Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of attribution on Mechanics (Statics & Dynamics) self-efficacy and the relationships among goal setting, self-efficacy, and Mechanics achievement in Department of Mechanical Engineering students. 345 freshmen in a technology university were used as participants in this two-year longitudinal study. Results show that the beneficial attributers possessed higher self-efficacy than individuals who made less beneficial attributions. Further, it was shown that mechanical engineering students with higher self-efficacy achieved better proficiency level during the consecutive Mechanics proficiency test every half-year. Meanwhile, those with higher self-efficacy are likely to set higher goal level for the subsequent tests, and those with higher goal setting have performed better than those with lower goal setting. Together findings in this study show that the effective way to improve mechanics performance in mechanical engineering students might lie in how to militate the beneficial attribution manners and increase the self-efficacy as well as set higher and reasonable goal level.