Types Of Goals Research Articles

The Effectiveness of a Training Program Based on Goal Orientations Among Jordanian Students

The present study aimed at exploring the effectiveness of a training program based on goal orientations. A sample of 69 female students at Tala’ Al-Ali School in Jordan was chosen and distributed randomly into the experimental and control groups. To achieve the objectives of this study, the researchers had constructed training program to modify students’ types of goal orientation. Also, the researchers developed the goal orientation scale and obtained good validity and reliability indicators. The results showed that there was a significant statistical difference at the level of α ≤ .05 in the postscores of the goal orientation domains in favor of the experimental group. In addition, there was no statistical difference at the level of α ≤ .05 between the posttest and delayed scores in the experimental group indicating the continuity of the effect of the training program on the experimental group.

The relevance of goal-orientation for motivation in high versus low proneness to negative symptoms

BackgroundThe psychological mechanisms of why individuals with negative symptoms fail to initiate and perform goal-directed behavior are not well understood. Drawing on the reward-sensitivity and expectancy-value theories, we investigate whether negative symptom-like experiences (NSLE) are associated with generating less approach goals (aimed at reaching a positive outcome) and more avoidance goals (aimed at avoiding a negative outcome) and whether this type of goal-orientation explains motivational deficits (i.e., perceiving goals as less feasible and important and being less committed to them). MethodsBased on the continuum model of negative symptoms, we identified two parallelized extreme groups with high and low levels of NSLE (n = 37, respectively) in an ad-hoc online-sample of healthy individuals (N = 262) using the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences. In an online study, these participants were instructed to generate approach and avoidance goals and to rate each goal in terms of feasibility, importance and goal-commitment. ResultsParticipants with low levels of NSLE generated more approach than avoidance goals. Participants with high levels of NSLE showed no such difference due to increased numbers of avoidance goals. Furthermore, avoidance goal-orientation predicted reduced subjective feasibility and importance of goals and less goal-commitment. LimitationsResults are based on a healthy sample rather than people with psychosis. No longitudinal or behavioral data for goal-striving was collected. ConclusionPeople with NSLE generate more avoidance goals than controls. This is dysfunctional because it correlates with feeling less committed to reach one's goals. Optimizing goal-setting could be a promising starting-point for psychological interventions aimed at reducing negative symptoms.

Motivational Beliefs, Self-Regulation and EFL Listening Achievement: A Path Analysis

Informed by the expectancy-value and social cognitive theories of learning, the present study proposed a path model to investigate the impact of motivational beliefs as defined by listening self-efficacy, three types of goal orientations, and task value on self-regulation of Iranian EFL learners, in addition to the unique contribution of each to the variability in the listening comprehension score. Results of path analysis revealed significant positive effect of listening self-efficacy and self-regulation on students’ listening comprehension and task value on self-regulation. Unlike performance approach goals, mastery and performance avoidance goals demonstrated a significant impact on participants’ self-regulation but no significant direct effect of any goals on listening achievement was detected.

Beyond the Big Five: The mediating role of goal orientation in the relationship between core self-evaluations and academic performance

In this paper, we investigate the impact of core self-evaluations on academic performance. We also test several hypotheses that describe a potential mediating effect of three types of goal orientation on the above relationship. The model developed in this paper is statistically tested on a sample of 307 college students. The results indicate that students who perceive themselves as competent, capable and worthy of success (i.e. demonstrating positive core self-evaluations) achieve superior academic performance. Furthermore, the avoid performance type of goal orientation partially mediates the relationship between core self-evaluations and academic performance. Prove performance goal orientation is associated with better academic performance, but is not influenced by core self-evaluations. Learning goal orientation, which is characteristic of individuals exhibiting an intrinsic desire to improve their competence, does not have a significant impact on academic performance. The main contribution of this study lies in showing the positive impact of high core self-evaluations on academic performance and investigating the mechanism through which this relationship develops, namely the mediating effects of goal orientation.

Understanding motivational structures that differentially predict engagement and achievement in middle school science

ABSTRACTMiddle school has been documented as the period in which a drop in students’ science interest and achievement occurs. This trend indicates a lack of motivation for learning science; however, little is known about how different aspects of motivation interact with student engagement and science learning outcomes. This study examines the relationships among motivational factors, engagement, and achievement in middle school science (grades 6–8). Data were obtained from middle school students in the United States (N = 2094). The theoretical relationships among motivational constructs, including self-efficacy, and three types of goal orientations (mastery, performance approach, and performance avoid) were tested. The results showed that motivation is best modeled as distinct intrinsic and extrinsic factors; lending evidence that external, performance based goal orientations factor separately from self-efficacy and an internal, mastery based goal orientation. Second, a model was tested to examine how engagement mediated the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors and science achievement. Engagement mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and science achievement, whereas extrinsic motivation had no relationship with engagement and science achievement. Implications for how classroom practice and educational policy emphasize different student motivations, and in turn, can support or hinder students’ science learning are discussed.

