How do anxiety and self-efficacy affect the problem-solving skills of undergraduate economics students as prospective teachers in Indonesia? The role of metacognition as a mediating variable

Problem-solving is necessary for prospective economics teacher students to improve their cognitive quality. This research explores how future economics educators in Indonesia cultivate problem-solving abilities, which are frequently affected by cognitive and noncognitive elements like anxiety, self-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Albrian Fiky Prakoso, Waspodo Tjipto Subroto, Eka Hendi Andriansyah, Vina Budiarti Mustika Sari, Ardhita Eko Ginanjar, Prattana Srisuk
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Cogent Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2331186X.2025.2521160
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Summary:Problem-solving is necessary for prospective economics teacher students to improve their cognitive quality. This research explores how future economics educators in Indonesia cultivate problem-solving abilities, which are frequently affected by cognitive and noncognitive elements like anxiety, self-efficacy, and metacognition. The precise interactions among earlier studies, especially how anxiety and self-efficacy affect problem-solving through metacognition, are still ambiguous in the Indonesian setting. The research intends to address this gap and aims to determine the direct and indirect effects of anxiety, self-efficacy, and metacognition on undergraduate students’ problem-solving. Data were collected through online questionnaires distributed to 420 undergraduate students studying economics at their universities from 38 provinces across universities in Indonesia. The PLS-SEM analysis model was applied to confirm the proposed hypothesis. The findings indicate a strong and negative relationship between anxiety and problem solving and also anxiety on metacognition. However, anxiety does not affect self-efficacy. Self-efficacy does not affect problem-solving but positively affects metacognition. This study also confirms that metacognition positively affects undergraduate student problem-solving. Self-efficacy failed to mediate, but metacognition succeeded in mediating between anxiety and problem-solving. The results of this study offer important perspectives for policymakers and the government to map out effective policies to support undergraduate student problem-solving.
ISSN:2331-186X