Psychology Research, ISSN 2159-5542

May 2012, Vol. 2, No. 5, 295-307

D DAVID PUBLISHING

The Impact of Curiosity and External Regulation on Intrinsic

Motivation: An Empirical Study in Hong Kong Education

Yau Hon-keung, Kan Man-shan, Cheng Alison Lai-fong

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong College of Technology,
Hong Kong, China Hong Kong, China


The purposes of this paper are to identify: (1) the factors affecting the intrinsic motivation of university students in
Hong Kong; and (2) gender differences in the perception of intrinsic motivation in Hong Kong higher education
environment. The factors of curiosity and external regulation with intrinsic motivation are taken into investigation
in this study, because these factors and intrinsic motivation of the local university students have seldom been
examined. This study adopting a survey of 162 sampled students, was conducted in a local university in 2011.
Findings showed that students with curiosity could lead to their higher intrinsic motivation, but external regulation
was not found to be related to intrinsic motivation. In addition, there are no gender differences on the level of
intrinsic motivation.

Keywords: intrinsic motivation, curiosity, external regulation, Hong Kong

Introduction
Most Hong Kong people spend more than 20 years learning as much knowledge as they can to get high
academic qualifications. Among all students, there is a question about how students can gain more than others
when being in the same learning environment. Motivation is an essential element to affect students’ learning
and performance directly.
Some students may feel that they are not active but under obligation to learn. It is due to their lack of
motivation in learning, which would not result in good performance. According to Olsson (2008, p. 7),
motivation is a reason or set, or reasons for engaging in a specific activity, especially in human behavior. The
reasons can be basic needs, an object, or a goal.
Deci and Ryan (1985; 1991) stated that SDT (self-determination theory) is currently one of the most
comprehensive theories of motivation. According to SDT, intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an
activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence (Xie, Debacker, & Ferguson,
2006). It is the degree to which an individual chooses to accomplish an activity for pleasure and enjoyment
(Olsson, 2008, p. 2). This type of motivation is known as the most optimal kind of motivation as being entirely
autonomous (Noels, Clement, & Pelletier, 2001; Remedios & Lieberman, 2008; Gao, 2008). Students with
intrinsic motivation complete tasks for fun or challenge instead of external stimuli, pressures or rewards. They
often have more interest, confidence and excitement in doing the task.

Yau Hon-keung, Ph.D., SEEM, City University of Hong Kong.

Kan Man-shan, SEEM, City University of Hong Kong.
Cheng Alison Lai-fong, Ed.D., SEEM, Hong Kong College of Technology.
296 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

According to Brophy (2010), intrinsic motivation emphasizes on motivation as self-determination of goals

