Abstract

Academic procrastination generates several problems and negative consequences both individually and collectively: low student performance, increased stress, negative effects on physical and mental health, and general waste of resources. Therefore, it demands to be studied and understood in its different forms, so that mitigating mechanisms can be developed. The current work seeks to analyse the phenomenon of academic procrastination within postgraduate students registered for the Management Postgraduate Program in a Brazilian Federal University, in order to identify strategies, techniques and tools utilised by the students to overcome procrastination as well as its relation with the concepts of self-regulation and self-efficacy. The current research is descriptive with a qualitative nature, adopting a phenomenological approach through thematic analysis in order to bring to light the experiences and perceptions of individuals from their own perspectives, challenging structural or normative assumptions. In total, 24 students, 12 from the master’s degree program and 12 from the doctorate program in Management were interviewed. As a result, it was noticed that there are some overall inferences that can be taken from the narratives, outlining the phenomenon of academic procrastination and its relations with the concepts of self-regulation and self-efficacy, which led to reinforce the notion that the central elements to understand and specifically combat procrastination are related to the concepts of self-efficacy and self-regulation, which have a considerable influence on students’ motivation, behaviour and habits. The research has also pointed to some key strategies, techniques and tools that can be utilised to support further applied research as well as to guide the faculty in supporting the students to overcome or mitigate the procrastination impulse, such as use of goal orientation, visual tools, and academic support starting with undergraduate degrees. The work has an original contribution as no research has been made on that topic utilising qualitative data through a phenomenological approach, which opens a vast and new path for future research.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.