High Need For Achievement Research Articles

Exploring motivational patterns in high-performing pianists: evidence from Cliburn competitors' biographies.

This research examines the motivational patterns of high-performing classical pianists, characterized by a combination of implicit motives (i.e., non-conscious preferences for specific incentives). Utilizing the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software, I analyzed textual data from biographies of 107 pianists (i.e., Juniors aged 13-17: n = 38; Professionals aged 18-30: n = 30; Amateurs aged 35 and older: n = 39) participating in the prestigious 2022-2023 Van Cliburn Competitions. My results showed distinct profiles of implicit motives among pianists compared to non-pianists, with significantly higher need for achievement and need for power. While professional pianists exhibited the lowest level of need for power, junior pianists demonstrated the highest level of need for affiliation. Gender and age predicted part of pianists' implicit motives. Male pianists demonstrated higher need for achievement than females. Finally, age negatively predicted need for affiliation. These findings highlight the motivational patterns within the classical piano community, offering theoretical implications for understanding implicit motives and practical applications for pianist education. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Exploring Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Attitude of University Students

Aim: Explore and analyse the factors affecting entrepreneurial attitude of university students. Research Design: Ex-post facto research design. Sample: Post graduate and Doctoral scholars of University. Methodology: A structured questionnaire was developed and applied as data collection tool to 751 students for this study. Results: Respondents generally exhibit a high need for achievement (83.25%) characterized by strong planning, resilience, willingness to sacrifice for goals, and openness to innovation. Variations in responses, particularly regarding problem-solving abilities, highlight areas where some respondents might benefit from additional support or training. Notable percentage of undecided respondents regarding the intention to start a company (34.00%) indicates that while there is a strong inclination towards entrepreneurship, some respondents may still be weighing their options or facing uncertainties.

Scarcity Mindsets and Generational Differences in India: The Role of Cognitive and Affective Factors

This article addressed the question of the role played by certain cognitive and affective factors in explaining the differences in scarcity mindsets of Gen Z, Millennials, and the Pre-millennial generations. Three cognitive factors, namely, horizontal individualism, belief in a just world and a spiritual belief factor, anasakti (non-attachment) along with five affective factors, personal relative deprivation, greed, need for achievement, positive and negative emotions were used as predictors of the scarcity mindsets. Pre-millennials showed a weaker scarcity mindset compared to the Millennials, who among the three had the strongest scarcity mindset. In the case of Gen Z, a downward trend in the scarcity mindset was observed. Male respondents had stronger scarcity mindset than females. Sequential Regression Analysis was used to understand the role played by cognitive and affective factors in predicting scarcity mindset for each generation. It found that cognitive factors were better predictors than affective factors in the case of all three generations. In the case of Gen Z, belief in a just world and anasakti significantly predicted a weak scarcity mindset. Belief in a just world also predicted a weaker scarcity mindset in case of the Millennials and Pre-millennial generations. Personal relative deprivation, an affective factor, was significantly associated with a weak scarcity mindset in the case of Millennials but inversely for the Pre-millennials. A high need for achievement raised the level of scarcity mindset, but only for the Millennial generation. Horizontal individualism and greed did not come out as significant predictors of the scarcity mindset for any generation. The results are discussed in the changing context of globalisation and the digital revolution.

When does subordinate performance strengthen abusive supervision? A study of a three-way interaction in Korean military

ABSTRACT Drawing on the moral exclusion theory and resource allocation perspective, we examine the association between supervisor perception of subordinate performance and abusive supervision (AS), and the interaction effects of a supervisor’s need for achievement and second-level superiors’ close monitoring of first-line supervisors, as key boundary conditions for the performance-AS relationship. We conducted a time-lagged survey with 142 matched reports from supervisors and subordinates who had direct reporting relationships with the supervisors in the South Korea military. The results of this study indicate that subordinate performance, as rated by the supervisor, was negatively associated with AS. Furthermore, a supervisor’s need for achievement moderated the relationship between subordinate performance and AS, such that the relationship was more negative under a supervisor who had a higher need for achievement. In addition, second-level superiors’ close monitoring of first-line supervisors moderated the effect of the interaction of subordinate performance and a supervisor’s need for achievement on AS, such that the existing moderation effect of a supervisor’s need for achievement is more pronounced when supervisors are under high close monitoring by their superiors. Our investigation of antecedents of supervisor’s abusive behavior could help expand our previous knowledge regarding the mechanism of the performance-AS relationship.

