intention, whereas the motivational contribution of perceived benefits weakens and becomes non-significant beyond the Johnson–Neyman threshold. These results support an agency-aware account of AI adoption focused on how cognitive appraisals relate to intention under different perceived agency orientations, without implying ethical reasoning or moral deliberation processes not measured in this study. Full article