Elève aujourd'hui... Et demain ?Etude des antécédents et des conséquences de l'engagement envers un but de formation
(2011)
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- (en) This doctoral thesis aims to advance research on students’ commitment towards the educational goal they are pursuing when choosing the subjects they will study in higher education. First, it develops a theoretical model of the antecedents of commitment towards a personal goal, more specifically an educational goal. Up to now, such a model has only existed for assigned goals. Our model combines two theoretical frameworks: that of Expectancy-Value (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002) for which there is wide empirical evidence of its relevance and that of the hierarchical goal structure (Carver & Scheier, 1998). This last framework has only rarely been tested empirically. Three empirical studies, conducted with Grade 12 students or first-year college students, explore the antecedents of educational goal commitment. Among others, results show that the representation students develop of their educational goal (in terms of goal abstraction and integration) influences their commitment. Importance and self-efficacy towards this educational goal play a mediating role in this process. Second, this doctoral thesis advances research on two specific questions relating to the consequences of educational goal commitment. Does commitment or, to be more specific, the students’ intention to invest their effort, give rise to real commitment behaviors? Goal commitment is mainly considered as having such positive consequences. However, some studies are beginning to consider that a high level of commitment may, in certain cases, have a negative effect on well-being (Wrosch, Scheier, Miller, Schulz, & Carver, 2003). Is it possible to identify negative consequences of commitment and, if so, under what circumstances do they emerge? It seems that this question has never been asked in the educational field. Three empirical studies were conducted with Grade 12 students or first-year college students to explore the consequences of educational goal commitment. Among others, results show that the students’ intention to commit to their educational goal gives rise to real commitment behaviors, which in turn give rise to academic achievement and persistence. Commitment is also positively linked to well-being. However, this positive impact of goal commitment on well-being disappears, or even becomes negative, when the goal is perceived as unattainable. Our results highlight the importance of two processes (i.e., disengagement and reengagement) which can protect the well-being of students facing an unattainable educational goal. After a discussion of these results, suggestions for future research and for counselling are formulated.
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Boudrenghien, G. (2011). Elève aujourd’hui... Et demain ?Etude des antécédents et des conséquences de l’engagement envers un but de formation. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/154389