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JIRSEA Issue: Vol. 22 No. 1 Grit relates to Academic Performance among College
JIRSEA/UPM Special Issue Students: A Five-year Systematic Literature Review
April 2024
ISSN 1675-6061
http://www.seaairweb.info/journal/i
Liu Yanling, Rose Manisah Sulong, Nor Aniza Ahmad, and Li
ndex.aspx Ruihua

Submission Timeline
CITE ARTICLE: Liu, Y., Sulong, R.M., Ahmad, N.A. & Li, R. (2024).
Received: 30/10/2023 Grit Relates To Academic Performance Among College Students: A
Five Years Systematic Literature Review, Journal of Institutional
Revised as per Preliminary
Research South East Asia, 22(1), 47-69
Review: 15/01/2024

Final Revision & Acceptance:

15/03/2024

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JIRSEA-UPM Special Issue: Vol. 22 No. 1.
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GRIT RELATES TO ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: A FIVE-YEAR
SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Liu Yanling1, Rose Manisah Sulong2*, Nor Aniza Ahmad3 and Li

Ruihua4
1,2,3,4
Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM
Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
1
ChuXiong Normal University, China

*
Corresponding email: rosemanisah@upm.edu.my

ABSTRACT
In recent years, many scholars have studied the influence of non-cognitive
factors on academic success, including grit. However, few studies
comprehensively analyze the connection between grit and academic
outcomes with university learners. Therefore, the research aims to explore
how grit affects their academic performance in the context of higher
education. This paper presents a comprehensive, systematic review of 13
studies between 2018 and 2023 from two databases: Scopus and Web of
Science. The selection criteria focus on empirical research, including the
impact of grit on academic achievement. This review finds that grit has a
great influence on academic success. It is worth mentioning that
perseverance of effort (POE) and consistency of interest (COI), which are
two aspects of grit, seem to have different effects on academic
performance. In addition, further study on the correlation of grit and other
factors with college learners' academic performance can be considered to
provide alternative and new ideas for improving students' academic
performance.

Keywords: academic success, consistency of interests, higher education,

perseverance of efforts

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1. Introduction
1.1. Background and Rationale
The importance of intelligence and cognitive ability for academic outcomes has been
demonstrated across many different examinations. However, Bazelais et al. (2016)
pointed out that intellectual skills are considered to be an inadequate and tentative
predictor of completing college entrance courses. In fact, when considering higher
education students, many cognitive and non-cognitive elements come into play and
have been found to have a significant influence on academic outcomes (Al-Sheeb et
al., 2019). In recent years, the role of grit, which is attributed to the non-cognitive
factor, in academic performance has attracted the attention of researchers, while
different studies have given different results on the influence of grit on academic
outcomes.
Academic success is one of the main objectives of education. There is no denying
the connection between a person's quality of life, future career, and academic
achievement (Moyano et al., 2020). It is more than just a measure of a person's
success or failure (Chen et al., 2013). Besides, it can also evaluate the whole
education system (including projects and teachers) (Sukhsarwala et al., 2015). In
other words, academic performance is a crucial source for evaluating the education
system, teaching quality, and students' academic changes (Lei et al., 2015). In the
academic environment, academic performance (AP) has attracted the attention of
many researchers and educators, and many studies have been carried out on it. It
refers to the performance of learners in learning (academic and educational), and the
results of exams or tests are used as evaluation means. Many factors may affect
learners' academic performance, such as cognitive factors, learners' motivation, or
personal characteristics (Sánchez-Álvarez et al., 2020; Howard et al., 2021). Kim
and Seo (2015) emphasized that the main academic performance indicators in the
world are test scores, course scores, and average grades (e.g., GPA, Richardson et
al., 2012; CGPA, Hasan et al., 2017). Although some studies have investigated
specific academic fields, such as mathematics or language literacy (e.g., Zhou & Ee,
2012; Bierman et al., 2008), there are other studies that study academic performance
as a universal academic performance (Trentacosta & Izard, 2007; Denham et al.,
2014). For undergraduates, academic scores are very important. This is because they
are not only objective indicators of learning outcomes (Stockinger et al., 2021), but
can also predict academic and future career development, as well as play a key role
in cultivating high-quality graduates (Respondek et al., 2017). Therefore, when it
comes to education or learners' pursuit of studies, performance is an important and
inevitable topic (Boylan et al., 2023).
Many studies have proved that grit is an important trait (Gonzalez et al., 2019). Grit
refers to the ability to make persistent efforts to complete challenging tasks (Lufi,

