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The research examines possible differences in the mutual reinforcement (i.e. multiplicative) effect between intrinsic and instrumental motivation on academic performance across different cultures. Eight representative countries and economies from two large‐scale databases—the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012—were used, respectively. Results showed that among the Confucian economies, instrumental motivation was more helpful in improving the mathematics performance of students with low intrinsic motivation than for those with high intrinsic motivation. This was shown by the multiplicative effect between intrinsic and instrumental motivation. Despite the difference, students in both Confucian and Western cultures with high intrinsic motivation had better mathematics performance than students with low intrinsic motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined the possible long-term effects of autonomous motivation on educational outcomes in the large scale High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (HSLS:09) data. We used a three-wave cross-lagged model to examine the longitudinal effects of intrinsic and identified motivation on 18,132 students in the mathematics domain and 16,684 students in the science domain. The results showed that intrinsic motivation was a long-term and effective enhancement agent on the subsequent academic performance, self-efficacy, identity, and course effort. In contrast, identified motivation might be sensitive to the contexts and was thus vulnerable to change in the long-term effects. Though identified motivation has positive effects on some immediate educational outcomes and is often regarded as "helpful" motivation, its positive effect is probably short-lived and might not last long in real life educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To motivate students, intrinsic interest is generally preferred over the instrumental values (useful for future study/work) of the tasks. Such general principles could be complicated by the differential work-related values and attitudes across cultures. Understanding and applying the appropriate motivational systems in congruence with students' cultural beliefs is important. Using self-determination theory, we examined the possible differential importance (and other complicated interactions) of motivational factors in representative student samples from 19 countries and economies in two cohorts of large-scale international surveys (in total 188,481 students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS], 2015 and 2019). Results showed that emphasizing task instrumental values helped academic performance for students with a low intrinsic interest in collectivistic cultures. In contrast, stressing instrumental values did not help low-interest students in individualistic cultures. Notably, intrinsic motivation facilitates academic performance universally in all cultures. • Low-intrinsic collectivist students will benefit from instrumental motivation. • Only intrinsic motivation was positively influential for individualistic students. • A cultural interactive model is supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]