Big Five Personality Factors as Predictors to Academic Motivation among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine Big Five Personality factors as predictability of academic motivation dimintions among undergraduate students. To achieve the aim of the study, two scales were used; the first was Big Five Personality Factors Scale and the second was Academic Motivation Scale. To verify the suitability of the two scales for the measured trait, specialists' agreement validity was used and the correlation coefficients of the two scales were computed to verify reliability of the scales. The sample of the study consisted of (606) undergraduate students, of whom male (293) were male and (313) were female enrolling n King Saud University in the academic year 2017/2018 selected randomly. The results of the study indicated gender differences in neuroticism and conscientiousness personality factors, in favor of females. There were gender differences in total motivation and intrinsic motivation, in favor of females. It was found that openness to experience predicted intrinsic motivation and extraversion, neuroticism predicted extrinsic motivation. The results showed that extraversion and conscientiousness predicted total academic motivation.