and self-regulation of actions rather than motivation as response to feel pressures. In view of this emphasis of
intrinsic motivation, this study tries to investigate different aspects affecting students’ learning so that the
students can learn through their self-regulation of actions without pressure. With this improvement, their
academic performance can be enhanced at the same time.
Some previous studies showed that curiosity has positive relationship with intrinsic motivation (Litman,
2005; Shroff, Vogel, & Coombes, 2008). Curiosity causes internal desire or need to learn new information or
acquire information that learners missed. This factor can directly affect students’ intrinsic motivation as well as
their academic performance. As few studies had focus on Hong Kong students, this study tries to investigate
whether curiosity also has relationship with intrinsic motivation for students in Hong Kong.
In contrast to improving students’ intrinsic motivation, there is an investigation of external regulation that
could lead to being unmotivated or downgrading of intrinsic motivation by several researchers (Vansteenkiste,
Sierens, Soenens, Luyckx, & Lens, 2009; Boekaerts, 2002; Boekaerts & Cascallar, 2006; Vansteenkiste, Zhou,
Lens, & Soenens, 2005). External regulation refers to some students feeling obliged to study and have external
pressured contingencies (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009; Pisarik, 2009). Vansteenkiste et al. (2009) and Pisarik
(2009) were mentally pushed to put effort into their studies. All these previous studies had not been conducted
in Hong Kong. Therefore, this study tries to look into the relationship between external regulation and intrinsic
motivation among university students in Hong Kong.
Narayanan, Rajasekaran, and Iyyappan (2007) showed that females have higher intrinsic motivation in
learning English than males do among engineering university students. Meanwhile, Shang (1998) found that
females have lower intrinsic motivation in physical education classes than males do. In addition, Schatt (2011)
focused his study on the subject of music and found that female students have higher instrumental musical
practice rate than males; and the amount of time spent on practice correlates significantly with intrinsic
motivational beliefs. It raises a question whether females possess higher intrinsic motivation, which is
investigated in this paper.
Ning and Downing (2010) had conducted a research study among 581 university students in Hong Kong
and found that the students’ motivation is the strongest predictor to their academic performance, while few
attempts to investigate more specific factors such as curiosity and external regulation that whether they affect
intrinsic motivation among university students in Hong Kong, the relationship between these factors and
intrinsic motivation are deeply investigated so as to improve students’ intrinsic motivation. Also, whether
males or females are with higher level of intrinsic motivation is also studied. These serve as the purpose of this
paper. The authors attempt to fill in the research gap by asking the following research questions:
(1) What is the impact of curiosity on intrinsic motivation for Hong Kong university students?
(2) What is the impact of external regulations on intrinsic motivation for Hong Kong university students?
(3) Is there any difference in the level of intrinsic motivation between males and females for Hong Kong
university students?

Theory Background and Hypothesis

Students in Hong Kong study in a highly competitive, examination-oriented, and large classes with
excessive amount of homework (Moneta & Siu, 2002). Moreover, English is regularly widely promoted to be
essential for individuals’ social and career development (Gao, 2008; Davison & Lai, 2007). English is the
 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION 297

medium of instruction among all universities in Hong Kong. These are the characteristics of Hong Kong
education system, which tends to require students to remember all the knowledge and apply all the knowledge
to the paper for the examination. Hong Kong students always have surface learning. They will engage in the
shortcuts allowed in some courses and attain it till the end without deeper understanding (Moneta & Siu, 2002).
According to a study conducted by Ning and Downing (2010) in Hong Kong, which focused on
investigating the relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic performance among university
students, it was found that the relationship is positive. Besides, another research by Afzal, Ali, Khan, and
Hamid (2010) among 342 university students in Pakistan generated the same findings that intrinsic motivation
can promote more optimal learning and better academic performance.
In this fast-paced society, people need to have high competitiveness, wide range of knowledge, and high
capabilities in order to achieve eminent performance. Students who have good academic performance were
found to have higher intrinsic motivation. To improve students’ academic performance via improving intrinsic
motivation, investigation of factors affecting individual’s intrinsic motivation is needed.
In this research, the focuses on elements influencing ones’ intrinsic motivation are curiosity and external
regulation. University students are the targeted group. Means of examining and identifying those factors
contributing to improvement of students’ general performance, relationships between each factor and students’
intrinsic motivation will be investigated and discussed as follows. Factors analyzed are curiosity, goal, and
external regulation.
Curiosity
Curiosity is defined as the intrinsic desire to know, to see, or to experience something, which motivates
information seeking behavior (Zelick, 2007, p. 147). Acquiring knowledge out of curiosity is considered to be
intrinsically rewarding and highly pleasurable, since it eliminates states of ignorance and uncertainty (Litman,
2005).
There are two main theoretical accounts of curiosity. These two accounts of curiosity may seem different
and incompatible. In the context of this circumstance, another theoretical approach, the I/D model
(“interest/deprivation” model), will be presented later on. This model that can reconcile these two seemingly
incompatible views was suggested by Zelick (2007).
The first one is CDT (curiosity drive theory), which expresses the concept of curiosity as a drive state that
arouses intrinsic motivation to seek information with the intention of reducing unpleasant feelings concerning
uncertainty, in another word, it is curiosity reduction (Litman, 2005). The second one is OAT (optimal arousal
theory), which states individuals who have intrinsic motivation to search for new information aim at
maintaining and enhancing pleasurable feelings of interest. Organisms that are under-aroused are motivated to
seek for new stimulation that can excite their curiosity (e.g., complicated sight, or events).
The flaw in both CDT and OAT is that they missed considering that both inducing and reducing curiosity
can motivate information seeking behavior. To reconcile both theories, the I/D model is suggested. There are
two types of curiosity which are I-type and D-type curiosity within this I/D model. I-type curiosity motivates
learners to acquire new knowledge since it induces positive feeling of interest. D-type curiosity can also
motivate learners to acquire new information since it reduces negative feelings associated with uncertainty. For
I-type curiosity, learners do not feel that they are lacking any information, but have recognition of an
opportunity to learn something new or amusing. Contrarily, D-type curiosity motivates learners to learn as they
298 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

