Why externalize failure? Social goals, engagement and self-handicapping in the concern of eastern cultural community

Abstract

During this COVID-19 pandemic, the community, especially students, experienced anxiety due to the uncertainty that occurred. To cover it up, self-handicapping is the most common option. People in the eastern culture, such as Indonesia, prefer to achieve social achievement (SAch) goals than academic achievement (AAch) goals in motivation. This study aims to examine the model of the relationship between SAch goals with adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. This study used 904 respondents who filled out a questionnaire that had been tested for validity and reliability using confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency respectively. The respondents of this research were young business practitioners who were studying in college. The results of the correlation test confirm the results of previous research that SAch goals consist of three interrelated but independent dimensions, so that students can pursue these three goals. Academic engagement also has two correlated dimensions, while self-handicapping has two uncorrelated and even contradictory dimensions. The results of testing the relationship model using a two-stage structural equation modeling approach further strengthen that behavioral self-handicapping was maladaptive. Social development goals (SDevGs) produced adaptive outcomes, while social demonstration goals (SDemGs) produced maladaptive outcomes. Eastern culture prefers did not make mistakes than showed social competence by appearing popular and having many friends. Need a curriculum that includes activities that encourage the achievement of social goals and feel an attachment to academic activities but minimizes behavior that externalizes failure.