Online class-related hope and learning engagement among college students: the mediating role of external motivation and the moderating role of gender

Abstract

Introduction The widespread adoption of online classes has drawn attention to factors associated with students’ learning engagement, with the role of hope becoming increasingly salient. Although hope is recognized as important in education, the mechanism through which online class-related hope relates to learning engagement remains underexplored. Methods This cross-sectional study examined the associations among online class-related hope, external motivation, and learning engagement, and further tested the mediating role of external motivation and the moderating role of gender. A total of 1,294 college students from multiple universities across China completed self-report questionnaires measuring online class-related hope, motivation, and learning engagement. Grounded in the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions and Self-Determination Theory, we tested a moderated mediation model via the SPSS PROCESS macro (Models 4 and 14). Results The results revealed a significant positive association between online class-related hope and learning engagement. External motivation partially mediated this relationship, whereas gender did not significantly moderate the path from external motivation to learning engagement. Discussion These findings provide preliminary evidence that hope and external motivation jointly predict learning engagement in online settings, extending the two theoretical frameworks to online learning contexts. The absence of meaningful gender moderation offers new complementary evidence amid inconsistent prior research outcomes. Given the cross-sectional design, causal inferences cannot be drawn, and relevant instructional recommendations await further longitudinal verification. This study clarifies the conditional process linking online class-related hope to learning engagement and lays a nuanced foundation for subsequent research.