Catch It If You Can

Abstract

This article proposes a theory-based contagious motivation model focusing on enhancing student perceptions of group projects and ultimately course satisfaction. Moreover, drawing from both pedagogical and organizational behavior literatures, a model is presented that ties together intrinsic motivation theory with social contagion and contextualizes these within the conceptual methodology of group projects in a classroom. The structural equation model is tested with an undergraduate student sample of 215 students and found to have adequate fit. The key implication of the model is that individual student motivation can be increased by fostering an active learning environment, and more importantly, group projects can create and foster positive motivation when properly implemented by educators.