Classification of College Students according to Identity-Based Motivation

Abstract

This study aimed to classify college students according to the theory of identity-based motivation (IBM), which posits that individuals exhibit higher motivation and goal achievement levels when aligning personal identity with goals. College students were classified according to three components constituting identity-based motivation: psychological relevance, readiness to act, and interpretation of experienced difficulty. Through exploratory factor analysis, seven factors involving identity-based motivation were identified: expectations for the utility of university education, expectations for the outcomes of university education, proactive learning attitudes, class participation, study group activities, academic counseling, and satisfaction with university education. These factors were used to classify college student types and investigate student factors and university factors influencing this classification. Using data from the National Assessment of Student Engagement and Learning (NASEL) in 2022 by the Korea Educational Development Institute, multilevel latent profile analysis was applied for analysis. The results of the study offer extended discussions and policy implications. First, the identity-based motivation levels among Korean university students were relatively low, which suggests that it is difficult to effectively regulate or mitigate the impact of social contexts on academic performance. Second, although Korean college students have high expectations for university education, they are passive in activities that require active participation, voluntariness, and proactiveness, such as study group activities or counseling with faculty. Third, it was evident that factors like gender, high school background, and GPA still play a significant role as help or obstacles for college students to study hard with a bright outlook for the future. Lastly, the level of identity-based motivation of students attending small and medium-sized community colleges was higher than that of students attending large general admission-year universities: This highlights the need for enhanced career and employment support education at the university level to alleviate ambiguity and uncertainty regarding students’ livelihood after graduation.