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n schools and the workplace, procrastination become progressively more lenient, the responsibil-
can be defined as freely postponing an action ity of performing tasks on time and with efficiency
with the awareness of the detriment it may falls more fully on the specific worker.
cause in the future (Steel, 2007). Procrastination is
a widespread problem that is expected to increase Procrastination
in prevalence due to less controlling management To help prevent negative outcomes, it is useful
strategies (Steel, 2007). Trends toward a decrease to identify reasons for procrastination. Extensive
in occupational structure and direction with an research has identified variables that are related to
increase in workplace temptation (e.g., computer procrastination. Rabin, Fogel, and Nutter-Upham
games, text messaging) gives individuals numerous (2011) found that procrastination increases with
opportunities to procrastinate. age. Studies examining participant sex have
Negative effects of procrastination can arise in yielded inconsistent results, but Özer, Demir, and
multiple contexts. Along with failure to complete Ferrari (2009) found that academic procrastination
certain goals or tasks on time, procrastinating was more prevalent in men than women. Other
can cause a person disappointment and can variables shown to be positively correlated with
WINTER 2014 lead to interpersonal problems if family or social procrastination include suicide proneness (Klibert,
responsibilities are unfulfilled (e.g., relying on
PSI CHI Langhinrichsen-Roling, Luna, & Robichaux, 2011),
JOURNAL OF
others, letting people down, falling short of family
PSYCHOLOGICAL expectations; Andreou, 2007). As organizations Faculty mentor: Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD
RESEARCH
156 COPYRIGHT 2014 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 19, NO. 4/ISSN 2164-8204)
Cerino | Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Procrastination
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Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Procrastination | Cerino
and working on school-related work. Participants procrastination. For example, time management
with high levels of self-efficacy reported having training (Van Eerde, 2003), and cognitive therapy
higher goals they aimed to achieve, tying self-effi- techniques (e.g., making realistic goals; Ramsay,
cacy to academic motivation (Prat-Sala & Redford, 2002) may reduce procrastination. Other treat-
2010). Furthermore, self-efficacy mediated the ments have targeted self-efficacy; a group treatment
relationship between achievement goals and physi- incorporating cognitive-based techniques has
cal activity in physical education classes (Gao et al., successfully increased self-efficacy, which in turn
2011). Achievement motivation and self-efficacy may lead to a decrease in procrastination (Wang,
rise with success in academic settings, whereas Qian, Wang, & Chen, 2011). However, few interven-
procrastination seems to decrease students’ academic tions have attempted to directly target academic
performance (Klassen et al., 2010; Steel, 2007). motivation. The present study was an attempt
Klassen et al. (2010) identified self-efficacy to clarify the relative contribution of academic
as a type of motivational variable of learning. Self- motivation and self-efficacy to procrastination to
efficacy can be divided into two forms: general identify specific targets for future interventions.
(array of tasks) and perceived (specific action; If academic motivation is a stronger predictor of
Luszczynska, Scholz, & Schwarzer, 2005). The procrastination than self-efficacy, perhaps interven-
relationship of general self-efficacy to social- tions that attempt to increase specific academic
cognitive constructs such as goal-oriented views and motivational factors will be more efficacious in the
intentions, and self-regulation is strong across treatment of procrastination.
cultures (Luszczynska et al., 2005). In the present study, we assessed self-reported
In a cross-cultural study conducted in levels of different types of academic motivation,
Singapore and Canada, motivational variables self-efficacy, and frequency of and reasons for
(e.g., self-efficacy through confidence in learning) procrastination in college students. We hypoth-
and procrastination were found to be strongly esized that, consistent with previous studies,
related (Klassen et al., 2010). Here, self-efficacy academic motivation and self-efficacy together would
was described as a source of motivation that an have a strong negative relationship to academic
individual has that can influence their levels procrastination among college students. In addition,
of procrastination. With regard to academic consistent with previous research that has empha-
procrastination, the college student participants sized the strong relationship between motivation
from Singapore and Canada both reported the and academic outcomes (Klassen et al., 2010;
most academic procrastination in writing tasks, as Klibert et al., 2011; Prat-Sala & Redford, 2010;
opposed to reading or studying. Negative procras- Yoshida et al., 2008), we hypothesized that
tinators, defined in the study as individuals who academic motivation would have a stronger
saw procrastination as a negative influence on negative relationship with procrastination than
academics, procrastinated more and showed lower self-efficacy.
levels of self-efficacy (Klassen et al., 2010).
Method
Purpose Participants
Extensive research has identified various forms We recruited 101 undergraduate students at
of motivation and self-efficacy as predictors of a Northeastern public liberal arts university to
procrastination, but there has yet to be a study of participate in the present study through the
the relationship between academic motivation, psychology subject pool. In addition, we used
self-efficacy, and academic procrastination col- convenience sampling to recruit participants
lectively. This study stemmed from the previous from public spaces on campus. Of the 101 partici-
research tying motivation and self-efficacy together pants, 36.6% were men and 63.4% were women
in academic settings (Gao et al., 2011; Klassen et al., (M = 20.76, SD = 2.54 years of age). Self-
2010; Klibert et al., 2011; Luszczynska et al., 2005; reported race of the sample was 3% Asian,
Prat-Sala & Redford, 2010; Steel, 2007), and was an 6.9% Black, 83.2% White, with 6.9% partici-
attempt to extend our knowledge on the relative pants identifying as “other.” Self-reported
WINTER 2014 contributions of motivation and self-efficacy to ethnicity of the sample was 7.9% Hispanic and
procrastination. 92.1% not Hispanic. In addition, 99% of the
PSI CHI
JOURNAL OF
Various intervention strategies and treat- participants provided their cumulative grade point
PSYCHOLOGICAL ment programs have been successful in reducing average (M = 3.30, SD = 0.49).
