Goal Pursuit Strategies Research Articles

Fit Between Regulatory Focus and Goal Pursuit Strategies on Auditors’ Professional Skepticism

Regulators and researchers indicate that auditors do not exercise sufficient professional skepticism (hereafter skepticism) in auditing accounting estimates. Drawing on regulatory fit theory, we propose and find that priming auditor regulatory focus along with the goal pursuit strategy could enhance auditors’ skepticism. Specifically, auditors with a promotion focus exercise greater skepticism when primed with an eager-means goal. Auditors with a prevention focus exercise greater skepticism when primed with a vigilant-means goal. In contrast, auditors in ‘nonfit’ conditions exercise lower skepticism. We also find that auditors experiencing a ‘fit’ between their regulatory focus and goal pursuit strategy engage in more effortful evaluation of evidence items, leading to greater skepticism. Additional analyses show that auditors ‘feeling right’ because of experiencing regulatory fit will exercise greater skepticism. Our findings suggest that a goal pursuit strategy enhances skepticism when the goal fits with the auditors’ regulatory focus.

When Goal Pursuit Strategies and Beliefs Lead Us Astray: Unexpected Negative Effects on Motivation

Existing research has established various strategies and beliefs that can aid in goal pursuit. These tools and perspectives, however, can often lead us astray. This symposium combines four presentations that highlight various tactics and viewpoints for goal pursuit that are commonly thought to be effective, but in fact prove detrimental for motivation. The first presentation begins by demonstrating that contrary to people’s expectations and a large body of work documenting comprehensive benefits of practice, repetition engenders contrasting effects on creative performance. The second presentation continues by examining how although failing and learning from failure is encouraged, people actually overestimate how much they and others learn from failure. The third presentation then investigates how individuals intuitively believe that goals must progress linearly; so, when goal pursuers experience nonlinear progress, they are more frustrated and demotivated. The last presentation demonstrates that although choice and agency is touted to motivate charitable giving, asking people to choose between donation options may backfire. Taken together, this symposium highlights how popular strategies and beliefs about goal pursuit can misguide our motivation. Does Practice Make Perfect? The Contrasting Effects of Repetition on Creativity Presenter: Melanie Brucks; Columbia Business School Presenter: Szu-chi Huang; Stanford Graduate School of Business Our Rosy View of Failure Presenter: Lauren Eskreis-Winkler; Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Presenter: Kaitlin Woolley; Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Presenter: Eda Erensoy; U. of Chicago Booth School of business Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: How Nonlinear Goal Progress Impacts Motivation Presenter: Jessica Jee Won Paek; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. Presenter: Grainne Fitzsimons; Duke U. From Warm Glow to Cold Chill: Choice Avoidance in Charitable Donations Presenter: Ilana Brody; UCLA Anderson School of Management Presenter: Hengchen Dai; UCLA Anderson School of Management Presenter: Jana Gallus; UCLA Anderson School of Management

Fit or not? Bringing regulatory fit into the frame on health food preferences

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to facilitate the use of public communication in the development of healthy food plans for consumers. This research aims to investigate whether the influence of “fit” to individuals’ goal pursuit strategies on the effectiveness of advertisement frames can intensify persuasion to consume healthy (virtue) foods or restrain the consumption of unhealthy (vice) foods in health promotion. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted to investigate how goal-framed messages for different food types affect consumer decision making by moderating regulatory focus. Findings The results demonstrate that the compatibility between the mere exposure to virtue (vice) food in a negative (positive) frame drives the effectiveness of a given goal framing. However, when additional regulatory focus is added, the fit in the vice/promotion and virtue/prevention condition causes the effect of framing to disappear. Moreover, the unfit in the virtue/promotion and vice/prevention condition suppresses the virtue (vice) preference in the positive (negative) frame. Research limitations/implications These findings suggest that under different valence framing, advertising messages provide different amounts of persuasion in virtue/vice conditions and the moderation effect of regulatory fit on framing to influence virtue/vice food preference. Practical implications Public policy executives and marketers can increase the likelihood that consumers will make healthy food choices by fitting goals to strengthen persuasion. The unfitted goal orientation between food and regulatory focus enhances the framing effect leading to food preference changes. Originality/value The framing effect disappears when additional regulatory fit the food type, but is enhanced when additional regulatory focus does not fit the food type. By bringing fit into the frame and the virtue/vice food type, this research extends the notion of regulatory fit into three pairs of given goal orientations on the persuasiveness of message framing to health-related communication. It provides a substantial explanation underlying persuasion to promote a greater understanding of virtue/vice food preferences.

