Identity-based Motivation Theory Research Articles

Believing that difficulty signals importance improves school outcomes by bolstering academic possible identities, a recursive analysis.

Identity-based motivation theory predicts that how sure students are of attaining their academic possible identities (possible identity certainty) interacts recursively with the inferences they make thinking about schoolwork feels hard-this is important for me (difficulty-as-importance) and this is just not for me (difficulty-as-impossibility). Recursivity implies bidirectionality across time points. To date, studies primarily from the U.S. and China only document a shift up or down from one time to a second time. We address this method gap with a three-time-point, two-month study during a secondary school transition (Chinese students N = 818, Mage = 12, 44% female). We obtained prior grades (T0) and placement test scores (T1+). Students filled out questionnaires at critical junctures: a month before the placement test (T1), the day test results were announced (T2), and after learning their school placement (T3). Across three time points, structural equation model results show bidirectional paths linking academic possible identity certainty and difficulty-as-importance beliefs. Controlling for prior grades, students higher in possible identity certainty at T1 scored higher on their placement tests at T1+. Students with higher T1+ placement test scores had higher difficulty-as-importance at T2, controlling for T1 their difficulty-as-importance score. Students with higher T2 difficulty-as-importance had higher T3 possible identity certainty, controlling for their T2 possible identity certainty score. The reverse was also true-students with higher T2 possible identity certainty had higher T3 difficulty-as-importance, controlling for their T2 difficulty-as-importance score. In contrast, controlling for prior scores, from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3 possible identity certainty and difficulty-as-impossibility were unidirectionally related. Students with higher possible identity certainty had lower difficulty-as-impossibility beliefs and not the reverse. Taken together, our results support a recursive process by which difficulty-as-importance beliefs support academic goal pursuit by bolstering students' certainty of attaining their possible identities and certainty reduces difficulty-as-impossibility beliefs.

Queer-friendly tourist destinations: how are they perceived by the LGBTIQ+ communities?

ABSTRACT This study employs identity-based motivation theory to analyze the impact of queer-friendly initiatives in tourist destinations. Data was collected from 590 LGBTIQ+ tourists using a self-administered electronic questionnaire. The research reveals that queer tourists value destinations that share and promote inclusive values. Results suggest companies that are more committed to the communities have a high significant impact, although queer tourists appreciate any queer-friendly action. Contrary to previous studies on LGBTIQ+ communities and brands, queer tourists value the queer-friendly actions, solidarity, and kindness of tourist destinations without placing significant emphasis on the genuineness of these actions. This research provides important insights for queer-friendly destinations looking to support and engage with the LGBTIQ+ communities, enhancing their significance within this market segment.

Bridging the Gender Gap in Academic Engagement among Young Adults: The Role of Anticipated Future Sex Discrimination and Gender-role Orientation.

Academic engagement is vital for college students, yet existing studies reveal inconsistencies in how gender influences academic engagement. Building upon the statistical discrimination theory and identity-based motivation theory, this study develops an integrated model to examine gender differences in college students' academic engagement. Further, the role that gender-role orientation in influencing academic engagement was investigated. Using a sample of 524 college students (Mage = 21.11, SD = 1.98; 47.7% women) from a large university collected in two time periods, the findings indicate that in the Chinese context, women anticipate higher future sex discrimination than men. However, gender-role orientation restores parity between men and women through a moderated mediation: egalitarian gender-role orientation has a stronger effect on women's anticipated future sex discrimination than on men's, resulting in increased academic engagement of women. The findings highlight the need to consider female students' egalitarian beliefs in gender-related academic research.

An examination of Chinese gay tourists: motivation, identity, and space

Prior studies on gay tourism have focused primarily on Western cultures, and research on geographically and culturally distant Chinese gay tourism is limited. Using social identity theory and identity-based motivation theory as a framework, this study bridges an observed ‘Chinese gay’ gap by exploring the roles of motivation, identity, and space in the travel experiences of Mainland Chinese gay tourists in Thailand. A netnographic approach was employed to collect textual data from 27 travel postings, generating a total of 143,000 characters for analysis. The results produced an integration matrix model of travel motivations and gay identity comprising four quadrants. Identified travel motivations include gay space, atmosphere, knowledge, prostitution, socialization and belongingness, culture and sightseeing, local tourism attributes and activities, escapism and relaxation, and sexual encounters. The results also show that tourists’ gay identity directs their travel motivations, and travel experiences, in turn, reinforce their gay identity. In addition, tourists’ gay identity can be validated and contextualized within the gay space. By interlinking the concepts of motivation, identity, and space, the present research contributes to the understanding of queer tourism geographies in a Chinese context.