Calling and continuous learning activity


 The goal of the present study was to examine the influence of goal orientation and perceived learning support on the relationship between calling and continuous learning activity within the organizational context. Specifically, the mediating effects of three different types of goal orientation in the relationship between calling and continuous learning activity and the moderated mediation model of goal orientation and perceived learning support were examined. To gain accurate information, we confirmed the results in a serial order. First, the relationship between calling and continuous learning activity was mediated by learning and performance- approach goal orientation, but not the performance-avoidance goal orientation. Second, perceived learning support moderated the relationships between learning goal orientation and continuous learning activity, and between performance-approach goal orientation and continuous learning activity. Third, perceived learning support moderated the mediating effect of learning and performance-approach goal orientation on the relationship between calling and continuous learning activity. Such results imply that calling can foster continuous learning activity by bringing about motivational influence in terms of learning and performance- approach goal orientation. In addition, our research suggests that the relationship between each goal orientation and continuous learning activity might differ depending on the level of perceived learning support. The significance and limitations of our findings are also discussed.

Strategic management of salespeople when promoting new products

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of salespeople when selling new products (namely, electronic goods) in a business-to-business context by incorporating the organizations’ perceived psychological climate into goal orientation theory.Design/methodology/approach– The current study uses the goal orientation theory to examine the performance of 158 salespeople based on new electronic product sales. Organizational psychological climate perceptions (i.e. customer orientation, sales supportiveness and sales innovativeness) are included as variables that can moderate salespeople’s performance. This study used partial least squares to examine its proposed model.Findings– This study found that the learning goal orientation and the performance-prove goal orientation positively affect salespeople’s self-efficacy to sell new products, whereas a performance-avoid goal orientation negatively affects efficacy. In addition, new product selling self-efficacy itself has a positive influence on new product sales performance. As for the moderator, sales supportiveness and customer orientation have the ability to moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and performance.Practical implications– This study has implications for sales managers or product managers who are responsible for promoting new products. First, this study’s findings suggest that managers should consider employing performance-prove goal-oriented staff and learning goal oriented staff to sell new products. Second, management can attempt to develop a more supportive climate for the sales team, such as assisting the team in obtaining needed resources from other departments. Finally, management needs to let salespeople know that they are doing their best to understand what new products existing and potential customers will need in the near future.Originality/value– This current research is one of the first to examine how the perceived psychological climates of organizations (i.e. sales supportiveness, sales innovativeness and customer orientation) may moderate salespeople’s performance when selling new products. Second, this research examines how different types of goal orientation affect salespeople’s self-efficacy when selling new products. Previous results have not always been consistent regarding the influence of a performance-prove goal orientation. Last but not least, this study tests how new product selling self-efficacy mediates the relationships between goal orientations and new product sales performance as scholars have suggested that more research into the mediating role of self-efficacy is needed.

How does understanding why people learn improve our knowledge of designing instruction?

1. Introduction‘‘It is not possible to study all human beings or all experiences of one human being. The best that can be done is toselect representative or specifically significant events for analysis or interpretation’’. (Henry Murray, 1938, p. 3)Over the last decades,educational research has improved significantly in terms of quality and quantity.The researchfield todayranges from studies which focus on the developmentof a single individual to large scale studies whichassessthousands of learners. In this field, learning motivation is a central research topic for educationalists and psychologists,and the papers of this special issue on goal orientation demonstrate its importance. One of the main focuses whenresearching motivationin education is explainingwhy an individual learns. The answerto this questionhelps to identifya person’sintention, effort and intensity of his/heractions(e.g., Krapp,2003). The sources for motivationoriginate fromthe learner her-/himself, from the learning environment, and from their interaction. Traditionally, goal orientationtheories focusedon the learner’s perspective.Yet,increasing attention has been paidto the role of the contextand to thesituational factors that impact motivation because subjective approaches to motivation are not only a product ofindividual dispositions but also a result of the interaction between a person and his or her environment. Differentperspectives in terms of individual or collective forms of goal orientation also have to be considered. By investigatingthe context and situational factors learning settings and learning environments can be improved, at least from amotivational perspective.This specialissueongoalorientation(GegenfurtnerH howevertheir theoretical outlines and empirical findings cannot be related to each other: Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2013) differentiatebetween two types of goal orientation structures, namely learning and performance goals. Three types of individual goalorientations are used by Paulick, Retelsdorf, & Mo¨ller (2013) (mastery, ability, work-avoidance), by Dinger and Dickha¨user(2013) aswellasbyLaineandGegenfurtner(2013)(mastery,performance-approach,performance-avoidance).Fourtypesofgoal orientations are investigated in Meier et al.’s (2013) study by distinguishing between mastery, performance-approach,performance-avoidance, and work-avoidance. Pulkka and Niemivirta (2013) introduce five types of goal orientations

