Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter emphasizes primarily on the studies and literature that define the terms

"academic procrastination" and "learning productivity." This also covers completed dissertations

as well as those that focus on the internal and external factors that contribute to it. Additionally,

this chapter discusses the profound impact that academic procrastination has on students as well

as potential solutions. These were included in this chapter to assist researchers in becoming

acquainted with relevant and related facts to the current investigation.

Academic Procrastination

Academic procrastination is a problem behavior with negative consequences for students.

The extent of this phenomenon among students and the negative impact on their academic

achievement requires more attention and research on this issue. The present study was conducted

with the aim of investigating the role of fear of failure and sub-scale of self-regulation (memory

strategy goal-setting, self-evaluation, helping assistance, responsibility, organization) in relation

with academic procrastination (Gracia et al., 2020).

According to (Gargari et al. 2011), depending on its cognitive, affective or behavioral

components, procrastination will have different manifestations including academic, decisional,

neurotic or compulsive procrastination. The most common form, however, is academic

procrastination. It is defined as a pervasive and permanent desire on the part of learners to

postpone academic activities.

health. As the work piles up and time dwindles away, students can lose important study time and

rush through assignments, negatively affecting the overall quality of their performance. This

accumulation of work weighs heavily on the shoulders of these busy students, increasing the

pressure to compete and succeed in their classes (Kumar, 2017).

Learning Productivity

Lastiri (2022) stated that productivity for students relates to their efforts and capacity to

work effectively on their academics. This pertains to their efficiency with time management,

their capacity for prioritization, and their overall contribution to obtaining academic

achievement.

Moreover, Lastiri (2022) added that this may be assessed by looking at how well they

succeed academically. Making a short-term goal, creating a study schedule, removing

distractions, joining a study group, getting adequate sleep, limiting screen time, learning

compartmentalization, and avoiding procrastination are all ways that students may become more

productive.

According to Highcrest Academy (2023), there are several factors that positively impact

academic productivity. They include spending sufficient time on high-return study projects,

maintaining outstanding attendance, reading at an age that is at least consistent with one's

chronological age, getting enough sleep to perform at one's best, and avoiding distractions like

social media.

In addition, it is also emphasized that there is a spectrum of academic production, from

high to poor. Academically successful students form and adopt habits that optimize their
learning. High levels of academic production are facilitated by assignments with a high rate of

return that have been found for each subject area.

Relation of Academic Procrastination to Learning Productivity

Academic procrastination is a student’s delay in studying or completing academic

assignments; it is a common problem affecting the learning and achievement of university

students. This challenge is important to address because procrastination can develop into a habit

that can seriously impact your ability to be productive. Prior literature explores the link between

academic procrastination and academic performance and generally finds that academic

procrastination is negatively related to academic performance (Akinsola et al. 2007; as cited in

Zarrin, 2020).

Procrastination is also linked to other adverse behavior and outcomes, including poor

study habits, test anxiety, cramming for examinations, late submission of coursework, fear of

failure, fear of social disapproval by peers, lower grades, sense of guilt, and depression (Ferrari

and Scher 2000; as cited in Zarrin, 2020). The findings of the previous studies reveal that the

reports of students of their procrastination indicate a negative meaningful difference with their

academic performance (Beswick et al, 1998; as cited in Zarrin, 2020).

Nature of Academic Procrastination to Senior High School Students

In today’s generation, people are severely attached to a lot of things that are actually just

wasting their time without them knowing, especially students who find wasteful things as

their comfort zone. This reason might become one of the sources of procrastination that can
have a possibility of them taking less care about their studies. Postponing academic tasks

becomes the number one factor why they do not excel in academics. (Alih, 2021)

Obviously, the problem of procrastination affects many students in secondary schools.

However, many students do not know that their inability to read is a problem of postponing

their time to study, but they are engaged more in pleasurable things in which they cannot

benefit from it. Moreover, the students who study their books perform better than those

who are not serious (Thomas 2014; as cited in Alihh, 2021)

Possible Solutions to Academic Procrastination

Motivation

Motivation is the force that drives a person to do something. It can be either

intrinsic or extrinsic, a concept first introduced by (deCharms, 1968; as cited in Harrison

2014). Achievement motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, affect procrastination (Steel,

2007; as cited in Harrison 2014). Motivation is the activation of goal-oriented behavior.

Intrinsic motivation arises from inside the individual and involves personal gratification.

Extrinsic motivation arises from outside the individual and will often involve some type

of reward.

It is similar to learned helplessness. Academic motivation is about producing

energy required for academic tasks (Sirin, 2011; as cited in Harrison, 2019). There are

several different theories of motivation in psychology. According to (Steel, 2011; as cited

in Harrison, 2019), Temporal Motivation Theory (Steel & Konig, 2006; as cited in

Harrison, 2019) gives the best explanation for procrastination. Its premise is that we

choose to do things that give us a good chance of an enjoyable outcome. The longer the
delay is in receiving this outcome, the less motivated you will be. Ergo, the effect of

delay is very important for procrastinating.

