Review Paper Academic Procrastination from Attribution

Theory Perspective: An Overview

Mehdi Haseli Songhori1*,
Kimiya Salamati2
1
Department of English Language, Zahedan Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, Iran
[email protected]
2
Department of English Language, Zahedan Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, Iran
[email protected]

Received:19 May, 2023 Accepted: 10 June , 2023

ABSTRACT
Academic procrastination is a common problem among students that is linked to negative outcomes. Its history dates
back to ancient times, but it has become more prevalent in modern times due to the emphasis on time and efficiency.
Academic procrastination is a specific type of procrastination that is common among students due to the large
amount of assignments and deadlines in academic contexts. Attribution theory is a psychological framework that
can help us understand how students explain their own procrastination behavior and the factors that contribute to it.
Attribution theory encompasses three dimensions: locus of control, stability, and controllability. Each dimension
has an impact on an individual's future behavior, including whether they procrastinate on or complete a task. It is
possible to predict that individuals who tend to procrastinate academically may attribute their academic tasks to
external locus of control, stable causes, and factors that are outside their control. In contrast, individuals who do not
procrastinate are likely to attribute their academic tasks to internal locus of control, unstable causes, and factors that
are within their control. Understanding these theories can help educators and students develop strategies to overcome
procrastination and improve academic performance.
Key words: Academic Procrastination, Attribution Theory, Locus of Control, Stability, Controllability

