The United States is facing a major dilemma in providing care for the population. With the population aging and living longer, the number of consumers requiring assistance to meet their health care needs is increasing [1] [2] . As this consumer base expands and seeks health care, the current amount of staff trained to provide care is inadequate [3] [4] . One facet of care delivery is met by the certified nurse assistant. Without an adequate workforce of nurse assistants, patient care will not be at an optimal level. In order to provide an adequate workforce of nurse assistants, educational systems must identify factors that assist in recruiting and retaining individuals in nurse assistant training programs. This study explored one facet of supplying qualified individuals into the workforce: the relationship between motivation, as measured by Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, and academic achievement. Endeavoring to identify how motivation impacts academic achievement may potentially increase the amount of certified nurse assistants available to assume employment in the state of Illinois within the health care arena, thus positively impacting patient care.

With the aging population noted in the United States to extend through 2020, it is predicted that hospital admissions will increase at a rate of 1.23 times faster than population growth. In order to accommodate this surge, staffing levels in US hospitals will have to grow faster than the population [5] . When employment areas are left unfilled in the health care setting, patients are exposed to potentially detrimental situations, such as inappropriate patient to nurse ratio’s, which increases the likelihood of errors [6] .

Because individuals are living longer, the need for adequately trained health care providers is evolving at a furious pace. Currently, the amount of health care providers is struggling to meet the needs of the patient care population. The present deficits are increasing the burden associated with a variety of shortages across several related vocational fields [7] . In order to recruit, train and retain competent nurse assistants, it is essential to identify not only those individuals that are cognitively equipped to be successful in this academic arena, but also the impact motivation has on their academic success. McLaughlin [8] and Newton et al. [9] report the need to ascertain the relationship between motivation and how it relates to student success within their particular career choices. Cheng et al. [10] asserts the need to enhance motivation as a means to bolster student success within the arena of high stakes testing, such as the Nurse Aid Competency Examination. Therefore, it is essential to determine how motivation, as measured by Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, leads to academic achievement and provides a qualified workforce of certified nurse assistants for the nation’s health care centers.

O*Net [11] lists nurse assistant as a Bright Outlook occupation, with an estimated 20% to 28% job growth for the next decade. Without an available qualified workforce, these positions will not be filled, thus impacting patient care at the bedside.

There is no specific indicator or scientific equation that can accurately predict what makes a student successful in their academic endeavors since many factors play a role in student achievement [12] . Because several factors do exist, educators must consider what best enhances student academic achievement, and when factors associated with student achievement are identified, what measures can be used to foster student retention [13] -[16] . Identifying factors that predispose students to poor academic performance can assist the student and educational institution in providing opportunities for remediation that positively influencing the likelihood of academic achievement [17] -[20] . Being able to foster academic achievement results in providing the workforce with individuals equipped with the skills needed to become successful employees.

One variable that is linked to academic achievement is the motivation level of the student [21] . Motivation exists as an extrinsic force, such as the desire for a certain level of income, and as an intrinsic force, like the desire to better oneself for the sake of personal satisfaction. While faculty, administrators, and family can play an influential role in promoting success by fostering extrinsic motivation, it is essential that the student embrace a sense of intrinsic motivation to fully obtain academic achievement [22] .

Understanding the relationship between motivation and academic achievement is critical within the educational arena [10] . By identifying factors that nurture motivation, instructors and administrators within institutions of higher learning may positively influence student academic achievement [23] . Fostering student growth will positively impact the student’s ability to attain academic achievement. Faculty must understand that students present to academia with a variety of different expectations, and assisting them to invest in their academic pursuit builds personal and professional growth [24] .

By utilizing Vroom’s Expectancy Theory [25] to quantify student motivation, it is possible to examine the relationship between motivation and student achievement. Identifying how motivation impacts student achievement may assist recruitment and retention of nurse assistant students.

There were two purposes of this study. The first purpose was to explore the relationship between the concepts of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. Within the framework of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory [25] , three components are utilized to describe and quantify motivation. The components are Valence (V), Expectancy (E) and Instrumentality (I). Valence describes the attractiveness of a reward [25] . Expectancy is defined as the individual’s belief that his/her action will yield a specific result [25] . Instrumentality is best described as the individual obtaining what he/she earns [26] . The second purpose of this study was to use the quantifiable factor obtained from Vroom’s Expectancy Theory as a descriptor of the individual’s motivation and describe the individual’s ability to attain academic achievement as noted by successful completion of the Illinois Nurse Assistant Training Competency Examination. Utilizing Vroom’s Expectancy Theory as a framework, Sanchez, Truxillo and Bauer [27] developed the Valence, Instrumentality, Expectancy, Motivation Scale (VIEMS) that quantifies test-taking motivation, specifically as it relates to test performance or academic achievement that leads to vocational employment. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, as measured by the Valence, Instrumentality, Expectancy, Motivation Scale (VIEMS) was utilized as the theoretical framework for the proposed study as it provides an opportunity to ascertain motivation as a quantifiable measure, which can be used to describe the correlational relationships between the variables studied.

What is the relationship between the expectancy of being employed as a certified nurse assistant and the Instrumentality subscale of the Valence, Instrumentality, Motivation Scale?

What is the relationship between the Expectancy of being employable as a certified nursing assistant and the instrumentality subscale of the Valence, Instrumentality, Motivation Scale? After the previous findings, this finding proved to be more favorable to the researcher. Yielding a Pearson moment-product correlation coefficient of statistically significance (r = −0.372, p = 0.01). This score supports a weak, negative relationship does exist between individual’s Expectancy of being employed as a certified nursing assistant and the Instrumentality subscale of the VIEMS (Table 2). The negative score is due to the reverse scoring of the questions ascertaining Instrumentality (1= strongly agree and 5 = strongly disagree). This finding suggests that respondent’s perceive a relationship between their performance on the Illinois Nurse Assistant Competency Examination and the likelihood of being employed as a certified nursing assistant.

Following the correlational analysis for Research Question Five, linear regression was also utilized. Due to the nature of the questions associated with Instrumentality, the researcher anticipated a regression close to one, which would denote that any variance in Instrumentality could be explained by the likelihood of obtaining a job as a nursing assistant. The finding provided an adjusted R² of 0.136 (Table 3), which suggests that the individual’s report of Instrumentality explains a small amount of variance in their response to question 15, which addresses the likelihood of being employed as a nursing assistant.

The present study did demonstrate that a relationship exists between Instrumentality and the individual’s perception of the likelihood of job attainment as a certified Nurse assistant. This finding supports prior research conducted by Sanchez, Truxillo, and Bauer [27] .