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From a cultural perspective, students from both Western and non-Western cultures are found to exhibit academic procrastination, but for different reasons.  Students from Western cultures tend to procrastinate in order to avoid doing worse than they have done before or from failing to learn as much as they should have.  Whereas students from non-Western cultures tend to procrastinate in order to avoid looking incompetent, or to avoid demonstrating a lack of ability in front of their peers.

Cultural Perspectives

According to Holly McGregor & Andrew Elliot (2002); Christopher Wolters (2003), academic procrastination among undergraduate students has been correlated to performance-avoidance orientation which is one factor of the four factor model of achievement orientation.  Andrew Elliot and Judith Harackiewicz (1996) showed that students with a performance-avoidance orientation tend to be concerned with comparisons to their peers.  These students procrastinate as a result of not wanting to look incompetent, or to avoid demonstrating a lack of ability and adopt a facade of competence for a task in front of their peers.

Gregory Arief Liem and Youyan Nie (2008) found that cultural characteristics are shown to have a direct influence on achievement orientation because it is closely aligned with cultural values and beliefs.  Sonja Dekker and Ronald Fischer’s (2008) meta-analysis across thirteen different societies revealed that students from Western cultures tend to be motivated more by mastery-approach orientation because the degree of incentive value for individual achievement is strongly reflective of the values of Western culture.  By contrast, students from Eastern cultures have been found to be performance-avoidance orientated. They often make efforts to maintain a positive image of their abilities, which they display while in front of their peers.  In addition, Hazel Rose Markus and Shinobu Kitayama (1991) showed that in non-Western cultures, rather than standing out through their achievements, people are generally motivated to become part of various interpersonal relationships and to fit in with those that are relevant to them.

Research by Sushila Niles (1998) with Australian (Western) students and Sri Lankan (Eastern) students confirm these differences, revealing that Australian students often pursued more individual goals, whereas Sri Lankan students usually desired more collaborative and social goals.  Multiple studies by Kuo-Shu Yang and An-Bang Yu (1987, 1988, 1990) have indicated that individual achievement among most Chinese and Japanese

students is measured by a fulfillment of their obligation and responsibility to their family network, not to an individual accomplishment.  Yang and Yu (1987) have also shown that Collectivism and Confucianism are very strong motivators for achievement in many non-Western cultures because of their emphasis on cooperation in the family unit and community.  Guided by these cultural values, it is believed that the individual intuitively senses the degree of pressure that differentiates his or her factor of achievement orientation.