Proactive personality and its impact on online learning engagement through positive emotions and learning motivation

The rapid change in information technology has made online or blended learning a new norm in higher education. However, the problem of low student engagement in online learning is becoming more prominent. This study explores how college students' proactive personality affects their online learning engagement through the mediating effects of positive emotions and learning motivation. A survey was conducted on college students (N = 1049), and the interrelationships among these variables were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings unveiled that: proactive personality positively predicts online learning engagement, positive emotions and learning motivation. Positive emotions and learning motivation significantly positively influence online learning engagement. Moreover, Positive emotions also exert a significant positive impact on learning motivation. In addition, the mediation of positive emotions and learning motivation further strengthened a significant positive correlation between proactive personality and online learning engagement. Implications for theory and practice, including the limitations, were discussed accordingly.