Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of students' self-regulation, co-regulation and behavioral engagement on their performance in flipped learning environments in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The subjects were college students taking an education course offered at a 4-year university in South Korea. Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze 221 student responses. Findings: The findings indicated that the more students self-regulated, the more likely they were to engage in co-regulation with other students in the class. Students' self-regulation and co-regulation also significantly affected their behavioral engagement. Finally, students' self-regulation positively affected their academic performance, while co-regulation and behavioral engagement did not affect their performance. Originality/value: Based on these findings, this study provides meaningful implications for scholars and practitioners on how to select and use more appropriate instructional and evaluation strategies to improve students' positive behavior, engagement and performance in a flipped learning environment.