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1987). It consists of two aspects: on the one hand, perseverance of effort (POE)
towards long-term goals, and on the other hand, consistency of interest (COI,
Duckworth et al. 2007). Generally speaking, it is closely related to positive academic
behavior and achievements. No matter how big the challenge is, people with high
grit will continue to work hard and keep the desire to achieve their goals (Duckworth
& Quinn, 2009). In other words, when there are unsatisfactory situations (such as
disappointment or boredom) in the learning process, persistent students usually
regard their studies as a long marathon, so they are more likely to choose to persist
and make more efforts to achieve their goals, so as to realize their ideals. Relatively
speaking, individuals with a low level of grit may choose to avoid difficulties and
ultimately find it difficult to complete tasks (Duckworth et al., 2007; Duckworth &
Quinn, 2009). This topic has attracted the attention of personality psychologists
because research shows that grit can positively predict achievements in education
and other fields besides talent or opportunity (Duckworth et al., 2007). Although grit
is relatively stable and needs years of development, it may be more plastic than
intelligence or other cognitive abilities (Duckworth & Gross, 2014; Eskreis-Winkler
et al., 2014) and interact with other personal characteristics. Psychological factors,
such as resilience, responsibility, self-control, and perseverance, are necessary for
academic success (Bashant, 2014).
However, the evidence on the impact of grit on learners’ educational success is
mixed so far (Strayhorn, 2014). Especially in higher education, the relationship
between grit and academic performance seems to be full of contradictions, and there
is no definite conclusion (Sunbul, 2019). On the one hand, there have been many
studies that have attempted to prove the unique role of grit in achieving positive
academic success. In a college setting, more successful students may have long-term
effort or perseverance that sustains their motivation (Bronk et al., 2010). Grit with
the pursuit of long-range achievement will manifest itself in excellent academic
performance in universities, thus causing them to seek higher education for a better
life (Wei et al., 2012). On the other hand, some studies cannot fully determine the
influence of grit on college learners' academic performance. Steinmayr et al. (2018)
mentioned that grit is not suitable for short-term goals, while it may be beneficial to
achieve long-term targets beyond school performance, such as winning the national
spelling competition or maintaining a stable marriage. On the contrary, school
performance is a relatively short-term target, so it is more useful to maintain
rationality, have confidence in one's ability, and actively participate in learning
activities to promote academic success. Sheridan et al. (2018) found that, unlike
American college students, the grit index of some excellent Irish students has little
effect on their academic performance. This is probably related to the fact that they
already have grit. In addition, the validity of the grit structure has also been
questioned because some research results show that there are differences in the

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ability of POE and COI to predict academic performance in two aspects of grit
(Credé et al., 2017; Mason, 2018; Tyumeneva et al., 2021). Therefore, the
relationship between grit and college students' academic performance and how grit
affects academic performance need to be further explored.
1.2. Purpose of Study
According to the previous introduction, students at college are a unique group, and
they are faced with the need to overcome the inadaptability following the transfer
from high school to university. In addition, college academic performance is of great
significance to future work and personal development. In the process of university
growth, as “perseverance and enthusiasm for long-range objectives” (Duckworth et
al., 2007), grit is one of the necessary qualities to overcome difficulties and persist
for a long time. However, at present, there is almost no systematic review of how
grit affects academic performance in the context of higher education. Therefore, this
study aims to explore the connection between academic achievement and grit in
higher education (undergraduate courses) in the past five years (2018-2023). In other
words, this study explores how grit affects college students' academic performance
using these research questions:
(1) Do grit and two dimensions of grit (perseverance of efforts (POE) and
consistency of interest (COI)) affect academic performance to the same
extent?
(2) Does grit directly affect academic performance?
The research results will further help us to understand the connection between grit
and academic performance in higher education, so as to provide an effective way to
encourage college students to improve their academic performance.
Additionally, in recent years, although many scholars have systematically studied
the relationship between grit and educational success (such as Direito & Mitchell,
2018; Chisholm-Burns et al., 2021), only Lam et al. (2019) have systematically
studied the relationship between students' grit and academic performance in the
context of K-12 and higher education. The differences between this study and Lam
et al. (2019) are as follows: (1) Time; and (2) Review target. The purpose of this
systematic literature review is to investigate the connection between academic
success and grit in the recent five years (2018-2023), while Lam et al. (2019) focused
on 2007-2018. This study also only focuses on examining learners in the context of
higher education, specifically undergraduates, while Lam et al. (2019) covered K-12
and higher education. Thus, in this study, we also consider whether other variables
will work together with grit on academic performance.

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2. Method
This study was conducted according to the method of systematic literature review
(SLR) in order to ensure that researchers can reproduce the findings of SLR in the
future. The purpose of our literature review is to solve the research problem. The
qualified documents were collected from databases and subsequently sorted and
analyzed. Paul et al. (2021) pointed out that Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus are
the most well-known quality rankings of publications because they go beyond the
subject field. On the one hand, WOS has high-standard indexing conditions. In other
words, WOS can guarantee the standards of selected journals because of its strict
screening standards. Scopus, on the other hand, has a wide range of subject areas and
categories. This allows scholars to better find the journal domain based on the most
relevant fields. These two databases (WOS and Scopus) were chosen for the search
process of journal articles. A systematic literature review study was conducted in
accordance with the Preferred Reporting Project for Systematic Reviews and Meta-
Analyses (PRISMA) statement. PRISMA is an efficient way to provide a systematic
review of previous research and follows the standardized inclusion and exclusion
procedures (Kadam et al., 2020). The publications eligible for research are obtained
through four strict steps: identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion, as shown
in Figure 1.