To fly higher or to fly safer? Revealing self-regulation strategies for entrepreneurs

Although an increasing number of entrepreneurship studies have drawn from Regulatory Focus Theory to better understand the relationships between entrepreneurs’ motivations and behaviors, a dominant emphasis on the effects of chronic regulatory dispositions has led to a dearth of research on entrepreneurs’ efforts to adjust their goal-pursuit strategies in light of the circumstances they face. To advance entrepreneurship research on regulation dynamics, we examine entrepreneurs’ effective use of self-regulation strategies as they attempt to tackle adverse situations. We show that while promotion and prevention strategies can be articulated along the three axes of task approach, feedback response, and emotional expressions, some forms of regulation strategies appear more prevalent than others. In turn, we show that extant measures of chronic regulatory foci are poor predictors of entrepreneurs’ self-regulation efforts. As such, our study provides a substantive basis to re-consider the nature of self-regulat...

Rola satysfakcji z pracy w relacji między dopasowaniem człowieka do organizacji w zakresie strategii realizacji celów a zdrowiem psychicznym

Person-organization (P-O) fit is a predictor of job satisfaction, and a misfit is a potential stressor. We aimed to examine the consequences of fit between a person and an organization in terms of goal pursuit strategies. We tested whether job satisfaction mediates the relationship between regulatory fit and mental health. Research was conducted in a group of 169 employees. They were asked to fill in questionnaires assessing their chronic work regulatory focus, organiza tional regulatory focus and job satisfaction. To measure mental well-being we administered the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). We conducted mediation analysis in regression. The results of the mediation analysis confirmed the me- diating role of job satisfaction in the relation between regulatory focus misfit and physical and mental symptoms of distress. The results of this study point to the fact that P-O fit can relate to goal pursuit strategies. It influences not only job satisfaction, but also employees' health.The conclusions can be applied in the human resources management practices, e.g., it may serve as a useful argument to motivate employers to shape goals and strategies individually by managers, according to employees preferences. The results should be interpreted with caution because of non-random sampling.

Does regulatory fit lead to more effective health communication? A systematic review

Many of today's threats to public health arise from people's lifestyle. Hence, the public's compliance with advice given for health promotion and disease prevention has to be enhanced. Much research traces back the efficacy of health promotion messages to message qualities, while other work focuses on recipient qualities. Regulatory focus theory posits inter-individual differences in motivational orientation, namely a promotion or prevention focus, and offers a unique chance to look at message and recipient variables at the same time (Higgins, 1997). Whereas a promotion-focused individual tries to achieve desired end-states, someone with a prevention focus is rather vigilant. If individuals' goal pursuit strategies match their regulatory orientation, they experience regulatory fit, which increases the perceived persuasiveness of health messages (Higgins, 2000). Such a match can be evoked by particularly framed messages that highlight a person's regulatory orientation. Thus, the assumption of regulatory fit goes beyond the concept of gain- and loss-framing. To assess whether regulatory fit contributes to the effectiveness of health communication, a systematic review was conducted.An extensive systematic search led to the inclusion of 30 studies, for which data were extracted and quality appraised. Findings were summarized using narrative synthesis. Most studies (n = 23) were conducted in the USA and assessed the effects of regulatory fit on behavioral intention (n = 21). Nineteen experiments used samples of university students, and the health context chosen most often was a healthy diet (n = 7). Sixteen experiments manipulated regulatory orientation whereas chronic regulatory focus was measured ten times. The majority of studies confirmed that regulatory fit enhanced the effectiveness of health messages, which did not vary much across different health domains or outcomes. Regulatory fit is a promising approach for tailoring health messages as the synergy effects of regulatory fit increase their effectiveness.

