Impact of the intrinsic motivation on the academic performance through voluntary assignments: An empirical analysis

  • María-del-Mar Camacho-Miñano Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. Departamento de Economía Financiera y Contabilidad II (contabilidad).
  • Cristina del Campo Campos Profesora contratada doctor del Departamento de Estadística y Investigación de Operaciones II. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. UCM.
Keywords: Motivation, skills and competencies, voluntary assignment, academic performance

Abstract

The students academic performance is a key aspect for all agents involved in a higher education quality program. However, there is no unanimity on how to measure it. Some professionals choose assessing only cognitive aspects while others lean towards assessing the acquisition of certain skills. The need to train increasingly adapted professionals in order to respond to the companies’ demands and being able to compete internationally in a global labour market requires a kind of training that goes beyond memorizing. Critical and logical thinking are amongst written language skills demanded in the field of Social Sciences. The objective of this study is to empirically demonstrate the impact of voluntary assignments on the academic performance of students. Our hypothesis is that students who complete high quality voluntary assignments are those more motivated and, therefore, those with higher grades. An experiment with students from the "Financial Accounting II" during the academic year of 2012/13 at the Business and Economics School of the UCM was carried out. A series of voluntary assessments involving the preparation of accounting essays were proposed in order to develop skills and competencies as a complement to the lessons included in the curriculum of the subject. At the end of the course, the carrying-out or not of the essay together with its critical, reflective quality and style, were compared. Our findings show a relationship between the voluntarily presented papers of quality and the final grade obtained throughout the course. These results show that the students intrinsic motivation is a key element in their academic performance. On the other hand, the teachers role focuses on being a motivating element through the learning process.

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Author Biographies

María-del-Mar Camacho-Miñano, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. Departamento de Economía Financiera y Contabilidad II (contabilidad).
Profesora contratada doctor del departamento de Economía Financiera y Contabilidad II. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. UCMDirectora del grupo de Investigación sobre Información Financiera y Concurso (INIFCO_UCM). Miembro del grupo de investigación SAER (Statistics and Accounting Education Research). Miembro del grupo multidisciplinar ACLUE (Investigación en Docencia Universitaria en Inglés y Contabilidad).
Cristina del Campo Campos, Profesora contratada doctor del Departamento de Estadística y Investigación de Operaciones II. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. UCM.
ProfesorContratado Doctor en el Departamento de Estadística e Investigación OperativaII de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales de la UniversidadComplutense de Madrid. Licenciada en Matemáticas, con especialidad enEstadística e Investigación Operativa, y Doctora en Informática. Principalesaéreas de investigación: Análisis Multivariante aplicado a la socioeconomía, estrategiasdocentes usando las nuevas tecnologías e innovación educativa. Directora delgrupo UCM de investigación en Decisión Económica (INVESDE) y miembro del grupoSAER.
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Published
2014-10-30
How to Cite
Camacho-Miñano M.-d.-M. y del Campo Campos C. (2014). Impact of the intrinsic motivation on the academic performance through voluntary assignments: An empirical analysis. Revista Complutense de Educación, 26(1), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_RCED.2015.v26.n1.42581
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Articles