Figure 1: PRISMA flowchart

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2.1. Identification
This literature search was conducted in October 2023. Scopus and Web of Science
(WOS) were the two databases used, in which peer-reviewed articles were collected
from January 1, 2018 to 2023. This research was conducted to discuss the impact of
university learners’ grit on academic outcomes. Different keywords were used: (1)
“grit,” substitution terms (“perseverance of effort” and “consistency of interest”); (2)
“academic performance,” substitution terms (“academic achievement,” “academic
success,” “academic outcome,” “school success,” and “educational success”); and
(3) “higher education,” substitution terms (“post-secondary education,” “university,”
and “college”). The keywords were matched by Boolean operators AND/OR. The
two databases use strings, as in Table 1, where 373 articles were identified.
Table 1: Search strings

Search Builder Search String

Grit “grit” OR “perseverance of effort” OR “consistency of interest”
Academic performance “academic performance” OR “academic achievement” OR
“academic success” OR “academic outcome” OR “school
success” OR “educational success”
Context “higher education” OR “post-secondary education” OR
“university” OR “college”

2.2. Screening
In order to find answers to the research questions, relevant inclusion and exclusion
criteria were established. In this way, the research could find comprehensive
knowledge of the grit and academic outcomes of students. For a paper to be
reviewed, it must first match the relevant criteria in Table 2.
1) Only the samples of college students in higher education are included (the
demographic characteristics of participants, such as gender and grade, are not
limited), and learners at other levels are excluded.
2) This collection is limited to empirical research and does not include other forms
of research.
3) In order to popularize the research and facilitate reading, this study only contains
articles written in English.
4) In order to ensure the reliability of the sources of articles, only articles that have
been peer-reviewed are included in this study.
At this stage, all the titles and key parts of journals should have been thoroughly
reviewed to meet the inclusion requirements of this study. If the purpose is to
examine how college students' grit affects their academic transcripts, then these
articles are eligible for examination. Firstly, a total of 373 articles were obtained
from the two e-databases. Secondly, 308 articles were listed in endnote 21, and 65

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duplicate articles were deleted. Thirdly, according to the time (2018-2023) and the
conditions of English writing, 105 articles were deleted and 203 articles remained.
Fourthly, the researchers screened the articles by meeting the qualification criteria
based on title, abstract, and keywords, deleting 112 articles. Fifthly, after a full
evaluation by several authors, combined with the inclusion and exclusion criteria,
the controversial pieces were discussed.
Table 2: Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria

College students sample group Preschool children, primary, secondary, or
high school students, special education,
teachers, and other adult learners sample
group
Empirical studies Literature review, commentaries, meta-
analysis, essays, letters, or anecdotal articles
Written in English Written in other languages
Peer-reviewed Non peer-reviewed

2.3. Article Extraction

After a rigorous screening procedure, 13 articles published in the past five years were
selected and met the inclusion criteria. These articles provided effective empirical
research data, so they qualified for this systematic evaluation.
3. Result
In all 13 journals, perseverance is related to academic achievements. Next, the
research results are analyzed from several aspects.
3.1. Information of research results
All 13 selected articles are quantitative studies. To help readers understand, the
authors reviewed selected publications based on year, location, journal, research
objectives, and key findings. The outcomes of higher education students’ grit and
academic performance are shown in Table 3.

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Table 3: Reported relationships between grit and academic performance

Nu. Authors Countr Title Aim(s) Participant Variables and Instrument Main Findings
(Year) y Used
1 Abubakar et Malaysi Association between To explore the effect of 247 college Grit (IV): Adopted from the Academic achievement is
al. (2021) a grit and academic grit on college learners' students Short Grit (Grit-S) scale predicted by consistency of
achievement among educational success as (Duckworth in 2009) with 7 interest (CGPA ≥ 3.50),
undergraduate Malaysian medical items while CGPA has no
pharmacy students in undergraduates. Academic achievement association with
Malaysia (DV): GPA in the last perseverance of effort
semester and CGPA scores.

