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 Global Journal of Management and Business Research
Volume 12 Issue 9 Version 1.0 June 2012
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal
Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853

Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance

By Irfan Mushtaq & Shabana Nawaz Khan
Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Islamabad, Pakistan
Abstract - Many practical studies are carried out to investigate factors affecting college
students’ performance. The focus of this research is that student performance in intermediate
examination is linked with students’ outline consisted of his approach towards communication,
learning facilities, proper guidance and family stress. The research is based on student profile
developed on the bases of information and data collected through assessment from students of
a group of private colleges.

Keywords : Students performance, communication, learning facilities, proper guidance and

family stress.

GJMBR-A Classification : FOR Code: 140204 JEL Code: I21, I25.

Factors AffectingStudentsAcademicPerformance

Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of:

© 2012. Irfan Mushtaq Shabana Nawaz Khan. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-
commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 Factors Affecting Students’ Academic
Performance
Irfan Mushtaq Į & Shabana Nawaz Khanı

Abstract - Many practical studies are carried out to from region to region and their results differ in cities and
investigate factors affecting college students’ performance. rural areas.
The focus of this research is that student performance in This research is focuses on the private colleges
intermediate examination is linked with students’ outline in Pakistan. Students of private colleges of Rawalpindi

June 2012
consisted of his approach towards communication, learning
and Islamabad are taken as population and focuses on
facilities, proper guidance and family stress. The research is
based on student profile developed on the bases of the result of the student performance and their
information and data collected through assessment from achievements in the academic year.
students of a group of private colleges. We measure the student academic
Keywords : Students performance, communication, performance through several ways like CGPA, GPA and 17
learning facilities, proper guidance and family stress. their test result. Most of the researcher around the word
used the GPA to measure the student performance

Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue IX Version I
I. Introduction (Galiher, 2006; Darling, 2005; Broh, 2000; Stephen &
chool, colleges and universities have no worth Schaban, 2002). They used GPA to measure student

S without student. Students are most essential asset

for any educational institute. The social and
economic development of the country is directly linked
performance in particular semester. Some other
researcher, they measure student performance through
the result of particular subject or the previous year result
(Hijazi & Naqvi, 2006; Hake, 1988; & tho.1994).
with student academic performance. The students’
performance (academic achievement) plays an
important role in producing the best quality graduates II. Significance
who will become great leader and manpower for the Previous studies focuses on different factors
country thus responsible for the country’s economic and such class schedules, class size, English text books,
social development (Ali et.al, 2009). Student academic homework, environment of the class, technology used in
performance measurement has received considerable the class and exams systems, extracurricular activities,
attention in previous research, it is challenging aspects family and work activities, financial, and etc. The study
of academic literature, and science student performance may helpful for both college’s policy makers and
are affected due to social, psychological, economic, parents of the students. It helps the college
environmental and personal factors. These factors administration to design and implement the policies to
strongly influence on the student performance, but these improve the students’ performance and the quality of
factors vary from person to person and country to education by changing the attitude of students towards
country. learning, facilitating students and improving the teaching
From the last few years in Pakistan literacy rate procedures. Parents can use the outcomes of the study
and education improved and most of the instituted in to solve the students’ problems especially financial
Pakistan improving the educational level and produce problems and to look after them. It may also create
well educated, competitive and skilled person, those awareness among students about their rights and
meet dynamic growing market requirement. That’s a responsibilities to achieve quality education.
reason the researcher find out such factors that effecting
student performance, especially in rural areas where III. Research Question
student face lot of problem.
Previously mostly study of student academic What are the important factors that affect
performance conducting on such issues like gender students’ academic performance?
difference, teacher’s education and teaching style, class
environment, socio economic factor and family IV. Research Objectives
education background. The finding of this study varies The objective of this research paper is to
explore the important factors that affect the academic
Author Į : MS Scholar, Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Islamabad performance of the students.
Pakistan. E-mail : irfan.mushtaq08@gmail.com
Author ı : M. Phil Scholar, Faculty of Administrative Sciences Kotli,
University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.
E-mail : dj96.snkhan@gmail.com

© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)

 Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance

V. Contribution the students. The performance of the student is affected

by communication skills; it is possible to see
Previously a lot of research has been done on communication as a variable which may be positively
this topic. Different researchers researched on various related to performance of the student in open learning. A
variables and a lot of different variables were studied. major distinction of this study from previous studies is
This research is different in a way that it is the first that it focuses on open learning (Abdullah AL-Mutairi,
research in which a variable “proper guidance” is 2011).
studied, moreover in Pakistan only one research was
H1: There is a positive relationship between
carried out on this topic and it was conducted by Abid
communication and student performance.
Hussain in 2006 and that too was based on the findings
of school’s whereas this research is conducted on c) Learning Facilities
colleges. Karemera (2003) found that students'
Our contribution to this study is that we explore performance is significantly correlated with satisfaction
June 2012

the four factors that affect students’ academic with academic environment and the facilities of library,
performance. These factors are students’ computer lab and etc. in the institution. With regard to
communication skills, learning facilities, proper guidance background variables, he found a positive effect of high
and family stress. In Pakistan scenario, many school performance and school achievement he found
researchers have done a lot of work on communication, no statistical evidence of significant association between
18 learning facilities and family stress. family income level and academic performance of the
This research will be helpful for the parents as student.
Robert & Sampson (2011), found that the
Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue IX Version I

well as the teachers of the students to guide them

properly and as per their abilities. member of educational board will be educated and their
impact on school is positive, for professional
VI. Literature Review development it is essential for student learning.
The students who are actively engage in the
a) Student Performance learning process are observed to have a positive
Galiher (2006) and Darling (2005), used GPA to correlation with the CGP. A Study effort from student
measure student performance because they main focus and the proper use of the facilities provided by the
in on the student performance for the particular institution to the student, a good match between
semester. Some other researchers used test results or students’ learning style and are positively affect the
previous year result since they are studying performance student's performance (Norhidayah Ali, et. al., 2009)
for the specific subject or year (Hijazi and Naqvi, 2006 Young (1999), held the view that student
and Hake, 1998). performances are linked with use of library and level of
their parental education. The use of the library positively
b) Communication
affected the student performance.
Many researchers has been discussed the
The academic environment is the effective-
different factors that affects the student academic
variable for students and has positive relationship with
performance in their research. There are two types of
fathers’ education and grade level (Kirmani & Siddiquah,
factors that affect the students’ academic performance.
2008).
These are internal and external classroom factors and
H2: There is a positive relationship between
these factors strongly affect the students’ performance.
learning facilities and student performance.
Internal classroom factors includes students
competence in English, class schedules, class size, d) Proper Guidance
English text books, class test results, learning facilities, Noble (2006), students’ academic
homework, environment of the class, complexity of the accomplishments and activities, perceptions of their
course material, teachers role in the class, technology coping strategies and positive attributions, and
used in the class and exams systems. External background characteristics (i.e., family income, parents’
classroom factors include extracurricular activities, level of education, guidance from parents and number
family problems, work and financial, social and other of negative situations in the home) were indirectly
problems. Research studies shows that students’ related to their composite scores, through academic
performance depends on many factors such as learning achievement in high school.
facilities, gender and age differences, etc. that can The students face a lot of problems in
affect student performance (Hansen, Joe B., 2000). developing positive study attitudes and study habits.
Harb and El-Shaarawi (2006) found that the most Guidance is of the factor through which a student can
important factor with positive effect on students' improve his study attitudes and study habits and is
performance is student's competence in English. If the directly proportional to academic achievement. The
students have strong communication skills and have students who are properly guided by their parents have
strong grip on English, it increases the performance of performed well in the exams. The guidance from the

© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)

 Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance

teacher also affects the student performance. The stress. (Zajacova, Lynch and Espenshade, 2005)
guidance from the parents and the teachers indirectly Amitava Raychaudhuri, et. al., (July 2010),
affect the performance of the students (Hussain, 2006). found that numerous studies have been done to identify
H3: There is a positive relationship between those factors which are affecting student’s academic
proper guidance and student performance. performance. The students’ academic performance
depends on a number of socio-economic factors like
e) Family Stress
students’ attendance in the class, family income,
Socio-economic factors like attendance in the
mother’s and father’s education, teacher-student ratio,
class, family income, and mother’s and father’s
presence of trained teacher in school, sex of the
education, teacher-student ratio, presence of trained
student, and distance of schools.
teacher in school, sex of student and distance of school
Hijaz and Naqvi (2006) observed that there is a
are also affected the performance of the students.
negative relationship between the family income and
(Raychauduri et al., 2010)

