Page No 176 – 182
Bhasker Malu, Jayasankar Reddy, K. and Kishor Adhikari
Christ, Bangalore
The purpose of the study was to investigate intrinsic motivation as a mediator between
basic needs satisfaction and student engagement for undergraduate college students.
According to the self determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000a), intrinsic motivation
is the inherent drive to complete a task and is the most important type of motivation.
The self determination theory postulates that the satisfaction of the basic needs:
autonomy, competence, and relatedness, leads to autonomous forms of motivation
which are responsible for better academic performance. 120 undergraduate students
(52 males and 68 females) participated in the study and responded to the basic needs
satisfaction-general (BPNS), academic motivation scale (AMS) and university student
engagement inventory (USE-I) scales. The results were computed using correlation
and regression analyses. The results indicated that intrinsic motivation mediated the
relationship between basic needs satisfaction and student engagement. Implication of
the study indicates the need for development of needs supportive environments which
can be beneficial in the development of intrinsic motivation and engaged behaviour
.