‫ یک مرور کلی‬:‫اهمال کاری تحصیلی از دیدگاه تئوری انتساب‬

‫ اما‬،‫ تاریخچه آن به دوران باستان باز می گردد‬.‫اهمال کاری تحصیلی یک مشکل رایج در بین دانشجویان است که با پیامدهای منفی مرتبط است‬
‫ اهمال کاری تحصیلی نوع خاصی از اهمال کاری است که به دلیل‬.‫در دوران معاصر به دلیل تاکید بر زمان و کارایی بیشتر رواج یافته است‬
‫ نظریه انتساب یک چارچوب روانشناختی است که‬.‫حجم زیاد تکالیف و ضرب االجل در زمینه های تحصیلی در بین دانشجویان رایج است‬
‫ اهمال کاری‬. ‫میتواند به ما کمک کند تا بفهمیم دانشجویان چگونه رفتار اهمالکاری خود و عواملی که به آن کمک میکنند را توضیح میدهند‬
‫ از جمله اینکه آیا‬،‫ هر یک از ابعاد بر رفتار آینده افراد تأثیر می گذارد‬.‫ ثبات و کنترل پذیری‬،‫ منبع کنترل‬:‫تحصیلی این سه بعد را شامل می شود‬
‫ می توان پیش بینی کرد که افرادی که تمایل به اهمال کاری تحصیلی دارند ممکن است‬.‫آنها یک کار را به تعویق می اندازند یا کامل می کنند‬
‫ افرادی که اهمال کاری‬،‫ در مقابل‬.‫ علل پایدار و عواملی که خارج از کنترل آنها است نسبت دهند‬،‫وظایف تحصیلی خود را به منبع کنترل بیرونی‬
‫ درک این نظریه‬.‫ علل ناپایدار و عواملی که در کنترل آنها است نسبت می دهند‬،‫نمی کنند احتماالً وظایف تحصیلی خود را به منبع کنترل درونی‬
.‫ها می تواند به اساتید و دانشجویان کمک کند تا راهبردهایی برای غلبه بر اهمال کاری و بهبود عملکرد تحصیلی ایجاد کنند‬
‫ کنترل پذیری‬،‫ ثبات‬،‫ منبع کنترل‬،‫ تئوری انتساب‬،‫ اهمال کاری تحصیلی‬:‫واژگان کلیدی‬
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OVERVIEW
Procrastination is described as the very essence of self-regulatory failure (Zarzycka, Liszewski, &
Marzel, 2021) that is linked to negative outcomes (Sirois, 2023). Procrastination has been defined by
Sirois (2022) as an all-too-common self-regulation problem that involves the unnecessary and voluntary
delay in the start or completion of important intended tasks despite the recognition that this delay may
have harmful consequences.
Procrastination is not a modern phenomenon afflicting us today. Its history dates back to as early
as 1400 B.C. because people living then had problems with time management (Ocak & Boyraz, 2016).
As Steel (2007) stated, although procrastination had a harmful impact on people living in ancient times,
its deleterious effect on the daily lives of people living in industrial era was even worse because time and
efficiency were considered as key concepts that prevailed in their everyday responsibilities. The history
of procrastination has also vividly delineated that it not only affects individuals, it also has negative
impacts on societies.
Procrastination is a prevalent, unavoidable behavior since individuals may have a myriad of
potential responsibilities and tasks that they could be doing at any time (Huang, Zhang, Bodla, & Wang,
2022). Nevertheless, procrastination has been shown to be domain specific. The results of the study by
Klingsieck (2013) identified six domains in which individuals procrastinate. These domains are:
academic and work, everyday routines and obligations, health, leisure, family and partnership, social
contacts. Since each of these domains has its own specific prevalence rate, each one needs to be
investigated and scrutinized per se to realize and understand its features, impacts, and theoretical
approaches. One of the notorious domains whose prevalence rate is escalating is academic
procrastination (Abramowski, 2018). As academic contexts are characterized by large amounts of
assignments and deadlines, students are prone to engage in procrastination, and up to 95% of the students
have been reported to procrastinate (Steel, 2007). Academic procrastination is restricted to the tasks and
activities pertaining to and/or relevant for learning and studying and has been defined as voluntarily
putting off an intended course of study-related action in spite of expecting to be worse off for the delay
(Steel & Klingsieck, 2016).
The challenge in the area of procrastination research is that it often lacks a coherent, theoretical
explanation of the behavior (Hailikari, Katajavuori, & Asikainen, 2021). Even though a comprehensive
theory for academic procrastination has not been established, its theoretical roots are found in social
cognitive theory, attribution theory, and motivation theories. Each theory incorporates the key principles
of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and motivation, but each approaches academic procrastination from a
unique angle (Janssen, 2015).
As mentioned above, there are several theoretical perspectives that explain academic
procrastination and its causes. One theory is Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT). TMT plains the
reasons why people's motivation to act increases as time approaches a deadline with time discounting
effect (Zhang, Liu, & Feng, 2019). According to TMT, motivation increases when people have
confidence in acquiring a desired reward or outcome. However, motivation declines when there is a large
amount of time before the reward is realized and when people are sensitive to delays (Zhang et al., 2019).
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Academic procrastination from attribution theory perspective: An overview
TMT proposes that people consider three factors when making decisions about when to act: the value of
the task, the person's expectancy of success, and the person's sensitivity to delay or procrastination
(Zhang & Feng, 2020). The theory suggests that these factors interact to determine the level of motivation
to act at any given time.
Another theory explaining academic procrastination is Cognitive-Behavioral Theory (CBT). CBT
suggests that people procrastinate due to established ways of thinking, and within this framework, CBT
highlights the importance of replacing irrational beliefs with rational ones (Toker & Avcı, 2015). CBT
suggests that by identifying and changing negative thought patterns, individuals can overcome
procrastination and improve their academic performance (van Eerde & Klingsieck, 2018). This can be
achieved through various techniques such as cognitive restructuring, which involves identifying and
