Open research questions in Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
374 gap statements mined from Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 1,777 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
Choosing where to publish on Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation? See the ranked Psychology journals.
What the literature leaves open
Prior studies have primarily focused on identifying which factors influence students' preferences and perceived difficulty, but have not examined how these factors are interpreted within different educational contexts. There is a need to understand how students' attitudes toward school subjects are shaped by various influences in different countries and educational systems.
Favorite and most difficult school subjects among STEM and non-STEM university students in Serbia and the USA · 2026 · DOILongitudinal research on the joint development of ought-to L2 self, self-efficacy, and L2 engagement in postgraduate students remains limited. The paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationships among these three factors in Chinese postgraduate students.
A longitudinal study on relationships of Chinese postgraduates’ ought-to L2 self, self-efficacy and engagement · 2026 · DOIThe need for a better understanding of the interplay between affective, motivational, and cognitive factors in learning. The lack of empirical studies in school settings that investigate this interplay.
The Interplay between Motivational, Affective Factors and Cognitive Factors in Learning: Editorial · 2024 · DOIIt also needs to account for the nested structure of the data, with students within schools. Additionally, the research must handle missing data in the variables used as covariates.
The research gap is related to the need to include affective aspects in the cognitive load framework. The study aims to address this gap by investigating the moderating role of interest in the relationship between perceived task difficulty and invested mental effort.
The Moderating Role of Interest in the Relationship between Perceived Task Difficulty and Invested Mental Effort · 2024 · DOITime scarcity is a significant hurdle to principal well-being, with principals reporting a lack of time to complete their daily tasks. Dealing with difficult individuals is another challenge that principals face, which can impact their well-being. The study identifies the need for principals to have more flexible working hours and rules to manage their workload effectively.
The study identifies a gap in understanding the challenges that award-winning school principals face and the coping strategies they use to promote their well-being. There is a need to examine the sense of flourishing among national award-winning principals in Canada's Outstanding Principals program.
Less-skilled self-regulators show less engagement with feedback, suggesting a need for support in interpreting and utilizing feedback effectively. The relationship between feedback and outcomes is mediated by students' engagement with the feedback process.
The Role of Growth Mindset on the Relationships between Students’ Perceptions of English Language Teachers’ Feedback and Their ESL Learning Performance · 2024 · DOIFuture studies could investigate the long-term effects of the compassion-based program. Future studies could explore the effectiveness of the compassion-based program in different populations. Future studies could examine the impact of the compassion-based program on other outcomes, such as academic achievement.
The Pilot Study on the Effect of a Compassion-Based Program on Gifted Junior High School Students’ Emotional Styles, Self-Compassion, Empathy, and Well-Being · 2024 · DOIThere is a need to investigate the impact of compassion-based programs on gifted students' emotional style, self-compassion, empathy, and well-being. The current literature lacks a comprehensive understanding of the effects of compassion-based programs on gifted students' emotional and social development.
The Pilot Study on the Effect of a Compassion-Based Program on Gifted Junior High School Students’ Emotional Styles, Self-Compassion, Empathy, and Well-Being · 2024 · DOIFurther studies focusing on the impact of departments with a significant gender employment gap on academic persistence intentions in STEM fields are required. More attention should be paid to the interpretation of results on the gender employment gap, considering changing socioeconomic variables.
Differences in Academic Persistence Intentions among STEM Undergraduates in South Korea: Analysis of Related and Influencing Factors · 2024 · DOIThe decline in STEM employment rates among undergraduates in South Korea is not well understood. The relationships between academic persistence intentions and relevant factors are not fully explored.
Differences in Academic Persistence Intentions among STEM Undergraduates in South Korea: Analysis of Related and Influencing Factors · 2024 · DOIOne challenge is that the literature on mindset and grit remains mixed, making it difficult to design effective interventions. Another challenge is that individual differences in backgrounds, abilities, goals, motivations, expertise, practice, and personalities can impact academic performance. A third challenge is that students' sense of belonging and beliefs about their abilities can be difficult to change.
Brief Mindset Intervention Changes Attitudes but Does Not Improve Working Memory Capacity or Standardized Test Performance · 2024 · DOIHowever, existing evidence remains inconsistent, and researchers have not yet fully understood the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship.
Instagram Use Intensity and Academic Performance Among Medical Students: The Mediating Role of Grit · 2026 · DOIGrowth Mindset and Grit have been proposed as key psychological resources for resilience and adaptation, yet their manifestation and social distribution in later life remain underexplored.
Growth mindset and grit as psychological resources in later life: age, socioeconomic status, and health patterning in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing · 2026 · DOIThe study faced challenges in terms of the limited generalizability of the findings to other cultural contexts. The study's results may be limited by the use of a convenience sampling strategy.
The effects of informal digital learning, intrinsic motivation, and grit on online learning effort regulation and English achievement · 2026 · DOIFuture studies can investigate the relationships among IDLE, intrinsic motivation, grit, OLER, and English achievement in different cultural contexts. Future research can explore the effects of IDLE, intrinsic motivation, and grit on other language skills, such as speaking and writing.
