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1. Drivers and Consequences of University Student Engagement

The topic of student engagement continues to attract a lot of attention in the academic field. As a result, it has attracted interest and increased research over the past year. This is a result of the pandemic which disrupted educational systems, thus, prompting a deeper understanding of this topic to help understand how best the students can be made to sit in and focus on their studies. Tani, Gheith and Papaluca, O. (2021) define student engagement as the degree of curiosity, interest, attention, passion, motivation, and optimism exhibited by students during the learning process. Given that engagement is important in fostering the academic success of the students, it is important to understand the drivers and consequences of student engagement in universities. Some of the past works in this area have been analyzed in this literature review as follows.

Tani et al., (2021) propose that the behavioral reasoning theory (BRT) is the best model for predicting the main drivers of student engagement in higher education. Using this theory, the authors conducted a research study on freshmen students at the University of Federico II, Naples, Italy where they found that student values, engagement behavior, and global motives were among the main drivers of student engagement. Another research by Ahmad (2015) disregards the role of theory but rather, identifies that student engagement is influenced by internal and external factors. The external factors are those beyond the students control such as class size, technology, role of the teacher, and learning environment. Internal factors are those dynamics directly influenced by the student such as personal interest, motivation, involvement, expectations, and emotional intelligence among others.

These drivers are discussed by many other authors who present divergent views on the main drivers and their consequences. For instance Kahu, Nelson and Picton, (2017) posit that the personal interest of the student determines their degree of engagement. This driver acknowledges that the personal motivation to study among students is varied. As a result, the interest of the student influences their persistence and endurance during learning. A qualitative research study conducted on 19 students during their first year in an Australian University showed that the individual goals and interest of a student influences the way they interact within the teaching environment. The resultant situational interest enhances cognitive and behavioral engagement which leads to better learning and good grades. Kahu et al., (2017) further identified that the relevance of the learning task could potentially influence the interest of the student. Additionally, the student’s self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and emotions were vital in explaining the link between the teaching environment, student interest, and student engagement.

Thomas and Allen (2020) identify academic buoyancy and emotional intelligence as some of the most influential factors driving university student engagement. The authors explain that the level of buoyancy and emotional intelligence of the learner influenced their emotional and behavioral engagement. A study on 253 graduate and undergraduate students using self-reports identified that academic buoyancy had a shared direct relationship with emotional disaffection, emotional engagement, and behavioral engagement (Thomas & Allen, 2021). Surprisingly, the research also showed that the relationship between these three elements were mediated by academic buoyancy thus, there was a need for implementing interventions to enhance the emotional intelligence of university students to increase their coping potential, and engagement so as to raise their academic success.

                Bowden, Tickle and Naumann (2019) state that there are two main drivers of student engagement. These authors identify expectations and involvement as the main antecedents of university student’s engagement. They argue that these two drivers impact the four dimensions of engagement which are; behavioral, cognitive, social, and affective engagement. Bowden et al. (2019) also note that improving the factors that promote engagement and lessening those that deter student engagement can optimize success outcomes in five areas, namely; self-esteem, self-efficacy, transformative learning, student wellbeing, and institutional reputation. According to these authors, there exists a structural relationship between positive drivers of engagement and student success.

1. The Impact of University Student Engagement on their Loyalty and Trust

There seems to be a correlation between the impact of student engagement on their trust and loyalty. However, the nature of this impact is not clearly established. This outlook creates a need to analyze current literature in this area. Noting that student engagement denotes the degree of psychological investment shown by students towards their learning, it possible to hypothesize that this variable only determines the students commitment to learning and not the other aspects of their lives as students. However, research by Snijder et al. (2020) exhibited that institutions of higher learning that build bridges between the faculty and the students achieve higher degree of student-faculty relationship quality, student loyalty, and student engagement. This research study predicts that strong relationships between faculty and students could nurture strong levels of trust and loyalty, which boosts student engagement and vice versa. According to Snijder et al. (2020) relationship quality was measured by parameters such as student experiences, affective conflict and affective commitment. Their research on 454 students found that universities that applied the relationship management approach nurtured fruitful academic outcomes namely student loyalty, and student engagement.

A business article by Başer, Cintamür and Arslan (2015) point at the possibility of higher student engagement resulting to elevated levels of trust and loyalty. The authors note that indirect and direct effects of positive brand experience elevate customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and brand trust. These sentiments are evident in universities that focus on creating a superior brand experience for the students. The outcome of the superior value delivered to students enhances their student engagement and resultant satisfaction which in return, increases brand trust and loyalty to either the faculty or the university.

Ariani (2015) states that university student engagement is a dynamic factor that is affected by personality and communication. After conducting a four months research study where they administered questionnaires to 307 Indonesian students, it was established that extroversion personality and communication abilities influenced the level of student engagement across the three dimensions of absorption, dedication, and vigor (Ariani, 2015). These findings therefore exhibit that the impact of student engagement in universities on their trust and loyalty could be dependent on the personality and communication abilities of the students.

Imlawi, Gregg and Karimi (2015) argue that when instructors use specific types of communications, they tend to increase the levels of student engagement which in return, nurtures trust and loyalty. The authors note that this particular strategy works best for online social networking groups and classes. In such cases, the use of humor and self-disclosure by the instructor could enhance their credibility thus impact positively on the students engagement levels. Encinas and Cavazos (2017) build on this topic noting that student loyalty is dependent on affective commitment, student engagement and service co-creation. This research directly answers the question whether student engagement impacts loyalty since it acknowledges that student loyalty is not only heightened with an increase in student engagement, but also dependent on factors such as affective commitment and service co-creation. A study by Faizan et al. (2016) notes that the quality of service in higher education affects student satisfaction, loyalty and image. This study fails to capture the impact of engagement on the elements of loyalty and trust, however, it evidences that when universities deliver quality services, they are likely to nurture engagement and attract loyalty and trust in the long run.