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On students’ metamotivational knowledge of self-determination

DOI:10.1007/s11409-022-09318-7
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Shi Yu at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen
Shi Yu
  • The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen
Fengjiao Zhang
Fengjiao Zhang
Fengjiao Zhang
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Ludmila Nunes at Purdue University
Ludmila Nunes
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Abstract and Figures

Metamotivational knowledge is a burgeoning area of study. It refers to people’s knowledge about motivation, and it has been shown to contribute to motivation and behavioral outcomes. The current study bridges metamotivational knowledge with self-determination theory (SDT), one of the most prominent theories of academic motivation. SDT proposes self-determination as a critical aspect of academic motivation. The current study thus answers two questions: What do students know about self-determination in academic motivation, and how does this knowledge predict outcomes? Two studies with college student samples from diverse cultures (American and Chinese) seek to answer these questions. The results show that students generally believe self-determined types of motivation to be more normative, more effective for performance and more beneficial for well-being than non-self-determined types. This is generally accurate, with some exceptions (e.g., the tendency to underestimate the relative normalcy of certain types of self-determined motivation). Path analyses support the hypothesized mediation model, such that believing self-determined academic motivation to be more normative and associated with better outcomes in performance and well-being, on average, predicts students' higher performance and well-being via the mediation of self-determined academic motivation. The effects of the metamotivational knowledge of self-determination hold after controlling for needs support and satisfaction processes, supporting metamotivational knowledge as an intraindividual resource for academic self-determination. In general, the mediation effects hold for both cultures, and similarities and dissimilarities from cross-cultural comparisons of metamotivational knowledge are also interpreted. The current research paves the way for metamotivational knowledge interventions aiming to improve student self-determination.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-022-09318-7
1 3
On students’ metamotivational knowledge
ofself‑determination
ShiYu1 · FengjiaoZhang2· LudmilaD.Nunes3
Received: 5 September 2021 / Accepted: 28 July 2022 /
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022
Abstract
Metamotivational knowledge is a burgeoning area of study. It refers to people’s knowledge
about motivation, and it has been shown to contribute to motivation and behavioral out-
comes. The current study bridges metamotivational knowledge with self-determination the-
ory (SDT), one of the most prominent theories of academic motivation. SDT proposes self-
determination as a critical aspect of academic motivation. The current study thus answers
two questions: What do students know about self-determination in academic motivation,
and how does this knowledge predict outcomes? Two studies with college student samples
from diverse cultures (American and Chinese) seek to answer these questions. The results
show that students generally believe self-determined types of motivation to be more nor-
mative, more effective for performance and more beneficial for well-being than non-self-
determined types. This is generally accurate, with some exceptions (e.g., the tendency to
underestimate the relative normalcy of certain types of self-determined motivation). Path
analyses support the hypothesized mediation model, such that believing self-determined
academic motivation to be more normative and associated with better outcomes in perfor-
mance and well-being, on average, predicts students’ higher performance and well-being
via the mediation of self-determined academic motivation. The effects of the metamotiva-
tional knowledge of self-determination hold after controlling for needs support and satis-
faction processes, supporting metamotivational knowledge as an intraindividual resource
for academic self-determination. In general, the mediation effects hold for both cultures,
and similarities and dissimilarities from cross-cultural comparisons of metamotivational
knowledge are also interpreted. The current research paves the way for metamotivational
knowledge interventions aiming to improve student self-determination.
Keywords Metamotivation· Academic motivation· Self-determination theory· GPA·
Path analysis· Mediation
* Shi Yu
yushi881129@gmail.com
1 Chinese University ofHong Kong, Shenzhen, China
2 Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai, China
3 Purdue University, WestLafayette, IN, USA
Published online: 25 August 2022
Metacognition and Learning (2023) 18:81–111
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Overall affective well-being was computed by subtracting the average level of negative affect from the average level of positive affect. Previous research (Thompson, 2007) has supported the validity of this scale when applied in Chinese populations; the Chinese version of this scale has also demonstrated satisfactory reliability and concurrent validity in a previous study (showing a positive correlation with self-determination variables; Yu et al., 2022). In the current sample, the reliability was satisfactory (α > 0.80 for parent and children), and affective well-being correlated in expected ways with self-determination, basic psychological needs, academic satisfaction, performance, and being negatively impacted by Neijuan, supporting the concurrent validity of this measure. ...
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