Perceived Classroom Mastery Goal Structure and Secondary Students' Academic Engagement: Academic Self-Efficacy as a Mediator: A Quantitative PLS-SEM Study

Abstract

Based on the frameworks provided by achievement goal theory and Bandura's social cognitive theory (1997), the current paper investigates whether the Perceived Classroom Mastery Goal Structure (CMGS) will have a direct and an indirect influence on the Academic Engagement (AE) through Academic Self-Efficacy (ASE). Although cross-national evidence indicates that the classroom motivational climate affects Academic Engagement, the mediating role of this climate has not yet been explored among adolescents in Balochistan province, Pakistan. For data collection, a survey questionnaire was used with items derived from the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales and Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning scale completed by 300 ninth- and tenth-grade students (52% males, 47% females, 1% chose not to disclose their gender) studying at 12 public secondary schools in Quetta. Measurement and structural models were estimated using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4, with significance testing based on 10,000 bootstrapped resamples; the measurement model demonstrated good validity and reliability. CMGS predicted ASE (β = .453, p < .001), and ASE predicted AE (β = .368, p < .001); hence, H1 and H2 were confirmed. In addition, a significant direct CMGS → AE association was revealed (β = .167, p = .005), along with a significant indirect effect via mediation of ASE (β = .167, p < .001), thus indicating complementary partial mediation, with ASE contributing nearly 50% of the CMGS-AE connection (H3). Overall, the model accounted for 20.5% of ASE variance and 22.0% of AE variance.