Culture’s consequences on student motivation: Capturing cross-cultural universality and variability through personal investment theory.

Ronnel Bornasal KING, Dennis Michael MCINERNEY

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

154 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Culture influences basic motivational processes; however, Western theories of achievement motivation seem to have neglected the role of culture. They are inadequate when trying to explain student motivation and engagement across a wide range of cultural groups because they may not have the conceptual tools needed to handle culturally relevant information. Personal investment (PI) theory is proposed as a viable alternative that could be used across diverse cultural contexts. It designates three components of meaning: sense of self, perceived goals, and facilitating conditions as central to understanding investment in the educational enterprise. Moreover, it is an integrative framework that can shed light on both etic (culturally universal) and emic (culturally specific) dimensions of student motivation. Studies utilizing PI theory are reviewed revealing interesting etic and emic findings. Implications for cross-cultural research in educational psychology are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Division 15, American Psychological Association.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)175-198
JournalEducational Psychologist
Volume49
Issue number3
Early online dateJul 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Citation

King, R. B., & McInerney, D. M. (2014). Culture’s consequences on student motivation: Capturing cross-cultural universality and variability through personal investment theory. Educational Psychologist, 49(3), 175-198.

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