2 Whipple & America Grit, fit, gender, and To investigate whether grit 186 first- Grit (IV): Short Grit Scale Grit positively affects the
Dimitrova- academic affects academic success year (Duckworth & Quinn, academic performance of
Grajzl achievement among and whether there are students 2009) with 8 items male students but not female
(2021) first‐year college gender differences. Gender (MOD) students. Gender plays a
students Academic achievement moderating role between
(DV): GPA of first-year grit and GPA.
college
3 Pleace & South Grit, motivation, and To explore how grit and 432 college Grit(IV): Grit-S survey It is grit, not intrinsic
Nicholls Africa university grades intrinsic motivation affect students (Duckworth & Quinn, motivation, that can
(2022) academic achievement. 2009) significantly predict
Motivation (IV): open- academic success. Grit is
ended questions positively produced by
Academic achievement intrinsic motivation.
(DV): Grades
4 Sunbul Turkey How grit mediates the To study the connection 406 Personality (IV): Turkish There is only an indirect
(2019) relations between between character, grit, undergradu adaptation of The Big Five relationship between grit
personality and GPA and academic success of ates inventory (Sumer and and academic performance;
in university students? higher education learners. Sumer, 2005) with 44 items that is, grit needs to affect
Grit(MED): Turkish academic performance
adaptation of Grit-S through the intermediary
(Saricam, Celik and Oguz, role of consciousness.
2016) with 8 items
Academic performance
(DV): GPA

5 Alqarni Saudi Investigating the To explore what 84 Emotional well-being (IV): PERMA- Grit and happiness are both
(2022) Arabia Relationship between role happiness and female Profiler scale includes 23 items(Butler and significant predictors of
Emotional Well- courage play in college Kern, 2016) academic success.
being and Grit as Saudi Arabian students Grit (IV): Grit scale with 12 items from
Predictors of Saudi women's academic Duckworth et al. (2007)
EFL Female Students' success in foreign Academic success (DV): English scores
Foreign Language language learning.
Achievement
6 Hernánd Portugal Passion or To explore the 474 Autonomy support (IV): Autonomy support Perseverance not only
ez et al. Perseverance? The correlation with the college scale with 12 items (Moreno-Murcia et al., significantly affects college
(2020) Effect of Perceived satisfaction of basic students 2019) grades but also mediates
Autonomy Support psychological Basic psychological needs satisfaction (IV): between other variables
and Grit on Academic needs, motivation, Portuguese version of Exercise Scale (Cid et (perceived autonomous support)
Performance in grit, and al.,2016) with 15 items and academic success.
College Students independent Intrinsic motivation (IV): Academic
support from Motivation Scale with 4 items (Vallerand et
teachers and al.,1989)
academic success. Grit (MED): Grit Scale short version with 8
items (Raykov,1997)
Academic grades(DV):GPA
7 Akos et America The Promise of For under- 1436 Resilience (IV): Connor-Davidson Original growth mindset and grit
al. Noncognitive Factors represented college college Resilience Scale (Conner & Davidson, can predict academic success,
(2022) for Underrepresented students, testing students 2003) with 10 items while the change of resilience in
College Students non-cognitive Grit (IV): short grit scale (Duckworth & a year can positively predict the
variables (including Quinn, 2009) with 8 items total number of total credit
grit) can predict the Growth mindset (IV): Growth mindset hours.
possibility of assessment (Dweck, 2009) includes 3 items
academic success. Academic performance (DV): GPA and
credit hours completed
8 Guo et China Purpose in life and To explore whether 439 Purpose in life (IV): Claremont Purpose Grit and its two dimensions
al. academic life goals affect undergra Scale (Bronk et al ., 2018) including 12- positively affect academic
(2023) performance: Grit academic duates items performance. Grit (especially
mediation among performance Grit (MED): Short Grit Scale (Duckworth & perseverance of effort) acts as a
Chinese college through grit. Quinn, 2009) consisting of 8 items mediator between life purpose
students Academic performance (DV): A single-item (especially target orientation and
scale adapted from Leung and Xu (2013) beyond-the-self) and academic
achievement, promoting
academic success.

