Causal relationship model of Chinese generation Z undergraduates’ academic motivations

Abstract

It is critical to acknowledge that academic motivation is a foundational element
influencing learners’ learning engagement, outcomes as well as educators’
effective instruction. However, Generation Z (Gen Z) undergraduates are
reported lacking of academic motivation in some areas of China. As motivation
is an intrinsic psychological process closely related to personal emotions,
psychological perceptions and needs, this paper attempts to analyze academic
emotions and learning motivation via basic psychological needs in order to
enhance Gen Z academic motivation. This paper adopts a quantitative research
method among a sample of 960 Gen Z undergraduates in Guangxi Province,
China, through the Achievement emotions questionnaire, Basic psychological
needs satisfaction scale and Academic motivation scale (college version)
to investigate the correlations among variables including academic emotions,
need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness as well as academic motivation.
The results demonstrate that the causal relationship model partially matches
the data set well, as illustrated by the fit indices. Furthermore, the findings
showed that academic emotions could predict academic motivation through
competence and relatedness needs except for autonomy. Additionally, while
academic emotions could predict academic motivation through competence
and relatedness; nevertheless, academic emotions fail to predict academic
motivation through competence and autonomy. Therefore, educators in
higher education need to realize the cultural variances in the roles of basic
psychological needs of Gen Z undergraduates in China, particularly autonomy
satisfaction.