I did my part! How can I further minimize emerging adult learners’ burnout in an online learning environment?

ABSTRACT

Emerging adults are a crucial group in our society, and research indicates that they rarely consider themselves adults because their cognitive, social, and emotional capacities are undergoing transitionary changes, affecting how they learn. Prior studies have not considered sufficiently the characteristics and needs of emerging adult learners in an online environment. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the psychological needs and academic burnout of emerging adult online learners during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through self-determination theory (SDT) and Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory, the key arguments and constructs include the effects of structural and social bonds on emerging adult learners’ psychological needs, the effect of psychological needs on academic burnout, and the moderating roles of mindfulness. A valid sample of 294 collected through the survey was the basis of the analysis. PLS-SEM was used to analyse and test the hypotheses. Findings indicate that structural and social bonds affect psychological needs at varying strengths, which is generally consistent with prior findings but with different groups of learners. The moderating roles of mindfulness, however, were mixed. The model robustness further highlights the predictive analysis, which complements the exploratory perspective. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the predictors that fulfill the basic psychological needs of emerging adult learners and examining the effect of this fulfilment on the burnout during the online learning. In addition, this study implies how online trainers and educational institutions can build an optimal environment to reduce the burnout and then improve the learning effectiveness for emerging adult learners. Limitations, and agenda for future research were further discussed to conclude the study.

KEYWORDS:

• Online learning
• structural bond
• social bond
• mindfulness
• psychological needs
• burnout

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kim-Lim Tan

Kim-Lim, TAN received his Ph.D. at Curtin University Australia. His research interests lie primarily in contemporary issues such as on future of work, employee attitudes, and employee behaviours. He also investigates consumer behaviour across different contexts such as technology adoption, hospitality, and tourism. In pursuing such lines of work, much of his recent work employs partial least squares-structural equation modelling. Kim Lim is an avid publisher and a regular reviewer in several indexed journals including the British Food Journal, European Business Review, and the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.

Uchenna Cyril Eze

Uchenna Cyril Eze earned his PhD from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He has a sound track record of research including securing national and international grants. He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers in international journals such as AJIS, JGITM, Library Review, and Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, and has articles in international conference proceedings some of which won awards for Outstanding and Distinguished Papers. His research interests include e-business applications, SMEs, global business and infrastructure, corporate governance, mindful consumption, and sustainable business.

Yi Sun

Yi Sun obtained her master's degree in Management and System from New York University. She has a wide range of research interests relating to leadership theory, individual and team performance, and innovative behavior in organizations.