feel that they are missing essential information that can improve their understanding.
In other words, curiosity can involve both searching for information expected to be interesting (I-type) and
searching for missing information resolving uncertainty (D-type).
Disregarding which type of curiosity students possess, curiosity can be intrinsically motivated. It is an
important element to drive learning activities such as academic behavior (Osterloh & Frey, 2009). It is common
for university students to have assignments and projects that need research work from various sources. Osterloh
(2009) suggested that this behavior is mainly curiosity-driven. Intrinsic motivation is a main determinant for the
scholarly behavior. In accordance with the agency theory, it only includes people’s interest as the main
motivator.
From a research study on factors promoting students’ intrinsic motivation in online discussions based on
individual-level done by Shroff, Vogel, and Coombes (2008), it was found that curiosity is positively related to
students’ intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, the study also showed that intrinsic motivation positively affects
learning and academic performance. Therefore, it proves that improving curiosity can lead to higher intrinsic
motivation, which in turn improves students’ learning and academic performances.
Based on the above evidence, the authors hypothesize:
H1 (Hypothesis 1): Curiosity can positively affect students’ intrinsic motivation.
External Regulation
External regulation is the most pressured and controlled type of motivation and is described as external
perceived locus of causality, owing to its controlled nature with feelings of inner compulsion and conflict with
those externally regulated students (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009; Olsson, 2008, p. 147). It is a kind of extrinsic
motivation, as same as introjected regulation (Noels, Pelletier, Clement, & Vallerand, 2000; Gao, 2008). These
two kinds of regulation can be combined and subsequently called as controlled motivation, which generates a
series of undesirable outcomes of learning.
Externally regulated students study to avoid punishment, to obtain rewards, or to meet external
expectations (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009; Xie, Debacker, & Ferguson, 2006; Olsson, 2008, p. 147; Boekaerts &
Cascallar, 2006). They feel that they are obliged to study. With the external pressured contingencies, they are
mentally pushed to put effort into their studies. They tend to be less adaptive, engaged and concentrated, more
anxious about tests and procrastination, and lower achievement.
From a research study on the relationship between external regulation and the academic performance for
Japanese students by Vansteenkiste, Zhou, Lens, and Soenens (2005), it was found that external regulation has
a negative relationship with academic achievement and it predicted a work-avoidance orientation, while
autonomous motivation has positive relationship with academic achievement, deep-level of processing, and
mastery orientation.
Moreover, according to Pisarik (2009), it was found that high levels of burnout among university students
have high levels of external regulation and low levels of intrinsic motivation.
Also, persons who have greater levels of intrinsic motivation experience higher levels of efficacy and
lower levels of exhaustion and cynicism. People with lower levels of exhaustion and cynicism experience lower
level of external regulation. One reason for this finding is a trend found in this study that students obtaining
college education are for vocational rewards such as getting a better job instead of moral and intellectual
training.
 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION 299

