Researchers’ Motivation and Its Correlates: An Empirical Study Amid COVID-19 Pandemic in Arab Region

Abstract

This study aims to shape an insight towards researchers' involvement in research projects in the Arabian region, mainly through assessing the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations towards research and their association with research attitudes and preferences. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Arab states amid the COVID19 pandemic. A questionnaire was self-developed based on a literature review, validated, and distributed among scientific research communities. A convenience sampling strategy (basically through snowball and self-selection techniques) was adopted, focusing majorly on academic, social networking sites to increase the visibility of and response to the developed online survey. The sample size comprised 205 researchers/scholars from nine Arab countries. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25 to generate statistical findings based on descriptive, means comparison, correlational, and regression outputs. A p-value <0.05 was considered being significant. On a scale of 5-point, most respondents exhibited acceptable levels of intrinsic (4.05 ± 0.58) and extrinsic motivation (3.67 ± 0.55) towards research conduct. 87% of total respondents were intrinsically motivated, while 72% were extrinsically motivated. Through regression analysis (p ˂ 0.05), intrinsic motivation is found a potent enabler for researchers to pursue a leading role in research, maintain continuous research activity, consider innovative research strategies, and leverage research through practical expertise and solving practice-related issues. Also, intrinsic motivation was associated with higher scientific productivity and lesser time to accomplish a publication. In the overall picture, intrinsic motivation seems of more potential influence than extrinsic motivation on researchers' selection and preferences of research roles. The findings from this study could reinforce efforts of research policy- and decision-making dedicated to fostering Arab researchers' involvement, attitude, and role in scholarly activities; and establishing evidence-based tactics to promote their motivation for publication and research productivity.