Effect of goal orientation, perceived self-efficacy and expectations of success on the academic emotions of students in higher education

Abstract

Affectivity and emotions have a demonstrate significance in the learning process, engagement, academic achievement, and emotional well-being. In the academic context, achievement goals have also a crucial role in learning processes. Initially, research work had posed attention and interest on studying anxiety as achievement-related emotion, but in recent times interest has extended to more emotions. In this sense, there is a complex relationship between the achievement emotions and the academic goal setting. This paper aims to explore the effects of goal orientation, perceived self-efficacy and expectations of success on academic emotions. The research is a cross-sectional study of questionnaire survey, using a correlational design. The sample is composed of 662 higher education students from various degrees from a Spanish public university. To test the hypothesized relationships among the study variables, a path analysis was conducted using AMOS. In the present study, we found that the approach orientations are positively related to positive and negative emotions; however, mastery goals would be the variable that would best predict enjoyment and hope. Avoidance of performance goals are negatively related to self-efficacy and expectations of success and, also increases the negative emotions. We discuss the findings considering theorical postulates and how these results could improve the design of educational interventions.