Hardiness in learning and study outcomes of business students

Abstract

Realizing the role that hardiness in learning plays in the study outcomes of business students, this study investigates the impact of hardiness in learning of business students, overall as well as its individual components, on their study outcomes, including quality of college life, quality of life, and learning performance. The study also explores the degrees of necessity of the components of hardiness in learning (commitment, control and challenge) for the occurrence of study outcomes. The results, based on a data set collected from a sample of 722 business students in various universities in Ho Chi Minh City, reveal that overall hardiness in learning has a positive effect on study outcomes. In terms of individual components, commitment, control and challenge have a positive impact on learning performance, however, control does not affect quality of college life and challenge has no effect on quality of life. In addition, these components have different degrees of necessity for the occurrence of study outcomes. These findings, generally, suggest that universities could enhance the outcomes of business students by offering programs that are able to cultivate students’ hardiness in learning. However, attention should be paid to the degree of necessity of each individual components, i.e., commitment, control and challenge, in order to achieve a desired level of study outcomes.