Rekindling the flame: the role of dissertation self-efficacy in dissertation stage

Abstract

This paper aims to address some possible issues in the study of dissertation completion with an emphasis on rekindling the use of dissertation self-efficacy. More specifically, this paper highlights existing gaps in the research and fallacies which may potentially stray away from the current objectives of predicting dissertation completion. This paper begins with an overview of doctoral dissertation and its predictors. Four key predictors of dissertation completion and doctoral completion have been selected to highlight the role of dissertation self-efficacy. They are institutional, psychological, emotional, and supervision factors. Few databases in the fields of psychology, educational studies were used to acquire literature on the topic. The mediating role of dissertation self-efficacy is highlighted with a review of past studies. The authors posit that inattention to this research gap may have led to a disproportionate focus on other factors but not dissertation self-efficacy. The paper concludes with the need to consider the mediating role of dissertation self-efficacy and also suggest necessary explorations of its determinants in the future study. The paper ends with two recommendations for future research on dissertation completion i) A research inclusive of dissertation self-efficacy as the mediator ii) A research inclusive of predictive models to predict dissertation self-efficacy.