Pathways to Psychological Well-Being of Management Students: The Role of Academic Engagement and Goal Orientation

Business management schools are known for their intense academic experience. Yet, there is limited work on how this experience impacts the psychological well-being of students. In this paper, we examine the impact of academic engagement on psychological well-being of management students, through the mediating role of goal-orientation. Based on structural equation modeling on data collected from 309 Indian management students, we found that academic engagement was positively related to psychological well-being. Academic engagement was related to students setting performance approach, mastery approach, and mastery avoidance goals. Approach goals, both mastery and performance were positively related to higher well-being while performance avoidance goals were negatively related to well-being. Approach goals, both mastery and performance partially mediated the relationship between academic engagement and psychological well-being. However, avoidance goals did not have a significant mediation effect. We contribute to well-being theories by showing that academic engagement is positively associated with higher well-being and depict its pathway through different types of goal orientations. We contribute practically by showing that institutions should support students to set approach goals and create an engaging learning environment to support their well-being.