I’ll take the high road: Paths to goal pursuit and identity-based interpretations of difficulty

ABSTRACT When imagining their futures, people can prioritize getting there the easy way, prefer more demanding paths, or be indifferent to means and focus only on making progress. Identity-based motivation theory predicts and mixed effect regressions reveal that what people infer about themselves when facing unchosen life difficulties and when thinking about or working on goals feels hard shapes action (N = 537 undergraduates, three studies). To varying degrees, they can infer that unchosen life difficulties build character (difficulty-as-improvement), that chosen goals are really not for them (difficulty-as-impossibility), and that chosen goals are valuable for them (difficulty-as-importance). The more people endorse difficulty-as-impossibility, the more they choose ease. The more they endorse difficulty-as-improvement the more they disdain ease and prefer the effortful way.

The differential effects of self-identity appeals on consumers’ intentions to purchase socially responsible products with hedonic and utilitarian values

ABSTRACT This study investigates the motivations of socially responsible consumption from the perspective of identity-based motivation theory. The findings suggest that personal-identity appeals promote socially responsible products with utilitarian values more effectively than relational-identity appeals. However, with respect to socially responsible products with hedonic values, relational and personal identity had no differential effect. Moreover, public identity appeals were found to promote socially responsible products with utilitarian values significantly. With respect to hedonic products, public identity influenced purchase intention only through anticipated guilt. These results have implications for marketers about ways to promote socially responsible products effectively.

Give it a Try! How Electric Vehicle Test Drives Influence Symbolism Perceptions and Adoption Intent

The symbolic meaning that individuals attribute to Electric Vehicles (EVs) strongly predicts their intent to adopt EVs. However, prior literature has been inconsistent in defining symbolic meaning. In this study, we assess two types of EV symbolic meaning and evaluate their influences on adoption intent: (1) public meaning (i.e., perceived EV expressiveness), and (2) private meaning (i.e., holding EV congruent identities). We examine these relationships across two studies, conducted in virtual and real EV test drive experiences with a combined sample size of (cumulative N = 729). Participants rated EV public and private meanings before and after the test drive, as well as their post-drive adoption intent. Both studies reveal post-drive enhancements in both private and public meanings of EVs. However, only changes in private meaning (i.e., reinforced identity) are found to be associated with EV adoption intent, while enhancements in public meaning (i.e., enhanced perception of expressiveness) are not. These results are discussed in the context of Identity-Based Motivation Theory, and limitations and implications of the findings are addressed.

Travel in my life: queer identity, travel motivation, resilience, life-satisfaction and wellbeing

ABSTRACT Tourism can enhance the wellbeing of the queer communities. Using identity-based motivation theory, this study proposes that queer identity and life-satisfaction influence travel motivation, psychological resilience, travel wellbeing, and tourist activity choice. This proposition is quantitatively tested on 473 queer Australians. Results suggest identity positively affects travel motivation but not psychological resilience. Travel motivation significantly influences psychological resilience, travel wellbeing, and tourist activity choice. Life-satisfaction positively influences travel motivation, psychological resilience, and travel wellbeing. These relationships highlight travel as an important means for building resilience and enhancing the wellbeing of queer people, having theoretical and managerial implications.

Difficulty-as-Improvement: The Courage to Keep Going in the Face of Life's Difficulties.

When a task or goal is hard to think about or do, people can infer that it is a waste of their time (difficulty-as-impossibility) or valuable to them (difficulty-as-importance). Separate from chosen tasks and goals, life can present unchosen difficulties. Building on identity-based motivation theory, people can see these as opportunities for self-betterment (difficulty-as-improvement). People use this language when they recall or communicate about difficulties (autobiographical memories, Study 1; "Common Crawl" corpus, Study 2). Our difficulty mindset measures are culture-general (Australia, Canada, China, India, Iran, New Zealand, Turkey, the United States, Studies 3-15, N = 3,532). People in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD)-er countries slightly agree with difficulty-as-improvement. Religious, spiritual, conservative people, believers in karma and a just world, and people from less-WEIRD countries score higher. People who endorse difficulty-as-importance see themselves as conscientious, virtuous, and leading lives of purpose. So do endorsers of difficulty-as-improvement-who also see themselves as optimists (all scores lower for difficulty-as-impossibility endorsers).