Training Programmes

Presented by Häfner (2014), procrastination is a serious issue for many students

and associated with different negative consequences, such as anxiety or low grades. As

procrastination is described as a self-regulatory failure, a training programme focussing

on self-regulatory skills might be helpful. As hypothesized, participants of the control

group showed procrastination: they spent more time on a self-selected, important

academic task right before the deadline was reached compared to the weeks before. The

participants of the treatment group, instead, allocated their work time more equally and

did not show procrastination. Therefore, the explored time management intervention

prevents a serious time management problem.

Improved time management

To stop procrastinating on your studying or schoolwork right now, you should

identify the smallest possible thing you can do to make progress on it, and then modify

your environment to make it as likely as possible that you will do it. For example, if you

need to study for an exam, the smallest possible step that you can take toward doing this

might be to open your notes and go over just the first paragraph that you have written

down. Once you realize that this is all you need to do, you can start modifying your study

environment to help yourself achieve this, for example by going to a room with no

distractions and leaving your phone outside. (Shatz, 2023)

off things or delay intended courses of action. The behavior tendency to voluntarily

postpone, delay or put off a task or decision is described as procrastination which has

serious negative outcomes. However, (Ferrari and Tice, 2019; as cited in Bojuwoye,

2019) assert that chronic procrastination is not only a time management issue but also

indecision as difficulty with making decisions is a behavior that correlates positively with

procrastination

To add to this, Since procrastination is found to seriously impact academic

performance of students, there is, therefore, the need to provide appropriate interventions

such as time management is needed to combat the damaging consequences of

procrastination ( Bojuwoye, 2019)

New Studying Techniques and Usage of Library Materials

The main possible solutions to academic procrastination are the provision of

opportunities in the school to easily use library resources. The use of teaching methods

that will ensure students’ active participation in the lesson, increasing student

participation is important in courses that include frequent discussions and small-group

work, and it is important in a lecture course. Giving oral warnings to students who do not

attend or participate in classes and who do not complete their assignments regularly;

punishing these students (with deduction of points. criticism. etc.) if the undesirable

situation persists. Teacher’s provide examples from his/her study habits and experiences

to encourage students to study regularly. Reminding the students regularly that the
 questions are so difficult that they cannot be studied overnight or in the exam week.

Praising students who work continuously and regularly in the presence of their peers,

(Asmali & Sayin 2020).

Counseling Process/es

The solution should not be time consuming but has an impact immediately felt by

students with a procrastination habit. In this regard, treatment through counseling

services can be the right way. This is based on the philosophy of the counseling process

itself, which, according to (Nurihsan, 2006; as cited in Kurnanto, 2019) is an effort to

empower counselees so that they can identify their problems as well as solutions that

they can choose to address the issues.

Considerable Effects of Academic Procrastination to Learning Productivity

Affects life satisfaction

The negative consequences of academic procrastination provide that a life for the

procrastinating students is intricate and apparently uncontrollable. Thus, the college

experience is likely to be unpleasant for the procrastinating student. In this way,

academic procrastination may affect students’ life satisfaction. The level of

procrastination that is experienced could influence students’ academic life satisfaction.

Academic life satisfaction is “operationally defined as the expected satisfaction in one's

(Kumar & Dileep, 2006; as cited,. in Balkis 2013).

Similar to locus of control, stability also impacts people’s behaviors. Stability

takes into account people’s likelihood to be persistent and perform future behaviors and

examines whether or not people believe their behavior can change over time (Weiner,

1980; as cited in Janssen, 2015). Stable causes, such as intelligence and laws, are

generally considered relatively stable in nature because they are difficult, if not

impossible, to change. Unstable causal factors, such as the amount of effort exerted

toward a task, are ones that could be changed easily.

Putting off tasks

Several potential causes of procrastination have been proposed. However, procrastination

is primarily a failure of self-regulation. In a study of 456 undergraduates, Klassen, et al.

(2018) found that a person’s view of their own ability to self-regulate was a strong

predictor of procrastination. Tuckman theorized that an inability to overcome

procrastination tendencies might be related to the gradual transfer of responsibility from

teachers and parents to individual students that occurs throughout the school years.

Because this transfer of responsibility reaches its peak during the college years, he

theorized that researchers should examine techniques that can assist students in the

regulation of their own learning. Such techniques should include providing information

to students so that they are aware of the appropriate progress needed to successfully

complete a task. (Steel, 2010; as cited in Martin, et al., 2021) has proposed temporal

motivation theory (TMT) for modeling procrastination. TMT incorporates four factors to
account for the desirability of a task: expectancy of success (E), value of the task to the

individual (V ), the delay before one is rewarded for the task (D), and the individual’s

sensitivity towards that delay (Γ). Utility is defined.as (E×V )/(Γ×D). This theory

influences the interventions we designed.

