Self-concordant Goals Research Articles

EMOTIONALLY MEANINGFUL GOALS IN LATE ADULTHOOD

Abstract Our perception of time greatly affects what kinds of goals we value and pursue. The socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 1992; Carstensen et al., 1999) posits that people rearrange their goals in response to a limited future time perspective as they become older. Rather than investing in a limited and uncertain future, older adults will value and prioritize present-oriented emotionally meaningful goals over future-oriented goals. The SST literature thrived in the past three decades and emotionally meaningful goals were operationalized in various ways under different contexts. To better understand the changes in motivation when future time perspective becomes limited, we reviewed the empirical articles that formulated hypotheses according to the SST framework published since 1992. We identified different types of emotionally meaningful goals in the literature. The most prevalent type of emotionally meaningful goal in the literature is the pro-hedonic goal (preference towards positivity over negativity). Other types of emotionally meaningful goals include the pro-closeness goal (preference towards emotional closeness in social relationships), the prosocial and generativity goal (increased motivation to contribute to others), the social goal (increased importance in the social domain), the emotional goal (increased importance in the emotional domain), the self-maintenance goal (increased motivation for the intrinsic and self-concordant goal) and the meaningfulness goal (increased importance in meaningfulness). The empirical evidence of each goal will be reviewed and their relations to SST and a limited future time perspective will be discussed.

Self-concordant goal motivation influences how people respond to crowds, but not how they perceive them

Self-concordant goal motivation influences how people respond to crowds, but not how they perceive them

Establishing self-concordant goals: a longitudinal study on the influence of ego identity on goal self-concordance.

Self-concordant goals are those that align closely with an individual's intrinsic interests and values, driving autonomous motivation, and resulting in higher satisfaction and goal achievement. The relevance of studying the link between ego identity and goal self-concordance lies in understanding how a well-defined ego identity can foster the pursuit of authentic and fulfilling goals. This study investigates the relationship between ego identity and goal self-concordance, focusing on how individuals' sense of identity influences their alignment with personal goals. Data were gathered through a cross-sectional analysis of 292 students and a longitudinal follow-up with 98 participants over two intervals. Results confirmed significant correlations between ego identity status and various dimensions of goal self-concordance. Notably, different ego identity statuses exhibited distinct levels of goal self-concordance, ranked from highest to lowest as follows: identity achievement, achievement-foreclosure intermediate, moratorium, foreclosure, moratorium-diffusion intermediate, and diffusion. Cross-lagged analysis revealed a causal relationship where ego identity influences goal self-concordance, providing insights into the cognitive and behavioral processes involved in goal setting. This study extends the implications of the goal self-concordance model and reveals a causal relationship between ego identity status and goal self-concordance. From a practical perspective, our findings suggest that educational and developmental interventions aimed at supporting identity development and commitment could lead to more self-concordant goal setting. Such programs could ultimately promote greater well-being and personal growth among students.

Once a job crafter, always a job crafter? Investigating job crafting in organizations as a reciprocal self-concordant process across time

Research depicts job crafting as a desirable, ongoing employee behavior rather than a one-off event. However, insights are lacking into how employees’ active engagement in job crafting may be sustained across time. In this study, we advance a dynamic framework of how changes that follow employees’ periods of job crafting may, in turn, motivate versus impede continued crafting of one’s job role over time. Drawing from self-concordance theorizing, we propose and test a framework on how job crafting and employees’ attainment of self-concordant and organizational work goals are reciprocally related over time. Longitudinal data from a large, three-wave study collected over four years among church ministers support a positive reciprocal relationship between job crafting and self-concordant goal attainment, as well as an indirect positive relationship between job crafting and organizational goal attainment via self-concordant goal attainment. However, in line with our theorizing, organizational goal attainment did not predict subsequent job crafting. Instead, high organizational goal attainment weakened the extent to which job crafting at one time point positively related to job crafting at the next time point. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for employees’ continued engagement in job crafting in organizations.

Being Well and Striving Steady at Work – The Relationship of Social Support and Self-Concordant Goal Selection with Teacher Burnout

Being Well and Striving Steady at Work – The Relationship of Social Support and Self-Concordant Goal Selection with Teacher Burnout

Results of a Teacher Burnout Intervention with Self-compassion and Self-Concordant Goals

This research aimed to help decrease the level of burnout among Primary School teachers in Hungary. We conducted a 7 week-long "Renewal programme" intervention, which was based on self-compassion theory and the self-concordance model. Self-compassion practices advocate the adoption of an accepting mindset regarding one's own mistakes, and further assume that by setting self-concordant goals, one can create the conditions for long-term intrinsic motivation. Our results showed that the Renewal programme decreased participants' burnout levels. It also turned out that the programme was more effective for those participants who were doing their homework regularly. Self-compassion was a relatively new concept for teachers who participated in the intervention, but 6 months after the programme ended, the levels of it had increased further beyond what was recorded in the post-measurement. Our results show that social support is an important characteristic of the programme, as burnout subsequently decreased, while self-compassion increased, possibly due to the decreasing support of the former group members. As an enhancement, we recommend creating a private social media group for participants, something which would enable future participants to stay in touch after a programme like this has ended.