challenging negative thoughts and replacing them with more positive, realistic ones.
Attribution Theory (AT) is another important theory involved in the study of academic
procrastination because it considers people’s motivation by analyzing their reasons for success and
failures (Graham, 1991). Attribution theory is concerned with the perceived causes of success and failure.
It is one of the most prominent theories of motivation in the field of education research (Graham, 2020).
The starting point for the theory is an outcome perceived as a success or failure and the search to
determine why that outcome occurred. Attribution theory typically emphasizes the process of
determining whether a behavior is situationally-caused (i.e., precipitated by external factors) or
dispositionally-caused (caused by internal characteristics) (Ybarra & Stephan, 1999). According to
Weiner (2012), the attributions people make affect their emotions. For instance, people are more likely
to feel pride if they believe that they succeeded due to internal characteristics, such as innate talent, rather
than external factors, such as luck. Therefore, people tend to attribute their successes or failures to factors
allowing them to feel as good as possible about themselves (Janssen, 2015).
In attribution theory there are three underlying dimensions on which outcomes for an academically
related task hinge: locus of control, stability, and controllability. Each of these elements has a profound
effect on an individual’s future behavior, such as procrastinating on a task or completing it. Out of the
three above-mentioned dimensions, locus of control has been shown to be the most important dimension
since it has a significant impact on individuals’ beliefs regarding their ability to control certain events
(Marks, 1998). Locus of control refers to whether a person attributes their performance to an internal or
external cause (Zuidema, Hornstra, Schuitema, & Poorthuis, 2023). As a result, locus of control can have
an internal or external nature. When a student in an academic setting succeeds in completing a given
task, that success will result in increased self-efficacy and pride. Conversely, when that person fails to
complete a task and attributes their failure to internal causes, this failure will lead to diminished self-
efficacy and self-esteem (Janssen, 2015). Conversely, an explanation that attributes causation to external
factors, such as coincidence or luck, is known as an external causal explanation.
Just like locus of control, stability is another factor that affects how people behave. Stability refers
to the likelihood that people will continue to engage in certain behaviors and their belief about whether
these behaviors can be changed over time (Weiner, 2000). According to Weiner (1980), causes that are
considered stable, such as intelligence, are difficult or impossible to change, while unstable causes, such
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as the amount of effort put into a task, can be changed easily. In other words, stable factors are those that
are unlikely to change, while unstable factors are those that can be changed relatively easily.
Controllability, like stability, also affects a student's behavior. Within attribution theory,
controllability is one of the elements that people attribute to their success or failure (Malle, 2011). A
factor that is considered controllable is one that people believe they can change if they want to. For
instance, reading aptitude is a controllable factor. When students believe they have control over their
academic abilities, they are more likely to be motivated to put in effort towards academic tasks, such as
studying or completing assignments. On the other hand, an uncontrollable factor is one that people
perceive they cannot change. Aptitude is an example of an uncontrollable factor (Janssen, 2015).
Therefore, when struggling students attribute their academic success or failure to aptitude, they are less
motivated to put in effort towards academic tasks because they believe failure is inevitable.
Attribution theory plays an important role in studying academic procrastination as each component
of the theory has a significant impact on a person's future behavior, including whether they will complete
a task or procrastinate. It is possible to predict that individuals who tend to procrastinate academically
may attribute their academic tasks to external locus of control, stable causes, and factors that are outside
their control. In contrast, individuals who do not procrastinate are likely to attribute their academic tasks
to internal locus of control, unstable causes, and factors that are within their control. Attribution theory
is a psychological framework that examines how people explain the causes of events and behaviors. In
the context of academic procrastination, attribution theory can help us understand how students explain
their own procrastination behavior and the factors that contribute to it. Overall, attribution theory can
provide insights into how students perceive and explain their own academic procrastination behavior,
and how those perceptions may impact their motivation and willingness to take action to improve their
academic performance.

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Biodata
Mehdi Haseli Songhori is an assistant professor at Islamic Azad University, Zahedan Branch, Iran. He
has presented at national and international conferences and has (co)authored 4 books and published
several articles in national and international journals. His research interests include teacher psychology,
teacher training, and educational technology.

Kimiya Salamti received her BA in TEFL from Islamic Azad University of Zahedan. She has been
teaching English at language institutes in Zahedan for some years. Her main areas of interests are foreign
language teaching and technology in education.