Expectancies of success, task value, and self-regulation : a typology of achievement motivation in students of education based on a cluster analysis of the achievement motivation inventory
Abstract
Achievement motivation represents a psychological variable determining goal-directed behavior and, consequently, conditions for study success in university students. We base this questionnaire study on the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation and on other current approaches to achievement motivation.
Within this framework, we expect that 1) students can be classified into different types depending on their expectancies of success, task value, and self-regulation and 2) students' membership in different types of achievement motivation relates to differences in achievement-oriented behavior. In total, 158 university students of education completed a questionnaire battery including selected scales from the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI) and the Test of Aspirations.
We processed the included AMI scales by k-means cluster analysis, resulting in four clusters of students: Motivated type (38% of participants), Low-confidence type (21%), Low-interest type (29%), and Spontaneous type (12%). The Motivated type showed the highest levels in included motivational variables as well as the highest level of aspiration.
The Low-confidence type was characterized by lower levels of expectancies of success and moderate levels of aspiration. The Spontaneous type showed lower levels of self-regulation and the Low-interest type showed lower achievement values; both these types were related to the lowest aspiration levels.
The results suggest that especially lower levels of selfregulation (Spontaneous type) or task value (Low-interest type) may represent a barrier in setting appropriate goals and coping with failure that may negatively relate to the study success of students with corresponding motivational profiles.