Online learning has become prevalent especially during this post COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is important to understand the online learning motivation in order to help online students learn better. This study aims to investigate how learners’ behaviour influences learners’ online motivation, how learners’ environment influences learners’ online motivation, how social engagement influences changes in learners’ behaviour, how instructor support influences changes in learners’ behaviour, and the relationship between instructor support and learners’ behaviour, learners’ environment, and social engagement. A purposive sample of 100 participants responded to the survey. The instrument used is a 5 Likert-scale survey and is rooted from Thorndike (1905) to merge with Pintrich & De Groot’s (1990) motivational construct to reveal the variables in table 1 below. The survey has 5 sections. Section A has 5 items on demographic profile. Section B has 12 items on Behaviour. Section C has 14 items on Environment. Section D has 5 items on Changes in Behaviour while section E has 7 items on Changes in Environment. This paper has presented and highlighted the crucial elements of online motivation from the perspective of the law of effect by Thorndike (1905). The present findings also provide important pedagogical implications for enhancing students’ online learning motivation.
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