Correlation between academic achievement goal orientation and the performance of Malaysian students in an indian medical school

According to goal orientation theory, achievement goals are defined as the terminal point towards which one's efforts are directed. The four academic achievement goal orientations commonly recognised are mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance and work avoidance. The objective of this study was to understand the goal orientation of second year undergraduate medical students and how this correlates with their academic performance. The study population consisted of 244 second year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students of Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal campus, Manipal University, India. Students were categorised as high performers and low performers based on their first year university examination marks. Their goal orientations were assessed through a validated questionnaire developed by Was et al. These components were analysed by independent sample t-test and correlated to their first year university examination marks. Confirmatory component factor analysis extracted four factors, which accounted for 40.8% of the total variance in goal orientation. The performance approach goal orientation alone explained 16.7% of the variance followed by mastery (10.8%), performance avoidance (7.7%) and work avoidance (5.7%). The Cronbach's alpha for 19 items, which contributed to internal consistency of the tool, was observed to be 0.635. A strong positive correlation was shown between performance approach, performance avoidance and work avoidance orientations. Of the four goal orientations, only the mean scores in work avoidance orientation differed for low performers and high performers (5.0 vs. 4.3; P = 0.0003). Work avoidance type of goal orientation among the low performer group may account for their lower performance compared with high performer group. This indicates that academic achievement goal orientation may play a role in the performance of undergraduate medical students.

The Relationship between Iranian EFL Students’ Achievement Goal Orientations and Their Gender

Achievement goal orientation has been described as the set of purposes or reasons students may adopt for performing an academic task (Dweck, 1986; Pintrich, 2000). So, Goal orientation is one of the concepts that has emerged in educational psychology over the last few decades and also is one of the most important concepts regarding learning in any educational setting. Due to the importance of students’ achievement goal orientation in the education context, and the influences that goals have on their learning processes and outcomes, in the present study, the researcher has tried to investigate the type of goal orientations held by Iranian EFL students and to examine if achievement goals are dependent on gender. To achieve the goal, achievement goal orientation questionnaires were distributed among 182 B.A. students, both males and females, majoring in English Literature at Shiraz University. Consequently, having analyzed the data, the researcher found that that mastery was the dominant type of goal orientation held by Iranian EFL students. Afterwards, performance approach, work avoidant, and performance avoidant goal orientations were respectively the achievement goal orientations held by them. Then, an independent sample t-test was run for the purpose of comparing the students both males and females with the type of achievement goal orientations held by them to see whether the achievement goal orientations are dependent on gender or not. Thus, the results indicated that there were no significant differences across gender groups. That is, the goal orientations held by the students were not dependent on gender.

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Two Types of Goal Orientation and Salesperson Perceived Obsolescence on Adaptive Selling

Adaptive selling is widely deemed as an important characteristic leading to success in personal selling. This research focuses on the way that both learning goal orientation and proving goal orientation influence a salesperson’s adaptive selling through their influence on salesperson perceived obsolescence. A sample of insurance salespeople provide data and structural equation modeling tests a theoretical model linking goal orientation to adaptive selling. The results demonstrate that a strong learning goal orientation promotes adaptive selling. In contrast, a salesperson’s degree of proving goal orientation relates negatively to adaptive selling. In addition, a learning goal orientation reduces perceived obsolescence, whereas a proving goal orientation promotes perceived obsolescence. Perceived obsolescence detrimentally affects adaptive selling, however, direct effects of goal orientation persist even given the significant role of obsolescence.

Test anxiety, perfectionism, goal orientation, and academic performance

Dimensions of perfectionism and goal orientation have been reported to have differential relationships with test anxiety. However, the degree of inter-relationship between different dimensions of perfectionism, the 2×2 model of goal orientations proposed by Elliot and McGregor, cognitive test anxiety, and academic performance indicators is not known. Based on data from 134 university students, we conducted correlation and regression analyses to test associations between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism, four types of goal orientations, cognitive test anxiety, and two indicators of academic performance: proximal cognitive performance on a word list recall test and distal academic performance in terms of grade point average. Cognitive test anxiety was inversely associated with both performance indicators, and positively associated with maladaptive perfectionism and avoidance goal orientations. Adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism accounted for significant variance in cognitive test anxiety after controlling for approach and avoidance goal orientations. Overall, nearly 50% of the variance in cognitive test anxiety could be attributed to gender, goal orientations, and perfectionism. Results suggested that students who are highly test anxious are likely to be women who endorse avoidance goal orientations and are maladaptively perfectionistic.

