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JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH (Vol. 20 No. 1) 2017 Dept. of Education IUB, Pakistan

Students’ Academic Performance and its Relationship with their Intrinsic

and Extrinsic Motivation
Muhammad Ayub Buzdar*
Muhammad Naeem Mohsin**
Romana Akbar***
Noor Mohammad****
Abstract
In educational perspective, motivation is associated to learning and academic
stimulation. At university level motivation of students is vital in light of the
fact that it is fundamental for their accomplishment in the professional life to
be entered. In this study, the ac academic performance of the students in
relation to their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is explored. Focus of the
research study was to explore the academic performance of the students at
university level and to trace out the relationship of academic performance
with their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. 600 students from different
departments of the university participated in the study. Harter’s scale for
measuring intrinsic and extrinsic motivation modified by Lepper (2005) and
self-developed scale for academic performance were used to collect data.
Pearson product moment correlation showed significant relationship between
the students’ academic performance and their intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation.
Keywords: Stimulation, Incentives, Self-determination, Achievement
Introduction
Concept of motivation has been defined by different people in different ways.
In its simplest term it is urging to do something. Motivation refers to the reasons for
specific behavior (Lai, 2011). In simple words motivation provides the individuals with
the force essential for directing and empowering their energy and passion to lead them
to better satisfaction and better educational performance (Coetzee, 2011). The
researchers and psychologists have found three types of motivation comprising intrinsic
motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation.

*
Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Government College University
[email protected]
**
Chairman/Associate Professor, Department of Education, Government College University
Faisalabad
***
MPhil Scholar, Department of Education, Government College University Faisalabad
****
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Lasbela University Lasbela

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What individuals do without any type of external incentives is called intrinsic

motivation.Such actions are done by the individual for fun and enjoyment rather than
for external rewards and gifts. From birth all individuals are active, playful, and
inquiring. They do not need external incentives to do such actions. The experimental
studies done on animal behavior found the existence of intrinsic motivation. When the
researchers found many animals showing spontaneous and playful activities without
rewards or incentives for them to do the actions(Ryan & Deci, 2000). Students with
positive level of intrinsic motivation may show better results and higher level of
satisfaction (Ayub, 2010). The literature recommends that students should be
intrinsically motivated in order to make progress in their academic career. For most of
the actions individuals are not intrinsically motivated and this arise the need for some
reward and external motives. Thus extrinsic motivation is related to the action that is
done to get some rewards (Coetzee, 2011).
The students who are extrinsically motivated determine the standards of their
performance according to social norms and customs and hencethey are normally more
social and friendly. These tendencies of externally motivated students can be used by
the teachers to make the academic performance of the students better and
effective(Coetzee, 2011). Amotivation is stated as having no motivation. . It simply
means the students who are neither intrinsically motivated nor extrinsically (Coetzee,
2011). These students have negative concepts about learning process and their
contribution in learning is normally very low(Ayub, 2010).
Many psychologists have presented theories of motivation. These are
categorized as content theories and process theories. Content theories are concerned
with the instincts that motivate people to do some work(Turabik & Baskan, 2015).
These theories assume that all the individuals have the similar needs and these needs
motivate them for actions or to fulfill the needs(Literature Review on Theories of
Motivation, n.d.). These theories include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s two
factor theory, McClelland’s need for achievement theory and Alfred’s E.R.G
theory.Process theories emphasize the cognitive differences of the individuals. These
theories put emphasis on the behaviors of the human beings and try to find out the
causes of certain behaviors can be controlled. The theories falls under this category are
as Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, Goal Setting Theory, Self Regulation Theories, Self
Efficacy Theory, and Adam’s Equity Theory.
Academic achievement shows outcomes of the performance that indicate the
degree to which student has achieved specific goals that were kept in focus by the
school, college and university for the instructional activities of the students(Soufi,
Damirchi, Sedghi, & Sabayan, 2014). The competent and successful people are those
who are highly educated. Too much emphasis is placed on educated and excellent
performance as was never before. Academic performance of students is also very

