An Examination of College Students' Problem‐Solving Self‐Efficacy, Academic Self‐Efficacy, Motivation, Test Performance, and Expected Grade in Introductory‐Level Economics Courses

Abstract

This study investigated whether self‐efficacy influenced students’ educational outcomes in introductory‐level economics courses. First, this study investigated the correlations between problem‐solving self‐efficacy, academic self‐efficacy, and motivation. Second, this study investigated whether problem‐solving and academic self‐efficacy served as predictors of students’ motivation, test performance, and expected grade. Correlational analyses suggest that problem‐solving and academic self‐efficacy are correlated with student motivation. Results show that problem‐solving self‐efficacy was a predictor of student motivation and test performance. Academic self‐efficacy and problem‐solving self‐efficacy were also predictors of their expected grade. Implications and future directions for economics education are also discussed.

The role of active teaching, academic self-efficacy, and learning behaviors in student performance

“…Expectancy for success was also measured with a single-item five-point Likert scale from 1 ( never ) to 5 ( always ) (“I am confident that I will get a good grade in this class”). Recent studies have demonstrated the viability of single-item scales that measure expectancy for success (Ramos Salazar and Hayward, 2018) and intent to persist in academic studies (Bowman and Denson, 2014). Consideration of dropping a class and expectation of a good grade are argued to be constructs that are simple, have a single-meaning and are uniformly understood by student respondents and are thus “doubly concrete” and suitable as single-item scales (Bergkvist, 2015).…”

The Effect of Motivational Book Reading on Student’s Attitudes Change

“…Bandura (1993) argued that self-efficacy beliefs would affect college outcomes by promoting motivation and persistence for students to keep working on the challenging academic tasks. Romas Salazar and Hayward (2018) revealed that academic self-efficacy is related to student motivation and served as a predictor of the expected grade. Torres and Solberg (2001) found that academic self-efficacy was positively related to the number of hours students spent studying.…”

Autoeficacia académica del alumnado de los posgrados en administración en tiempos del COVID-19

“…Asimismo, Mengelkamb y Bannert (2009) y Schneider y Preckel (2017) indican que la autoeficacia académica está influenciada por el tiempo y la incertidumbre, lo cual afecta la realización de las tareas en el alumnado. También, la capacidad y motivación del alumnado se afectan cuando se enfrentan a tareas altamente complejas que implica participar en equipos de trabajo y en la resolución de problemas (Ramos & Hayward, 2018). En este sentido, la medición de la autoeficacia es relevante para que el alumnado determine lo que puede llevar a cabo y así determinar de mejor manera las estrategias a utilizar para el logro académico (Boekaerts & Rozendaal, 2010).…”