6. Intrinsic Motivation, Agency, and Self-Efficacy: Journeying
From “Quasi-University” Student to Steward of the ODE
Community

This chapter portrays the author’s professional career as a researcher and gatekeeper of academic publications. It starts with a brief account of his very humble education background before going on to explain the motivation behind his lifelong interest in research and writing. It then describes how mentorship turned him into a full-fledged researcher as well as why and how he left his familiar fields of study in his prime and joined the open and distance education (ODE) research community as a green hand, eventually becoming an international gatekeeper after overcoming sustained adversities. The chapter interprets his success through the theoretical lens of intrinsic motivation, agency, and self-efficacy and concludes with tips for early-career researchers.

Contributors

Junhong Xiao

(author)

Professor at Shantou Broadcasting and Television University

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5316-2957

Junhong Xiao is a professor at the Open University of Shantou (formerly known as Shantou Radio & Television University), China; founding member of the Center for Open Education Research (COER) of the University of Oldenburg; co-editor of SpringerBriefs in Open and Distance Education series (https://www.springer.com/series/15238); editor of Section I, History, Theory and Research in ODE, Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education (https://link.springer.com/ referencework/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9#toc); editorial board member of several journals; co-author of over 250 publications in Chinese and English; and reviewer of numerous journals and conferences. He has been engaged in open and distance education for thirty-five years as a practitioner and researcher.