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Nu. Authors Country Title Aim(s) Participant Variables and Instrument Used Main Findings
(Year)
9 Luthans America Refining Grit in To explore whether grit 176 business Grit (IV):8-item Short Grit Scale Grit is positively correlated
et al. Academic mediates the students ( Duckworth & Quinn, 2009) with GPA. To a great
(2019) Performance: The correlation of Psychological capital (MED): 24-item extent, the relationship
Mediational Role of educational success PsyCap Questionnaire adapted by Luthans between them is mediated
Psychological Capital through psychological et al., (2016) by psychological capital.
capital. Academic performance (DV): GPA
10 Hu et al. China Relationship Between To explore the 383 Growth mindset (IV): Language Mindsets Grit is positively correlated
(2022) Growth Mindset and relationship between university Inventory (Lou and Noels, 2017) with 18 with learners' English
English Language grit and foreign students items performance. Both grit and
Performance Among language performance Grit (MED) :L2 Grit Scale (Teimouri et foreign language
Chinese EFL and the mediating role al., 2020) with 8 items enjoyment are partly
University Students: of grit between English Foreign language Enjoyment (MED): mediating growth mindsets
The Mediating Roles performance and other English Classroom Enjoyment Scale and English scores.
of Grit and Foreign variables. adopted by (Jin and Zhang, 2019) with 15
Language Enjoyment items
English language performance (DV):
College English Test-Band 4 scores
11 Hodge et Australia The Role of Grit in To explore the 395 college Grit (IV): 8 items grit scale (Duckworth There was no gender
al. Determining mediating role of students 2009) difference in grit, and
(2018) Engagement and engagement between Engagement (MED): Utrecht work engagement mediates
Academic Outcomes grit and educational engagement scale for schools (UWES-9 between grit and academic
for University success. (S); Schaufeli 2003) with 9 items achievement.
Students Academic outcomes (DV): job demands-
resources scale (Bakker 2014a) with 3
items to assess the students’ beliefs about
their academic performance
12 Casali & Italy Soft Skills and Study- To explore how five 606 students Soft skills (IV): Questionnaires measuring Soft skills (including
Meneghe Related Factors: soft skills (including 5 soft skills (epistemic curiosity, persistence) indirectly
tti (2023) Direct and Indirect grit) influence creativity, critical thinking, perseverance, affect the performance of
Associations with academic success and and social awareness) higher education through
Academic general distress Study-related factors (MED): the intermediary of other
Achievement and through the mediating Questionnaires measuring 4 study-related learning-related factors.
General Distress in role of learn-related elements (achievement emotions, self-
University Students factors. regulated learning strategies, motivational
beliefs, and study resilience)
Academic achievement (DV): Grades
General distress (DV): 21 items
Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21
(Bottesi,2015)
13 Sulla et Italy University Students’ To investigate whether 176 college Girt (IV): Grit-s scale (Italian version by Grit affects students' final
al. Online Learning the psychological students Sulla et al., 2018) with 8 items exam results. Self-efficacy
(2022) During COVID-19: distress caused by the Self-efficacy (MED): Perceived self- in the management of
The Role of Grit in virus lockdown would efficacy in the management of complex complex problems had a
Academic moderate the mediation problems scale (Farnese et al., 2007) with mediation effect on grades,
Performance of self-efficacy 24 items while psychological
between grit and Psychological distress (MOD): Symptom distress moderated the first
academic performance. Checklist 6 (Rosen et al., 2000) with 6 part of the mediation
items process.
Academic performance(DV):Scores

Note: IV = Independent Variable; MED = Mediator Variable; MOD = Moderator Variable;

DV = Dependent Variable
3.2. Research Status of Grit and Academic Achievement
Some features were identified from the collected 13 documents. On the one hand, by
observing the number of articles published in different years, we discovered the
changes in people's attention to grit and academic performance. On the other hand,
from the geographical distribution of the articles, we found which regional
researchers pay attention to grit and academic success.
3.2.1. Number of Publications by Year
As shown in Figure 2, the publication years of 13 documents are as follows: one in
2018, 2020, and 2022, and two in 2019, 2021, and 2023. Most journal articles mainly
focus on the last three years, and this shows that researchers are paying increasing
attention to the effect of grit on college learners' educational success.

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Figure 2: Number of publications by year

3.2.2. Geographical Distribution of Articles
These 13 articles have been presented in 12 different journals, including one article
each in 11 journals and two articles in one journal, namely Frontiers in Psychology.
As shown in Figure 3, researchers from nine countries explored the influence of grit
on academic outcomes among university learners, with the number of publications
in descending order from the United States (three articles), Italy and China (two
articles), and South Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Malaysia, and Australia
(one article). As can be seen from the figure, the impact of grit on the educational
success of higher education learners has attracted the attention of researchers in many
countries, but attention to this issue needs to be further increased worldwide.

Figure 3: Geographical distribution of articles

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3.3. The Role of POE and COI in College Academic Performance
In all 13 journals, grit is related to academic performance. However, the two
dimensions of grit, POE and COI, have different results.
3.3.1. Both POE and COI Predict Academic Performance
In a study of African-American freshmen, Akos et al. (2022) found that the initial
grit score can effectively predict the academic performance (GPA) of learners. They
believe that for African-American students, it is very important to cultivate non-
cognitive elements in the key first year of study for academic success, and relevant
background factors should be considered. Pleace and Nicholls (2022) pointed out
that grit can predict the performance of learners majoring in economics and
management science, and there is a positive correlation between them. In addition,
they also studied the influence of motivation and grit, where the higher the intrinsic
motivation, the higher the grit. This study mentioned that in the context of a South
African university, intervention measures that take into account moldable personality
traits are conducive to narrowing the achievement gap between different classes and
are of great significance to helping disadvantaged groups improve their academic
performance. In English learning, there are similar findings. Alqarni (2022) found in
a cross-sectional study of the English learning of female students in Saudi Arabia
that grit is significantly related to English achievement. Another new discovery of
this study is that the age of learners significantly affects two aspects of grit (POE and
COI); that is, the older learners are, the higher their grit is. In addition, although the
results show that grit is related to emotional health, happiness is only positively
related to grit and unremitting efforts and has nothing to do with the consistency of
interests. In the cross-sectional study of the English learning environment in China,
Hu et al. (2022) not only emphasized the significant correlation between grit (POE
and COI) and College English Test-Band 4 (CET-4), but also proposed that grit
played a mediated role between growth mindset and achievement. This also
highlights the role grit plays in encouraging foreign language learning achievement.
In the face of difficulties, learners with a higher level of grit are more inclined to
make more efforts and persist in learning to improve their academic performance.
3.3.2 POE and COI Play Different Roles
In some studies, researchers have shown that the two aspects of grit (POE and COI
) do not function in a similar way. On the one hand, some studies describe that POE
seems to have a stronger relationship with academic performance than COI. In the
cross-sectional study of college students from all over Australia, Hodge et al. (2018)
believed that although grit is a contributor to academic success, perseverance in
efforts contributes more to achievements than consistency of interest. They
emphasize that learners are more likely to improve their academic performance and
perform better by persisting in completing tasks, while maintaining interest seems to

