A comparative study of motivational factors and personality traits in academic and non-academic procrastinators

Abstract

Procrastination involves delaying of tasks or activities till the deadline approaches. The pattern of procrastination with its negative effects is spread in all major areas of life. It is particularly prevalent in the academic setting where students have lots of things to do in limited time. The present research studies the association of academic and non-academic procrastination in relation to motivation factors- Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, and Amotivation (based on the Self-Determination Theory by Deci & Ryan, 1985) and personality traits- Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (based on the Five Factor Model by McCrae& Costa, 1996). A total of 600 participants (457 males &143 females) - 300 high procrastinators and 300 low procrastinators, in the age group 17-19 years were selected for the study. All of them studied in the undergraduate courses of technical colleges of Punjab. The tools used were- Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (PASS) developed by L. J. Solomon and E. D. Rothblum (1984), General Procrastination Scale (GPS) developed by C.H. Lay (1986), Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) developed by R. J. Vallerand et al. (1992) and Big Five Inventory (BFI) developed by V. Benet-Martinez and Oliver P. John (1998). The statistics used to analyze the data obtained were t-test, 2X2 ANOVA, percentage analysis and chi-square test. T-test analysis indicated that high and low academic procrastinators differ in their non-academic procrastination tendencies emphasizing the fact that procrastination is a habit because of which an individual delays performing tasks or initiation of a task irrespective of the field, academic or non- v academic.2X2 ANOVA for the factors of motivation revealed a significant difference between high and low, academic and non-academic procrastinators on intrinsic motivation and amotivation with high procrastinators possessing more of amotivation and less of intrinsic motivation. This indicates that students delay tasks because they do not possess intrinsic intellectuality and innate psychological need for competence or they do not have a sense of purpose or direction. Also, high academic procrastinators were found to have lower levels of extrinsic motivation. 2X2 ANOVA for the personality traits revealed a significant difference between high and low, academic and non-academic procrastinators on neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion with high procrastinators being more on neuroticism and agreeableness and less on extraversion and conscientiousness. However, there was no significant difference found between high and low, academic and non-academic procrastinators on openness to experience. The result of the percentage analysis used for the investigation of reasons of procrastination specify laziness and time management to be the two most cited reasons for procrastination in academic tasks. The chi-square analysis used to find the gender differences in the reasons for procrastination revealed that high academic procrastinators- males and females do not differ in any of the thirteen reasons given for procrastination.