Exploring language learners’ self-generated goals: Does self-concordance affect engagement and resilience?

Despite the importance that goals have for language learning (Lee & Bong, 2019), little is known about the effects on learner behaviours. Combining individualized (idiographic) and standardized (nomothetic) methodologies, this study investigated whether the self-concordance of learning goals formulated at the beginning of a program of language education affected engagement and resilience at the end of the first year. Following research demonstrating the mediating roles of goal effort and goal progress (Vasalampi et al., 2009), these variables were included in the study design. Participants were 41 teacher education students on a university program in Turkey. Data was collected on four occasions over two semesters. Analyses were carried out using path modelling. Results showed that starting the program with self-concordant goals had positive effects on engagement and resilience later in the year. Effects of self-concordance were mediated by goal effort and goal progress. For engagement, a direct effect of self-concordance was also found. Findings point to an important relationship between the quality of language learners’ goals and L2 learning behaviours. Further, the study highlights the value of idiographic methods in goal-focused research.

The impact of role overload on job crafting from the perspective of construal level theory

PurposePrevious studies have vague views about whether employees who are required to complete large amounts of work (i.e. role overload) would proactively create a change in their job characteristics (i.e. job crafting), because the cognitive mechanism underlying the nexus between role overload and job crafting is unclear. The aim of this study is to identify why and when role overload has an impact on job crafting.Design/methodology/approachThis study builds a second-stage moderated mediation model. Using a two-wave panel field study of 213 employee–supervisor matched data, this study examines the proposed hypotheses.FindingsResults show that role overload decreases construal level, which can determine the tendency of employees to focus on the feasibility (low level of construal) or desirability (high level of construal) of behaviors. Goal self-concordance is the degree to which employees pursue their personal goals based on feelings of personal interests and values. The authors find that goal self-concordance guides employees who have higher levels of construal to exert more effort in job crafting. The authors further find that goal self-concordance moderates the mediating role of construal level. Specifically, for employees in pursuit of self-concordant goals, role overload reduces their construal level, resulting in less effort in job crafting. For employees who do not pursue self-concordant goals, role overload decreases their construal level, thereby improving job crafting.Originality/valueThe findings of this study enrich the literature on role overload and job crafting by revealing the mechanism and boundary conditions of the relationship between role overload and job crafting.

Applying SMART Goal Intervention Leads to Greater Goal Attainment, Need Satisfaction and Positive Affect

Previous research suggests that planning interventions lead to increased goal attainment, while other research suggests that goal attainment leads to increased well-being. This research integrates these two sets of research findings by investigating the effectiveness of one goal planning intervention, the SMART goal program, on goal attainment, and thus need satisfaction and well-being, in university students. An experimental design across a one-week period was employed to test whether participants in the experimental group, who received the SMART goal instructions, better obtained their goal in comparison to control group participants who did not receive those specific instructions. Findings indicated that the SMART goal program led to greater rated goal attainment and need satisfaction, but not greater subjective well-being (SWB). Nevertheless, one component of SWB, positive affect, was greater in the Experimental group. Type of individually chosen self-concordant goal content had no impact on whether participants attained their goal.

Self-concordant goals breed goal-optimism and thus well-being

Self-concordant goals are goals which represent a people’s enduring interests and self-defining values (Sheldon, 2002). People pursuing more self-concordant goals evidence higher subjective well-being, as shown in participants from both Western and non-Western cultures (Sheldon et al., 2004). In a different literature, attributional style research has found that tendencies to provide optimistic explanations of life events also predict well-being. We hypothesized that people pursuing self-concordant goals would make more optimistic attributions about goal-specific outcomes, and that this tendency would help explain the link between self-concordance and well-being. Structural equation and multiple group modelling of 253 American and 230 Russian university students found support for these hypotheses. Self-concordance primarily predicted optimism following positive outcomes (that they will recur), not following negative outcomes (that they will end), and also, the mediational pattern was slightly different in the Russian than in the American sample. The results suggest that when people choose life-goals that fit their interests and values, they derive resources including the ability to interpret positive goal-outcomes in an optimistic way. This helps to explain why pursuing such goals makes them happy.

