International Journal of Business and Management; Vol. 13, No. 11; 2018 ISSN 1833-3850 E-ISSN 1833-8119 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 1 Academic Motivation Scale: Development, Application and Validation for Portuguese Accounting and Marketing Undergraduate Students Rui Silva 1 , Ricardo Rodrigues 2 & Carmem Leal 3 1 Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Felgueiras, Portugal 2 University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal 3 University of Trás-os-Montes Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal Correspondence: Rui Silva, School of Technology and Management, Institute Polytechnic of Porto, Felgueiras, Portugal. E-mail: rrs@estg.ipp.pt Received: September 7, 2018 Accepted: September 30, 2018 Online Published: October 12, 2018 doi:10.5539/ijbm.v13n11p1 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v13n11p1 Abstract The purpose of this research is the adaptation of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and its use on Accounting and Marketing college undergraduates. After the AMS had been adapted and changed into the Accounting and Marketing Academic Motivation Scale (AMAMS), it was validated in psychometric terms so that it could become a valid tool to be applied and used in studies involving this type of students. Using structural equation modelling, the AMAMS that resulted from adapting the original AMS model was tested. The new scale thus obtained has produced significant results that were very similar to those of the original scale, which means that it is valid and can be applied to other contexts. The validity and statistical reliability of the new scale made it possible to measure Accounting and Marketing college undergraduates’ motivation in a reliable and robust way. The present research is an important contribution for literature since it is the first time that AMS is adapted to and validated in students of these two areas of management, although it has already been applied to several educational contexts. Keywords: academic motivation scale, amotivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation 1. Introduction Higher Education plays an extremely important role in a country’s growth and development. Therefore, it is essential that the powers that be are fully aware of its present situation. Measuring the impact and quality of education can be a very difficult task, for it depends on several factors and contexts, such as access, number of enrolments, number of students who graduate, drop-out rate, among others. Therefore, it is relevant to understand how the main actors (the students) interacting in this process feel. Lack of motivation has been deemed a predictor of students’ academic achievement and is correlated with expected results like students’ academic performance and their attitudes in an educational context (Barkoukis, Tsorbatzoudis, Grouios, & Sideridis, 2008; Gottfried, Marcoulides, Gottfried, Oliver, & Guerin, 2007). Therefore, new instruments must be created that can effectively and robustly measure student motivation in a given context, place and field of knowledge (Palacios & Arias, 2014). Motivation can become an important indicator of all the factors that should be taken into account in the teaching-learning process so that changes can be made to improve what needs improving and maintain what is being properly done. Consequently, knowing all the motivational processes that have to do with students and assessing them can provide one with information on what paths to follow and what policies to implement to improve academic achievement. Despite its complexity, motivation in general, and, in particular, its measuring have become more and more relevant in academia, and led to the creation of strategies to understand and enhance its applicability (Glynn, 2007). It has been looked into from different theoretical perspectives, among which the Social Cognitive Theory (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993), a Expectancy Value Theory (Wigfield, 1994) and the Self Determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000c) stand out as the main references on the subject. Motivation can show itself in many ways in student behaviour, involving not only students themselves, but also