Academic procrastination and goal accomplishment: A combined experimental and individual differences investigation

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between academic procrastination and goal accomplishment in two novel ways. First, we experimentally tested whether undergraduate students (N = 177) could reduce their academic procrastination over a course of three weeks after performing goal-related exercises to set so-called SMART goals and/or to prepare those students with specific strategies to resist their temptations (forming implementation intentions). Second, we conducted systematic regression analyses to examine whether academic procrastination at baseline uniquely predicts later goal-related outcomes, controlling for various correlated variables, including personality traits (e.g., impulsivity), motivational factors (e.g., motivation for the generated goals), and situational factors (e.g., memory for the goals). Results indicated that neither the SMART-goal nor implementation-intention intervention significantly reduced academic procrastination in the three-week interval, even when relevant moderating variables were examined. Initial levels of academic procrastination, however, were predictive of the success of accomplishing the goals generated during the initial exercises, above and beyond a wide range of other candidate correlates. These results provided new correlational evidence for the association between academic procrastination and goal accomplishment, but suggest a need for further research to understand what interventions are effective at reducing academic procrastination.

Research methodology: how to maximize your research potential

“…Goal-setting and goal-management abilities are perhaps as or even more important than funding and external support in order to succeed in clinical practice and research. 5 , 6 It is also important to identify anticipated distracting circumstances that might disturb one from making progress towards goals. 3 It is critical to define a timeline, which could be, for example, 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years, depending on specific personality and plan.…”

“… 4 As in other fields, surgeons benefit from learning the skills of creating SMART goals and designing implementation intentions. 5 Generating SMART goals should be part of every surgeon’s goal-setting process and involves clarifying what one wants to achieve by developing concrete personal goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-defined (SMART). 6 , 8 A goal is Specific when it defines the who, what, when and where; Measurable if progress can be tracked and someone can determine if the goal was attained; Achievable if the researcher has the ability and resources to attain it.…”

Exploring the Role of Self-Control on Student Procrastination

“…A student who tend to procrastinate, tend to have a problem. As Gustavson and Miyake (2017) investigated, a college student who reported as high procrastinate tend to have low on goal accomplishment. According toSteel (2007), selfcontrol highly associated with procrastination.…”

Preventing Procrastination Behaviours: Teaching Styles and Competence in University Students

“…For this reason, when trying to correct procrastination behaviour (with little success), the expression "don't leave for tomorrow what you can do today" has become so popular. However, the problem of procrastination, although recognized for hundreds of years, has only been systematically studied in recent years, with relatively few conclusive investigations into its causes, prevention, or coping strategies [8,9,19,20]. Therefore, there are still many aspects of procrastination that need to be studied and tested.…”