Based on the above evidence, the authors propose:

H2 (Hypothesis 2): External regulation would lead to lower students’ intrinsic motivation.
Difference in Gender
Most of the previous researches are apt to suggest that females have higher motivation and more desirable
learning than male students do. Narayanan, Rajasekaran, and Iyyappan (2007) found that female university
students who studied engineering or technology have higher motivation in learning English than males do. It
was concluded that female students learn English better than male students do (Narayanan, Rajasekaran, &
Iyyappan, 2007).
Further to the explanation provided by Narayanan, Rajasekaran, and Iyyappan (2007), females have better
listening skills, more concerned with input, i.e., listening, and tend to have better attitudes towards learning.
Contrarily, males are less sensitive, more concerned with output, i.e., talking, and think in a more analytical
way than females do. These may be the reasons explaining why females perform better in learning.
It should be noted that the above research is for university students in learning English. There is a research
focusing on another subjectmusic, conducted by Schatt (2011). The study showed that female students have
higher instrumental and musical practice rate than males do while the amount of time spent on practice
correlated significantly with intrinsic motivational beliefs. Motivational beliefs are guides of students’ thinking,
feelings and actions in learning some subjects, and can lead to success in learning (Boekaerts, 2002; Clayton,
Blumberg, & Auld, 2010).
Another research focusing on the subject of physical education, its result is different. One study by Shang
(1998) in Taiwan focusing on physical education classes in high and also junior high schools, it was found that
female students have lower intrinsic motivation which is relevant to their interest or enjoyment and perceived
competence than male students do in most of the sub-scale of the study, but have higher effort put into the
learning tasks. It not only proves that learning environment is different for male and female students, but also
emphasizes that males perceive the learning environment as more challenging and competitive, while females
perceive higher threat than males do in physical education classes (Shang, 1998).
According to several researchers investigating the levels of intrinsic motivation of students on different
subjects, it resulted in different genders having higher intrinsic motivation towards various subjects. Therefore, it
should not have any conclusion, saying that a particular gender is inclined to have higher motivation on all subjects.
Based on the above evidence, the authors predict:
H3 (Hypothesis 3): There should have no differences between males and females on the level of intrinsic
motivation.
The proposed theory framework and hypotheses formation are shown in Figure 1.
Gender
Curiosity
H3
H1 (+)
Intrinsic motivation
H2 (–)

External regulation

Figure 1. Proposed theory framework and hypotheses formation.

Note. H3 is related to comparison of perceptions of intrinsic motivation between males and females.
300 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Research Method
Survey research among university students is used in this study to test the hypotheses stated above since
the questionnaire as an instrument for studying research problems is a survey tool for collecting data from
people about themselves, such as attitudes, thoughts, behaviors, and concerning a social unit such as a school
(Lanthier, 2002; Siniscalco & Auriat, 2005). The research was completed in three universities in Hong Kong.
Before the survey was mass produced and used to gather real data, a pilot study was carried out to disclose
problems and refine the wording, ordering, etc. (Litwin, 1995; Hoinville, Jowell, & Associates, 1978). Ten of
the author’s friends were asked to complete the questionnaires and give feedback independently about the
questionnaires.
The survey was then conducted by distributing questionnaires with covering letter to explain the purpose
of the research to the university students individually. The questionnaire was averagely completed within 10
minutes. Subsequently, 200 questionnaires were given out to undergraduates from various universities in Hong
Kong. A total of 162 responses (with a return rate of 81%) were achieved, and the usability rate was 100%
since no incomplete questionnaires were found.
There are nine statements (see Table 1) for three variables: curiosity (Mot_3, Mot_5, Mot_6, Mot_7 and
Mot_8), external regulation (Mot_1 and Mot_2), and intrinsic motivation (Motivator_3 and Motivator_4).
Those statements were taken from three questionnaires from three journals (Albrecht, Haapanen, Hall, &
Mantonya, 2009; Vansteenkiste et al., 2009; Lepper, Corpus, & Iyengar, 2005). Four-point Likert-type scale
which is a common rating format especially for educational survey research was assigned to all statements
(Siniscalco & Auriat, 2005; Allen & Seaman, 2007). Removing mid-point category from Likert scale can
reduce social desirability bias that arose from respondents (Garland, 1991). Statements in questionnaire were
ranked at: (1) “Very true”; (2) “Sort of true”; (3) “Not very true”; and (4) “Not at all true”.

