Theoretical background

Globally, more and more students are entering higher education outside their country of origin, affecting 6.1 million learners in 2019 (OECD, 2021). International students, i.e., foreign students who have obtained their higher education entrance qualification abroad (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2020), are also a significant group at German universities, whose study situation in Germany has so far been little researched (Heublein & Schmelzer, 2018). Although the majority (91%) of them plan to complete their studies in Germany, according to current estimates they have particularly high dropout rates compared to German students (DAAD & DZHW, 2020). Since this problem is also of great social importance due to demographic change, a shortage of skilled workers and economic interests (Morris-Lange, 2019), the exploration of factors that affect the academic success of international students is deemed highly relevant.

In Tinto's (1975) study dropout model, individual characteristics are listed as distal predictors of study success, the effects of which unfold through processes of academic and social integration. From the perspective of psychological research, the Big Five is a central construct for describing interindividual differences (McCrae & Costa, 1999) and predicting academic performance independently of cognitive abilities (Furnham et al., 2003). Previous (meta-analytical) findings have shown positive (conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness) or negative (extraversion and neuroticism) connections between the traits and academic performance. The largest effect size was consistently reported for conscientiousness (McAbee & Oswald, 2013; O'Connor & Paunonen, 2007; Trapmann et al., 2007; Vedel, 2014).

An indicator of social integration in the higher education context is the sense of university belonging. Consistent with self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), which states that experiencing autonomy, competence, and social connectedness are prerequisites for well-being and intrinsic motivation, and ultimately academic success, previous studies have shown a positive effect of sense of belonging on academic performance (e.g., Glass & Westmont, 2014). In addition, positive associations of the sense of belonging with conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, and a negative association with neuroticism have been shown (Lounsbury et al., 2003). This suggests that the effects of personality traits on academic performance in the sense of Tinto's model are mediated by a sense of belonging as an indicator of social integration.

Aim/hypothesis:

The aim of this study is the longitudinal examination of this assumption in a sample of international students in Germany. The influence of the Big Five on academic performance, mediated by a sense of university belonging over the first three years of study, is examined. In accordance with previous findings, it is expected in the present study that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experiences have positive effects on academic performance, which are mediated by a sense of university belonging. For neuroticism, on the other hand, a corresponding negative effect is expected. With a view to extraversion, a positive effect on the study performance of international students is expected – deviating from the previous findings of small negative correlations. The functional network model (Bochner et al., 1977) emphasizes the importance of supportive contacts with members of the host country for the academic success of international students. Since high levels of extraversion are associated with increased social support through embedding in a larger social network (Tulin et al., 2018), a corresponding positive effect of extraversion seems plausible in this sample.

Participants and procedure. The research was based on data from a panel study, which was carried out as part of an interdisciplinary research project on the study success of international students in Germany. The study sample consisted of N = 2,064 students. Instruments. The Big Five (Gerlitz & Schupp, 2005), the sense of university belonging (Bollen & Hoyle, 1990), and academic performance (grade point average) were captured at three time points in the first, second and third year of study. Analytical strategy. This article examines the connection between individual characteristics, social and academic integration of international students in Germany in a longitudinal section using autoregressive mediation models. In addition to the cross-lagged causal relationships between social and academic integration, the effects of the individual Big Five dimensions on social and academic integration are analyzed over two measurement intervals of one year each and the longitudinal indirect effects are considered.

Results showed that, with the exception of openness to experience and conscientiousness, the Big Five have an incremental longitudinal effect on academic and social integration. Thus, important points of Tinto's study dropout model (1975) for international students could be confirmed, although, contrary to expectations, the personality effects were not more significant than in comparable samples of non-mobile students and there were also no mutual longitudinal effects of academic and social integration. Nevertheless, the results provide information on the orientation of support offers for specific groups of students who have low academic and/or social integration and thus an increased risk of dropping out.

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