‘A lot of gay energy in the city’: An identity-based exploration of leisure travel to domestic cities for rural queer people in Australia

Using identity-based motivation theory, this study explored the perceived role leisure travel to domestic cities played for rural queer people in Australia. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted and revealed that travelling to the City helped queer people construct their social identity by providing opportunities that may be restricted or limited at home. Further, those who were still defining their self-identity and/or lived in rural areas that were less tolerant of queer people, used travel to escape the rigours of self-regulation, uncompromising heterosexuality, intolerance, and hostility. Participants felt safer and more comfortable in cities as anonymity, a strong visible representation of the queer communities, and acceptance of queer people allowed them to be themselves and explore the depths of their identity. The results suggest there is an opportunity for queer spaces and experience providers in the City to target rural queer people based on their identity needs.

Consumer participation in reusable resource allocation schemes: A theoretical conceptualization and empirical examination of Korean consumers

In recent years, reusable delivery bags (RDB) have attracted considerable attention as a practice of reusable resource allocation schemes. However, little is known regarding the determinants of consumers’ behavioral intention to use RDB. This study develops a model for the impact of usefulness- and identity-mediated hierarchical needs on behavioral intentions using Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the technology acceptance model, and identity-based motivation theory. A questionnaire survey was undertaken in Korea, and 468 samples were collected for analysis using structural equation modeling. The results show that reliability, perceived safety, social influence, and social impression positively impact consumers’ behavioral intention through the conduction of perceived usefulness. Simultaneously, through the positive mediating effect of self-identity, social influence and social impression affect the propensity to utilize reusable express bags. These findings offer compelling evidence and make significant contributions to the design of corporate resource allocation methods.

Teacher of mathematics identity as a predictor of teacher wellbeing

This article reports on original research investigating teacher wellbeing while teaching mathematics in relation to teacher identity. Using survey data from mathematics teachers (N = 402) participating in a teacher of mathematics support initiative, teacher wellbeing was operationally defined as the experience of wellbeing whilst teaching, allowing an applied understanding of wellbeing in relation to the activity of teaching. Teacher identity was construed from prior research by the authors (Willis et al., in: Math Educ Res J, 10.1007/s13394-021-00391-w, 2021) and operationalised for the current study in terms of a specific teacher of mathematics identity (ToMI) construct. The main research question for this investigation was directed at how well the ToMI construct, as a wellbeing variable, was able to predict teacher wellbeing while teaching, viewed as an ‘in situ’ or ‘active’ (applied) measure of wellbeing. Identity-Based Motivation (IBM) theory was used to frame the research, as it helps explain how the degree of congruency between identity and wellbeing may influence motivation to teach. Results indicated that although several important factors relate significantly to teacher of mathematics wellbeing, the ToMI construct predicted teacher wellbeing far above the ability of all other study factors combined, suggesting that a focus on the development of a professional identity for teachers is fundamental to the support of teacher wellbeing in schools. Suggestions for investigating this focus at the school level are also provided.

Linking travel motives to identity and travel behavior of the Australian LGBT market during COVID-19

ABSTRACT Using push-pull and identity-based motivation theory, this study examines the link between the push motives of the LGBT market, their identity, pull activities and travel patterns (location) during COVID-19. With a sample of 473 Australian LGBT travelers, this study identifies four motivation segments (Social Butterflies, Escapists & Safety Seekers, Blurring Binaries and Conformists). These segments differ on their identity (self and social) and travel activity choices, highlighting the heterogeneity within the LGBT market. The findings have implications for designing experiences and their marketing for the different segments of LGBT travelers post COVID-19.

Successful Learning Environments Support and Harness Students’ Identity-based Motivation: A Primer

We build on identity-based motivation theory to integrate research on in-person and virtual learning environments so that we can articulate which features of virtual learning environments are likely to support or impede learning and identity exploration. Although students experience their identities as stable anchors for meaning-making and action, they construct what their identities mean in contexts. How students respond to the difficulties they encounter in their learning environment depends on whether they see engaging with schoolwork as an identity-congruent “us” or “me” thing to do. When engagement feels identity-congruent, students interpret the difficulties they encounter as signs of task importance. This interpretation fosters further engagement. When engagement does not feel identity-congruent, students interpret their difficulties as meaning that the task is not for them and disengage. Accessible norms about how learning works further influence these interpretations. Learning takes time and requires opportunities for active retrieval and use in novel settings. Hence, learning often feels difficult. Unfortunately, learning environments often convey that learning should feel easy and happen quickly. Learning environments conveying learn-through-difficulty norms support difficulty-as-importance interpretations. In contrast, learn-with-ease norms foster difficulty-as-impossibility interpretations. We discuss implications for learning, identity exploration, and the design of learning environments of taking an identity-based motivation perspective.

