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International Conference on Technology and Business Management March 18-20, 2013
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Assessment of Factors Influencing Academic Performance in Higher
Education
Dharini S
dharinisudarsan@hotmail.com
Amrita Viswa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore
Deepa Mohan
Sudarsan N
deepa_pme10@nitc.ac.in
sudarsan@nitc.ac.in
National Institute of Technology Calicut
As a socially relevant enterprise, it is imperative that educational systems attempt to assess the academic
process periodically directed towards performance enhancement of the participants. This study attempts to
aggregate the academic ambience prevailing in a case institution of higher education with an aim to identify the
areas of shortcomings that can aid the management to focus their efforts on improvising the ambiance. The
study conducted through a specially prepared questionnaire designed to measure motivational level of the
students through attribution theory, factors influencing academic performance and group behaviour.
Keywords: attribution theory, academic performance, group behaviour
1. Introduction
Globalization, defined as the flow of technology, economy, people, values, and ideas across borders, is having a
profound impact on most aspects of society and is a significant factor impacting the nature and function of
higher education (Knight, 2004). The increasingly high standards for higher education, along with the dynamics
of the global market compel universities to implement new strategies in order to face the newly-occurred
challenges, so as to maintain their own performance at a competitive level. The challenges hint both at the
scientific research and teaching quality, as well as other student-centred aspects – study conditions, financial
support, low-cost schooling, and student life-style. The success of education lies in improving the capacity to
meet the needs and expectancies, both of students and teaching staff (Deming, 2000).
India's higher education system is the second largest in the world, after the United States. India, today, is
considered as a talent pool of the world, having qualified and educated human resources in abundance. This has
been one of the primary reasons for transformation of India into one of the fastest growing economies in the
world since liberalization in the 1990s. India’s aspirations to establish a knowledge society in the context of
increasing globalization, is based on the assumption that higher and technical education essentially empowers
people with the requisite competitive skills and knowledge. It has been realized that it is the quality of education
that prepares one for all pursuits of life and in the absence of an acceptable level of quality, higher education
becomes a mere formalism devoid of any purpose or substance. As a result, from around the turn of the century,
increasing attention has also been paid to quality and excellence in higher education. The Indian education
sector has been recognized as a “Sunrise Sector” for investment in the recent past. This recognition stems from
the fact that the sector offers a huge untapped market in regulated and non-regulated segments due to low
literacy rate, high concentration in urban areas and increasing per capita income, with Government proactively
playing the role of facilitator in this sector.
Education is a light that shows the mankind the right direction to flow. The purpose of education is not just
making a student literate but adds rationale thinking, knowledge and self sufficiency (Damodharan &
Rengarajan, 2007). The extent of student’s learning in academics is often determined by the grades a student
earns during the period of learning assuming it to be the primary indicator of such learning. However, many
experiences and studies conclude that there can be several other factors that would account for the grades
secured. In fact, almost all of existing environmental and personal factors could be variables influencing
academic performance. This study attempts to identify the factors, mainly psychological, affecting the academic
achievement of students pursuing higher education. The investigations in this direction aim at improvising the
academic ambience that will result in not only the students relish the experience but also go a long way in
realising strategies for successful academic establishments.

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2. Review of Literature
While many parameters influencing the academic performance of students in higher education, psychological
features, particularly, motivational level of the students, Student Satisfaction level and Transactional style
explain to a great extent with which the academic ambience contributing to achievements. Some of the notable
contributions in this direction are highlighted in the ensuing sections.
The motivational level of student will be assessed by applying attribution theory. Attribution theory (Weiner,
1980, 1992) is probably the most influential contemporary theory with implications for academic motivation. It
incorporates behaviour modification in the sense that it emphasizes the idea that learners are strongly motivated
by the pleasant outcome of being able to feel good about themselves. It incorporates cognitive theory and self-
efficacy theory in the sense that it emphasizes that learners' current self-perceptions will strongly influence the
ways in which they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts and hence their future tendency to
perform these same behaviours. Attribution theory examines the ways in which individuals attribute perceived
causes to outcomes, or provide individual explanations of why particular events turn out as they do. Different
people might decide that they passed a test because they worked hard, or because they were ‘lucky’, or because
in this case the teacher just happened to get it right, etc. The attributions made give rise to positive or negative
emotions, which in turn act as determinants for future behaviours. The particular attributions made, and
characteristic patterns of attribution, will be determined by a complex of issues: personal history, characteristics,
circumstances etc. According to attribution theory, the explanations that people tend to make to explain success
or failure can be analyzed in terms of three sets of characteristics. Causal attribution concerns how people
understand the reasons for their successes and failures. Attribution theory locates all causal attributions along
three dimensions: internal or external, stable or unstable, and controllable/ or uncontrollable. Those people
attributing their success to internal, stable and controllable factors tend to be more highly motivated and hence
continue to be more successful than those with alternative attribution styles.