Perceived Overqualification as a Determinant of Proactive Behavior and Career Success: The Need for Achievement as a Moderator

Recent studies show the importance of overqualification for the career success of professionals. Drawing on relative deprivation and person-environment fit theory and with a focus on career success perspective, we examined the effect of perceived overqualification on career success via proactive behaviour and relative deprivation, and how the need for achievement moderates the relationship between perceived overqualification and proactive behaviour and relative deprivation. The study collected data in three waves using time lagged design from the top universities of Lahore and Faisalabad, Pakistan. In the first set of surveys, 456 questionnaires were returned, yielding an 85.23 percent response rate. Three hundred eighty-two questionnaires were returned in the second round of surveys, yielding an 83.77 percent response rate. In the third round of surveys, 318 questionnaires were received, accounting for 83.25 percent of the total. so a total of 318 questionnaires were selected for analysis. The study found that perceived overqualification was found to have a positive relationship with career success. Proactive behaviour and relative deprivation mediate between overqualification and career success. Moreover, the findings suggest that a high need for achievement strengthens the positive relationship between perceived overqualifications and proactive behaviour, whereas a high need for achievement weakens the relation between perceived overqualification and relative deprivation. These findings show that employees high on need for achievement will show more proactive behaviour with overqualification and low relative deprivation. The findings suggest many theoretical as well as practical implications for managers to reduce overqualification perceptions of employees in an organizational context. The managerial implications are also discussed in the end.

A framework explaining the entrepreneurial intentions of engineering students in public universities

This study explains the Entrepreneurial Intent (EI) of university students enrolled in engineering programs at the public university of the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, in terms of the three constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior, formal (entrepreneurship education) and informal (the entrepreneurial demonstrated behavior of family and friends) institutional factors, and two individual traits (innovativeness and need of achievement). The conceptual model proposed also examines the role of entrepreneurship education in strengthening entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Survey data is analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings indicate entrepreneurial attitudes have the most significant predictive ability on entrepreneurial intention over entrepreneurial education and the manifest entrepreneurial actions of close social groups that have only a moderate influence on EI. The analysis also confirms that entrepreneurship education enhances entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Based on these results, it is recommended that Engineering Schools devote more attention to experiential learning to create favorable entrepreneurial attitudes and develop students’ entrepreneurial skills, particularly among those with a high need for achievement.

Concept Mapping of Career Motivation of Women With Higher Education.

The purpose of the present study was to identify and categorize career motivations in highly educated married Korean women. Twenty-five participants who are working were interviewed and asked why they continue their work despite various difficulties. Sixty-seven career persistence motivations were elicited and reliably organized into six categories: low interest in childcare and household labor, family-related motives, high need for achievement, financial problems/needs, self-actualization and job satisfaction, and positive perception of working women. This study is significant as it conceptualizes the motivation for career persistence as the major variable affecting highly educated married women’s decision to continue their careers and establishes the theoretical basis for future research.

The impact of individual entrepreneurial orientation and education on generation Z’s intention towards entrepreneurship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of entrepreneurial features and the intention towards entrepreneurship (ITE) of generation Z students. The paper also explores if entrepreneurial education (EE) plays a role in the development of individual entrepreneurship orientation (IEO) and in increasing the ITE of the generation Z students.Design/methodology/approachThe research consists of a survey of students in the fields of marketing and communication (n = 590) conducted in January 2018. The authors used SPSS software to test the reliability of scales that measure IEO, ITE, the need for achievement, structural behaviour, self-efficacy and the attitude towards job flexibility, and to run Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression and t test to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings show that generation Z students have similar ITE and EE to colleagues from other generations. EE has a significant impact on increasing both IEO and ITE. Nevertheless, generation Z students have a higher need for achievement, a lower self-efficacy and are more open to a flexible labour market.Originality/valueThis paper explores a topic which has received little attention: the interest and capacity of generation Z students to develop their own business. The paper also analyses whether the EE offered by universities can play a role in this regard.

