The relationship between learning motivation and policy support perception among government-funded normal university students in ethnic minority institutions based on group dynamics and its application in educational management

This study examines the relationship between learning motivation and policy support perception among government-funded normal university students in ethnic minority institutions. The research is grounded in group dynamics theory. We adopted an embedded mixed-method design. The participants included 1,087 students from four ethnic minority universities in western China. Data collection involved questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and multilevel statistical analysis. The findings reveal several patterns. First, group norms, group identity, and group cohesion exerted significant influence on learning motivation. They accounted for 18.5%, 23.2%, and 21.4% of motivation variance respectively. Second, policy support perception showed a significant positive correlation with learning motivation (r=0.52, p