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The Role of Prosocial Goal Congruity on Student Motivation in Electrical Engineering
- Source :
- IEEE Transactions on Education. 62:256-263
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2019.
-
Abstract
- Contribution: Prior studies on goal congruity show that students are more motivated to pursue careers that allow them to work with and help others and give back to their community (i.e., careers that afford prosocial value). This paper discovers this same pattern in electrical engineering (EE) and discovers that prosocial affordance beliefs are significantly associated with intensions to persist, while agency beliefs are not. Background: Goal congruity theory finds that people are more motivated to pursue a career if it aligns with values they endorse. This theory can shed light on why some students do not persist in EE because of the stereotype that the profession does not allow working with and helping others. Research Questions: This paper seeks to answer whether EE students perceive the profession as affording prosocial value, and to test associations between prosocial perceptions and motivation to persist in the field. Methodology: The first study in this paper was conducted on students in an introductory EE course ( $n\,\,= 79$ ) that measured affordance beliefs about the EE profession and tested associations with intensions to persist. The second study compared affordance beliefs and trait endorsements held by students in the introductory level course with those in an advanced EE courses ( $n\,\,=51$ ). Findings: Mediation analysis revealed that the more novice students believe that EE allows them to fulfill prosocial goals, the greater their persistence intentions (95% CI: 0.01 to 0.34). This analysis also showed that agency beliefs were not strongly associated with persistence intensions.
- Subjects :
- Goal orientation
business.industry
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
Electrical engineering
050301 education
Stereotype
Social value orientations
Education
Prosocial behavior
Agency (sociology)
Task analysis
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
business
Affordance
Psychology
0503 education
Social responsibility
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15579638 and 00189359
- Volume :
- 62
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- IEEE Transactions on Education
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........49da45e283411967c02acbbe32c93f66