The impact of motive disposition on group performance

AbstractPeople exert less effort when performing in groups than when working alone. Based on the collective effort model’s core principle that individuals are only willing to work hard if they expect their individual contribution to be instrumental in obtaining personally satisfying outcomes, this study demonstrates the strong influence of individual motive dispositions on group performance. Motive dispositions vary from person to person and, when triggered by appropriate cues in the environment, form the current motivation and determine behavior. In experimental ad-hoc groups designed to provoke social loafing for individuals with a high need for achievement, i.e. with few opportunities for self-evaluation, team-members with a high need for achievement (N = 28) substantially reduced their effort to participate in the task at hand. Contrary, in the same situation, team-members with a high need for affiliation (N = 55) showed no social loafing at all, but social laboring instead, resulting in nearly 50% be...

Well Self-Regulated People Use Mental Contrasting

Abstract. Mentally contrasting a desired future with reality is a self-regulation strategy helping people manage their life by promoting selective goal pursuit: people pursue feasible futures and disengage from unfeasible ones. We investigated whether participants who effectively regulate their academic and everyday life spontaneously use mental contrasting. Indeed, students who were good self-regulators in the academic domain, as indicated by their high self-reported academic self-regulation skills, high need for achievement, and above-average grades mentally contrasted when writing about an important achievement-related wish (Study 1). So did participants who were good self-regulators in everyday life as indicated by their high self-reported generalized self-regulation skills and high need for cognition (Study 2). Results indicate that successful self-regulation is linked to spontaneous mental contrasting.

Need for Affiliation as a Motivational Add-On for Leadership Behaviors and Managerial Success.

In a sample of 70 leader-follower dyads, this study examines the separate and interactive effects of the leaders’ implicit needs for power, achievement, and affiliation on leadership behaviors and outcomes. Results show that whereas the need for achievement was marginally associated with follower-rated passive leadership, the need for affiliation was significantly related to ratings of the leaders’ concern for the needs of their followers. Analyzing motive combinations in terms of interactive effects and accounting for the growing evidence on the value of affiliative concerns in leadership, we assumed the need for affiliation would channel the interplay among the needs for power and achievement in such a way that the leaders would become more effective in leading others. As expected, based on high need for achievement, the followers were more satisfied with their jobs and with their leaders and perceived more transformational leadership behavior if power-motivated leaders equally had a high need for affiliation. Moreover, the leaders indicated higher career success when this was the case. However, in indicators of followers’ performance, the three-way interaction among the needs for power, achievement, and affiliation did not account for additional variance.

Self-Other Personality Agreement: Computational Principles and Moderators

Particular personality traits motivate individuals to act entrepreneurially and to exercise entrepreneurial activities, which include but not limited to high need for achievement, innovativeness, propensity to risk-taking, tolerance to ambiguity and internal locus of control (Thomas and Mueller, 2000, Utsch and Rauch, 2000). Therefore, the present study aimed to compare personality traits based on the attitudes of university students toward entrepreneurship. This study was conducted in a foundation university in Turkey. The study data was collected using questionnaires. According to the study results, students with entrepreneurial intention are more innovative, have higher need for achievement and greater internal locus of control than those who do not have such intention.