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have little effect. They also said that the first generation of higher education learners
has a higher perseverance of efforts index (POE) than their peers. There are
variations in the number between male and female learners, but male and female
learners show the same degree of grit (women account for the majority of the
sample). Hernández et al. (2020) also believed that the two dimensions of grit have
not played the same role. That is, POE in grit is the main factor in forecasting the
academic performance of Portuguese college learners. Whipple and Dimitrova-
Grajzl (2021) hold that the study is essentially longitudinal by evaluating the level
of grit before entering the university and the academic performance (GPA) at the end
of the freshman year, and point out that grit can affect the academic performance of
military academy students. In addition, POE can predict academic performance
better than COI. It should be noted that grit can positively predict the GPA of male
freshmen, but the academic performance of female students has no significant
impact. The researchers believed that this was related to the specialty particularity
(military academy background) and the fact that there are more men than women.
The reason is because female learners who choose to enter the military academy are
estimated to have many characteristics related to grit. That is, compared with men,
grit is a necessary quality for women to join military academies. Therefore, grit has
little effect on promoting female learners to improve their academic performance.
On the other hand, there are also different voices stating that COI is more closely
related to academic success. For example, in Abubakar et al.’s (2021) study, after a
cross-sectional investigation including pharmacy students of a university in
Malaysia, a noteworthy correlation was shown between grit and academic
achievement (CGPA) rather than the GPA of the previous semester. Although
learners' scores on POE are higher than those on COI, consistency of interest has a
greater relationship with academic performance (CGPA). This shows that
pharmaceutical students can persist in their efforts regardless of their grades.
However, students with high grades generally have more sustained interest. In other
words, it can help students improve their academic performance by increasing their
interest in the course. In addition, grit has no significant difference in demographic
characteristics and study years. They also pointed out that different cultural groups
seem to have different views on the size of gravel; the grit scores of college students
in the study are lower than those of American medical students, but they are
consistent with those of Thai medical students.
3.3.3. Grit, Academic Performance, and Other Variables
At present, many studies have not only studied grit and academic performance but
also discussed their relationship with other psychological factors. For example, a
horizontal study shows that grit and academic achievement (GPA) are significantly
positively correlated for business learners, but it is largely because academic
psychological capital plays a regulatory role. Researchers believe that psychological

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capital (HERO: hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimality) can guide courageous
business learners to achieve their goals. In other words, grit may not directly affect
academic performance, but if learners can combine grit with other positive academic
psychological resources, it will effectively promote academic success (Luthans et al.,
2019). In an ongoing investigation on the shift from traditional classroom instruction
to virtual learning caused by COVID-19, Sulla et al. (2022) pointed out that grit will
affect the final grades of Italian college students. In addition, strict blockade rules
may lead to low-level psychological distress. Therefore, self-efficacy plays a
mediating role in the connection between grit and college students' academic
performance. The researchers also mentioned that even for students with a high level
of grit, stress will hinder them from pursuing their goals. In other words, students
and educators need to pay attention to psychological pressure and learners' mental
health during special periods, so that the grit level will not decrease and grit will play
a role in academic outcomes. In a cross-sectional study of Italian college students,
there is a slight but significant negative correlation between five soft skills and
average grades. Furthermore, soft skills alone are not enough to promote academic
success, and they must consider other factors related to their studies in the learning
process. As there are many factors affecting learners' personal conditions and
academic success, their relationship is very complicated. Only when soft skills are
beneficial to learners will they attract learners' attention. Grit, as one of the five soft
skills, can affect academic success through the mediation of learning-related
variables such as achievement, emotion, and self-regulation (Casali & Meneghetti,
2023). Hernández et al. (2020) posited that although perseverance is important to
academic performance, learners' perceptions of demand support will affect their
belief system. Moreover, in the study of undergraduates majoring in physical
education in Portugal, they found that grit (mainly perseverance) not only predicts
academic success, but also plays an intermediary role between teachers' independent
support and students' performance. That is to say, if learners can get more
autonomous support in their studies, they will show a more positive state and make
more efforts to complete their academic tasks with high quality.
According to one study, grit must be mediated by other factors in order to have an
impact on academic achievement because it is not directly associated with it. For
example, in the cross-sectional study of three Turkish universities, although grit is
considered a predictor of academic achievement (GPA), it can only affect GPA on
the premise that consciousness plays an intermediary role. That is, there is only an
indirect relationship between grit and academic performance, but there is no direct
relationship (Sunbul, 2019). The mediated role of grit is the subject of other
publications. Guo et al. (2023) pointed out that although both dimensions of grit are
positively related to academic performance, it is perseverance of efforts, not the other
side of grit, that plays an intermediary role between life goals (including goal

