Motivational Climate and Academic Engagement: The Mediating Role of Academic Satisfaction and Motivation

Previous studies highlight that students' perceptions of teaching practice affect their learning process. The purpose of this research is to predict the academic engagement of university students according to their perceptions of the motivational climate and to analyze the mediating role of academic satisfaction and motivation. The research involved 637 students from the University of Extremadura and the University of Cadiz who were administered various scales to measure the variables under study. The data were analysed using a structural equation modeling withe the PLS-SEM method. The findings indicate positive effects of the mastery climate on satisfaction, motivation and engagement; of satisfaction on motivation and engagement and of motivation on academic engagement. Likewise, satisfaction and motivation mediate the relationship between the mastery climate and academic engagement. Finally, through the predictive validity of the model, it is determined that it has a medium out-of-sample predictive power. Strategies are proposed for university teachers to establish a mastery climate in the classroom, thus improving student learning.