Article ID: 47061
We conducted a survey of university students working on an assignment to investigate the relationship between construal levels and procrastination behaviors, with a focus on the moderating effect of intrinsic motivation. We asked them to report the date they planned to start and complete the assignment two weeks before the due date. Then, we asked them to report the actual dates they started and completed the assignment after the due date and calculated the delay from the planned date to use as indicators of procrastination behaviors. We tested whether procrastination behaviors were predicted by individual differences in construal levels and intrinsic motivation. The results showed that students who concretely construed the assignment were less likely to procrastinate if they were intrinsically motivated to complete it. We discussed the psychological processes underlying procrastination behavior, focusing on both motivation and construal levels, and effective interventions to prevent procrastination.
