Learning motivation is a psychological process that drives individuals to conduct learning activities, and achieve certain learning goals. It is divided into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation (Cook and Artino, 2016). Since studying is mostly an initiative action, it is most effective when driven by intrinsic motivation (Edward et al., 1996). In this state, all behaviours are performed due to interest in knowledge and skills to help nursing students obtain to increase their happiness and well-being. Extrinsic motivation can also be used to promote learning, in which the goal of an action is an external outcome (e.g., appreciation from others or scholarship) but not the learning activity itself (Tranquillo and Stecker, 2016). Learning motivation affects not only students’ independent learning capacity but also their degree of devotion to learning, which plays a key role in excellent academic effectiveness and performance (Chang and Tsai, 2022, Nabizadeh et al., 2019, Zhang and Chen, 2021). It has recently been suggested that university students generally lack learning motivation and that there is an urgent need to improve the calibre of teaching (Gibbons, 2022).

Nursing students are the main reserve of medical personnel who are charged with the great mission of preserving human health. During their undergraduate stage, persistent learning is necessary for nursing students to acquire a great deal of knowledge and skills to qualify as professional nurses, which requires them to possess high learning motivation (Bråten and Olaussen, 2007). A previous study indicated that nursing students who have high learning motivation are extremely interested in learning; they not only strive to achieve specific goals but can also overcome obstacles to learning (Oh, 2017). In addition, high learning motivation is positively correlated with anxiety reduction and improved time management ability in nursing students (Ghiasvand et al., 2017). Therefore, it is crucial to develop nursing students’ high motivation to learn. Based on the above considerations, it is necessary to investigate the related factors and the mechanisms associated with learning motivation among nursing students to provide targeted theory guidance for nursing education and enhance nursing students’ learning motivation.