Internet Addiction

Naturally, the Internet is considered to be a good tool for relieving perceived stress and a

promoter of procrastination (Davis et al., 2002; as cited in Gong, et al., 2021), which

means that people will use the Internet to deliberately delay their actions, although this

delay may lead to negative consequences. CIU correlated significantly with mean hours

online (Durkee et al., 2012). When a person often uses the Internet for procrastination, it

is more likely to suffer the negative consequences of using the Internet, one possibility is

Internet addiction, correlation analysis revealed that Internet addiction was positively

correlated with procrastination (Gong et al., 2018). In addition, there are two possible

behavioral tendencies when individuals are in a stressful and bad emotional state. One is

to actively seek solutions to remove pressure; the other is to use procrastination to

temporarily escape pressure, because procrastination is a common behavioral trait based

on self-regulatory failure and the network is a tool for carrying out procrastination.

Therefore, based on the relationship between perceived stress and Internet addiction, the

procrastination variable is added to this study. Thus, the second hypothesis of this study

is that perceived stress affects Internet addiction through the mediating effect of

procrastination (Gong, et al., 2021).

Technology, instructor characteristics, and student characteristics have long been

recognized as the three main variables that affect student success in online education

(Dillon & Gunawardena, 1995; Leidner & Harvenpaa, 1993). As noted by Jones and

Blankenship (2021), the online environment increases the tendency to procrastinate and

its prevalence is detrimental to student learning and performance (Jones & Blankenship,

2021). Therefore, for this research study, the authors continued their examination of the

student characteristic of procrastination and its effect on online academic performance. It

should also be noted that while our study did not differentiate between active and passive

procrastinators, Yilmaz (2017) recommended additional research to identify active or

passive procrastinators in the online environment. Yilmaz (2017) compared the relation

between assignment and exam performances between 88 distance learning and face-to-

face students at a Turkish state university. Academic procrastination and assignment

scores were negatively correlated in both the distance learning and face-to-face groups.

However, this effect was greater in the distance learning group. Interestingly enough,

academic procrastination and exam scores were correlated to each other only in the face-

to-face group while there was no correlation between total assignment and exam score in

the distance learning group. The author offered an explanation that distance learning

offers an advantage to procrastinating students because all exam study materials are

readily available. Findings of the study suggested that distance learning environments are

disadvantageous to procrastinators (Jones & Blankenship, 2021)

Internal Factors that contribute to Academic Procrastination

Motivation

It has been demonstrated in a recent study that academic motivation partially

mediates the association between academic self-efficacy and academic procrastination.

(Cheng et al, 2020). The primary driver of everyone's activities, needs, and wants is

motivation. Men are driven by their motives, which also give rise to certain moral

tendencies. An essential component of a student's academic readiness and desire to learn

is motivation. These driven pupils are curious and eager to understand the value of

education. In addition, by promoting kids' commitment and motivation, parents and

instructors may foster an environment where students' learning will be organized and

accomplished (Johnson, 2017).

Perfectionism

When it comes to the relationship between perfectionism and procrastination,

studies suggest that many people procrastinate because they are perfectionists (Burke &

Yuen, 1983; Onwuegbuzie, 2000; as cited in Kurtovic, et al., 2019). Perfectionists have

overly high expectations for oneself and put things off because they think they won't

meet them, they're never content with their work, or they're worried about making a

mistake and getting bad feedback. Studies repeatedly demonstrate that while adaptive

components of perfectionism are either unrelated to procrastination or negatively

of perfectionism, are positively correlated with procrastination.

However, there has been little research on different forms of perfectionism

(maladaptive vs adaptive) and the relationships with procrastination. One study (Seo,

2008; as cited in Kurtovic et al, 2017). has suggested that self-efficacy mediates between

adaptive perfectionism and procrastination in academic settings and leads to more

productive outcomes. Identifying further such positive productive factors may prove

useful in helping individuals deal with their perfectionism and-or their procrastination

tendencies. Positive psychological capital (PsyCap) may be one such other mediator, as

PsyCap involves not only self-efficacy but also resilience, hope and optimism—attributes

that have been associated separately each in their own right with positive behavior and

not with normal academic procrastination Most studies of PsyCap have occurred in

organizational settings and may also be considered to be important attributes in the

academic setting.

Fear of Failure

A classic distinction in the literature on achievement and motivation is between

fear of failure and success orientations. From the perspective of self-worth theory, these

motives are not bipolar constructs but dimensions that interact in ways that make some

students particularly vulnerable to underachievement and disengagement from school.