First on the List: Effectiveness at Self-Regulation and Prioritizing Difficult Exercise Goal Pursuit

Identifying and understanding the goal pursuit strategies that distinguish effective self-regulators from less-effective self-regulators are important for elucidating how individuals achieve their goals. We suggest that the timing of plans for difficult goal pursuits is one differentiation. A pilot study shows that effective self-regulators tend to believe they are best suited to pursue difficult goals earlier in the day, and two studies provide evidence that effective and less-effective self-regulators differ in the timing of their plans for difficult goal pursuits. Results indicate that when exercising is perceived as difficult goal pursuit, effective self-regulators prioritize that difficult goal pursuit by planning to exercise earlier in the day whereas less-effective self-regulators plan exercise for later in the day.

Why are people with high self-control happier? The effect of trait self-control on happiness as mediated by regulatory focus.

Background: While self-control has often been related to positive outcomes in life such as higher academic achievements and better health, recent insights reveal that people with high trait self-control (TSC) may even experience greater life satisfaction or happiness.Objective: The current study further scrutinizes this potential association between TSC and happiness, and examines how regulatory focus, defined as the way people frame and direct their goal pursuit strategies, plays a role in this relationship. Accordingly, the present study examines the mediating role of regulatory-focus (promotion and prevention focus) on the relationship between TSC and happiness.Method: Data was collected from 545 individuals (65.9% female, Mage = 27.52 years) regarding their TSC, regulatory focus, and happiness.Results: Mediation analyses demonstrate that TSC positively predicts happiness, while this effect was partially mediated by relatively more promotion focus and less prevention focus.Conclusion: Results suggest that people with higher TSC are happier possibly because they are: (1) more promotion-focused on acquiring positive gains thereby facilitating more approach-oriented behaviors, and (2) less prevention-focused on avoiding losses thereby reducing avoidance-oriented behaviors. These findings are relevant for topical scientific debates regarding the underlying mechanisms of self-control regarding initiatory and inhibitory behaviors.

Goal Management Tendencies Predict Trajectories of Adjustment to Lower Limb Amputation Up to 15 Months Post Rehabilitation Discharge

ObjectivesTo explore patterns of change in positive affect, general adjustment to lower-limb amputation, and self-reported disability from rehabilitation admission to 15 months postdischarge, and to examine whether goal pursuit and goal adjustment tendencies predict either initial status or rates of change in these outcomes, controlling for sociodemographic and clinical covariates. DesignProspective cohort study with 4 time points (t1: on admission; t2: 6wk postdischarge; t3: 6mo postdischarge; t4: 15mo postdischarge). SettingInpatient rehabilitation. ParticipantsConsecutive sample (N=98) of persons aged ≥18 years with major lower-limb amputation. InterventionsNot applicable. Main Outcome MeasuresPositive affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; general adjustment subscale of the Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experience Scales-Revised; and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. ResultsPositive affect decreased from t1 to t4 for the overall sample, whereas general adjustment increased. Self-reported disability scores remained stable over this period. Stronger goal pursuit tendencies were associated with greater positive affect at t1, and stronger goal adjustment tendencies were associated with more favorable initial scores on each outcome examined. With regard to rates of change, stronger goal pursuit tendencies buffered against decreases in positive affect and promoted decreases in self-reported disability over time, whereas stronger goal adjustment tendencies enhanced increases in general adjustment to lower-limb amputation. ConclusionsGreater use of goal pursuit and goal adjustment strategies appears to promote more favorable adjustment to lower-limb amputation over time across a range of important rehabilitation outcomes.

“If I can do it I will do it, if I can’t, I can’t”: a study of adaptive self-regulatory strategies following lower limb amputation

