Exploring the Impact of Students’ Perceived Cost and Utility Value of General Chemistry on Academic Growth

The construct of perceived cost, under Situated Expectancy Value Theory, has grown as an approach to understand the affective and academic barriers general chemistry students face. However, the current literature is unclear on the extent to which cost perceptions are specific to students’ experiences in general chemistry courses or rather represent long-term held beliefs and how cost perceptions interact with other motivational traits, such as utility value. The purpose of this study was to explore perceived cost and utility value as predictors of changes in academic performance over one term of a first-semester general chemistry course. Using a modified version of a four-dimensional perceived cost instrument, analyses revealed that four theorized cost dimensions, while distinct, were highly correlated and led to the consideration of a single measure of perceived cost. Perceived cost negatively predicted final exam scores after controlling for starting performance, suggesting that cost perceptions can be specific to students’ experiences within the course. Further, perceived cost and utility value each significantly predicted changes in academic performance, independently of one another. These findings inform future efforts at improving motivation in general chemistry courses by supporting the potential of reducing cost perceptions at the course-level and the development of interventions that target multiple motivational beliefs simultaneously.