Proposal view
| Proposal Type: | Individual Paper |
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| Domain: | Motivational and Affective Processes |
| SIG: | Motivation and Emotion |
| Scheduling category: | Goal orientation |
| Type | Submitted Paper |
| Equipment |
Computer and data projector / beamer |
| Paper Details |
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| Paper type | Empirical |
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| Title | Trait/State Goal Orientation and Learning Self-Efficacy in Adults: Effects of Age and Education |
| Abstract | Goal orientation is a construct that has both dispositional and situational components. This study contributes to knowledge about the validity of the distinction between trait and state goal orientation. First, it examines how trait and state measures of goal orientation act together to predict learning self-efficacy. Second, this study assesses how the participants’ age and educational attainment moderate the relationships between measures of goal orientation and learning self-efficacy. Referring to the 2x2 framework of achievement goals, the hypothesis is tested that the maladaptive effects of mastery-avoidance goals affect older adults more negatively than younger adults. As existing evidence indicates that differences in educational attainment also moderate the relationship between goal orientation and learning self-efficacy, it is important to unconfound the effects of the participants’ age and educational level. Results (of multilevel structural equation modeling) confirmed that mastery-avoidance goals, but not mastery-approach goals, played a specific role in understanding self-efficacy among older adults. Level of education moderated the effects of both learning-approach and learning-avoidance goals. The participants’ age and educational attainment moderated the relationship between (state) achievement goals and learning self-efficacy, but did not influence how dispositional goal orientations were transformed into (state) achievement goals. |
| Summary | Objectives Goal orientation is a construct that has both dispositional and situational components. Although it was originally conceptualized in dispositional terms, goal orientations are subject to situational influences and can be activated through situational cues. This study examines the validity of the distinction between trait and state measures of learning goal orientation (Button, Mathieu, & Zajac, 1996). It assesses how trait and state measures interact to predict learning self-efficacy. Traditionally, research on goal orientation has emphasized two types of achievement goals: mastery and performance goals. More recently, Elliot and his colleagues (Elliot & Marcy, 1997; Elliot & McGregor, 2001) proposed that the dichotomy be revised to include the distinction between avoidance and approach motivation. According to this model, achievement goals are combinations of two fundamental dimensions: definition (mastery vs. performance) and valence (approach vs. avoidance). This results in a 2x2 framework of achievement goals. Maladaptive effects are usually associated with the dominance of a performance-goal orientation, while learning-goal orientation is associated with beneficial effects. Including the 2x2 framework of achievement goals as mediating states provides a differentiated view on part of the mechanisms that relate goal orientations to learning self-efficacy. Some empirical evidence suggests that the maladaptive effects of a performance-goal orientation may be stronger among older as compared to younger adults. This study tests the hypothesis that mastery-avoidance goals rather than mastery-approach goals (van Yperen, 2006) explain how the participants’ age is related to learning self-efficacy. Mastery-avoidance goals should not only be more widespread among older adults, but are expected to affect learning self-efficacy more negatively, among older adults. Existing evidence also indicates that educational level may moderate the relationship between goal orientation and learning self-efficacy. Accordingly, it is important to unconfound the effects of age and educational attainment. This study seeks to contribute to existing research in that it (1) tested alternative models that describe how trait and state measures of learning goal orientation jointly predict learning self-efficacy; and (2) assessed the hypothesized, specific role that mastery-avoidance goals may play in understanding learning self-efficacy among older and less educated adults. As much of adult learning takes place in work environments, adults were studied in a real-world context, at their workplaces. State achievement goals were assumed to be influence by individual goal orientation dispositions as well as by situational influences that operate at the level of the working teams that individuals belonged to. Method 554 employees, who were sampled from two large German companies in the automotive industry, participated in a questionnaire based research study. Participants were recruited from 55 working teams. As the participants’ age and educational level were of particular interest to this study, care was taken to include adults at different ages (ranging between 21 and 62 years), as well as adults with different levels of education. To assess dispositional goal orientation, this study used the items that Button et al. (1996) examined and validated. To assess situational achievement goals, the 2x2 framework was referred to, which incorporates the approach-avoidance distinction to differentiate between performance-approach, performance-avoid, mastery-approach, and mastery-avoid goals (Elliot & McGregor, 2001; van Yperen, 2006). Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships between goal orientation and learning self-efficacy. Results Results confirm that the distinction of dispositional and state goal orientation is valid and meaningful. A model that incorporated both dispositional and state measures of goal orientation fit the data better than a model that only included measures of dispositional goal orientation (learning-goal and performance-goal orientation). Dispositional goal orientation had both direct and indirect effects (i.e. effects that were mediated through state achievement goals) on learning self-efficacy. The participants’ age and educational attainment moderated the relationship between (state) achievement goals and learning self-efficacy, but did not influence how dispositional goal orientations were transformed into (state) achievement goals. As predicted, learning-avoidance goals (but not learning-approach goals) interacted with the participants’ age. Older adults were affected more negatively if mastery-avoidance goals were eminent than were younger adults. Higher educational attainment was on average associated with higher levels of learning self-efficacy. Both mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals had a stronger (positive/negative) impact on learning self-efficacy, among highly educated adults. Among the group of adults with the lowest level of education, the relationship between (state) mastery-avoidance goals and learning self-efficacy even turned insignificant. Conclusion Both dispositional and situational measures of goal orientation need to be considered to successfully model relationships between goal orientation and learning self-efficacy. A model that incorporated the 2x2 framework of (state) achievement goals and the traditional dichotomy of (dispositional) performance- and learning-goal orientation best described the relationships between goal orientation and learning self-efficacy. Studying adults with a large age range and different levels of education allowed for observing the differential effects that achievement goals had on adult learners with different age and levels of education. Research on goal orientation and achievement goals has important implications for lifelong learning during adulthood and may inform workplace and management practices to help meet the challenges of demographic change. References: Button, S. B., Mathieu, J. E., & Zajac, D. M. (1996). Goal orientation in organizational research: A conceptual and empirical foundation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 67(1), 26-48. Elliot, A. J., & Marcy, A. C. (1997). A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 218-232. Elliot, A. J., & McGregor, H. A. (2001). A 2x2 achievement goal framework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(3), 501-519. Van Yperen, N. W. (2006). A Novel Approach to Assessing Achievement Goals in the Context of the 2 x 2 Framework: Identifying Distinct Profiles of Individuals with Different Dominant Achievement Goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(11), 1432-1445. |
| Keywords | Goal orientation Lifelong Learning Selfefficacy |
| Appendices | |
| Authors | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Surname | Institution | Country | EARLI Number | Presenting | |
| Heike | Heidemeier | Jacobs University Bremen | Germany | h.heidemeier@jacobs-university.de | * | |