June 2012
students’ performance and they focus on the private
Kernan, Bogart & Wheat (2011), academic
colleges in Pakistan.
success of graduate student will be enhanced if the
H4: There is a negative relationship between
optimal health related barriers are low. There is negative
family stress and student performance.
relationship between college credit and stress but weak
relationship between GPA (Grade Point Average) and 19
VII. Theoretical Framework

Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue IX Version I
Communication

Learning Facilities

Students Performance

Proper Guidance

Family Stress

VIII. Methodology IX. Results And Conclusion

This section discusses the sample selection Findings of the study are discussed as under.
procedure, variables selection, the model used for the
a) Data Analysis and Discussion
research and the statistical techniques.
In order to meet the purpose of the study, this
a) Measures section has five parts for analyzing the data collected for
The extent of existence for all variables in the the study. The
research area was measured on a five-point likert scale Five parts are: (a) data sample information, (b)
ranging from, strongly disagree to Strongly Agree. descriptive analysis, (c) correlation analysis, (d)
Ranging from 1 to 5 Strongly Disagree (1), regression analysis and (e) Hypothesis testing.
Disagree (2), Neutral (3), Agree (4), Strongly Agree (5). b) Reliability of the Scale
Reliability of total Items is 0.710 in Table 1 which
b) Data Set
shows its significance.
The source of data for this study is primary data
acquired through questionnaire. 175 questionnaires c) Reliability of Total Items
were distributed. Table 1 : Reliability Statistics
c) Statistical Tools Cronbach's Alpha N of Items
Mean, Standard deviation, correlation and
regression analysis are used through appropriate .710 20
statistical package. Reliability of Individual Items is shown in Table 2.
© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)
 Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance

d) Reliability of Individual Items Table 3 : Descriptive Statistics

Table 2 Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
Variables Cronbach's Alpha No.of Items
Student 155 1.00 5.00 3.7903 .98672
Student .716 2 Performance
Performance Communication 155 1.20 5.00 4.1626 .50390
Communication .497 5 Learning 155 1.25 5.00 4.2597 .67713
Facilities
Learning Facilities .735 4
Proper 155 1.00 5.00 4.1462 .89659
Proper .806 3 Guidance
Guidance Family Stress 155 3.167 5.000 4.28172 .396398
Family Stress .258 6 Valid N 155
(listwise)
June 2012

Descriptive Analysis
Demographic Analysis: Demographic results were
Descriptive statistics represents the calculated obtained. The total sample size was 155.
means and standard deviations for the dependent
variables, communication, learning facilities, proper Gender No %age
20 guidance and family stress and independent variable, Male 97 62.6%
student performance. Female 58 37.4%
Study shows that mean of student performance Correlation Analysis
Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue IX Version I

is 3.7903 and standard deviation is .98672. There is a degree of association between

Mean of communication, learning facilities, communication and student performance i.e. 13 percent
proper guidance and family stress are 4.1626, 4.2597, and also shows negative value and probability of error is
4.1462 and 4.28172 respectively, which shows that also low.
respondent are agree that these variables effect student There is degree of association between learning
performance and standard deviation for these facilities; proper guidance and family stress with student
independent variables are 0.50390, 0.67713, 0.89659 performance are 13 percent, 20 percent and 2 percent
and 0.396398 respectively., which is shown in Table 3: respectively as shown in Table 6.

