Although math motivation is positively associated with math achievement, the pattern reverses at the country level such that societies with higher motivational levels show lower achievement. This motivation-achievement paradox has puzzled researchers, and existing explanations have failed to fully account for the phenomenon. We advance and test a cultural explanation of the paradox using two large-scale studies. Both studies found that long-term orientation was negatively associated with country-level motivational factors but positively associated with national achievement (i.e., confounded the relationship between country-level motivation and achievement). When controlling for long-term orientation, the negative association between country-level motivation and achievement became nonsignificant. Our research highlights the importance of national culture, particularly long-term orientation, in shaping students’ motivational process and academic performance.
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