The roles of academic self-efficacy and intolerance of uncertainty on decisional procrastination in university students during the Covid-19 pandemic

Decisional procrastination has been one of the main phenomena analysed in university students, together with self-efficacy, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the roles of academic self-efficacy and intolerance of uncertainty on decisional procrastination in 318 Italian university students. Furthermore, the mediating role of the intolerance of uncertainty on the relationships between academic self-efficacy and decisional procrastination was explored. The Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, the Decisional Procrastination Scale, and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale were used. Results: Decisional procrastination was predicted by the components of academic selfefficacy and the intolerance of uncertainty (prospective and inhibitory intolerance). Furthermore, the mediating role of the prospective intolerance of uncertainty was confirmed in the relationship between self-efficacy (self-engagement and self-oriented decision-making) and decisional procrastination. Conclusions: This study adds new evidence to findings in the analysis of the role of the intolerance of uncertainty in mitigating the relationships between the self-efficacy of students in the academic context and their tendency to procrastinate in decision-making processes, which has been poorly investigated to date by scholars in this research field. Future research will deal with a specific situation of procrastinating behaviours, such as the completion of a master’s thesis or the respect for the deadline of an article’s submission.