The Attribution of Success and Failure inventory- ASUFA assesses the respondents’ attributional thinking – to
what they attribute success and failure to.
First, the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That is, we may succeed or fail because of
factors that we believe have their origin within us or because of factors that originate in our environment.
Second, the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If the we believe cause is stable,
then the outcome is likely to be the same if we perform the same behaviour on another occasion. If it is unstable,
the outcome is likely to be different on another occasion.
Third, the cause of success or failure may be either controllable or uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one
which we believe we ourselves can alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is one that we do not
believe we can easily alter.
The dimensions of ASUFA are self directedness, group directedness, conformity, fatalism, optimism,
pessimism, hope and self confidence.
Self directedness is defined as high personal internality. A self directed person will exercise his or her choices
in most situations. Group directedness is defined as high collective internality. A group directed person will
follow group norms and work with his/ her team to influence situations. Conformity is defined as high personal
externality. A conformist will be guided by the wishes of the significant persons. Fatalism is defined as high
non- person externality. A person with a high score will attribute most outcomes to external forces and is not
likely to exercise much effort to bring about change. Optimism is defined as attributing failures and miseries to
variable factors. Pessimism is defined as attributing failures and miseries to stable factors. Hope is defined as the
ratio between attribution to variable and attribution to stable factors. Self confidence is defined as the ratio
between internality and externality.
The paper of Kerry Wimshurst (2004) reported on the findings of a funded research project which investigated
factors related to academic success and failure in a Faculty of Arts. The paper discussed the student
characteristics which were found to be clearly related to academic success and failure – including gender,
university entry score, and mode of enrolment. The students surveyed by Bornholt and Moller (2003) stressed
effort in their explanations of success or failure on mathematics and English tests. Hui (2001), who investigated
responses of students and teachers in schools in Hong Kong, found that outcomes were attributed to studying,
psychological well-being, concern for educational future, friendships, and relationships at home, with peers,
with people and at school. Beyer (1998), using a role-play method in which students rated causes after
imagining they failed or passed an important test, found that men tended to stress ability after success, whereas
women emphasized studying and attentiveness. Elig and Frieze (1979), in a study of people’s reactions to
success and failure at a laboratory task, found that ability and task difﬁculty were reported as causes by a large
proportion of participants, but that other causes were also cited: luck, intrinsic motives, stable effort, unstable
effort, mood, and personality.

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Students have different experiences in the institution where they are studying. Their perception affects their
performance, if they are satisfied with campus life; they get motivated to work hard. The parameters which
students feel more important to act as motivators in academic performance will be identified. The Student
Satisfaction Survey (SSS) instrument measures the level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among students
towards the facilities provided by the educational institutions. This instrument helps the students to identify the
area which satisfies them most and hampers their performance to growth and learning. This also helps
institutions to identify the key areas where the students are mostly dissatisfied so that they can work on them
and improve the conditions in that particular area. So it may be useful to measure different aspects of students’
satisfaction The main aspects of students’ satisfaction on the campus are i. Infrastructure (facilities related to
assets of the organisation, which plays a very important role in the students’ life), ii. Campus life (sense of
belonging and relationships), iii. Academic (contents provided by the organization to build the person
theoretically as well as practically), iv. Administration / staff and v. Faculty (whom the student admire).
The emphasis on student satisfaction is due to its positive impact upon student motivation, their maintenance
within the university and fund raising and recruitment actions, on the one hand; on the other hand, this approach
allows the institution an ongoing monitoring of its efficiency in meeting students’ expectation. Motivation, on a
day to day basis, will be determined by the ‘meaning’ which students attach to individual tasks and to the
academic enterprise as a whole. It will also be influenced by their levels of satisfaction with all aspects of the
course, from inherent interest in the subject through relations with lecturers to satisfaction with teaching
methods and facilities. Types and timing of assessment can also have an effect on motivation. In general,
students who have confidence in their own abilities will show higher levels of motivation. The concept of
student satisfaction is regarded as a short-term attitude, resulting from the assessment of one’s educational
experience; it occurs when the student’s actual outcome/actual perception reaches or exceeds his/her
expectancy. Therefore, satisfaction is an average between one’s expectancy and actual experience. The student
satisfaction is defined as the gap between student perception and student expectation. (Bagchi, 2010)
Zhang (2011), in his this paper did research based on information entropy and student satisfaction in Chinese
university by conducting cluster sampling, and using the entropy analysis to determine the weight of each index.
