Excerpts from the study, The Relationship of Locus of Control, Self-esteem, Performance Motivation, and Achievement Among

Senior Student Nurses in the Different Schools of Nursing in Baguio City.

Developing the Theoretical/ Conceptual Framework

This portion presents the theoretical foundation that supports the major concepts
of the study.
Theoretical Foundation
Locus of control, motivation, and self-esteem are independent threads of thought
in cognitive psychology, each representing an independent phase of human personality
and behaviour. These threads are interwoven into a coherent texture by the attribution
theory. This is therefore adopted as the major theoretical anchor of the study Attribution
theory explains how individuals accounts for events that take place in their lives
(Bruning, Schrqw & Ronning, 1999). The Attribution Theory (Roesch and Amirkham,
1977) explains that people all have a need to explain the world, both to themselves and
to other people, by attributing cause to the events that happen. When explaining
behavior, it can affect the standing of people within a group.
How this theory interrelates the variables of the study can be seen in the
attribution model of Pintrich and Schunk (1996) that was adopted in the study. The
overview of the general attribution model is shown as follows:
Antecedent Perceived Causal Psychological Behavioral
Conditions Causes Dimensions Consequences Consequences

Attributions
Environmental factors for:

Personal factors Ability Locus of Self- Motivation

Effort control esteem
Luck
(Extraneous variables) Task difficulty
Teacher
Mood
Health
Fatigue, etc.

The happened incidents can be classified into environmental and personal

factors. An individual will attribute these incidents to the perceived causes and different
causal dimensions. These causes will affect an individual's psychological consequences
and influence one's behaviors. It can be noted that locus of control falls under the
causal dimension leading to psychological consequences that include self-esteem,
among others. The psychological consequences further leads to behavioural
consequences that include motivation, among others.
The variables used in the study are supported by Rotter ’s (1954) social learning
theory, Weiner’s (1986) attributional analysis of motivation and emotion, and it is the key
concept in Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory. The main idea in Julian Rotter's
Social Learning Theory is that personality represents an interaction of the individual with
his or her environment. One cannot speak of a personality, internal to the individual, that
is independent of the environment. Neither can one focus on behavior as being an
automatic response to an objective set of environmental stimuli. Rather, to understand

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Excerpts from the study, The Relationship of Locus of Control, Self-esteem, Performance Motivation, and Achievement Among
Senior Student Nurses in the Different Schools of Nursing in Baguio City.

behavior, one must take both the individual (i.e., his or her life history of learning and
experiences) and the environment (i.e., those stimuli that the person is aware of and
responding to) into account. Rotter describes personality as a relatively stable set of
potentials for responding to situations in a particular way.
The core of his approach is called Expectancy Value Theory: the basic
assumption is that behaviour is determined not just by the presence or size of
reinforcements, but by the beliefs about what the results of behaviour are likely to be
i.e., how likely you are to get the reinforcement. 
In Weiner’s (1986) attributional analysis of motivation and emotion postulates
that observers’ reactions to actors who experience failure, sickness, or need for help,
are largely determined by the perceived controllability of the causes of these events.
Attributions of failure to controllable causes, such as lack of effort, lead to anger,
punishment, and reduced willingness to help, whereas the belief that the actor has no
control over the cause of the negative event, such as failure due to lack of ability, leads
to pity, help-giving, and to lesser or no punishment.
Bandura’s (1986) self-efficacy theory postulates that whether or not a person will
undertake a particular activity, attempt to do a particular task, or strive to meet a
particular goal depends on whether or not they believe we will be efficacious in
performing those actions. In other words, if individuals believe they have control over
future events, then they will attempt to exert that control in order to achieve a positive
outcome. It does not matter whether an outcome is or is not attainable, the perception of
control determines if one will try to attain it. Therefore, locus of control has a significant
impact on Bandura’s self-efficacy theories, and how individuals ’ expectations shape the
goals they set for themselves.
The variables used in the study were anchored to the different theories. Locus of
control was anchored of Rotter’s theory, achievement motivation on Weimer ’s theory,
and self-esteem on Bandura’s theory
Major Concepts
Locus of Control. This operationally refers to the extent to which nursing
students attribute success and failure to internal or external  factors. Accordingly, the
study would distinguish between students with external locus of control from those with
internal locus of control

Self Esteem. The study operationally adopts the view of Psychology that self-
esteem is the favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the self. Accordingly, the concept
will distinguish students with positive self-esteem or high self-esteem from those with
negative or low self-esteem.

The Self as a Motivational Force. The self is not only a product of social forces
and influences, it is also a form of motivational force in itself. Self-esteem may actually
be the master motive in personal and interpersonal relations. We have the unique ability
to reflect on our perceptions and feelings and then act in response to those feelings.
People want to feel good about themselves and are motivated to increase their self-
esteem if it is low, and to maintain it if it is high. As self-awareness and self-identity
develop they cause individuals to respond in specific ways. People have distinct
feelings of esteem regarding each role or identity they hold and these role specific

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Excerpts from the study, The Relationship of Locus of Control, Self-esteem, Performance Motivation, and Achievement Among
Senior Student Nurses in the Different Schools of Nursing in Baguio City.

feelings of self-esteem influence self-esteem in proportion to the relative importance or

salience of the specific identity or role.

Self Esteem and Academic Motivation. Motivation in the context of the study
refers to the drive to achieve and perform. Self-esteem is clearly implicated in the
achievement process and variations in self-esteem are closely related to different
reasons for learning. Some students are motivated to overcome an impending sense of
failure as a person. They struggle to establish and maintain a sense of worth and
belonging in a society that values competency and doing well. They combine a sense of
obligation to achieve, often stemming from family expectations. They see grades as the
surest way to achieve that sense of worth and competency. For failure-avoiding
students worth is measured in terms of successfully demonstrating one ’s superiority
over others by reason of ones’ talents or abilities.

Attempts by pro-esteem advocates to encourage self-pride in students solely by

reason of their uniqueness as human beings will fail if feelings of well-being are not
accompanied by well-doing. It is only when students engage in personally meaningful
endeavors for which they can be justifiably proud that self-confidence grows, and it is
this growing self-assurance that in turn triggers further achievement.

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