The influence of motivation on learning engagement: the mediating role of learning self-efficacy and self-monitoring in online learning environments

This study aimed to investigate the influence of higher education students’ motivation, learning self-efficacy, and self-monitoring on learning engagement in online learning environments. Inviting participants from Taiwan’s higher education institutions, a total of 354 students (144 male and 210 female) from different years and fields completed an online survey. After conducting SEM analysis, results of the study showed that motivation had a positive relationship with learning self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and learning engagement. The study showed that motivation had a direct influence on learning engagement and an indirect influence through learning self-efficacy and self-monitoring. However, the direct influence of motivation on learning engagement was not strong. Learning self-efficacy also had a direct effect on self-monitoring and learning engagement. In this study, the findings showed that learning self-efficacy and self-monitoring partially mediated the influence of motivation on learning engagement in online learning environments. Finally, we constructed a model comprising four variables (motivation, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and learning engagement), and found that it explained 76-78% of the variance in learning engagement.