Coaching within organisations: examining the influence of goal orientation on leaders' professional development

Goal-orientation research exists in a variety of academic, athletic, and organisational settings. Previous research within organisations focused on the impact of goal orientation on diverse constructs such as goal setting, sales performance, and training. This paper describes a study that addressed a gap in the research by examining the relationship between goal orientation and leaders' professional development during coaching engagements. It was hypothesised that the degree and type of goal orientation would influence the level of leaders' professional development. The study's participants were 110 leaders from a US-based corporation who represented diverse professional specialties including human resources, information technology, operations, finance, sales, legal, and client services. Results revealed that learning goal orientation was associated with the level of professional development. Conversely, performance goal orientation was not associated with the level of professional development. Most of the leaders were identified as predominantly learning goal-oriented; none were identified as predominantly performance goal-oriented.

Goal orientations in negotiations: The influence of goal orientations on fixed‐pie perceptions and bargaining outcomes

As is the case for other achievement situations, people may approach negotiations emphasizing outcome and/or process goals. This paper examines the effects of process goal orientation (PGO) and outcome goal orientation (OGO) on individuals' fixed-pie perceptions and the negotiation of joint outcomes. Process and outcome goal orientations are associated with different personal beliefs about the world. We hypothesized that persons who are primarily oriented toward outcome goals, based on their fixed-entity perception of the world, would mainly concentrate on the final results or on the outcomes of the negotiation. They would tend to perceive negotiations as fixed, zero-sum, competitive situations, which have to be "won" by one of the parties at the expense of the other. On the other hand, we predicted that people who are strongly process-oriented, based on their malleable-entity perception of the world, would focus mainly on formulating and mastering the best strategies that lead to successful resolution of the negotiation. They would perceive positions to be "malleable" and, hence, would tend to perceive the negotiation as a non zero-sum situation. Additionally, the interaction between the two types of goal orientations and its effect on the parties' joint negotiation outcomes was examined. Results of two empirical studies indicated that OGO was significantly positively associated with fixed-pie bias (Study 1). The significant interaction between PGO and OGO (Study 2) demonstrated that a strong OGO combined with a strong PGO led to the best joint negotiation outcomes. Implications for goal orientation and negotiation theories are discussed.

Validation of a Chinese achievement goal orientation questionnaire

Background. The mixed findings of previous studies on the nature and effects of performance goals have led to a call for re‐examination of the dichotomous framework of achievement goal orientation theory. While the call for a revised achievement goal orientation theory has received considerable discussion in Western studies, it is not clear whether the revised theory can also be applied in other ethnic and cultural contexts.Aims. Our aim was to validate the Chinese version of Elliot and Church's (1007) Goal Orientation Questionnaire and to initially test the revised goal orientation theory in the context of Chinese students in Hong Kong.Sample. A total of 270 Chinese students (137 boys and 133 girls) from a primary and secondary school in Hong Kong participated in Study 1. Study 2 involved a total of 9,440 students (5,420 boys and 4,020 girls) from 10 primary and 18 secondary schools in Hong Kong.Method. Participants in Study 1 completed a Chinese Goal Orientation Questionnaire (CGOQ) measuring three types of goal orientation. Exploratory factor analysis, item–total correlation, and reliability analyses were undertaken to assess the psychometric quality of the CGOQ. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis was used to provide further validation for the revised questionnaire. The relationships among different goal orientations and that with students' perceived classroom environment and self‐efficacy were also explored using structural equation modelling.Results. Findings of exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 and confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2 supported the proposed factor structure of the CGOQ. All the subscales in the questionnaire also showed good internal consistency reliabilities. The construct validity of the CGOQ was supported by its significant relationship with criterion measures. While most of the relationships between the three types of goal orientation and the learning‐related variables measured in our study were consistent with the revised goal orientation theory, the positive relationships between performance‐avoidance goals, mastery goals, and perceived classroom environment were different from previous studies.Conclusion. Our findings generally supported the trichotomous framework of the revised goal orientation theory with Chinese students in Hong Kong. Consistent with the revised goal orientation theory, our findings indicated that both mastery and performance‐approach goals had positive impacts on students' learning. However, the positive relationships between performance‐avoidance goals, mastery goals, and perceived classroom environment were contradictory to the conceptualization of performance‐avoidance goals in the revised theory. Cultural and social factors affecting Hong Kong students' goal orientations are discussed.

