Academic success online: The mediating role of self-efficacy on personality and academic performance

Abstract

Academic success in any context is dependent upon a student's belief in their ability to succeed. While learning online, a students’ self-efficacy is affected by their confidence in their ability to interact within the online environment. With the proliferation of personalized learning and the growth of Massive Open Online Courses, this growing trend is a shift in focus from the centralized brick-and-mortar locus of control, to one of enabling student choice and agency for how, when, and where they learn. In the pre-pandemic setting, this research study examined the personality types of students enrolled in eight sections of four online courses in educational technology, and the role self-efficacy for learning online played in their academic performance. Key findings reveal that personality affects learners’ academic achievement is moderately significant, self-efficacy for online learning affects learners’ academic achievement in a small but significant way, and student conscientiousness and academic performance were significantly and fully mediated by self-efficacy for learning online while controlling for gender and English language proficiency. There were no mediation effects with the other personality traits. A discussion around learning design strategies is provided. The authors recommend that institutions adopt more flexible learning options for teaching and learning that include both online and blended learning options that provide student’s choice and agency over the learning experience but also enable the institution to be better equipped for what the uncertain future of education holds.

The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Relationship between Approach Motivational System and Sports Success among Elite Speed Skating Athletes and Physical Education Students

“…A mediating role of self-efficacy on the relationship between BAS and sports success was fully confirmed in this study, consistent with hypothesis H4 and a previous study [ 2 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. According to the RST [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], an approach and avoidance motivated behavior results from the interaction between neuropsychological personality traits and motivational stimuli that possess a specific value (more or less attractive).…”

“…Self-efficacy was found as a mediator in the relationships between the Big-Five personality traits and academic performance [ 50 , 51 ] and between a proactive personality and creative performance [ 52 ] and between goal setting and performance in the context of human resource management [ 53 ]. Furthermore, Sherman et al [ 49 ] found the mediating effect of flossing self-efficacy on the relationship between BIS/BAS motivational system, flossing intention, and health-related flossing behavior.…”

“…Self-efficacy will play a mediating role in the relationship between BAS and predisposition to sports success, taking into account previously established associations between these variables [ 2 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ] and research on the mediating role of self-efficacy in the fields of academic achievement, management, and healthy behavior [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ].…”