A step toward measuring children’s college-bound identity in children’s savings accounts programs: The case of promise scholars

Research indicates that children’s college expectations are an important predictor of children’s school outcomes and Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs) are a predictor of children’s educational expectations. Typically measured with a single question, children’s college expectations have been used as s proxy for college-bound identity. Building on Identity-Based Motivation theory, we take a step toward creating a scale for measuring college-bound identity. This scale consists of 22items with three first-order identity factors: salience, group congruence, and interpretation of difficulty as normal. Findings indicate that a second-order identity latent named college-bound identity may be reflected in the data. We then test the association between Promise Early Award Scholarship (Promise Scholars), a CSA and early award scholarship program, and college-bound identity. Promise Scholars participants’ college-bound identity is predicted to be 0.02 higher than that of non-Promise Scholars participants. The authors offer potential next steps in the attempt to better measure children’s college-bound identity.

Parts of me: Identity-relevance moderates self-prioritization.

Recent research has revealed a pervasive bias for self-relevant information during decision-making, a phenomenon termed the self-prioritization effect. Focusing almost exclusively on between-target (e.g., self vs. friend) differences in task performance, however, this work has overlooked the influence stimulus factors potentially exert during decisional processing. Accordingly, based on pertinent social-psychological theorizing (i.e., Identity-Based Motivation Theory), here we explored the possibility that self-prioritization is sensitive to the identity-based relevance of stimuli. The results of three experiments supported this hypothesis. In a perceptual-matching task, stimulus enhancement was greatest when geometric shapes were associated with identity-related information that was important (vs. unimportant) to participants. In addition, hierarchical drift-diffusion modeling revealed this effect was underpinned by differences in the efficiency of visual processing. Specifically, evidence was extracted more rapidly from stimuli paired with consequential compared to inconsequential identity-related components. These findings demonstrate how identity-relevance moderates self-prioritization.

Identity-based motivation and the paradox of the future self: Getting going requires thinking about time (later) in time (now).

People can imagine their future selves without taking future-focused action. Identity-based motivation theory explains why. Hoerl & McCormack outline how. Present-focused action prevails because future "me" feels irrelevant to the choices facing current "me" unless future "me" is experienced as occurring now or as linked to current "me" via if-then simulations. This entails reasoning in time and about time.

From future self to current action: An identity-based motivation perspective

Adults ask children what they want to be when they grow up, hoping that this will motivate children to focus on their schoolwork- this does not necessarily happen. Identity-based motivation theory predicts that one way to increase the odds is for children to experience their adult future self as connected to their current self. Five studies test this prediction (N = 641). We find that children can be guided to experience connection between their current and adult future self. Children guided to experience high connection work more and attain better school grades than children guided to experience low connection. Experienced connection works by moderating the effect of seeing school as the path to one’s adult future self.

On the road: Combining possible identities and metaphor to motivate disadvantaged middle-school students

ABSTRACTIn America, White and affluent middle-school students outperform minority students and those of low socioeconomic status on measures of academic performance. This achievement gap is partly attributable to differences in academic engagement. A promising strategy for engaging students is to elicit an academic possible identity: an image of oneself in the future as an accomplished student. Tests of this strategy’s efficacy show mixed results, however. According to Identity-Based Motivation Theory, this is because a salient possible identity enhances goal engagement when it is perceived to be strongly (vs. weakly) connected to one’s current identity. Still, the connection between temporally remote identities is an abstract concept that students may have difficulty grasping. According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this connection may be easier to conceptualize metaphorically in terms of a dissimilar concrete experience – in particular, a physical journey between locations. Integrating these theories, prior studies show that priming a journey-metaphoric framing of an academic possible identity increased academic engagement among college students. The current study tested whether this prime would similarly motivate middle-school students in an economically disadvantaged school setting. Results show that students (Agemedian = 13) framing their academic possible identity as a destination on a physical path (n = 30), versus without a provided metaphor (n = 30), reported higher academic engagement. This finding extends metaphor priming effects to low-income and minority adolescents, a crucial population in educational research, and points to low-cost, theoretically grounded interventions for boosting academic engagement.

Conservatism as a situated identity: Implications for consumer behavior

Insufficient attention to political ideology as an organizing axis reduces predictive power. Jost (2017 – this issue) makes a significant contribution by outlining and documenting a set of relationships among personality factors, attitudes, values, and conservatism. The value of this approach is highlighting the possibility that ideology sticks when it fits features of the individual and hence has an enduring quality. This approach needs to be balanced by consideration of the power of the immediate situation to define what an identity means and the potential universality of many features associated with conservatism. We discuss both issues using identity-based motivation theory as our organizing framework.