Student engagement is a crucial factor in the success of students enrolled in higher education. Despite the existence of numerous studies on the factors that influence student engagement, investigating the factors that affect the level of student engagement in higher education is important. In applying the behavioral reasoning theory (BRT), this research investigates factors that influence freshman students’ decisions to engage in academic activities. Data have been collected from a sample of students enrolled in management studies at the University of Federico II in Naples, Italy. The results highlight that reasons serve as important links between students’ values, global motives, and engagement behavior, confirming one of the main premises of BRT. In particular, the findings suggest that BRT is a good model to predict student engagement as global motives, intentions, and reasons for engagement have a significant direct effect on engagement. These findings support the importance of examining and reinforcing the reasons for engagement (facilitators) while minimizing the reasons against engagement (obstacles) in order to enhance students’ engagement in academic activities.

学生参与度是入学学生成功的关键因素。尽管对影响学生敬业度的因素进行了大量研究，但调查影响高等教育中学生敬业度的因素仍然很重要。在运用行为推理理论（BRT）时，本研究调查了影响新生学习决策的因素。数据是从意大利那不勒斯费德里科二世大学管理研究课程的学生样本中收集的。结果表明，原因是学生价值观，全球动机和参与行为之间的重要联系，这确定了BRT的主要前提之一。特别是，研究结果表明，BRT是预测学生参与度的一个很好的模型，因为全球性动机，参与度和参与度对参与度有重要的直接影响。这些发现支持检查和加强参与的原因（促进者）的重要性，同时最小化反对参与的原因（障碍），以增强学生对学术活动的参与。