A Comparison Study on Personality Traits Based on the Attitudes of University Students toward Entrepreneurship

Abstract Particular personality traits motivate individuals to act entrepreneurially and to exercise entrepreneurial activities, which include but not limited to high need for achievement, innovativeness, propensity to risk-taking, tolerance to ambiguity and internal locus of control ( Thomas and Mueller, 2000 , Utsch and Rauch, 2000 ). Therefore, the present study aimed to compare personality traits based on the attitudes of university students toward entrepreneurship. This study was conducted in a foundation university in Turkey. The study data was collected using questionnaires. According to the study results, students with entrepreneurial intention are more innovative, have higher need for achievement and greater internal locus of control than those who do not have such intention.

Examining the Influence Personality Factors on Knowledge Sharing Intention among Employees of Two Selected Banks

This study examined the influence of personality factors (that is, need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power) on knowledge sharing intention. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted while a total of 207 employees selected from two commercial banks in Nigeria using accidental sampling technique participated in the study. The participants were made of 113 (54.6%) males and 94 (45.4%) females. Their ages ranged between 26 and 47 years with a mean of 33.35 and standard deviation of 3.87. A structured questionnaire with three sections was used for data collection. Three hypotheses were tested using t-test of independent mean. The results showed that need for achievement (t (205) = 2.07, p 0.05). These findings suggested the need for human resource personnel of various banks in Nigeria to design recruitment and selection strategies that can help them identify employees with high need for achievement and need for power; since they are more motivated to share their knowledge.

Need for Achievement, Education, and Entrepreneurial Risk-Taking Behavior

We examined which factors lead to entrepreneurial risk-taking behavior, using the 2 tests of entrepreneurial behavior theory (desirability and feasibility) to investigate how need for achievement and education interact to influence risk-taking propensity. Using data collected from 230 nascent entrepreneurs in a mid-western state in the USA, we tested 2 hypotheses and found empirical evidence to support the 2 tests theory. The results showed that entrepreneurs with high need for achievement and who had received higher education were more willing to take risks than were entrepreneurs with low need for achievement and who had not received higher education. Research implications and limitations are discussed.

How Much Entrepreneurial Characteristics Matter in Strategic Decision-Making?

The main object of this paper is to examine the effects of entrepreneurial characteristics on the dimensions of strategic decision-making (SDM) process. Thus the research was conducted with 308 Turkish women entrepreneurs listed in The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)’s members in the form of local chambers of commerce and industry. As the results of analyses, women entrepreneurs’ risk propensity have negative effect on their rational SDM process where as their risk propensity have positive effect on their formalized and centralized SDM process controlling environmental dynamism. Results show that women entrepreneurs with high need for achievement tend to make less rational SDs and centralize authority into the hands of themselves in dynamic environments. According to the results of analyses, women entrepreneurs with internal locus of control are more likely to make less rational decisions; favor more formalized processes and centralization. Results also show that optimistic women entrepreneurs make SDs based on subjective factors instead of rational SDs but follow more rule formalization in dynamic environments. According to findings, it can be suggested that women entrepreneurs’ aggressive and proactive behavior lead them to make less rational decisions. Also they tend to follow more rule formalization in dynamic environments. Nevertheless, results also show women entrepreneurs with innovativeness tend to deal with novel and complex problems while adopting innovations. However, they make rational decisions while following rule formalization and do not delegate SDM authority. Furthermore, from the results of the analyses it is seen that entrepreneurial characteristics matter most in rational SDM process. This study's theoretical contribution is examination of effects of entrepreneurial characteristics on dimensions of SDM process in a comprehensive model; proposing new variables in the model and filling this gap in the research. Furthermore, this study's practical contribution is there is lack of research that consists of stated variables in our model conducted in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) especially with women entrepreneurs. And finally, the methodological contribution of this study is investigation of predictors of SDM process in the context of entrepreneurial characteristics and business environment in Turkey, a developing country; it shows the external validity of factors influence on SDM process which were tested in Western developed countries.