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important. There is a great impact of academic performance on student’s motivation

and determination. Students with poor academic performance fail to seek admission to
higher level institutions. Dropout rate of students increases because of poor
performance. That is why the academic performance of the students has always been a
topic of interest for the researchers and educators(Valli Jayanthi et al., 2014). Every
government provides various facilities for students’ learning and education to get good
results from them. Academic performance of students is vital for the institutions. These
are the operators of society to advance education in the country. Responsibility of the
preparation of future era lies on them. Furthermore, foundations whether open or
private attempt to do their commitment viably.
Motivation is very important factor for educational life of the students. Most
research work has been done on motivation due to its relevant importance. But mostly
the cognitive factors of motivation are discussed by the researchers in relation to the
academic performance. The effective factors relating to motivation as intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation are not given much importance by the researchers. Especially in
Pakistani context no concern is shown to the motivation of the students for improving
their performance. The results of researches conducted in other countries are not
suitable and applicable in Pakistan Because of cultural differences. Likewise the
situations prevailing in our educational institutions are different. Thus the focus of the
study was on the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of the students and its effects on the
academic performance of the students.
The Current Study
Student’s academic performance is a basic concern for educationists. Proper
motivation of students may play helpful role for good performance of the students. In
this study the academic performance of the students is explored keeping in view its
relationship with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the students. Students of top
ranking university of Pakistan participated in the study. Focus of the study was to
investigate the relationship of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the students with
their academic performance. The study found answer to the following research
questions.
1. What level of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation exits among students included
in the sample?
2. What is academic performance of students included in the sample?
3. To what extent motivation is related with academic performance at university
level?

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Research Methodology
We focused our study to explore academic performance of the students in
relation to their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. To meet this objective,we followed
quantitative research approach to achieve the target. Survey method was considered
appropriate for the purpose of data collection. Scale originally developed by Harter
(1981) for measuring motivation and modified by Lepper (2005) was utilized to explore
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the students. Another scale for exploring the next
aspect of the study i.e., academic performance of students was self-developed by the
researchers. This scale was consisted of five subscales i.e. Assignment and Classroom
Tasks, Learning Performance, Class Participation, Learning Comprehension and
Learning Cooperation and Coordination. The instrument was developed using five point
Likert scale. The instrument was presented to ten field experts/educationists working at
Government College University to check the content and face validity of scales. Their
comments helped us to improve the scale. Secondly, the instrument was first given to
100 students of master’s level for pilot testing. They were asked to point out any
problem they found in reading, understanding and responding to the items. Almost all
of the students found the instrument easy and understandable. Final instrument was
prepared andmodified keeping in view the opinion or observations of the experts and
results of pilot testing. Overall reliability of the instrument was calculated as .88.
600 masters level students enrolled at Government College University,
Faisalabad, Pakistan participated in the study. The students were selected from 6
faculties and 20 departments of the university. These students were enrolled in social
sciences, medical sciences as well as in arts and humanities. The students were selected
through multiphase random sampling where at first phase the faculties were selected. In
second phase departments were selected and in third phase the students were selected
from each department randomly. Students were asked to give their opinion confidently
which was assured to them. Data collected from students was analyzed using SPSS.
Findings of the study
Means of each subscale were calculated through SPSS software. Mean score
(see table 1) for the subscales of intrinsic motivation (i.e., challenge (M=3.78), curiosity
(M=4.06) and independent mastery (M=3.98) show that students have strong tendency
to be internally motivated for their performance. Whereas the mean score for the
subscales of extrinsic motivation (i.e., easy work (M=3.09), pleasing teacher (M=3.10)
and dependence on teacher (M=3.82) show that tendency for extrinsic motivation for
studies is average among the students. The mean score for the subscales of academic
performance (i.e., assignment and classroom tasks (M=3.78), learning performance
(M=3.06), class participation (M=3.21), learning comprehension (M=3.02) and learning
cooperation and coordination (M=3.55) show that prevalence of academic performance
among students is also average. Overall prevalence of intrinsic motivation is average

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with M=3.94, prevalence of extrinsic motivation is moderate with M=3.33 and the
prevalence of academic performance is average with M=3.35. It is found that students
are more intrinsically motivated than extrinsically motivated for their academic
performance.
Table 1
Mean score representing the student’s opinion against different subscales of intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation and academic performance
Scale Subscale Mean SD
Intrinsic Motivation Challenge 3.78 .686
Curiosity 4.06 .592
Independent mastery 3.98 .647
Extrinsic Easy Work 3.09 .647
Motivation Pleasing Teacher 3.10 .759
Dependence on Teacher 3.82 .751
Academic Assignment and Classroom Tasks 3.78 .609
Performance Learning Performance 3.06 .636
Class Participation 3.21 .637
Learning Comprehension 3.02 .721
Learning cooperation and
3.55 .611
coordination
The table 2 indicates positive and significant relationship among various
constructs of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and academic performance. Only two
constructs of extrinsic motivation (dependence on teacher and easy work) have
insignificant relationship with the constructs of academic performance (learning
performance and class participation) respectively. It indicates that intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation has a positive and significant relationship with academic performance of the
students.
Table 2
Pearson correlation coefficients showing relationship among intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation and academic performance
Learning
Assignment and Learning Class
comprehension Cooperation &
classroom tasks performance Participation
Coordination
Challenge .338** .165** .355** .129** .274**
Curiosity .445** .172** .422** .112** .316**
Independent
.467** .164** .210** .127** .292**
Mastery
Easy Work .038 .192** .020 .236** .145**

