Yaki, Rehema NthenyaKigen, Edward M.Mutweleli, Samuel M.2026-01-202026-01-202025-11Yaki, R. N., Kigen, E. M., & Mutweleli, S. M. (2025). Perceived instrumentality as a predictor of academic achievement of secondary school students in Mombasa County, Kenya. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 15(2), 43–53. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijpbs.20251502.03https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/32120Journal ArticleThe central problem of this study is academic underachievement of secondary school students over the years. Schools in Kenya, especially in Mombasa County are facing a big problem of poor quality grades which may be attributed to students’ failure to see the importance of current studying and its link to attainment of future aspirations. As a result, students are spending minimal time on school activities and giving up easily when faced with difficulties. The increased emphasis on academics by educators and parents has not resulted in increased effort in studying among students in Mombasa County. Poor quality grades have been consistently realized due to students’ inability to identify with academics and failure to connect current school performance to future outcomes. Therefore, the study sought to find out the extent to which perceived instrumentality predicts academic achievement of secondary school students. Academic self-esteem was hypothesised to mediate the relationship. The Future-Oriented Motivation and Self-regulation Theory was used to explain the study. This study used an ex post facto design. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling were employed. Nine schools were purposively selected from a population of 49 public secondary schools from which a total of 542 students were selected in Mombasa County. Document analysis, self-report questionnaires was used. The questionnaire comprised the following scales: Approaches to Learning Survey to measure students’ perceived instrumentality; State Self-esteem Scale to measure students’ academic self-esteem. Students’ academic achievement was measured using examination records obtained from school. Data was analysed using quantitative approach. Instrumentality significantly and positively predicted achievement. Academic self-esteem mediated the relationship between grit and achievement. Findings help to inform policy makers, teachers, parents, and students on the importance of valuing academics for optimal academic achievementenArticle