Performance assessment of Indian software professionals

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an instrument/scale to assess the performance of Indian software professionals (SPs).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 441 software and senior software engineers from eight Indian software firms. The team leaders assessed the performance of software and senior software engineers on 16 items. The software engineers self‐reported their experience, need for achievement, and need for social power. The financial performance (FP) of the software firms where the software engineers were working was procured from secondary sources.FindingsThe exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of scores on 16 items of the instrument suggest six dimensions of performance. They are work‐efficiency, personal resourcefulness, inter‐ and intra‐personal sensitivity, productivity orientation, timeliness, and business intelligence. The dimensions have reliability and high convergent validity. SPs having more years of experience, higher need for achievement, and higher need for social power are high performers. The (low) high performing SPs are from firms that have (lower) higher FP.Practical implicationsHuman resource managers can evaluate the performance of SPs holistically on six dimensions for training, reward administration, job rotation, and promotion decisions.Originality/valueThis paper develops a behavioural instrument to assess the performance of Indian SPs.

Low second-to-fourth-digit ratio might predict success among high-frequency financial traders because of a higher need for achievement

The article by Coates et al. (1) adds interesting evidence that a low 2D:4D ratio in men predicts success, not only in sports (2, 3) or music (4), but also in job performance. According to the authors, low-2D:4D traders perform better (i.e., they earn more) because of basic characteristics: rapid visuomotor scanning and physical reflexes. However, they overlook another frugal explanation for their findings. Recently, it has been shown that low-2D:4D men react much more strongly on performance feedback than high-2D:4D men, irrespective of the performance itself (5). When men with a low 2D:4D ratio find themselves in a subordinate status position (e.g., when they lose a game), they might react strongly, e.g., by acting impulsively, or perhaps even abandoning the activity if possible (5). Following this rationale, my hypothesis is that low-2D:4D men want to excel and therefore will look for a specific domain (in both hobbies and jobs) where they have the abilities to excel. This idea might help to explain why a low 2D:4D ratio in men is related to better performance in completely different domains such as sports (2, 3) and music (4).The same mechanism might also lead to a better performance in trading in the financial world but needs not be limited to this type of job. I expect low-2D:4D people to outperform high-2D:4D people in all kind of competitive jobs, sports, and other activities, not because of specific physical characteristics, but because of one specific psychological characteristic: a higher need for achievement.

Repensando o processo de aprendizagem organizacional no agronegócio: um estudo de caso realizado numa cooperativa destaque em qualidade no RS

O presente artigo tem como objetivo investigar os estilos de aprendizagem gerencial sob a perspectiva de Kolb (1978) e verificar se há relação entre os estilos de aprendizagem e os Motivos Sociais propostos por McClelland (1972). A estratégia metodológica utilizada foi o estudo de caso realizado em uma Cooperativa localizada no interior do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, destaque em qualidade na região. Os sujeitos da pesquisa são em número de 11, incluindo-se o presidente, a gerência de Recursos Humanos e os gerentes das unidades de negócios que fazem parte do Comitê Gestor da Qualidade. A coleta dos dados foi baseada em fontes documentais, questionários e entrevistas individuais semi-estruturadas. Constatou-se que os gerentes possuidores dos estilos de aprendizagem convergente e acomodador sentem uma maior necessidade de poder, revelando uma necessidade menor de realização. Em contraposição, verificou-se que os possuidores dos estilos divergente e assimilador sentem maior necessidade de realização e menor necessidade de poder. Dada a complexidade do comportamento humano, entende-se que a classificação dos gestores de acordo com determinados estilos e motivos sociais não deve ser considerada de maneira estanque e definitiva, mas como forma de compreendê-lo melhor.

Type A Personality Characteristics and the Effect on Individual and Team Academic Performance

Type A personality has been conceptualized in part as high need for achievement combined with aggression, hostility, and self‐esteem issues. In teams of undergraduate business students, high levels of Type A personality significantly correlated with high levels of depression and high levels of social monitoring; and negatively correlated with social desirability, communality, and individual performance across time. In team settings, the more Type A's were balanced in a team with low Type A's, the more there was team commitment and the more team synergy behaviors; while if teams had a greater number of Type A's, there was more individualistic behavior, and team project scores were lower.