Do mindful people set better goals? Investigating the relation between trait mindfulness, self-concordance, and goal progress

The present research examined the relation between trait mindfulness, self-concordance, and goal progress. We hypothesized that mindfulness would be positively associated with setting self-concordant goals (Studies 1–3), which would in turn predict greater goal progress (Studies 2 and 3). An internal mini meta-analysis (N = 1522) indicates that mindfulness had a small, positive association with self-concordant goal setting, r = 0.14, p < .001. Two longitudinal studies (Studies 2 and 3) found a small indirect effect of mindfulness on goal progress through self-concordance, although this was marginal in Study 2. In addition, Studies 2 and 3 found that mindfulness predicted increases in goal self-concordance over time. These findings provide support for the proposition that mindful people set “better” goals.

Optimism mediates the relationships between meaning in life and subjective and psychological well-being among late adolescents

BackgroundThe concepts of meaning in life and well-being appear to have structural and functional connections, which become even more noticeable when examining their role in individuals’ daily functioning. One of the prospective variables which can play a mediational role between meaning in life and subjective and psychological well-being may be optimism, which also holds an important motivational value for young people. The aim of this study was to examine the predictive value of meaning in life and optimism, and indirect effects between meaning in life and subjective and psychological well-being among Polish late adoles-cents within the self-concordant model.Participants and procedureA total of 205 participants (104 female and 101 male; mean age = 18.31 years) from Poland completed five scales measuring meaning in life, optimism, and well-being. They completed the following measures: the Personal Meaning Profile, the Life Ori-entation Test–Revised, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Psychological Well-Being Scale.ResultsResults of SEM analysis demonstrated that meaning in life and optimism were positively related to both subjective and psycho-logical well-being. Optimism served as a partial mediator in the relationships between meaning in life and subjective and psy-chological well-being.ConclusionsThe mediating effect of optimism was explained within the self-concordance model. Consistent with the model, meaning in life had an enhancing effect on late adolescents’ experience of optimism on the basis of self-concordant goals, which in turn led to improving their subjective and psychological well-being.

The Coalescence of Being: Solving the Problem of Despair with Insights from Modern Psychology

Despair was a major theme of 19th and early 20th century continental philosophy, notably among the existentialists, but has received minimal philosophical attention in recent decades. In this paper, I resuscitate despair as a topic of philosophical inquiry by analyzing insights from recent empirical psychology that may hold solutions to its subcomponents, namely nausea, anguish and seriousness. I draw together several streams of psychological research for this, including the evolutionary psychology of moral cognition, terror-management theory, self-discrepancy theory, self-determination theory, the literature on self-concordant goal pursuit, flow and self-verification theory. The end result is a new theory that I call “the coalescence of being”, which extends the work of Nietzsche and the French existentialists, especially with regards to how we can “become who you are”. This new theory ties up some loose ends in existentialist thinking and gives that philosophy a more solid empirical foundation.

We May Not Know What We Want, But Do We Know What We Need? Examining the Ability to Forecast Need Satisfaction in Goal Pursuit

Do we have the necessary perceptual abilities to set goals that are congruent with our own values and needs? In a prospective study, participants (n =185) identified three goals that they planned to pursue throughout the week. For each goal, they then rated their motivation for pursuing it and made predictions about the extent to which goal attainment would satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. One week later, participants rated their progress on each goal, as well as the actual need satisfaction they experienced. Using Bayesian analysis, we found support for our (null) hypothesis that participants predicted that their goals would satisfy their psychological needs, irrespective of goal self-concordance. While people sometimes overestimated need satisfaction, we found that people who pursued more self-concordant goals actually benefited more from their pursuits, both compared to others who pursued less concordant goals and among their own goals.

The Self-Concordance Model: The Effects of Autonomy, Effort and Goal Progress on Subjective Well-Being in the US and Russia

How one perceives one’s own level of autonomy has important consequences for motivational features of goal pursuit and well-being during this process. We tested the hypothesis, inspired by Self-Determination Theory, and the Self-Concordance model, that pursuit of self-concordant goals, emanating from autonomous motivation results in an increase of well-being. This study employed a prospective design assessing several variables related to the goal: intended effort, actual effort, and progress in achieving. In accordance with the self-concordance model, these variables mediated the influence of the autonomy of the goal on well-being during the process of achievement. We replicated the model using SEM methodology, on both the US (N = 200) and the Russian (N = 410) samples. The additional modifications we made in the model kept the main logic of the previous research. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Motivational Mechanisms of Self-Concordance Theory: Goal-Specific Efficacy and Person–Organization Fit

