Title: Understanding the locus of control of management students - an exploratory study

Authors: S. Vijayakumar Bharathi; Shaji Joseph

Addresses: Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT), Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune, India ' Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT), Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune, India

Abstract: This research examines the impact of locus of control in the academic life of management students. A customised locus of control inventory is proposed which was administered to a sample of 170 management students in India. Using exploratory factor analysis, seven components were identified as influencers of locus of control throughout the academic life of a management student namely destiny, academic performance, introversion, attribution effect, luck, self-efficacy and self-confidence. Moreover, the study finds that the predominant locus of control is external except in case of self-efficacy and self-confidence. The outcome of the research also suggested technology, participant-centred pedagogy and mentoring as the key constructs for future research work in locus of control.

Keywords: academic performance; attribution effect; career; destiny; introversion; locus of control; luck; management students; self-confidence; self-efficacy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2017.086392

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2017 Vol.14 No.3, pp.234 - 251

Received: 02 Jul 2016
Accepted: 28 Apr 2017
Published online: 04 Sep 2017 *

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