The multiple mediating effects of grit and learning agility on academic burnout and learning engagement among Korean university students: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: This article reports the results of a study conducted to assess the mediating effects of grit and learning agility on the relationship between academic burnout and learning engagement among undergraduate students. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-report questionnaire. Undergraduate students (N = 344) were recruited from one university in South Korea (58.0% female; average age 21.43) to complete assessments of academic burnout, grit, learning agility, and learning engagement. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, hierarchical regression and bootstrapping to verify the multiple parallel mediation effect. RESULTS: We found that the direct effect of academic burnout on learning engagement (B= −0.26, p<.001) and the indirect effect of academic burnout as mediated by learning agility (B= −0.13; 95% CI, −0.20∼−0.06) were significant. This finding confirmed that 33.3% of the total effect of academic burnout on learning engagement was the result of indirect effects via learning agility. CONCLUSION: These results indicate the necessity of developing an educational programme that focuses not only on reducing academic burnout but also on improving learning agility to increase undergraduate students’ learning engagement. This study contributes to the development of a curriculum aimed at increasing the effectiveness of university education, promoting learning engagement, and reducing academic burnout. KEY MESSAGE: Our study reports that academic burnout has both a direct effect on learning engagement and an indirect effect via learning agility. Learning agility mediates the relationship between academic burnout and learning engagement among undergraduate students. Although grit has been reported by many previous studies to mediate the relationship between the tendency to pursue happiness and the willingness to continue learning and effectively improving one’s academic achievement and ability, our study did not find any mediating effect via grit in this context.