The effects of informal digital learning, intrinsic motivation, and grit on online learning effort regulation and English achievement · 2026 · DOIInvestigate the relationship between interest and invested mental effort in different contexts. Examine the impact of other motivational factors on invested mental effort. Explore the role of flow theory in explaining the relationship between perceived task difficulty and invested mental effort.
The Moderating Role of Interest in the Relationship between Perceived Task Difficulty and Invested Mental Effort · 2024 · DOIThere is conceptual overlap between mental toughness and resilience, self-efficacy, and grit, although few studies have empirically examined the overlap between them.
Does mental toughness predict happiness over and above resilience, self-efficacy and grit? · 2024 · DOIFurther research could explore the factors influencing students' preferences and perceptions of difficulty in different educational contexts - Cross-cultural studies could provide more insights into the differences in students' attitudes toward school…
Favorite and most difficult school subjects among STEM and non-STEM university students in Serbia and the USA · 2026 · DOIInvestigate the proposed influences on self-efficacy and engagement, - Examine the relationships among ought-to L2 self, self-efficacy, and L2 engagement over a longer…
A longitudinal study on relationships of Chinese postgraduates’ ought-to L2 self, self-efficacy and engagement · 2026 · DOIFurther exploration of the factors that influence the subjective well-being of students within the school context, - Investigation of the role of schools in fostering student happiness and its implications for academic…
The study concludes with implications and directions for future research, - Future research could explore the impact of self-focused feedback on ESL performance, - Future research could investigate the relationship between growth mindset and ESL performance in different…
The Role of Growth Mindset on the Relationships between Students’ Perceptions of English Language Teachers’ Feedback and Their ESL Learning Performance · 2024 · DOISmall sample size of 81 subjects, - Limited to female students at a private university, - Reliance on secondary data from a dissertation…
Brief Mindset Intervention Changes Attitudes but Does Not Improve Working Memory Capacity or Standardized Test Performance · 2024 · DOIDespite the efforts in the current study, there are limitations to the current study which can serve as the basis for further explorations…
Psychological well-being and L1 learning grit among Ghanaian language students in higher education: a PLS-SEM analysis · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
- Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2007 · 4,632 citations
- Academic Emotions in Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program of Qualitative and Quantitative Research · Educational Psychologist · 2002 · 2,842 citations
- Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit–S) · Journal of Personality Assessment · 2009 · 2,435 citations
- Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature. · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2016 · 1,189 citations
- What makes a good student? How emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation contribute to academic achievement. · Journal of Educational Psychology · 2013 · 732 citations
- A Review of Key Likert Scale Development Advances: 1995–2019 · Frontiers in Psychology · 2021 · 647 citations
- Researching and Practicing Positive Psychology in Second/Foreign Language Learning and Teaching: The Past, Current Status and Future Directions · Frontiers in Psychology · 2021 · 522 citations
- Understanding the experience of being taught by peers: the value of social and cognitive congruence · Advances in Health Sciences Education · 2006 · 502 citations
- The Big Five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement · Personality and Individual Differences · 2011 · 472 citations
- Identification with academics, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy as predictors of cognitive engagement · Learning and Individual Differences · 2005 · 472 citations
Most recent work
- Parental AI Investment Behaviours and AI ‐Mediated Informal Digital Learning of English: The Chain Mediating Role of Children's Perceived AI Value and Effort Expectancy for AI · Journal of Computer Assisted Learning · 2026
- An investigation of the relationship between grit, physical activity, and self-efficacy: a variable-centered and person-centered approach · Frontiers in Psychology · 2026
- Self-regulation and overreliance on artificial intelligence: Unpacking a paradox through a mixed-methods study in higher education · Computers in Human Behavior · 2026
- Exploring the relationships among large language model acceptance, enjoyment, anxiety, and self-efficacy in L2 academic writing · Acta Psychologica · 2026
- Relationship between artificial intelligence tool usage experience and academic stress among college students: Mediating role of loneliness and moderating role of academic self-efficacy · Acta Psychologica · 2026
- L2 Self-Guides, Achievement Emotions, and Engagement in AI-Mediated Informal Digital Learning of English: Insights from Structural Equation Modeling and Psychological Network Analysis · The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher · 2026
- How perceived teacher support boosts learning engagement: The chain mediating roles of second language grit and foreign language enjoyment · Acta Psychologica · 2026
- Control and Value Appraisals in AI ‐Mediated Language Learning: A Multi‐Dimensional Analysis of EFL Learners' Emotions, Engagement and Affective Judgements · European Journal of Education · 2026
- Unpacking gritty leadership, adaptive performance and thriving: the moderating role of leader humility · Journal of Management Development · 2026
- ChatGPT: the artificial intelligence for fostering grit in second language writing classes · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · 2026
Find a gap in your own Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation sub-topic
This page shows what the Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, search the Research Gap Finder: the search is free with a free account and lists the papers closest to your topic first. Unlocking that topic (50 credits, charged once) fills the comparison table from our 7.9M-paper local library and writes the gaps from its rows.
Open the Research Gap Finder →