Author(s)

Zhihui Liu

Corresponding Author

Zhihui Liu

ABSTRACT

Higher education is a demanding context in which college students have to face multiple stressors. Students’ inability to cope with stress may cause their low engagement, which would bring poor academic performance and ineffectiveness of higher education. Therefore, this study focuses on university students majoring in business English and investigates the effect of psychological capital on their learning engagement and academic performance. Based on broaden-and-build theory, this study formulates the hypotheses. Survey data was distributed among university students in central and southern part of China. 306 valid questionnaires were returned. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The results confirmed that psychological capital is positively related to learning engagement and academic performance; however, the mediating effect of learning engagement between psychological capital and academic performance is insignificant. Based on the results, some practical suggestions are provided.

KEYWORDS

Psychological capital, learning engagement, academic performance