Purpose: To explore the goal-related strategies employed by people following lower limb amputation using a framework based on the dual-process model of adaptive self-regulation. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 individuals with a lower limb amputation. Results: Theoretical thematic analysis identified four broad assimilative/goal pursuit strategies; internal resource use, planning, technology use and help use. The most common strategies were maintaining a specific leisure activity (n = 20), seeking instrumental help (n = 15) and determination (n = 15). Three broad categories of accommodative/goal adjustment strategies were also identified; interpersonal accommodation, managing limitations and meaning-making. The most common were accepting limitations (n = 18), emotional support from friends and family (n = 17) and adjusting goals to constraints (n = 16). There was also evidence of strategies that combined the use of accommodative and assimilative strategies, and the use of avoidant strategies. Conclusions: The findings point towards key assimilative/goal pursuit and accommodative/goal adjustment strategies that may be adaptive following lower limb amputation. The study highlights the potential usefulness of the dual-process model in understanding how individuals adapt to functional disability, while bringing to light issues warranting further explication within this framework.Implications for RehabilitationPeople adopt specific adaptive goal pursuit and goal adjustment strategies in response to goal disruptions following limb loss.Being aware of the processes involved in regulating goals in response to challenges is useful for understanding adjustment to limb loss.Greater understanding of adaptive and maladaptive goal strategies may help the rehabilitation team to foster positive outcomes in people with lower limb amputation.

Opposites Fit: Regulatory Focus Complementarity and Relationship Well-Being

Two studies of romantic couples examined the circumstances under which complementary goal-pursuit strategies (specifically, the pairing of a relationship partner who prefers to pursue goals eagerly with a relationship partner who prefers to pursue goals vigilantly) lead to positive relationship outcomes. As hypothesized, couples who reported higher levels of goal congruence (Study 1) or greater self-other overlap (Study 2) benefited from complementary regulatory focus orientations. We suggest that such benefits stem from the advantages provided by the availability of both eager and vigilant strategic preferences, which allow complementary couples to “divide and conquer” goal pursuits as a unit so that both relationship partners can take on their preferred eager or vigilant strategic role. We further suggest that goal congruence is necessary to capitalize on these proposed advantages of complementary eager or vigilant goal-pursuit strategies.

A brain network instantiating approach and avoidance motivation

Research indicates that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is important for pursuing goals, and areas of DLPFC are differentially involved in approach and avoidance motivation. Given the complexity of the processes involved in goal pursuit, DLPFC is likely part of a network that includes orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), cingulate, amygdala, and basal ganglia. This hypothesis was tested with regard to one component of goal pursuit, the maintenance of goals in the face of distraction. Examination of connectivity with motivation-related areas of DLPFC supported the network hypothesis. Differential patterns of connectivity suggest a distinct role for DLPFC areas, with one involved in selecting approach goals, one in selecting avoidance goals, and one in selecting goal pursuit strategies. Finally, differences in trait motivation moderated connectivity between DLPFC and OFC, suggesting that this connectivity is important for instantiating motivation.

Long-term adherence to a physical activity intervention: The role of telephone-assisted vs. self-administered coping plans and strategy use

Objective: This study investigated the role of coping plans and the use of selection, optimisation and compensation (SOC) strategies within an experimental evaluation of a 26-week physical exercise intervention. Methods: Older women (N = 86, M age = 73.7 years) were randomly assigned to a telephone-assisted or a self-administered coping planning intervention after 6 weeks’ participation in an exercise programme. The number of different coping plans formulated, exercise-specific SOC strategy use and their interaction were used to predict objectively measured long-term adherence to the intervention. Results: The number of coping plans formulated (β = 0.28) and goal-pursuit strategies reported (sum score of optimisation and compensation strategies, β = 0.39) predicted adherence to the exercise programme over 20 weeks. The predictive strength of coping plans increased with decreasing numbers of goal-pursuit strategies (β = −0.21). Women supported via telephone reported significantly more coping plans than did women in the self-administered coping planning group, F(1,80) = 9.47, p = 0.003. Conclusion: Coping plans have a buffering effect on adherence levels when use of SOC strategies is low. Older women's adherence to physical activities may be improved if they are given direct support in generating coping plans involving strategies of selection, optimisation and compensation.

New Product Team Decision Making: Regulatory Focus Effects on Number, Type, and Timing Decisions*

