Single and combined effects of efficacies, risk-taking, conflict management, and procrastination on academic performance

Abstract

Academic procrastination is common among university students, but how efficacy beliefs, risk-taking, and conflict management together affect it has not been studied. This research looked at whether self-efficacy and social efficacy predict risk-taking, whether risk-taking predicts procrastination, and how four conflict management strategies, avoiding, compromising, collaborating, and competing, relate to both. The study used a cross-sectional survey with first-, second-, and third-year medical students at a Saudi Arabian university. Of 250 questionnaires handed out, 209 were retained after removing incomplete or low-variance responses. The study used adapted seven-point Likert scales to measure the main ideas and analyzed the data with partial least squares structural equation modeling. Self-efficacy (0.18, p<0.001) and social-efficacy (0.20, p<0.01) both predicted more risk-taking, explaining 8% of its variance. Both also predicted less procrastination (-0.33, p<0.001; -0.15, p<0.01), explaining 15% of its variance. Risk-taking by itself did not predict procrastination (0.16, not significant), explaining only 2%. In the full model, avoiding (0.27, p<0.01) and compromising (0.23, p<0.01) were linked to more procrastination, while competing was linked to less procrastination (-0.22, p<0.05). Collaborating had no significant effect, and the model explained 25% of the variance. The study found that assertive conflict management is linked to more risk-taking and less procrastination, while unassertive strategies show the opposite pattern. The results suggest that schools may help reduce procrastination by building students' efficacy beliefs, risk-taking, and conflict-management skills.