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orientation and self-transcendence) and academic success. Researchers believed that
this is because, under the cultural background of China, Asian students often choose
to keep working hard for a long time to improve their academic performance in order
to meet the external expectations of improving their academic performance (such as
parents or social culture). This starting point may not be related to their real interests.
The researcher suggests that learners with different cultural backgrounds can be
selected from future studies to verify the connection between the factors in this study.
4. Discussion
Based on 13 articles published in two databases in the past five years (2018-2023),
this study investigates how grit affects college students' academic performance. We
are particularly concerned about two aspects: (1) Although both grit and grit are
related to academic performance, their influence is different; and (2) Grit affects
academic performance directly or indirectly. In addition, we also discussed the
concept and research methods of grit because all these will affect the relationship
between grit and academic performance. These findings are very meaningful, as they
not only show that grit really affects the academic performance of undergraduates,
but also provide a direction for further exploring the future significance of grit in
higher education.
First of all, grit is a whole structure, and all 13 articles show that grit is related to
academic performance. However, some studies show that the two dimensions of grit
have different functions. Specifically, compared with the consistency of interest, the
efforts of grit are more closely related to academic performance (Hernández et al.,
2020; Guo et al., 2023; Casali & Meneghetti, 2023).That is to say, POE
(perseverance of efforts) can better predict academic performance (Hernández et al.,
2020). Researchers believe that what makes learners progress is their determination
to persist in completing their academic tasks, not their ability to maintain interest
(Hodge et al., 2018). Moreover, learners who have no higher education background
(first generation college students) show a higher degree of effort. Lam et al. (2019)
explained this from the perspective of learning motivation. Although learners'
interest in learning belongs to intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2013), learners
with strong intrinsic motivation usually make persistent efforts and get better
academic performance (Goodman et al., 2011). At the same time, students with high
grades usually have more lasting academic interests (Abubakar et al., 2021). It should
be pointed out that the relationship between POE and COI and educational
performance is still controversial, so it is necessary to examine their functions with
objective and sufficient evidence in the future instead of arbitrarily denying any
dimension (Zhao & Wang, 2023).
Secondly, although the research shows that there is a relationship between grit and
academic performance, grit affects academic performance in various ways, including

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direct influence (Hodge et al., 2018; Abubakar et al., 2021; Whipple & Dimitrova-
Grajzl, 2021; Pleace & Nicholls, 2022; Alqarni, 2022; Hernández et al., 2020; Akos
et al., 2022; Sulla et., 2022; Hu et al., 2022; Casali & Meneghetti et al., 2023; Guo
et al., 2023) and indirect effects (Sunbul, 2019; Luthans et al., 2019), as well as
indirectly affecting academic performance through the intermediary role of
personality or psychological capital. There is a complicated relationship between
individuals and learners, which is influenced by many factors (Akos et al., 2022).
This is reflected in the literature: among the 13 selected articles in journals, 12
articles not only explored the relationship between grit and academic performance,
but also combined with other psychological factors (e.g., psychological capital,
engagement, and growth mindset) to explore the relationship between grit and
academic performance and the role of grit in academic grades and other variables
from multiple angles, so as to tap the potential of grit in promoting college students'
academic performance as much as possible. However, it should be noted that a study
shows that five soft skills (including grit) are negatively correlated with academic
performance (Casali & Meneghetti, 2022). This is different from other positive
correlation results. Although the negative correlation is small, it still needs attention.
The reason is worth further exploring.
Further, despite grit emphasizing not giving up, overcoming obstacles, and pursuing
goals for a long time (Duckworth et al., 2009), we found that there are a few studies
that provide clear meanings of "specific obstacles" and "long-term goals." In other
words, researchers need to improve the concept of grit (Zhao & Wang, 2023) because
the important premise of research is reliable conceptual structure and tools (Elahi
Shirvan et al., 2024). In addition, learners from different cultural backgrounds may
have different understandings of the concept of grit and pay different attention to
COI and POE. Therefore, it may affect the relationship between grit and academic
performance. For example, in short-term culture, people pay more attention to the
present and attach importance to current interests (Hofstede, 2011). However, for
Chinese students in a long-term culture, academic success cannot be their long-term
goal but a temporary one (Guo et al., 2023). In other words, the importance of grit
for academic performance may be different due to different cultural backgrounds.
Similarly, Hodge et al. (2018) also mentioned that potential cultural prejudice poses
certain challenges to grit and academic performance. The research results show that,
compared with students whose parents have received higher education, the first
generation of college students (whose parents have not participated in higher
education) show greater efforts and perform as well as others (Marks, 2007).
Therefore, in the follow-up research, the concept of grit should be defined more
accurately and expressed more strictly, so that grit can be better understood by
learners with different cultural backgrounds and play its due role. In addition,
considering the differences between different types of schools and grades (Pleace &