Company executives rely on new product development teams to carry out their directives and make decisions according to management's goals. However, team members bring their own motivational perspectives to strategic decisions. This research examines how individual and leadership motivations influence a dyadic team's new product decisions. Specifically, this article investigates how matching vs. mismatched motivations between team members affect new product number, type, and timing decisions. In addition, this study asks how effective leadership‐provided motivations are in guiding teams' new product decisions. A set of hypotheses is developed using regulatory focus theory, which identifies basic motivational differences in individuals (i.e., promotion vs. prevention focus) and their effects on decision making. The hypotheses examine the effects of regulatory focus match vs. mismatch within teams on the likelihood to introduce new products, the timing of new product introductions, and the types of new products introduced. To test the hypotheses, a controlled, yet realistic product management simulation is employed. A total of 124 undergraduate seniors (83 women and 41 men) at a large public university enrolled in a marketing management capstone course participated in this study for partial course credit. Utilizing two‐person teams engaged in a business simulation ensured an appropriate level of controlled complexity in the decision making task, while allowing the phenomena of interest to be isolated and tested. Results show that when dyads share the same motivational approach (regulatory focus match), leadership‐prescribed goal pursuit strategies are largely ineffective. Only dyads that do not share the same motivational approach to decision making (regulatory focus mismatch) make new product decisions consistent with leadership‐prescribed goal pursuit strategies. For regulatory focus match dyads, the results demonstrate that a promotion focus (when compared to a prevention focus) leads to greater numbers of new products introduced, faster new product introductions, and more novel new product introductions. For new product managers, these results carry important implications. Which new product opportunities to invest in and which to forgo is presumably determined by the strategic direction given to teams by top management. Results suggest that when team members share the same motivational approach, this not only influences new product decisions, but also diminishes or eliminates the influence top management can exert on new product decisions. Such “isolation” from leadership influences does not have to be detrimental. For example, companies that seek to insulate new product development teams from influences from the top, such as is the case in many new venture incubations, would be well served to staff those teams ensuring a promotion focus match.

A short goal-pursuit intervention to improve physical capacity: A randomized clinical trial in chronic back pain patients

The present study tested a short intervention using goal-pursuit strategies to increase physical capacity in pain patients. Sixty chronic back pain patients were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. Both groups followed a 3-week conventional back pain program at an outpatient back pain center. Instead of routine treatment, the intervention group received a one-hour intervention consisting of a combination of (a) a goal-setting strategy (i.e., mental contrasting, MC) aimed at commitment to improved physical capacity, (b) a short cognitive behavioral therapy-oriented problem-solving approach (CBT) to help patients overcome the obstacles associated with improving physical capacity, and (c) a goal-pursuit strategy, i.e., implementation intentions (II) aimed at performing physical exercise regularly. At two follow-ups (3 weeks after discharge and 3 months after returning home) the MCII-CBT group had increased its physical capacity significantly more than the control group as measured by both behavioral measures (ergometer, lifting) and subjective ratings. Findings are discussed with relation to the use of the intervention as a specific treatment to increase chronic pain patients’ motivation to be physically active.

Boundaries of Regulatory Fit: Is It the Thought That Counts?

The feeling of regulatory fit is thought to arise from the right kind of goal pursuit, but some studies imply that it may be evoked even by lesser involvement in the right kind of strategies. The present experiment explored the minimum of involvement necessary to evoke regulatory fit. Participants (N = 71) first completed a regulatory focus manipulation task and were then led to believe that they would receive either rich or accurate information concerning vegetable sterols, evoking beliefs that they used eager or vigilant information search strategies. In reality, all participants received the same information. Participants in promotion focus reported more positive attitudes in the rich information condition, whereas prevention-focused participants reported more positive attitudes in the accurate information condition. The results showed that regulatory fit can be evoked through mere thought, without actual goal pursuit and even without engagement in the goal pursuit strategies.

Strategies of self‐regulation in goal attainment versus goal maintenance

AbstractWe propose that there exists an important difference between attainment and maintenance in terms of the goal pursuit strategies for which they call. Specifically, we propose that goal attainment calls for the use of eager approach strategies, whereas goal maintenance calls for the use of vigilant avoidance strategies. We distinguish between attainment versus maintenance as two different goal pursuit conditions on the one hand, and promotion versus prevention focus as two different self‐regulatory concerns on the other hand. We then use insights from Regulatory Fit Theory to make predictions concerning the interactive effects of these two motivational dimensions on outcome valuations. Consistent with our proposal about attainment and maintenance, we found that participants in a promotion focus valued the outcome of an attainment task more than did participants in a prevention focus, whereas the opposite was true for a maintenance task. Implications for maintenance‐related phenomena such as belief perseverance effects are subsequently discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.