The impact of teacher credibility and student motivation on teaching evaluations

The evaluation of teaching performance is a challenge and a necessity for the university community, which confers importance to it as it reflects the quality of the teaching-learning process. Different factors influence the outcomes of the teacher-student relationship, such as teacher credibility or academic motivation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to predict the results of the evaluation on university teachers based on student perceptions of teacher credibility, mediated by the motivation of university students. 674 students from the University of Seville participated in the study, aged between 18 and 42 years (78.2% women and 21.8% men). The Credibility Scale, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and the Evaluation of University Teaching Questionnaire were all applied. The data obtained were analyzed from a structural equation modeling approach using partial least squares (PLS-SEM) to predict teaching evaluation. The results highlight the direct effect of teacher credibility and motivation on teaching evaluation, as well as the mediating effect of motivation between teacher credibility and teaching evaluation. Through the predictive validity of the model, it is concluded that teaching credibility and the motivation of the university students predict the evaluation of university instructors. The findings relate to prior literature, and future research is proposed to analyse other possible methods for teachers to improve the teaching-learning process. Strategies are provided for teachers to manage their credibility in the teaching context, thus increasing the motivation of their students and improving the evaluations of their teaching.