The moderating role of goal orientation in the workload-frustration relationship.

Abstract

Goal orientation was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between quantitative workload and frustration. Based on data from 460 graduate students, two forms of goal orientation moderated this relationship. Specifically, it was found that workload was positively related to frustration for people with high levels of avoiding goal orientation, but not for those with low levels of avoiding goal orientation. In addition, it was found that the positive effect of workload on frustration was weaker for people with high levels of mastery goal orientation than for those with low levels of mastery goal orientation. Both theoretical and practical implications of the current findings are discussed.