Student Engagement and Its Predictors: An Exploratory Study in an Indian Business School

Abstract

The concept of student engagement is gaining widespread acceptance in the West as it is found to be positively related to academic outcomes as well as personal development of the students. Although it is generally agreed that student engagement is a multidimensional construct, there is no agreement over its dimensions. The study on which this article is based, seeks to identify the dimensions of student engagement through exploratory factor analysis, analyzing a pool of items drawn from various sources, including some of the authors’ own. Using the five dimensions identified through this process, the study attempts to assess the level of student engagement among the first-year students of a two-year full-time MBA programme of an Indian business school. Finally, it uses step-wise regression analysis to identify the predictors of student engagement.