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Pleasing
.119** .216** .254** .289** .213**
Teacher
Dependence
.393** .099* .404** .203** .215**
on Teacher
Intrinsic
.497** .202** .403** .148** .354**
Motivation
Extrinsic
.281** .227** .328** .333** .268**
Motivation
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level.
**The correlation coefficient is significant at the 0.01 level;
Discussion
The main objective of the study was to find out the academic performance of
the students in relation to their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. We found the results
of study remained consistent with previous researches. For example Ayub
(2010)established significant relationship between the students’ academic performance
and their motivation. LikewiseSikhwari(2014)revealed that academic achievement was
significantly correlated with the aspect of motivation among the students. like these
Lepper, Corpus, and Iyengar(2005) also reached the same conclusion of positive
correlation between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and academic performance of the
students. According to Afzal et al. (2010) students with high level of intrinsic
motivation perform much better academically than those who are extrinsically
motivated. Extrinsic motivation according to them does not keep students motivated for
long time but it may help them to do a specific job and get a reward. Intrinsically
motivated students take challenges and do their work with interest. They have
commitment with their own selves to achieve high scores and learn more.
Another study conducted by Rehman and Haider(2013) found that students’
learning becomes better when teachers use some kind of rewards or certain types of
punishments in the classroom. It shows that intrinsic motivation has direct relationship
with the learning and performance of the students. On the same grounds Jovanovic and
Matejevic(2014)considered the relationship between rewards and intrinsic motivation
for learning and depict significant relationship between intrinsic motivation and
learning of the students. They also concluded that certain type of external motivation is
necessary to motivate students for their good learning. There is some increase in the
motivation of the students there exist a positive improvement in their academic
performance is the conclusion of study done by Muhammad et al.(2015). They found
direct positive correlation among students’ motivation and their academic performance.
The same results have been found in result of present study which verifies the result of
above mentioned study. A study by Afzal et al. (2010) on students’ motivation and its
relationship with their academic performance, a positive and mutual relation was found
between the variables. They also concluded that the relationship is reciprocal meaning

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that students with high level of motivation have outstanding performance as well as the
performance of the students remained dominantwith high level of motivation.
In a study on relationship between motivation, self-concept and academic
achievement of the students conducted by Sikhwari (2014) also reveal significant
relationship between motivation and achievement of the students. Findings of Lemos
and Veríssimo(2014) also partially support the results of the current study. The study
concluded that intrinsic motivation is positively related to the academic achievement of
the students but extrinsic motivation has negative relationship with their achievements.
This research also verifies the results of Amrai et al. (2011) which depicts relationship
between academic motivation and academic achievement of the students remained
significant. The results of a study by Lepper et al. (2005) shows positive relationship
of intrinsic motivation with the academic achievement of the students and negative
relationship with extrinsic motivation of the students. But surprisingly they found low
or negative relationship of intrinsic motivation with the academic achievement of
students at lower levels of education. At this stage they suggest to motivate students for
their good performance.
Conclusions
The focus of the study was on student’s academic performance in relation to
their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at university level. For accomplishmentof
conclusions different statistical procedures were employed. First question of the study
was concerning the level of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation exits among students at
Government College University Faisalabad. It is found that the prevalence of intrinsic
motivation is moderate whereas the prevalence of extrinsic motivation is average. The
second question was concerning the academic performance of students at Government
College University Faisalabad. The results show that student’s academic performance at
university level is average. This aspect neither remained very good nor very bad, rather
it was satisfactory.
The last and third question was to find the extent to which motivation is related
with academic performance at university level. For this purpose Pearson Product
correlation revealed the relationship between different indicators of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation as well as indicators of academic motivation. Almost all the
indicators of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were positively correlated with the
indicators of academic performance. Just one indicator of extrinsic motivation i.e., easy
work was negatively correlated with two indicators of academic performanceviz
assignment and class room tasks and second indicator class participation. Overall
correlation was significant. Summing it up, we concluded that academic performance of
the students has positive and significant correlation with their intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation. More researchesmay be conducted to find out the ways on how to improve
the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the student in future.

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