The results showed that, the method in the evaluation of student satisfaction and in the field of teaching
evaluation is scientific and feasible. Baghchi et.al (2010) measured quality of teaching by the student
satisfaction survey. Drawing on the well known gap model of customer satisfaction, they modelled student
satisfaction as the gap between student perception and student expectation, and focused on the management of
this gap from the perspective of the individual course instructor. In his paper, Marcus (2009) focused upon the
outcomes obtained by the implementation of a student satisfaction survey as a quality management technique in
a Romanian university. Dongsheng (2009) designed a university educational decision support system mainly
based on student satisfaction survey data. He built up a student satisfaction data warehouse, with basic student
satisfaction survey database, student evaluation database and student status database. In the paper, Graven et.al
(2006) discussed the satisfaction level of students in introducing a Virtual Learning Environment at Buskerud
University College in Norway. A longitudinal survey had been carried out on general level of student
satisfaction over a nine year period, a specific survey on satisfaction with the use of a VLE and a survey on staff
attitude to e-learning. The model adopted for the student satisfaction surveys was reasonably consistent, with the
exception of some questions that have been introduced to cover the use of the VLE. It was found that there was
no significant change in the satisfaction levels in the last few years. At the individual university level,
conforming to the national perspective upon quality as excellence weaker standards checking approach, the
Babeş-Bolyai University quality assurance system followed a rather customer-driven fitness for purpose
approach (Sallis & Hingley, 1991).
Student wellbeing can be considered a major output indicator of quality of education. A positive classroom
climate can contribute to a higher sense of wellbeing. Interpersonal relationships between teachers and students
are an important aspect of the classroom climate. Researchers need to consider the complex interaction of
multiple factors that may impact the behaviour of students and their teachers. A consideration of transactional
processes provides a greater understanding of how teachers and students influence each other and can yield a
more comprehensive evaluation of interventions and instructional methods within the context of the classroom.
Transactional Analysis (TA) is a theory of personality and psychotherapy, developed by Eric Berneand his
colleagues, which provides both a structural model of personality and a functional or behavioural model (Berne,
1961,1966). The transactional model describes development as a product of the ongoing interaction between the
child and the experiences provided by the environment (i.e., the family and the broader social context)
(Sameroff, 1995). In this model, not only is the child shaped by the environment, but the child also affects the
environment, and is in turn impacted by those environmental effects he has wrought. The child’s developmental
outcome at any point in time is the product not of the influences of the environment or the influences of

222
individual child characteristics, but of the complex relationship between the child and the environment over
time.
Transactional Styles Inventory, TSI has been created to help the respondents examine their interactional or
transactional styles, and develop strategies to enhance their personal effectiveness. TSI-S is meant to assess
student’s styles of interacting with others and their effectiveness. Kevin (2005) provided a transactional
framework for research in school settings for students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorder (EBD). He
suggested that the application of transactional model is useful in posing and answering relevant research
questions and in improving teacher training and educational practice. The work of Greenwood and colleagues
(Greenwood, 1996; Greenwood, Delquadri, & Hall, 1984; Greenwood, Hart,Walker,&Risley, 1992) helps to
clarify the relationships among instructional variables and student academic outcomes. Greenwood
demonstrated that student engagement mediates the relationship between academic instruction and school
outcomes (Greenwood, 1996). The classroom interventions based upon increased exposure to academic material
(e.g., Sutherland, Alder, & Gunter, 2003), superior task quality (DePaepe, Shores, Jack, & Denny, 1996), and
increased positive teacher attention (Sutherland et al., 2000) have demonstrated positive effects on the
classroom behaviour and academic achievement of students’ with EBD.
3. Statement of the problem
The study aims to determine the factors that affect the academic performance of Students.