The regulation of affect, anxiety, and stressful arousal from adopting mastery‐avoidance goal orientations

AbstractAchievement goal theory has proved to be very influential in our understanding of student's regulation of academic and non‐academic behaviours. Recently, Elliot and McGregor proposed mastery‐avoidance goals in the trichotomous model of achievement motivation. The purpose of the present studies was to examine the regulation of mastery‐avoidance goals with regard to persistence, affect and arousal. In Study 1, 96 college students' regulation of their own behaviour was assessed during a stressful exam. Results showed that mastery‐avoidance goals were associated with significantly elevated cognitive anxiety, negative affect and fear of failure. Study 2 attempted to replicate and extend the findings of Study 1 by examining the regulation of affect and arousal using self‐report and physiological assessments, during stressful in‐class presentations (n = 70). Results indicated that negative affect was significantly predicted by adoption of mastery‐avoidance goals. Modelling the effects using Multilevel Random Coefficient Modelling showed that students espousing mastery‐avoidance goals were significantly more aroused, compared to students who adopted any other type of goal orientation, at both the intercept level and the slope (linear or quadratic). It is concluded that mastery‐avoidance goals have deleterious effects on student's regulation of their emotional experience in stressful achievement situations and should be avoided by all means. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation for Problem Solving Using Goal-Oriented Contexts and Peer Group Composition

One important factor related to ill-structured problem-solving success is intrinsic motivation, that is, students’ willingness to persist in solving the problem. Goal orientation, a motivational variable, explains reasons why students engage in the activity because they want to either learn or perform. This study investigated the relationship between these two types of goal orientations and their effects on motivation and problem solving by varying three instructional contexts designed to promote one of the two orientations. Heterogeneous and homogeneous peer grouping based on self-efficacy was also predicted to affect intrinsic motivation and problem solving. The results indicated that students in the learning-oriented context had significantly higher intrinsic motivation than those in the performance-oriented context. Students in the heterogeneous peer group had higher scores on monitoring and evaluating problem-solving subskills than those in the homogeneous peer groups. Learning-goal orientation and solution development were significantly related when students participated in the learning-oriented, heterogeneous peer grouping treatment group.

Why am I in School? Relationships Between Adolescents' Goal Orientation, Academic Achievement and Self‐Evaluation

The purpose of the present article is to study the interrelations between goal orientations, achievements and well‐being in school. For this purpose adolescents' academic self‐perceived competence, personal interest in school subjects, and affect in regard to different evaluative situations that take place in school were related to eight different types of goal orientations toward school and learning. The study suggests that depending on the orientation and domain, adolescents perceive their competence either positively or negatively. In particular, negatively or critically oriented pupils show lower academic performance and self‐evaluations of competence, lower future expectations of success with respect to most academic school subjects, and higher levels of anxiety when compared to other pupils. In addition, the study supports the assumption that individuals' beliefs about the self are hierarchically organised and involves beliefs about general or global competence as well as beliefs about specific ability.

Adolescents' Goal Orientations and Academic Achievement: Long-Term relations and gender differences

The purpose of the present article is to study the predictability of eight different types of goal orientations as motives for academic achievement. These goal orientations could be distinguished on the basis of a content analysis of 7391 pupil responses to the open-ended question 'Why do you go to school?' The findings of the present study suggest that already at the age of 13 pupils pursue a variety of academic and non-academic goals in a short- as well as in a long-term future. The different types of goal orientations in which these goals are involved are differentially related to achievement over time and gender. The study suggests in addition that the pupils who are most successful in school over time are those who take into consideration the perspectives of other people plus those who try to prevent their own feared-for situations becoming reality and pupils who try to pursue multiple goals. These motivation groups are found to comprise more girls than boys.

Goal orientation and ability: interactive effects on self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge.

This study examined the direct relationship of goal orientation--and the interaction of goal orientation and cognitive ability--with self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge in a learning context. The authors argue that whether a particular type of goal orientation is adaptive or not adaptive depends on individuals' cognitive ability. Consistent with previous research, learning orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge, whereas performance orientation was negatively related to performance only. The interactions between goal orientation and ability also supported several hypotheses. As expected, learning orientation was generally adaptive for high-ability individuals but had no effect for low-ability individuals. In contrast, the effects of performance orientation were contingent on both individuals' level of cognitive ability and the outcome examined.