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Own Motivation, Peer Motivation, and Educational Success

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  • Jan Bietenbeck

Abstract

I study how motivation shapes own and peers’ educational success. Using data from Project STAR, I find that academic motivation in early elementary school, as measured by a standardized psychological test, predicts contemporaneous and future test scores, high school GPA, and college-test taking over and above cognitive skills. Exploiting random assignment of students to classes, I find that exposure to motivated classmates causally affects contemporaneous reading achievement, a peer effect that operates over and above spillovers from classmates’ past achieve-ment and socio-demographic composition. However, peer motivation does not affect longer-term educational success, likely because it does not change own motivation.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Bietenbeck, 2020. "Own Motivation, Peer Motivation, and Educational Success," CESifo Working Paper Series 8696, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8696
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    Cited by:

    1. Wennberg, Karl & Norgren, Axel, 2021. "Models of Peer Effects in Education," Working Papers 21/3, Stockholm School of Economics, Center for Educational Leadership and Excellence.
    2. Hancock, Stacey A. & Hill, Andrew J., 2022. "The effect of teammate personality on team production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Briana Ballis, 2021. "Does Peer Motivation Impact Educational Investments? Evidence From DACA," Working Papers 2021-027, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    motivation; personality; peer effects; Project STAR;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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