Motivating university management students on studying research methods : influence of career applicability, and emotional and cognitive interests

Anne L.L. TANG*, Vincent TUNG, Tiffany CHENG

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the relationships between undergraduate management students’ emotional interest (EI) and cognitive interest (CI) in research methods (RMs), the perceived applicability of RMs to future careers and motivation to study RMs within the Asian higher education context. This draws implications for better pedagogical approaches to motivating them to study RMs. 

Design/methodology/approach: A pre–post-semester cohort study design was conducted with 172 undergraduate management students enrolled on an RMs subject by means of a self-administrated online survey using Qualtrics. A total of 170 students responded to the pre-semester survey and 116 students to the post-semester one. The main instrument was adapted from Mazer’s (2012) study interest scale. Regression analysis was applied to investigating the relationship between students’ EI and CI in RMs with perceived applicability of RMs to future careers and their motivation to study RMs. 

Findings: The findings have shown that there was a significant relationship between undergraduate management students’ CI and EI and perceived applicability of RMs to future careers and their study motivation towards RMs. The regression model built on the two independent variables of students’ EI in RMs and their perceived applicability of RMs to future careers served to have higher accuracy in predicting their study motivation. 

Originality/value: This paper contributes to enriching the conceptual understanding of the conflating influences of undergraduate management students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation levels on studying RMs within the Asian higher education context. Practically, this study explores different pedagogical approaches to better motivating students to study RMs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)774-787
Number of pages14
JournalEducation and Training
Volume64
Issue number6
Early online date14 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Oct 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Keywords

  • Careers
  • Cognitive interest
  • Emotional interest
  • Extrinsic motivation
  • Intrinsic motivation
  • Management education

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