Science Motivation Across Asian Countries: Links among Future-Oriented Motivation, Self-Efficacy, Task Values, and Achievement Outcomes

The relationships among future-oriented motivation, self-efficacy, task values of science, and achievement outcomes were investigated among 15-year-olds across four Asian nations who participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The factor structure of theoretical constructs as well as the causal structure of the expectancy-value model is found to be invariant across the four countries. The future goals influence the perceptions of value among the variety of tasks individuals face. Students' subjective task values predict their science-related activities more strongly than did their self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is more strongly linked to competence than is task values in terms of total effects. The results extend the expectancy-value theory into Eastern Asian cultures.