Past-Positive time perspective predicts academic achievement via motivation, and procrastination might not be as bad as it seems

Abstract

PurposeThe present research was based on an online questionnaire. A total of 256 undergraduate psychology students aged 18–44 (M = 23.61; SD = 0.57) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina took part in the study (137 women; 53.3%). A sociodemographic and academic survey and the locally adapted versions of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Tuckman Procrastination Scale were used in this study. Participants were contacted by an email advertisement in which the main purpose of the study was explained, and the instruments remained open from September to November of 2021. Descriptive analyses – means, standard deviations and frequencies – were calculated using IBM SPSS v.25, and mediation and moderation analyses were conducted on PROCESS macro.Design/methodology/approachAcademic achievement has always been a concern in the high undergraduate's community. Numerous studies have addressed psychological aspects of students' academic life; however, a past-positive (PP) time perspective, a warm and sentimental view of past events that took place in someone's life, has not been profoundly contemplated. The fact that students might organize their activities, employ different strategies to fulfill their tasks and motivate themselves to pursue their academic goals based primarily on their past experiences calls the attention on conducting research on this time perspective dimension and its relationship with procrastination and academic motivation. It was hypothesized that the PP time perspective would positively predict academic achievement via the mediation of academic motivation in a way that the potentiate effect of PP time perspective on academic achievement would be increased in highly motivated students, but this effect would be reduced in less motivated students. Also, it was hypothesized that the relationship between motivation and academic achievement would be negatively moderated by procrastination such that academic achievement would increase with academic motivation; however, that increase would be attenuated by procrastination.FindingsAcademic achievement was positively associated with PP time perspective (r = 0.39; p < 0.01) and academic motivation (0.36; p < 0.01) and negatively associated with procrastination (r = −0.15; p < 0.05). Results showed that academic motivation mediated the relationship between PP time perspective and academic achievement (ß = 1.37; R2 = 0.21; p < 0.001). Additionally, procrastination moderated the relationship between academic motivation and academic achievement but only at the low (ß = 0.76; p < 0.001) and medium (ß = 0.44; p < 0.001) levels of procrastination, while at high levels of procrastination, that relationship was not statistically significant (ß = 0.11; p > 0.05).Originality/valueThis is the first study that examined the mediated role of academic motivation in the relationship between PP time perspective and academic achievement and that included the moderating role of procrastination.

The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation in the Effect of Rational Decision-Making on Academic Procrastination

“…Motivation is considered a crucial factor for academic procrastination in both educational theory and practice (Zaccoletti et al, 2020), and they found that individuals tend to procrastinate more when their intrinsic motivation decreases, which is considered a type of motivation in this study. This behavior has been observed in several studies (Bagheri & Yoosefi, 2023;Bäulke & Dresel, 2023;Fernández Da Lama & Brenlla, 2023;Fridayani, 2023;Güdül et al, 2021;Serdar et al, 2021;Tisocco & Liporace, 2023). The results of the study are based on the theoretical perspective that intrinsic motivation, which fulfills basic psychological needs, reduces academic procrastination behavior .…”

“…At this point, Ryan and Deci (2000) define academic procrastination as a motivational problem that creates a gap between intention and action, leading to negative consequences for the individual. Many studies have shown that intrinsic motivation is effective in reducing academic procrastination and that there are negative relationships between students' intrinsic motivation and academic procrastination behavior (Abidin et al, 2023;Anwar & Qonita, 2019;Bäulke et al, 2018;Fernández Da Lama & Brenlla, 2023;Howard et al, 2021;Güdül et al, 2021;Kemal et al, 2023;Malkoç & Mutlu, 2018;Naz et al, 2021;Tisocco & Liporace, 2023;Yeşiltaş, 2020). This is because students with high motivation perceive their lessons as interesting or valuable and are less likely to persistently and irrationally procrastinate their academic tasks (Kljajic et al, 2021).…”

Exploring the Relationship of Social Support with Expectancy and Value in Online Foreign Language Learning

“…There is no doubt that there is also a lack of interesting and interactive ICT-based support learning materials (Gomez et al, 2023). Numerous studies and researches highlight on the impact of online learning but less emphasis on social factors involving motivation during online classes (Abuhassna & Alnawajha, 2023;Diwakar et al, 2023;Dong et al, 2023;Fernández Da Lama & Brenlla, 2023;Fowler, n.d.;Gómez et al, 2023;Istijanto, 2023;Liu, 2023;Mannella & Tummolini, 2023;Meisner & McKenzie, 2023;Mendoza et al, 2023;Nong et al, 2023;Swain et al, 2021). Hence, this study is significant in order to seek solutions to the issues which have affected students' academic achievement in today's technology-based education.…”