Engaging in student evaluations of teaching through intrinsic motivation: an exploratory study of competence, perceived choice, value/usefulness, and relatedness

Student evaluations of teaching (SET) elicit feedback to enhance the course, teaching, and learning. However, hospitality and tourism curriculum research lacks an understanding of the dyadic relationship between the instructor and motivation and other logistics to complete SET. This remains important to uncover student competence, perceived choice, value/usefulness, and relatedness to complete SET to increase SET feedback from instructors. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient analysis was employed to test the hypotheses using data collected from 69 undergraduate hospitality and tourism students recruited through U.S. educational institutions in the northeast and southeast. Results reveal that intrinsic motivation relates positively to SET completion, showing a strong, positive correlation between all variables. The study provides contributions to instructors to offer extrinsic motivators to encourage students to recognize the value of the SET. The study is among the first to explore the intrinsic motivators and completion of SET with hospitality and tourism undergraduate students.