Extrinsic motivation and student engagement in higher education: the mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction across instructional modalities

Introduction Extrinsic motivation is pervasive in higher education, yet whether it sustains student engagement through basic psychological need satisfaction across instructional modalities remains unclear. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study examined the mediated pathway from extrinsic motivation to student engagement via need satisfaction and compared this pathway across face-to-face, online, and blended instruction. Methods Survey data came from 943 undergraduates in nine intact classes assigned to face-to-face ( n = 394), online ( n = 256), and blended ( n = 293) conditions. We analyzed the data with multi-group structural equation modeling, including measurement invariance tests and bootstrap mediation based on 5,000 resamples. Results Extrinsic motivation positively predicted students’ basic psychological need satisfaction (β = 0.56 -0.58, p < .01), which in turn predicted student engagement (β = 0.54 -0.55, p < .01). Need satisfaction significantly mediated the motivation -engagement relationship in all modalities, with the indirect effect accounting for 55 -71% of the total effect; the direct effect was nonsignificant only in the online group. Discussion Extrinsic motivation sustains student engagement chiefly when internalized through students’ basic psychological need satisfaction, and fully online instruction is particularly dependent on this mechanism. The findings extend SDT-based accounts of student engagement and guide the design of need-supportive, AI-enhanced higher education.