The current study employs the quadripolar model of need achievement (Covington, 1992;

Covington & Omelich, 1988; as cited in Castella, 2013). to explore how these approach

and avoidance orientations are related to self-handicapping, defensive pessimism.

According to research, one of the key factors influencing procrastination is task

characteristics such as task aversiveness, combined with unclear instructions and the

timing of rewards and punishments. (Harris and Sutton, 1983; as cited by Yan & Zhang,

2022).

Task aversiveness is a phrase that nearly goes without saying. It also relates to

acts that one considers unpleasant and is also referred to as dysphoric affect (Milgram,

Sroloff, & Rosenbaum, 1988; as cited in Steel, 2017) or task appeal (Harris & Sutton,

1983; as cited in Steel 2017). Its relationship is known in advance. One strives to avoid

unpleasant stimuli by definition, hence the more unpleasant the circumstance, the more

likely one is to try to avoid it. (e.g., procrastinate). Although a range of personal traits,

such as boredom propensity and intrinsic drive, may have an impact on how much people

detest a task, research has shown that if people find a task unpleasant, they are in fact

more inclined to put it off. It predominantly predicts task avoidance on its own, not task

delay (Steel, 2017).

Physical and Mental Exhaustion

Student burnout is also an important issue regarding students' physical and mental

well-being. Even when compared to workers who report experiencing high levels of

weariness, such as doctors, students frequently experience the first sign of burnout, which

is exhaustion. (Law, 2007; As cited by Gusy et al. 2021). Burnout in students is

described as the result of prolonged exposure to certain study demands, such as extreme
physical, emotional, and cognitive strain. (Gusy et al, 2015). When feeling worn out,

people are less productive when they exert effort or work. If people are given a brief

break, it can be recovered, but for those who have long-term weariness, the likelihood of

procrastination and productivity loss does not improve after a brief break (Beutel et al.,

2017).

Being Overwhelmed

According to Mclean Hospital (2022), feeling overwhelmed manifests itself as

procrastination. People typically dwell on the things they wish they could do more

effectively, frequently, or never at all. They can experience a sense of being "stuck" and

unable to advance or move in any way. Paradoxically, it feels like looking into what

keeps people in this state will simply fuel the fires. When this happens, they could feel

scared, tense, apprehensive, or bewildered. In this situation, there is typically a feeling of

overwhelm. They get more and more anchored in their sense of helplessness to take

action toward the things they seek to accomplish in their lives as a result of the

overpowering sentiments, which make them feel even more paralyzed.

Sensation Seeking

Simply said, novelty is preferred by sensation seekers over tradition, and if you

have this personality type, you are more likely to get sidetracked from your task the

instant something dazzling happens. The issue is that academic life doesn't always offer

such thrills, and if you are a student who needs a lot of stimulation, it can be challenging
to remain focused and involved with work that doesn't measure up to other kinds of

excitement (Tefula, 2014).

External Factors that contribute to Academic Procrastination

Problematic Work Environment

Procrastination is not something that a person is born with; rather, it is something

that a person learns as time goes on in their life. One aspect that may cause people to put

off doing their work is the workplace environment, which includes the policies and

procedures of an organization, the leadership style, the peer group, etc. (Pasha & Jyothi

P., 2017).

Employees that experience a poor work environment become disengaged and

disillusioned. It may result in excessive stress, exhaustion, despair, anxiety, and even

burnout sensations. A hostile workplace can make employees feel demotivated, which

can reduce productivity. They could find it more difficult to interact with others and

express their wants and boundaries in an open way. (Stoltz, 2022).

Lack of Sufficient Communication from Instructors

Students will always comprehend and be able to complete the task as you want if clear

directions are given. They will also be able to engage with the topic more successfully

and ultimately have more fruitful experiences. On the other hand, when given confusing

directions, students fail to follow them, which disrupts class. Unclear instructions are the
 precursor to dropout and learner shortcomings, as the accompanying case shows. If they

don't comprehend the teacher's directions, they think they are doing poorly in their

studies or won't be able to continue studying. (Badshah, 2022).

Definition of Terms

Academic Procrastination is defined as the deliberate act of postponing an activity or task until

another point in time which can result in not having enough time to complete the work. This also

has a direct correlation to learning productivity by being a factor that directly affects the

productivity of which students learn.

Learning Productivity is defined as the progression of student achievement in a variety of

desired outcomes and their involvement in educationally relevant activities. Additionaly,

learning productivity is directly influenced by academic procrastination.

Perceived Effects can be defined as the creation of sense data by categorization. This means that

human beings tend to view objects as examples of larger concepts rather than as a unique object

in itself. This can also mean to be the effects that are observed by the relation of two concepts.

Motivation is defined as the source of productivity by students. In this sense, motivation can be

perceived as a factor that affects the learning productivity of such student/s.

productivity. Furthermore, time management can also be defined as a factor affecting academic

procrastination.