Succeeding at Sales by Avoiding Failure: Social Achievement Goals in a Collectivist Cultural Context

Abstract

Social achievement goals are introduced as useful in understanding the motivation of sales people. Further, although past research has indicated that avoidance based achievement goals are maladaptive, recent evidence suggests they are less harmful or may even be helpful in collectivist cultural contexts. Yet, this research has not been extended to work settings. The study tests the validity of social goals and the nature of avoidance based goals in predicting sales outcomes in Sri Lanka. Salespeople in a large organization were surveyed to examine their motivational goals and performance. Results indicated that social achievement goals were predictive of performance and that avoidance based social achievement goals were positively related or unrelated to sales performance. The findings highlight social achievement goals as useful to understanding the behaviour and motivation of salespeople and suggest that regional variations in culture may require motivational programmes that are very different in nature.