Differences among university students in motivation to learn: A cross-cultural study

This study attempts to reject the stereotype that competition is not a desired personal characteristic and a specific motivational factor. We have investigated and revealed positive dimensions and statistically significant correlations between the self-concept and motivation to learn. The new model of self-concept, based on different kinds of competition and motivation to learn, has been postulated. Some arguments have been provided to assume that this model differs from culture to culture. For this reason, the participants from three countries took part in the study. Countries were chosen on the basis of political and cultural indicators in Eastern/Southern versus Western/Southern European characteristics: Slovenia, Serbia and Spain. The study comprised of 225 Slovenian, 99 Serbian and 140 Spanish participants. There are two particular goals of the research. The first is to find out whether there are any differences in self-concept, motivation to learn and competition among participants from different countries. According to the second goal, the investigation of the correlations between self-concept, motivation to learn and competition within each national group is underlined. Some quantitative methods of social sciences have been used to achieve these goals. We found out that the cultural indicator has a significant impact on self-concept, motivation to learn and competition. Further to this, we argue that the “Southern” disposition predominates over Eastern as well as Western dimensions, which means that Slovenians are among the more competitive participants.