Motivation to Learn and Training Self-Efficacy in Military Cadets: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs and Organizational Commitment

Psychological readiness is increasingly recognised as a critical determinant of military training success, complementing physical preparedness. This study investigated the relationship between basic psychological needs and organisational commitment on training self-efficacy and motivation to learn. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 887 military cadets from Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM). Data were collected using the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979), the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (Chen et al., 2015), the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, 1991). The 30.0 version of SPSS was used to perform multiple regression analysis. Results revealed that competence (? = .390, p < .001) and organisational commitment (? = .295, p < .001) were strong positive predictors of self-efficacy, while relatedness (? = –.136, p < .001) negatively predicted it. For motivation to learn, both competence (? = .113, p = .012) and organisational commitment (? = .177, p < .001) were significant positive predictors. The regression models explained 33.4% of the variance in self-efficacy (R² = .334, F(4, 865) = 110.752, p < .001) and 3.7% of the variance in motivation to learn (R² = .037, F(4, 865) = 8.462, p < .001). These findings underscore the importance of fostering psychological competence and organisational alignment to enhance cadets’ training effectiveness. Future studies should consider longitudinal approaches to better understand how these psychological attributes evolve and influence training outcomes over time.