Self-Regulated Learning and Professional Competencies Among Engineering Graduates: Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

The success of any individual in engineering depends not only on their achievement and abilities but also on their self-beliefs and self-conviction that they can perform engineering studies and other related engineering tasks. Thus, this study tried to examine the role of Self-Efficacy in mediating the relationship between Self-Regulated Learning and Professional Competencies among Engineering Graduates. The study sample was 416 Engineering graduates of Lovely Professional University, Punjab, hailing from different parts of India. The streams covered were Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Mechatronics. The data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, a Self-Regulated Learning questionnaire (Chakraborty & Chechi, 2021), Engineering Professional Competencies Scale (Motahhari-Nejad, 2021), and Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (Mamaril et al, 2016). The results obtained through Regression Analysis showed that Self-Regulated Learning significantly impacted the Professional Competencies and Self-Efficacy of engineering graduates. Also, Self-Efficacy was found to be a significant predictor of Professional Competencies. Further, the results obtained through Structural Equation Modelling analysis manifested that Self-Efficacy partially mediated the relationship between Self-Regulated Learning and Professional Competencies among Engineering Graduates. The study results were discussed in terms of how the role of teachers and other stakeholders is vital to developing and intensifying the self-beliefs and self-conviction of engineering students.