The effect of university students' self-efficacy on problem-solving disposition: The chained dual mediating role of metacognition disposition and critical thinking disposition

Developing problem solving in university students is a crucial topic in education today. Based on existing theories and research, this study proposed nine hypotheses as well as constructed a chained dual-mediation model to investigate the pathways through which college students' self-efficacy affects problem-solving disposition. The obtained influence path model fully considered the relationship between self-efficacy and problem-solving disposition, and investigated the mediating roles of metacognition disposition and critical thinking disposition between the two. The study used scales to collect data from 346 university students from East China, including their self-efficacy, metacognition disposition, critical thinking disposition, and problem-solving disposition. The study underwent a rigorous validation process, and the scales were confirmed to have satisfactory reliability, structural validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity suitable for conducting structural equation modelling. The structural equation modelling supported eight of the proposed nine hypotheses and confirmed the chained dual mediating role of metacognition disposition and critical thinking disposition between self-efficacy and problem-solving disposition. The study concluded that these four variables are significantly and positively correlated and that university students' self-efficacy can have an effect on problem solving disposition through metacognition disposition and critical thinking disposition. Therefore, to better develop university students' problem-solving disposition, educators need to not only help them develop positive self-efficacy beliefs, but also promote the development of their metacognition disposition and critical thinking disposition.