Motivation in Higher Education for academic learning in a cross-cultural sample

Introduction. The present work is based on the theoretical model "Expectancy Value" of achievement motivation, and from a socio-cognitive perspective. Its objective is to describe achievement behavior in the classroom context of students from different cultural backgrounds. Method. A post -hoc study was carried out with 310 participants from Chilean and Spanish cultural contexts. The Inventory of Motivation for Academic Achievement (IMLA), an instrument that assesses academic achievement motivation with eight factors, was completed. Results. The results show significant differences in the Chilean and Spanish cultural contexts, with a high power of the effect in the evaluation of academic tasks and in the evaluation of the social environment of learning. In the gender variable, women show higher valuations with respect to men in the effort to achieve proposed goals. Students of Health Sciences obtain mean power effect ratings in the value of the learning task and in the evaluation of the social environment of such learning, as well as in expectations and efficacy, with respect to students of Physical and Natural Sciences. Discussion and conclusions. From these results, relevant information has been obtained for the study of the personal and sociocultural variables of motivation in university students from different cultural contexts. It is concluded that the cultural context and the field of knowledge influence motivation.