Goal orientation, burnout and engagement in higher education: integration of goal orientation into the Study Demands-Resources model

Background Personal resources in the form of motivational factors have received little attention in the context of student burnout research. The present study integrates approach goal orientations as personal resources into the well-established Study Demands-Resources (SD-R) model and further investigates its relationship with burnout and study engagement. Methods The cross-sectional data of 347 students (M-age = 22.9, SD = 3.2) from several German universities were collected by means of a quantitative online questionnaire and analyzed via structural equation modeling. Results The results showed that the SD-R model could be replicated. Mastery-approach-orientation mediates the relation between resources and engagement positively. Against our assumptions, mastery-approach-orientation mediates the relation between resources and burnout positively. Performance-approach-orientation has no significant impact. Conclusion Results underline the importance of approach goal orientations for engagement and mental health of university students.