Table 1
Statements for Three Variables
Variable Statement
Motivator_3—I work hard in some courses because this represents a meaning choice for me.
Motivator_5—I work hard in some courses because I think I can apply what I learn to my
future career.
Curiosity Motivator_6—I work hard in some courses because I want to learn new things.
Motivator_7—I work hard in some courses because good results in school can help me get a
better career.
Motivator_8—I work hard in some courses because this is an important life goal for me.
Motivator_1—I work hard in some courses because that is what others (parents, friends, etc.)
expect me to do.
External regulation
Motivator_2—I work hard in some courses because that is what others (parents, friends, etc.)
force me to do.
Motivator_3—I work harder when I like the teacher.
Intrinsic motivation
Motivator_4—I work harder when the subject is interesting and useful.

Data Analysis
The purpose of this study is to test correlation between three variables and gender differences on level of
intrinsic motivation. SPSS version 17 is used to analyze the data in this study. This is sophisticated software for
many scientists and other professionals to analyze statistics.
 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION 301

Data analysis including frequency distribution is used to analyze the personal data of respondents. After
that, mean and standard deviation are used to study the perception of curiosity, external regulation and intrinsic
motivation that university students have. Independent-samples t-test is then used to test the H3 (third
hypothesis)—to see if there is any differences between males and females on the level of intrinsic motivation.
This test is followed by correlation analysis that tests H1 and H2—to check if there is any relationship between
the two elements (curiosity and external regulation) and intrinsic motivation.
Before the analysis, the collected data were examined to ensure that it is valid and reliable. It involves
checking the usability and the validity of the responses on the questionnaires collected. Subsequently, reliability
analysis by using Cronbach alpha, which is a measure of internal consistency about how close elements are
related to each other, is carried out to test the reliability of the variables (Nunnally, 1978; Prater & Ghosh,
2006). The test means the freedom from random error (Alreck & Settle, 1985). The Cronbach alpha values (see
Table 2) of curiosity, external regulation, and intrinsic motivation are 0.753, 0.640, and 0.671, respectively. A
value of 0.60 is also used as the practical lower bound (Narasimhan & Jayaram, 1998). Therefore, reliability
figures in this study, which exceed the value of 0.60, can be perceived as acceptable. This study can be
considered as reliable.

Table 2
Mean, Standard Deviation and Cronbach Alpha Figures of Three Variables
Items Mean Standard deviation Cronbach alpha
Curiosity 2.0494 0.51078 0.753
External regulation 2.8210 0.65137 0.640
Intrinsic motivation 2.0463 0.62007 0.671
Note. N = 162.

Apart from reliability testing, factor analysis was also utilized to establish construct validity. Results of
factor analysis can be used to ensure that questionnaires used in this study are valid (Field, 2005). Factor
loading is used to analyze the validity of measurement scales with the general value of acceptance as 0.30
(Anderson & Gerbing, 1998; Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
The variable of curiosity includes five items. The factor analysis for those items was conducted for the five
items. Factor loadings ranged from 0.325 to 0.594.
The variable of external regulation includes two items. Factor loadings are 0.738 for both items in the
factor analysis.
The variable of intrinsic motivation includes two items. Both factor loadings are 0.753. All values of
factor loadings in the questionnaire are higher than 0.30. Hence, this scale is retained.
As a result, it can be concluded that the measurement scale is valid and reliable.