The purpose of this study was to elaborate on two mechanisms of self-concordance theory (SCT; Sheldon and Elliot in Pers Soc Psychol 24(5):546, 1998)—goal-specific efficacy and perceived person–organization (PO) fit—as mediators of the relationships between autonomous and controlled goal motives and goal accomplishment and job satisfaction. Data were from two independently collected samples of administrative employees (N1 = 37, N2 = 102) and their significant others across two points in time. Results indicated that autonomous motives were positively related to goal-specific efficacy and perceived PO fit (Time 1), and showed indirect effects on goal accomplishment and other-rated job satisfaction (Time 2). Controlled motives were negatively related to the same intermediaries and outcomes. Goal motives implicate goal-specific outcomes, and individuals’ overall composition of goal motives—across their goals—shape their goal efficacy and PO fit perceptions. These mechanisms relate to distal outcomes of goal accomplishment and job satisfaction. The research offers theoretical implications for the proximal outcomes of goal motives, but also practical implications for ways in which organizations can improve incumbent PO fit perceptions. Although research has shown that having self-concordant goals is positively associated with individual outcomes, existing research has yet to understand why this is the case. In addition, most studies of SCT apply difference scores to study the construct at the individual-level rather than specifying motives separately and considering a multilevel perspective. Our research offers a novel investigation of the proximal outcomes of SCT and the levels at which they operate.

Some goals just feel easier: Self-concordance leads to goal progress through subjective ease, not effort

The objective of the present study was to examine whether subjective ease of goal pursuit would mediate the relation between an individual's motivation for pursuing a goal and their subsequent goal progress. Toward the beginning of a university semester, participants (n=176) identified three goals they planned to pursue throughout the semester and reported their motivation for pursuing each of them. Participants then indicated, at two monthly follow-ups, how easy and natural it felt to pursue these goals and how much effort they were putting into attaining them. At the end of the semester, participants reported on their goal progress. Within-person analyses indicated that self-concordant goals were perceived as being easier to pursue relative to an individual's other goals. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, results indicated that subjective ease, but not effort, mediated the relation between motivation and goal progress, such that people were more likely to successfully accomplish self-concordant goals because pursuing those goals was perceived as being more effortless, and not because more effort was exerted. Discussion focuses on the implications and future directions for research on subjective effort and goal pursuit.

The influence of planning, support and self-concordance on goal progress and job satisfaction

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to test the combined influence of working towards self-concordant goals with goal planning and supervisory support on goal progress and job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach– The data were collected among prison guards. The analysis takes into account a multilevel perspective on goals by differentiating between within- and between-person variance.Findings– The results showed that there was no direct effect of self-concordance on goal progress. Goal progress depended on combining self-concordant goals with conscious planning and receiving supervisory support. Furthermore, it was found that job satisfaction and goal progress influenced each other over time.Research limitations/implications– The findings confirm that to understand the influence of self-concordant goals within organizations, planning and supervisory support are essential elements for achieving goal progress. This research is the first to confirm the interrelatedness of goal progress and job-satisfaction over time.Originality/value– The multilevel intra and interpersonal approach provides a more thorough insight into the processes involved with goal striving. It emphasizes the importance of differentiation between the different levels of motivation in Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, especially when applied within the work context.

Purpose and Pedagogy: A Conceptual Model for an ePortfolio

This conceptual model emerged from the need to balance multiple purposes and perspectives associated with developing an ePortfolio designed to promote student development and success. A comprehensive review of literature from various disciplines, theoretical frameworks, and scholarship, including self-authorship, reflection, ePortfolio pedagogy, and the psychology of hope and goal setting, set the groundwork for the model. The Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis ePortfolio includes 4 domains: (a) increasing understanding of self and others, (b) setting self-concordant goals, (c) developing hope, and (d) shaping education and career plans with a focus on facilitating students’ ability to integrate learning to promote meaning making and the development of purpose.

Why do people set more self-concordant goals in need satisfying domains? Testing authenticity as a mediator

Previous research has demonstrated that people set and pursue more self-concordant goals in domains where they experience the satisfaction of psychological needs (Milyavskaya, Nadolny, & Koestner, 2014). However, the mechanism for this has not been investigated. The present study proposes that authenticity experienced in a domain mediates the relationship between domain need satisfaction and goal self-concordance. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we investigate two components of authenticity and find that only authentic behaviour, but not authentic awareness, relates to goal self-concordance and acts as a mediator. We also test an alternative model, ruling out the possibility that need satisfaction is influenced by authenticity.