Academic Motivation of Students - The German Case

The concept of motivation is used in many different disciplines to analyze the ‘what and why’ (Deci & Ryan, 2000) of human action. A vast body of literature exists on the relationship of motivation and performance in professional work and organization settings (e.g. Osterloh, Frey & Homberger, 2011; Gagné & Deci, 2005). Motivation is widely acknowledged to enhance performance and efficiency of staff (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Beyond work settings motivation may influence performance in academic settings and among university students. Our main research question asks for factors that influence academic motivation: Can student characteristics and study conditions impact academic motivation? In the following, at first a theoretical view on academic motivation will narrow down the subject of interest and distinguish it from already existing research. Secondly, factors that we assume of having an influence on academic motivation will be presented. We focus on students with non-traditional characteristics, the individual field of studies, different stages of studies, social background, and the organizational perspective of studying. Moreover, we look at the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Finally, our hypotheses will be tested empirically with data from a survey on academic motivation and on the students’ expectations. The survey was conducted at three German universities in 2009