Findings
The demographic statistics of the respondents were analyzed. Table 3 shows the background of totally 162
respondents, of whom 61.7% are males. Sixty four point eight percent are between 21 and 25 years old. Half of
them are university students in Grade 2 to university through JUPAS (Joint University Programmes
Admissions System), which indicated that they have been studying and encountering different levels of
motivation in learning for at least 18 years for education system in Hong Kong.
All respondents completed a questionnaire by asking their reasons of study in terms of whether they
302 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

perceive the specific statement as: (1) “Very true”; (2) “Sort of true”; (3) “Not very true”; and (4) “Not at all
true”. The reasons in the questionnaire pertain to the three variables (curiosity, external regulation, and intrinsic
motivation) investigated in this study.

Table 3
Descriptive Statistics of Personal Data of Respondents
N Minimum Maximum Standard deviation Frequency Cumulative percent
Gender 162 1.00 2.00 0.48756
Male 100 61.7
Female 62 100
Age 162 1.00 3.00 0.48791
Below 21 56 34.6
Between 21 and 25 105 99.4
Above 25 1 100
Year 162 1.00 5.00 0.69131
Year 1 14 8.6
Year 2 81 58.6
Year 3 65 98.8
Graduated in recent
2 100
three years
Promotion 162 1.00 2.00 0.48901
JUPAS 99 61.1
Non-JUPAS 63 100
Valid N (list wise) 162

Mean and standard deviation were used to examine the level of the perception of the variables. The values
of mean, standard deviation, and Cronbach alpha are shown in Table 2. Results showed that university students
have slight perception towards having curiosity and intrinsic motivation, except external regulation. It is
indicated by the mean score of 2.0494 for curiosity, 2.8210 for external regulation, and 2.0463 for intrinsic
motivation.
Correlation analysis was then used to test the relationship between curiosity or external regulation and
intrinsic motivation. The relationships investigated are shown in Table 4.

Table 4.
Correlation Between Factors of Curiosity and External Regulation and Intrinsic Motivation
Variables Intrinsic motivation
Curiosity 0.185*
External regulation 0.024
Note. Correlation is significant at * p < 0.05.

H1: This hypothesis predicting that curiosity leads to higher intrinsic motivation was supported since there
were positive empirical relationships between them (r = 0.185, p < 0.05).
H2: This hypothesis predicting that external regulation leads to lower intrinsic motivation was not
supported by the results (r = 0.024, p > 0.757).
Independent sample t-test was used subsequently to test if there is any difference on the level of intrinsic
motivation between males and females.
 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION 303

H3: This hypothesis predicting that there is no significant difference on the level of intrinsic motivation
between males and females was supported since the t value is 1.140 and the significant value is 0.256, which is
higher than 0.05. With the mean difference of 0.11419, it shows that there is no significant relationship between
males and females.