RESEARCH
158 COPYRIGHT 2014 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 19, NO. 4/ISSN 2164-8204)
Cerino | Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Procrastination
COPYRIGHT 2014 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 19, NO. 4/ISSN 2164-8204) 159
Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Procrastination | Cerino
160 COPYRIGHT 2014 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 19, NO. 4/ISSN 2164-8204)
Cerino | Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Procrastination
greater influence on academic procrastination this lack of control, extraneous variables could have
than self-efficacy. Within the Academic Motivation influenced participant responses.
scale, the IM subscales showed stronger negative In spite of these limitations, this work may have
relationships to Frequency of Procrastination than implications for college students and for universi-
the EM subscales. This may be due to the sample ties. Academic motivation and self-efficacy were
placing particular importance on internal benefits individually found to significantly contribute to
such as learning new information, accomplishing academic procrastination, suggesting the impor-
what is desired, and experiencing stimulating feel- tance for students to become aware of their own
ings in academic settings. Moreover, the only EM motivations and their confidence in their ability
subscale that had a significant negative relationship to succeed in an academic setting. IM subscales
to frequency of procrastination was the Introjected to Know, Toward Accomplishment, and to Experi-
subscale. This makes sense because, by definition, ence Stimulation were found to have the strongest
the subscale involved internalizing external feel- negative relationships to academic procrastination.
ings, quite similar to the intrinsic subscales for Expanding these results to the general population
academic motivation. The Amotivation subscale’s of students could help generate a better under-
significant positive relationship showed that standing of important ways to motivate students
students who lacked academic motivation entirely toward procrastinating less, and hopefully increase
tended to procrastinate more on academic tasks. academic success. Based on these findings, it is
The results of this study were consistent with clear students should focus on identifying ways to
a number of previous studies (Gao et al., 2011; motivate themselves internally.
Klassen et al., 2010; Prat-Sala & Redford, 2010). With regard to intervention strategies and
The relationship between academic motivation and treatment programs, this study’s results sug-
self-efficacy found by Prat-Sala and Redford (2010) gested new avenues for intervention. Whereas
was replicated in the current study. existing interventions have focused on cognitive
The negative relationship between self-efficacy techniques such as time management (Ramsay,
and academic procrastination found in this study 2002; Van Eerde, 2003; Wang et al., 2011), it may
was consistent with Klassen et al.’s (2010) findings. be that interventions that directly target academic
In addition, just as the cross-cultural study found motivation are warranted. Importantly, it may be
reading and writing tasks to be most frequented, that procrastination interventions that target self-
we found higher frequencies of procrastination in efficacy (Wang et al., 2011) are insufficient.
Writing a Term Paper, Keeping Up With Weekly This study’s results can inform plans to
Reading Assignments, and Studying for Exams. minimize procrastination among college students.
However, our findings were inconsistent with
research identifying self-efficacy as a mediating TABLE 2
variable for academic motivation (Gao et al., Bivariate Correlations Between Frequency of Procrastination
2011). We found that self-efficacy did not make a and Academic Motivation Subscales and Self-Efficacy
significant contribution to a model of academic Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
procrastination beyond variance predicted by
1. Frequency of
academic motivation. Procrastination
1.00
Several limitations should be considered in
2. IM to Know -.24** 1.00
interpreting the findings of this study. For example,
3. IM Toward
the sample was limited in size and diversity. With Accomplishment
-.34*** .82*** 1.00
50 of the 101 participants having a junior class
4. IM to Experience
standing, differences in coursework, stress levels, -.36*** .60*** .66*** 1.00
Stimulation
and priorities might have influenced the self-report 5. EM Identified -.003 .38*** .45*** .26** 1.00
measures. Further, the convenience sampling
6. EM Introjected -.28 **
.54 ***
.73 ***
.46*** .60*** 1.00
caused variability in setting (e.g., university library,
dormitories, and other classrooms) for different 7. EM External
.14 .13 .19* -.04 .66*** .37*** 1.00
Regulation
participants. This could have led to disparity in
8. Amotivation .36*** -.50*** -.44*** -.28** -.52*** -.43*** -.26** 1.00
results based on setting differential. In addition,
the cross-sectional, correlational design limited the 9. General
-.36*** .49*** .54*** .33*** .17* .28** .02 -.39*** 1.00
Self-Efficancy
conclusions that can be drawn about the direction
Note. IM = Intrinsic Motivation; EM = Extrinsic Motivation. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
and nature of the relationships observed. Due to
COPYRIGHT 2014 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 19, NO. 4/ISSN 2164-8204) 161
Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Procrastination | Cerino
Although there is a great deal more to be done replicating the present study would produce similar
in addition to this study, potential plans can use or contradictory results in other universities and
this research as evidence to create informative with differing research designs. The purpose of
programs to lower levels of academic procrastina- future studies should be to explore more reasons
tion in schools. These results, strengthened by for procrastination and identify more ways to
the results of Andreou (2007), Gao et al. (2011), decrease procrastination levels among students.
Klassen et al. (2010), and Prat-Sala and Redford
(2010), can help students achieve goals they make
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WINTER 2014
PSI CHI
JOURNAL OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
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