Specifically, this study aims to accomplish the following objectives
 To assess motivational level of students
 To find out the parameters that influence students in providing motivation
 To measure group behaviour of the students
4. Questionnaire Design
The study attempts to conduct a survey through a specially designed questionnaire particularly among students
in second and third year of study. The questionnaire for the investigation was developed using instruments
established through previous researches by Udai Pareek (1997).
The proposed study is grouped into three stages.
Attribution of success and failure Inventory- Students (ASUFA - S) assesses the respondent’s attributional
thinking. The dimensions of 32 itemed ASUFA are
i. Self directedness, ii. Group directedness, iii. Conformity, iv Fatalism, v. Optimism, vi. Pessimism, vii. Hope
and viii. Self confidence.
The Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS) instrument measures the level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among
students towards the facilities provided by the educational institutions. This 20 itemed instrument helps the
students to identify the area which satisfies them most and hampers their performance to growth and learning.
This also helps institutions to identify the key areas where the students are mostly dissatisfied so that they can
work on them and improve the conditions in that particular area.
The dimensions of satisfaction are
i. Infrastructure, ii. Campus life, iii. Academic, iv. Administration/ staff and Faculty.
The study makes an attempt to measure the group behaviour of the students. This can be possible using 24
itemed Transactional Styles Inventory - Students (TSI- S) which helps to examine the students’ styles of
interacting with others and their effectiveness. This also helps to develop strategies to enhance their
interpersonal effectiveness. The styles are Nurturing, Regulating, Task, Adaptive, Assertive and Innovative.
5. Data Collection
In this study, students from varied streams of a reputed higher educational institution in Southern part of India
were provided with questionnaires. The total sample of 165 respondents was selected on a random basis from
the institute.
6. Data Analysis
Random Sampling technique was used in the selection of sample for the present study. Data pertaining to 165
students from the Institute was collected through personal interviews. While in all 200 questionnaires were

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distributed, completed responses were received only from 165 respondents that had been utilised for the
analysis.
Scoring of ASUFA inventory is complicated and thus the software for scoring was used. The responses/ scores
of 32 itemed ASUFA were transferred to a Quotient. The 38 totals of different combination of the items were
found out and it was converted to quotients.
The responses from SSS were scored on a 5 point likert scale. The scoring is unidirectional. The total
satisfaction was measured using a score sheet. The higher the score, the more are the students satisfied and
lower the score, lower is the satisfaction in students.
The responses from TSI- S were scored on a 5 point likert scale and also, the scoring is unidirectional. The
total score was measured for each dimension using a score sheet. The raw scores were then converted to
Operating Effectiveness Quotient (OEQ). Also, the dominant style (DS) and Back up Style (BS) was
determined. DS is the one which has the highest score and BS is the style one which has the next highest score.
The totals of OK and Not OK were observed. This indicates the two activity levels of the respondent.
Initially, internal validity of the data collected was measured using Cronbach’s Alpha. Reliability analysis and
identification of levels of motivation, satisfaction and group behaviour were carried out as descriptive analysis.
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17.0) and MS Excel were used for compiling and
processing the data. The major results obtained from the analysis and inferences drawn from the results are
presented below.
7. Results from the analysis
Table.1 presents the nature of data collected with a sample size of 165 students pursuing second and third year
of higher education. They are hailing from contrasting demographic background. The students in the first year
of the study were not chosen owing to the time duration available to them to adapt to the academic environment
has considered to be too short.
Table 1 Data Description
No. of respondents
No. of items in each inventory
ASUFA SSS TSI
165 32 20 24
Table. 2 presents the reliability analysis of the inventories namely motivational level, satisfaction level and
transactional level. Chronbach’s alpha satistic was computed for all the three inventories. It can be observed that
all the three inventories exhibited reasonably high alpha validating the internal reliability of the questionnaire
design and also indicating sufficiency of sample collected.
Table 2 Reliability Analysis of Inventories
Inventory Number of questions Chronbach’s alpha
ASUFA 32 0.77
SSS 20 0.82
TSI 24 0.732
Table.3 presents the scores obtained for all the three inventories computed as per the procedure indicated above.
The scores obtained for each inventory in terms of comprising parameters are compared in figures 1, 2 and 3.