Discussion and Implication

More detailed discussion and implications for practice are elaborated in the following.
Possessing Slight Perception of Curiosity
The level of curiosity tends to be high since all-round education in Hong Kong from primary school to
university provides students with various sorts of knowledge that can boost their interest in learning different
subjects. Thus, students can find their interest easily and their curiosity will not be too low. However, the
common target for all students is to get high marks in examinations and get a good job for their lives. Education
in Hong Kong tends to be examination-oriented, which requires students to remember all knowledge and apply
all the knowledge to the paper for the examination. Hong Kong students may always have surface learning that
they will engage in the shortcuts, which are allowed in some courses, and will attain it till the end without
deeper understanding (Moneta & Siu, 2002). It makes their curiosity lower than what they expected.
Slightly Not Possessing Perception of External Regulation
External regulation is the most pressured and controlled type of motivation (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009;
Olsson, 2008, p. 147). Externally regulated students study to avoid punishments, to obtain rewards, or to meet
external expectations (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009; Xie, Debacker, & Ferguson, 2006; Olsson, 2008, p. 147).
Meeting external expectation is the most common and possible reason why some of the university students in
Hong Kong have stress in learning. However, students do not have high level of external regulation, because
they are trained to remember knowledge even without the complete understanding and within the logic. When
they have good scores in tests for their memorization of knowledge without the complete understanding of
them, it would not subsequently produce much external pressure to students.
Possessing Slight Perception of Intrinsic Motivation
As for the tendency of students to have slight perception of intrinsic motivation, this result is consistent
with the result suggesting that students have slight perception of curiosity and slightly lower level of external
regulation.
Correlation Between Curiosity and Intrinsic Motivation
The result showed that curiosity has significant relationship with intrinsic motivation. Students having
higher level of curiosity possess higher intrinsic motivation. It supports H1 predicted above. It is consistent
with previous research by Shroff, Vogel, and Coombes (2008) whose previous research suggested that curiosity
as one of the six individual factors examined is positively related to intrinsic motivation. Improving curiosity
leads to higher intrinsic motivation and in turn, improves students’ learning and academic performance.
Moreover, according to Litman (2005), acquiring knowledge out of curiosity is considered to be intrinsically
rewarding and highly pleasurable since it eliminates states of ignorance and uncertainty.
With Hong Kong unique educational system and its pattern of learning, students need to learn a wide
range of subjects. It makes them easier to have curiosity about some particular subjects. Once they develop
their curiosity about some subjects, their intrinsic motivation towards acquiring knowledge in these subjects is
304 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

higher. As a result, their performance can be improved.

Correlation Between External Regulation and Intrinsic Motivation
There are many previous studies which stated that external regulation is associated with negative
classroom learning (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009; Boekaerts, 2002; Boekaerts & Cascallar, 2006; Vansteenkiste,
Zhou, Lens, & Soenens, 2005) and lower level of intrinsic motivation (Pisarik, 2009). Students who have
controlled motivation tend to be less adaptive, engaged and concentrated, and more anxious about tests and
procrastination, and have lower achievement. Boekaerts and Cascallar (2006) pointed out that controlled
motivation is associated with students who comply with the task due to some external encouragements, rewards,
or social pressures.
One interesting finding in this study is that external regulation is not significantly related to intrinsic
motivation. For most Hong Kong university students, they have been experiencing high pressures from their
parents, teachers, and even peers for more than 15 years. Therefore, it can be comprehended that there is no
significant relationship between external regulation (i.e., social pressure or external encouragement) and
intrinsic motivation since they have got accustomed to the study stress (Gao, 2008). This phenomenon can be
further interpreted by the education system in Hong Kong that emphasizes much on scores of tests and
examinations (Moneta & Siu, 2002). Contrary to the education system in other countries, the emphasis of
education is placed on the understanding of the students.
The above analysis can explain the reason why H2 stating that external regulation leads to lower level of
intrinsic motivation is rejected in this study.
Difference on Level of Intrinsic Motivation Between Males and Females
Results indicate that the level of intrinsic motivation for students in Hong Kong is nearly the same
between males and females. It can be interpreted by the same education environment for both genders. They
received the same education approaches under the same education system, which contributes to possess the
same level of intrinsic motivation towards learning.
Supported by several researchers with this result, Narayanan, Rajasekaran, and Iyyappan (2007) concluded
that female students studying engineering or technology learn English better than male students do. Meanwhile,
according to a research of Shang (1998) in Taiwan focusing on the physical education classes, it was found that
females have lower intrinsic motivation than males do, but with higher effort put into the learning tasks.
Another research conducted by Schatt (2011) focusing on the subject of music found that female students have
higher instrumental musical practice rate than males do, while the amount of time spent on practice correlates
significantly with intrinsic motivational beliefs.
Therefore, it should not have any conclusion, saying that a particular gender is inclined to have higher
motivation on all subjects since university students always involve studying English, Chinese culture, and their
major subjects together. The result of this research shows that there is no difference between males and females
on the level of intrinsic motivation, which supports the H3.
Relationship Between Combined Variables (Curiosity and External Regulation) and Intrinsic Motivation
For the effect on intrinsic motivation by the combined factors of curiosity and external regulation, it is the
same as that by curiosity alone. This phenomenon may be due to Hong Kong students’ learning atmosphere. In
Hong Kong, students are trained to study under the pressure from others such as their parents and teachers,
which make the students have no significant effect on their intrinsic motivation when external regulation is
 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION 305