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Nicholls, 2022), it is also helpful to understand the influence of non-cognitive factors
(grit) on academic performance by expanding multiple grades (Akos et al., 2022).
Finally, the differences in research methods can explain the differences in the
relationship between grit and academic achievement, such as using different self-
report scales and different standards to measure academic success. In these 13
articles, most of them (11 articles) are based on objective test scores in the form of
GPA, CGPA, or other examination scores (e.g., Sunbul, 2019; Abubakar et al., 2021;
Whipple & Dimitrova-Grajzl, 2021; Hu et al., 2022), and two articles also contain
subjective measurement forms (such as Hodge et al., 2018; Guo et al., 2023).
Subjective measurement of academic performance has been proven to be acceptable
(Watson et al., 2021). Therefore, future research can try to measure academic
performance in a more comprehensive way, such as by combining objective scores
with subjective scales to better understand learners' real learning situations. In
addition, most articles use quantitative and cross-sectional research methods, and
internal research is insufficient (e.g., qualitative or mixed research). It is very
important to understand the predictability and persistence of cognitive and
behavioral outcomes (Hernández et al., 2020). Since grit will develop with time
(Duckworth, 2007), the plasticity of grit on academic performance needs to be
further explored (Alamer, 2021). Therefore, it is very necessary to do longitudinal
research over different time lengths. In this way, people can understand the
development and changes of grit and academic performance (for example, how grit
affects academic performance and how it affects academic performance over time)
and their causal relationship.
5. Implications of the Study
This study examines the influence of grit on educational success in the past five
years, and systematically shows how grit affects college students' academic
performance. These empirical results are very meaningful because they provide a
direction for further study on how grit affects college students' academic
performance. Therefore, four understandings can be drawn from the reviewed
journals. First, there are many articles supporting the claim that POE is more
effective than COI, but we do not ignore the objective fact that COI promotes
academic performance. Therefore, more objective and sufficient evidence is needed
in future research to examine the influence of two dimensions of grit (POE and COI)
on academic performance, and it is not easy to decide to deny either dimension.
Second, there is not a single model between learners and learning, and the
relationship between them is complicated. Therefore, we should actively explore the
interaction and influence among grit, academic performance, and other related
psychological factors, so as to explore the positive influence of grit on academic
performance from a new angle or way. Thirdly, the concept of grit needs to be further
improved and concretized to be suitable for learners with different cultural

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backgrounds and learning situations. Finally, the number of research methods in this
field is unbalanced, and qualitative research, mixed method, or longitudinal research
should be added in future research to further understand learners' real thoughts and
explore the cause and effect and development of the relationship between grit and
academic performance.
6. Conclusion
This study discussed how grit affects the academic performance of college students
under the background of higher education and selected 13 articles from Scopus and
Web of Science by means of a systematic literature review. In every article, grit is
related to academic success. Grit and grit's two dimensions (POE and COI) affect the
academic performance of college learners. However, the influence of two
dimensions of grit (POE and COI) on academic performance is still controversial
and needs further discussion. Most studies show that grit can directly affect academic
performance. In addition, grit can mediate between academic performance and other
variables. By reviewing the literature in the past five years (2018-2023), this paper
also found that other cognitive and non-cognitive variables are related to grit and
academic performance, and they jointly affect academic performance through
different structural frameworks. This can not only fully tap the potential of grit in
promoting college students' academic performance, but also provide new methods
and directions for studying grit and academic success with college learners in the
future. In addition, educators can help college students strengthen grit in a planned
and purposeful way to promote academic success.
7. Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies
Like many studies, this one also has some limitations. On the one hand, the limitation
of this study lies in the limited databases, including Scopus and Web of Science
(WOS). Although they are the most well-known high-quality journal lists (Paul et
al., 2021), this may lead to the reduction of qualified literature. In other words, if
studies from more databases are included, the analysis results will be more
comprehensive. On the other hand, this research focused on the study of university
learners' grit and academic achievement in the recent five years (2018-2023). Even
though this means keeping abreast of the latest research trends, it may also limit the
understanding of the historical context of the development of grit and academic
achievement research. In addition, this study only paid attention to English language
journals and omitted other documents such as books, chapters, and reports. This
limited other discoveries to some extent. Therefore, future researchers can
appropriately increase the database, extend the research period, or modify the
screening criteria so as to get more comprehensive and unique results.

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Acknowledgment
This research does not involve any financial support. The author is grateful for all
the convenient resources provided by the Faculty of Educational Studies in
Universiti Putra Malaysia. At the same time, the authors thank reviewers and
proofreaders for their time to improve this article and put forward valuable
suggestions.
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