An Exploratory Study Of Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivators And Student Performance In An Auditing Course

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the association of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and student performance. This study performs an exploratory analysis and presents evidence to demonstrate that intrinsic motivators affect the connection between external motivators and student performance. The empirical tests follow the framework developed by Baron and Kenny (1986) and examine the mediation effect on the data collected from an undergraduate auditing course. The results indicate that there exists a partial mediation effect of voluntary online quizzes (a measure of intrinsic motivator) on the association between mandatory in-class quizzes (a measure of external motivator) and course performance. The findings offer basis for interesting implications, suggesting that mandatory external motivators (e.g., in-class quizzes) are of less value with the presence of other viable motivational techniques (e.g., online quizzes). Voluntary online quizzes help foster learner intrinsic motivation and hence bear more importance with student performance. Educators may consider using techniques that can boost intrinsic motivation in teaching practices.