Table 3 Scores of Inventories
1. ASUFA Dimensions Quotient 2. SSS Dimensions Score 3. Transactional styles OEQ
Self Directedness 54 Infrastructure 51 Nurturing 53
Group Directedness 44 Campus Life 56 Regulating 54
Compliance 49 Academic 52 Task 54
Fatalism 50 Admin/ Staff 47 Adaptive 64
Optimissm 56 Faculty 59 Assertive 47
Pessimism 41 Total Satisfaction level 53 Innovative 50
Self Confidence 50 Total-OEQ 53
Hope 56

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Figure.1 presents comparison of scores computed for the different dimensions of ASUFA. It can be observed
that Pessimism had the lowest Quotient of 41 as compared to Optimism and Hope with a maximum of 56
indicating the motivational level of the students is relatively high and lesser number of individuals are less
motivated. A Quotient of 54 for self directedness indicates the students to be essentially self-motivated as
compared to group motivation indicated by group directedness having a Quotient of only 44. However, overall
the different Quotients computed are only at a mediocre level indicating a scope for further improvement in
motivational training.
Figure 1 Quotients of ASUFA Dimensions
Quotient
self directedness
group
directedness
com
pliance
fatalism
optim
issm
pessim
ism
self confidence
hope
Quotient
Figure 2 Student Satisfaction Score
Score
Infrastructure Campus Life Academic Admin/ Staff Faculty Total
Satisfaction
level
Score
Figure 2 indicates the comparison of scores computed for different dimensions of student satisfaction. It can be
observed that the students are reasonably satisfied with the faculty available in the institute while the satisfaction

225
level is low for administration/staff. This indicates rigorous beurocratic procedures are mandated in the
administration processes. The total satisfaction level measured with a score of 53 indicates the need for
improvement in the various aspects of student satisfaction.
Figure 3 indicates the comparison of OEQ computed for the different transactional styles adapted by the
sample population. It can be observed adaptive transactional style corresponding to child with OK ambience is
prevalent among the students indicating the preference for the students willing to adapt to the prevailing
environment in the institute. The total OEQ computed for the population is only 53 indicating differences in the
transactional styles adapted by the students along with poor interpersonal transactions underlying the Quotient
measured under group directedness of ASUFA.
Overall, the study indicates the highly restrictive academic ambience prevailing in the institute with
reasonable number of students willing to adapt for the environment and are quite positive in their outlook.
However, the study also advocates initiatives from the administration towards higher motivational as well as
satisfactional levels of the students.
Figure 3 Operating Effectiveness Quotient of Transactional Styles
OEQ
Nurturing Regulating Task Adaptive Assertive Innovative TSI -OEQ
OEQ
8. Conclusion
The experience throughout the current investigation and competitions had been accelerating providing insights
into the perceptions of students undergoing higher education in an institution of repute. The current
investigation is a part of other major expectations in the field of higher education in India. For the studies in the
direction are envisaged to be undertaken including enhancing the sample size, considering additional parameters
and surveys in institutes with different academic setups. The authors also thankfully acknowledge the
cooperation of the administration authorities and the student participants of the institute in which the study was
undertaken.
9. References
1. Bagchi Uttarayan (2010), “Delivering Student Satisfaction in Higher Education: A QFD Approach”
2. Berne, E. (1961), “ Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy”, New York: Grove Press
3. Berne, E. (1966). Preliminary Orientation, ITAA Summer Conference, Transactional Analysis Bulletin.
4. Beyer, S. (1998). Gender differences in causal attributions by college students of performance on
course examinations, Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.).
5. Bornholt, L. J., & Moller, J. (2003), “Attributions about achievement and intentions about further study
in social context”, Social Psychology of Education.
6. Bornholt, L., & Möller, J. (2003), “Attributions about achievement and intentions about further study
in social context”, Social Psychology of Education.
7. Damodharan VS, Rengarajan V (2007), “Innovative methods of teaching.”,Paper presented at Learning
Technologies and Mathematics Middle East Conference, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
8. DePaepe, P. A., Shores, R. E., Jack, S. L., & Denny, R. K. (1996), “ Effects of task difficulty on the
disruptive and on-task behavior of students with severe behavior disorders”, Behavioral Disorders.
9. Deming, W. Ed., (2000), “The New Economics for Industry, Government”, Education - 2nd Edition.
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10. Elig, T. W., & Frieze, I. H. (1979), “Measuring causal attributions for success and failure”, Journal of
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11. Genbao Zhang, (2009), “Modern Quality Engineering,” in Beijing, Machinery Industry Press.
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13. Greenwood, C. R., Delquadri, J., & Hall, R. V. (1984), “ Opportunity to respond and student academic
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24. Zhao Dongsheng, (2009), “ Design and Implementation of University Educational Decision Support
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and Applications

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