Interpersonal Trust as a Mediator Between Instructor Immediacy and Student Motivation in Turkish Higher Education

This study examined whether interpersonal trust mediates the relationship between instructor immediacy and student motivation in Turkish higher education, drawing on Social Exchange Theory. A quantitative correlational survey was administered to 564 undergraduate students from two public universities in Turkiye. Participants completed the Verbal Immediacy Scale, the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale, the Individualized Trust Scale, and the Student Motivation Scale. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a five-factor structure in which nonverbal immediacy bifurcated into positive and negative indicator subfactors; subsequent confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling tested a partial mediation model. The three immediacy dimensions significantly predicted motivation directly and indirectly through interpersonal trust, collectively accounting for 50.3% of the variance in motivation. The pattern of mediation was differentiated: verbal immediacy and negative-indicator nonverbal immediacy showed partial mediation, retaining significant direct effects on motivation, whereas positive-indicator nonverbal immediacy operated only indirectly through trust (full mediation). These results are consistent with the possibility that, in higher power-distance educational contexts, interpersonal trust may serve as a relational condition associated with the link between positive nonverbal approach behaviors and motivational outcomes. Given the cross-sectional, self-report design and the use of adapted instruments, these findings should be interpreted tentatively and require corroboration in longitudinal and cross-cultural studies.