ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1650064
Influence of the Effort Reward Imbalance in College Students on Learning Engagement: The Mediating Role of Hope and the Moderating Role of Growth Mindset
Provisionally accepted
Qiangqiang Wang*
Xinyi Xu- Huzhou University, Huzhou, China
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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and learning engagement among college students, as well as the mediating role of hope and the moderating role of a growth mindset. Method: A total of 665 college students participated in this study. The Effort-Reward Imbalance Scale, Hope Scale, Growth Mindset Scale, and Learning Engagement Scale were used. Results: (1) Effort-reward imbalance was significantly correlated with hope, learning engagement, and a growth mindset among college students; (2) effort-reward imbalance negatively predicted learning engagement among college students; (3) hope mediated the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and learning engagement; and (4) a growth mindset moderated the relationship between hope and learning engagement. Specifically, a stronger growth mindset mitigated the adverse effects of low hope on learning engagement among college students. Conclusion: Effort-reward imbalance influences learning engagement through the mediating role of hope and the moderating role of growth mindset. This implies that fostering a growth mindset among college students can mitigate the negative effects effort-reward imbalance and low hope on their learning engagement.
Keywords: Effort-reward imbalance, hope, growth mindset, Learning engagement, college students
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 26 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qiangqiang Wang, wangqq588@163.com
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