The effects of institutional and motivational variables on learning and perceptions of importance of intellectual skill development.

• Main Author: Soh, Se-Yen.
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Accounting
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/42787
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study investigates the impact of institutional (learning context factors) and motivational variables (achievement need and test anxiety) on learning approach and perceptions of importance of intellectual skill development among university accounting students in Singapore. Learning approach theory suggests that learning can be described as surface or deep. Surface learning refers to learning by memorisation and regurgitation while deep learning refers to learning through understanding. The form of learning (surface or deep) has a direct impact on the perceived importance of developing intellectual skills which eventually leads to the ultimate act of skills development. An institutional environment and motivational characteristics of a learner have an impact on the form of learning adopted by the learner, which in turn influences the learner's perceptions of importance of intellectual skill development. A path analytic model is used to test the consequences of proposed causal relationships among these variables as this method enables the examination of both direct and indirect effects which one variable has upon another.