combined with curiosity.

Implication for Practice
The implication for practice in this study is to let universities identify different practical methods to
improve students’ curiosity and try to reduce their external regulation so that students’ intrinsic motivation can
be improved. The universities’ professors and students should be aware of their ways of teaching or learning,
and what methods should be used to strengthen the intrinsic motivation of students in Hong Kong higher
education. Universities should think about changing the learning environment, shifting courses’ emphasis from
marks in examinations to students’ understanding to the knowledge such as doing projects to develop deeper
understanding among students.

Limitations and Future Opportunities

There are mainly two limitations in this project. Firstly, the sample size of some subgroups is not even.
The sample size of males is 100 while that of females is 62. The significant level may be influenced, owing to
unbalanced distribution of sample size. Also, the distribution of sample size among the five universities in
Hong Kong providing engineering fields of study is not even either. With one of the universities accounting for
a larger part of the samples, the survey result may not be representative to the general situations of university
students in Hong Kong.
The second limitation of this study is that the sample size is not large. Less than 200 samples were
collected. It may make the survey result not representative enough to show the general learning environment
for university students in Hong Kong.
Apart from the limitations, there are several future research opportunities from this study. The first is to
examine other factors that may also affect intrinsic motivation, such as ages, fields of engineering, etc.. This
study only examined two factors (curiosity and external regulation) among university students. Whether there is
a relationship between intrinsic motivation and students’ academic performance among university students in
Hong Kong can also be investigated.
Secondly, this project focused on improving intrinsic motivation among university students. This type of
research can also be applied to similar research studies in primary schools, secondary schools, overseas schools,
or among students studying associate degree in Hong Kong. The factors contributing to their intrinsic
motivation or discouragement may be different.
This research study also lacks deep investigation. This study that involves only quantitative research is
empirical. The survey was conducted in form of questionnaires, without face-to-face interviews. The focus of
the investigations in this study is on the existence of the relationships. Further research can be done
concentrating on deeply investigating why there are relationships between the elements and intrinsic motivation.
For example, it was found in this research study that curiosity can promote intrinsic motivation. Thereby, all
these can be a further research for the future development of education.

Conclusions
Throughout the study, factors of curiosity and external regulation have been examined as tools to improve
intrinsic motivation of university students in Hong Kong. A survey was conducted to find out the perceptions
of the targeted group towards their curiosity in learning and their external regulation.
With investigation of relationships between the two elements and intrinsic motivation, there are also some
306 IMPACT OF CURIOSITY AND EXTERNAL REGULATION ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

comparisons between males and females to see if either of the genders possesses higher curiosity, lower
external regulation, and higher intrinsic motivation.
The survey results also support two of the three hypotheses defined in this research study. Firstly, curiosity
leads to higher intrinsic motivation (H1). Secondly, external regulation has no significant relationship with
intrinsic motivation, which rejects H2. Thirdly, there is no significant difference on the level of intrinsic
motivation between males and females, which supports H3.
Finally, more specific factors that may affect students’ intrinsic motivation are investigated among
university students in Hong Kong so that students’ academic performance can be enhanced with higher level of
intrinsic motivation (Afzal, Ali, Khan, & Hamid, 2010; Ning & Downing, 2010).

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