Table 6 : Correlations
Student Learning Proper Family
Performance Communication Facilities Guidance Stress
Student Pearson Correlation 1 .132** .137* .200* -.020
Performance
Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .040 .013 .809
N 155 155 155 155 155
** *
Communicati Pearson Correlation .132 1 .157 .176 .139
on
Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .051 .028 .085
N 155 155 155 155 155
* **
Learning Pearson Correlation .137 .157 1 .571 .245**
Facilities
Sig. (2-tailed) .040 .051 .000 .002
N 155 155 155 155 155
* * **
Proper Pearson Correlation .200 .176 .571 1 .055
Guidance
Sig. (2-tailed) .013 .028 .000 .498
N 155 155 155 155 155
Family Stress Pearson Correlation -.020 .139 .245** .055 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .809 .085 .002 .498

N 155 155 155 155 155
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)

 Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance

e) Regression Analysis Table 7 : ANOVAb

It includes Model Summary and ANOVA and
Coefficient. Sum of Mean
Model Squares df Square F Sig.
f) Model Summary
Model summary is shown in Table. Value of R- 1 Regression 7.889 4 1.972 20.083 .026a
Square is .0553 shows that 55% variation in student Residual 142.046 150 .947
performance due to the independent variables
communication, learning facilities, proper guidance and Total 149.935 154
family stress. a. Predictors: (Constant), Family Stress, Proper Guidance,
Model Summary Communication, Learning Facilities
b. Dependent Variable: Student Performance
Adjusted R Std. Error of

June 2012
F-statistics were carried out to find the overall
Model R R Square Square the Estimate
strength of the model. The value of F-Statistic 20.083
1 .229a .553 .427 0.0021 shows that the model is highly significant shown in
a. Predictors: (Constant), Family Stress, Proper Table 8.
Guidance, Communication, Learning Facilities
21
Table 8
Coefficientsa

Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue IX Version I
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 2.514 1.038 2.423 .017
Communication .204 .160 .104 1.279 .003
Learning Facilities .160 .146 .041 .413 .020
Proper Guidance .177 .108 .161 1.642 .103
Family Stress -.132 .207 -.053 -.638 .524
a. Dependent Variabl e: Student Performance
g) Coefficient & Hypothesis Testing performance. Research was conducted on private
On the basis of Beta coefficients the model colleges in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Four hypothesis
shows that communication causes 20% positive used in the study to check the effect of independent
variation in student performance and t -value is also variables on dependent variables. By using the
significant. . So we accept H1 which states that “there is appropriate statistical package it is found that
positive relationship between communication and communication, learning facilities, proper guidance and
student performance. family stress are the factors that affect the student
Learning facilities causes’ 16% variation in performance. Our three hypotheses are accepted and
student performance but the direction is positive one hypothesis is rejected. Communication, learning
direction. Here t-value is also significant. So we accept facilities and proper guidance shows the positive impact
H2 which states that that “there is positive relationship on the student performance and the family stress shows
between learning facilities and student performance the negative impact on the student performance but the
Proper guidance causes 17% variation in student significant level is high. So, it is indicated that the
performance in positive direction and t – value is also communication is more important factor that affect the
significant. So we accept H3 which states that that student performance and the learning facilities and
“there is positive relationship between proper guidance proper guidance are also affect the student
and student performance performance. Family stress also affects the student
Family stress causes 13% variation in student performance and reduces the performance of the
performance but in opposite direction or negative student and affects negatively the student performance.
direction and t – value is insignificant. So we reject H4
a) Limitations
x
which states that “there is negative relationship between
family stress and student performance. There are certain limitations of this study. Firstly, the
sample size taken in this study was very small that is
X. Discussion only 155. If this study is being carried out again with
This study was conducted to explore the large sample size the result might be improved than
important factors that affect the students’ academic existing study.
© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)
 Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance

x Second limitation of the study was that study 9. Hussain, Ch. Abid. (June 2006). Effect of Guidance
conducted on only thein the 2 cities of Pakistan i.e., Services on Study Attitudes, Study Habits and

x
Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Academic Achievement of Secondary School
Including more others relative factors that affect the Students. Bulletin of Education and Research, vol.
student performance can improve the results. 28, No. 1 (35-45).
10. Kernan, Willium, Bogart, Jane & Wheat, Mary E.
b) Suggestions and Recommendations
x
(2011). Health related Barriers to learning among
The student performance should be improve if the graduate student, Health Education, vol. 11,NO. 5,
administration of the college provides proper pp.425-455.
leaning facilities to the students and also improve 11. Kirmani, Neghat Sana & Siddiquah, Aishah

x
the environment of the college. (December 2008). Identification and Analysis of
The student performance should be improve if the Factors Affecting Students Achievement in Higher
students have good and effective communication
June 2012

Education.2nd International Conference on

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x
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© 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)