Situating expectancies and subjective task values across grade levels, domains, and countries: A network approach

In their recently renamed theory, Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT), Eccles and Wigfield (2020) emphasized the importance of situations in influencing individuals’ motivational beliefs and academic choices. Adopting a novel approach—network analysis, this study aimed to examine how situations may impact the associations among expectancies, subjective task values, and achievement from a holistic perspective. In this study, situations were operationalized as grade levels (i.e., 6th -9th grade), subject domains (i.e., language arts and math), and countries (i.e., Finland and Germany). Adolescents from Finland (N = 4,062) and Germany (N = 449) were included in the study. Results showed that, overall, the networks are mostly subject-bound, yearly-varied, and country-specific, supporting the situative nature of SEVT. We also found that expectancies were consistently the closest motivational beliefs to achievement, whereas utility values were the least close ones, implying that expectancies, not utility, might be the most desirable intervention targets for achievement improvement.