Motivation and psychological need fulfillment on the pathway to identity resolution

Professional identification in the beginning of a teacher's career: a longitudinal study on identity formation and the basic psychological need for autonomy in VET teacher training

Introduction

This study examines the extent to which VET trainee teachers' identification with their profession is related to their basic psychological need for autonomy and whether this is reflected in their intention to stay in the field. Trainee's subjective experience of their professional identity interacts with different conditions of the training environment, whereby we focus on perceived autonomy support and autonomy thwarting behavior of seminar teachers.

Methods

On the basis of a longitudinal design with a total of 79 trainee teachers in Germany and four survey time points during teacher training, corresponding developmental processes were traced over a total period of 1 year. Cross-lagged panel analyses allow us to draw conclusions about the extent to which professional identification of trainees interacts with autonomy-support or autonomy-thwarting conditions originating from seminar teachers and to what extent the aforementioned factors in turn affect intention to stay.

Results

Cross-lagged panel analyses show that professional identification after 6 months in teacher training significantly predicts the intention to stay in the teaching profession half a year later. Significant cross paths each describe positive effects between professional identification and autonomy support and negative effects between professional identification and autonomy thwarting.

Discussion

Particularly against the background of the shortage of teachers in Germany and other countries, the promotion of professional identification processes in the sense of a teacher identity can be assessed as crucial. In this respect, an autonomy-supporting environment, e.g., created by seminar teachers, can already contribute to that during teacher training.

Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Adolescent Students’ Basic Psychological Needs at School Scale (ASBPNSS) and Evidence of Differential Associations With Indicators of Subjective Wellbeing

The study aimed to test the psychometric properties of a Portuguese adaptation of the Adolescent Students’ Basic Psychological Needs at School Scale (ASBPNSS). For this, we used data from a sample of eighth graders ( N = 1648; Mage = 14.1 years; 46.9% girls) from Portugal. Cronbach alpha and omega coefficients showed the ASBPNSS subscales—autonomy, relatedness, and competence—were reliable. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed the hypothesized three-factor model fit the data well. Multi-group CFAs showed the ASBPNSS had scalar invariance across gender and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, need satisfaction in school was positively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction and negatively correlated with negative affect. These findings support the theoretical assumptions of Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT), and particularly the assumption that basic needs are universally applicable. We conclude the ASBPNSS is a reliable and valid measure of basic need satisfaction at school in Portuguese adolescents.

Can consumers’ gamified, personalized, and engaging experiences with VR fashion apps increase in-app purchase intention by fulfilling needs?

While the development of virtual reality (VR) apps is trending among fashion retailers to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and promote consumers’ online shopping, less is understood about whether and the way these new VR apps increase consumers’ in-app purchase. This study was designed to address this issue by applying self-determination theory within the context of Taobao Life, a 3D avatar-based and game-featured virtual world on the Taobao app. Specifically, we investigated (1) whether the extent to which a VR fashion app provides consumers with a sense of gamified experience (H1: challenge, and H2: achievement), personalized experience (H3: avatar customization, and H4: avatar identification), and engaging experience (H5: social presence, and H6: social support) fulfills their competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs; (2) whether these intrinsic needs fulfill determine positive consumer behavioral intentions (H7: intention to continue to use VR apps, and H8: intention to make in-app purchase), and (3) whether the intention to continue to use VR apps leads to a positive in-app purchase intention (H9). We tested the above empirically by conducting an online survey via Dynata, and the dataset of 251 responses was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings of our research provide theoretical and practical implications that can be applied in the fashion retail business.