Don Vandewalle

Development and Validation of a Work Domain Goal Orientation Instrument.

This article describes the development and validation process for an instrument to assess goal orientation (an individual disposition toward developing or validating ones ability in achievement settings). In contrast to previous goal orientation instruments, three goal orientation dimensions are identified (learning, avoid, and prove), and the instrument is domain specific to work settings. The results of exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis (internal consistency and test-retest), confirmatory factor analysis, and nomological network analysis all support the conclusion that the instrument operationalizes the theorized three-dimensional construct.

The role of goal orientation following performance feedback.

This study examined the relationship of goal orientation and performance over a series of 2 challenging performance events. After providing performance feedback on the 1st event, the authors found that the relationship between a learning goal orientation and performance remained positive for the 2nd event, the relationship between a proving goal orientation and performance diminished from a positive to a nonsignificant level, and the relationship between an avoiding goal orientation and performance remained negative. Data analysis also indicated that the relationships between the 3 goal orientation dimensions and the performance event were differentially mediated by goal setting, self-efficacy, and effort.

The Influence of Goal Orientation and Self-Regulation Tactics on Sales Performance: A Longitudinal Field Test

The authors investigated the influence of goal orientation on sales performance in a longitudinal field study with salespeople. As hypothesized, a learning goal orientation had a positive relationship with sales performance. This relationship was fully mediated by 3 self-regulation tactics: goal setting, effort, and planning. In contrast, a performance goal orientation was unrelated to sales performance. These results suggest that a focus on skill development, even for a veteran workforce, is likely to be associated with higher performance. Management should seek evidence of a learning goal orientation when selecting new employees, while avoiding an excessive focus on performance goal orientation without a comparable skill-development focus.

Goal orientation and goal content as predictors of performance in a training program

The antecedents and consequences of content goals for participants in a complex skill-training program were examined in a longitudinal study. Using LISREL 8 to test a mediated model, it was found dispositional goal orientation was related to the content of goals that individuals adopted for the training program. Not all content goals were related to training performance; only content goals with a skill improvement focus had a positive relationship with performance. Results provide a richer understanding of the antecedents of content goals and their relationship to performance and have implications for managers and for the administration of training programs.

Collectivism, propensity to trust and self-esteem as predictors of organizational citizenship in a non-work setting

This study examined organizational citizenship of residents in a housing cooperative setting where roles were not influenced by traditional employee–employer work relationships. Results demonstrate that the individual differences of collectivism and propensity to trust predicted organizational citizenship (assessed six months later). In addition, organizational-based self-esteem fully mediated the effects of collectivism and propensity to trust on organizational citizenship, and tenure moderated the trust—self-esteem relationship. We discuss the implications of these results given the changing nature of work and the increasing importance of non-work organizations. Copyright

An integrated model of feedback-seeking behavior: Disposition, context, and cognition.

This study replicates, integrates, and extends prior research on the dispositional, contextual, and cognitive antecedents of feedback-seeking behavior. Regression analysis was used to analyze data collected from a sample of salespeople (N = 310) from 2 Fortune 500 companies. The study hypotheses were supported with the following results. First, the individual disposition of learning goal orientation and the contextual factors of leader consideration and leader initiation of structure influenced cognitions about the perceived cost and value of feedback seeking. Second, the strength of the relationship of learning goal orientation with the cost and value perceptions was moderated by the leadership style of the supervisor.

The Effect of Implicit Person Theory on Performance Appraisals

Four studies examined whether implicit person theory (IPT) regarding the malleability of personal attributes (e.g., personality and ability) affects managers acknowledgment of change in employee behavior. The extent to which managers held an incremental IPT was positively related to their recognition of both good (Study 1) and poor (Study 2) performance, relative to the employee behavior they initially observed. Incremental theorists judgments were not anchored by their prior impressions (Study 3). In the 4th study, entity theorists who were randomly assigned to a self-persuasion training condition developed a significantly more incremental IPT. This change in IPT was maintained over a 6-week period and led to greater acknowledgment of an improvement in employee performance than was exhibited by entity theorists in the placebo control group.

The Role of Goal Orientation on Negative Emotions and Goal Setting When Initial Performance Falls Short of One's Performance Goal

This longitudinal field study examined the influence of goal orientation on both negative emotional reactions to performance feedback and subsequent self-set goal level. After completing an initial performance event and receiving negative performance feedback, learning and proving goal orientations had nonsignificant relations with the intensity of negative emotional reactions to feedback. In contrast, an avoiding goal orientation had a positive relation with the intensity of negative emotional reactions. For a subsequent performance event a month later, we found 2 relation patterns. First, negative emotional reactions mediated the relation of an avoiding goal orientation with goal setting. Second, a learning goal orientation moderated the relation of negative emotional reactions with goal setting. Specifically, we found a negative relation between the intensity of negative emotional reactions and goal level for individuals with a low learning goal orientation. For individuals with a high learning goal orientation, however, the relation was nonsignificant. Overall, the study findings provide insights on how goal orientation influences initial emotional reactions and subsequent self-regulation in the face of negative performance feedback.

Performance Appraisal Procedural Justice: The Role of a Manager's Implicit Person Theory

Although there is a vast literature on employee reactions to procedural injustice, little is known about the important issue of why some managers are less procedurally just than others. In this field study we found that a manager’s implicit person theory (IPT; i.e., extent of assumption that people can change) predicted employees’ perceptions of the procedural justice with which their last performance appraisal was conducted. These procedural justice perceptions in turn predicted employees’ organizational citizenship behavior, as partially mediated by their organizational commitment. This research provides an initial empirical basis for a new line of inquiry that extends existing IPT theory into the realm of perceptual, attitudinal, and behavioral responses to people as a function of their IPT. Other contributions to the IPT, performance appraisal, and procedural justice literatures are discussed.

Managers' Implicit Assumptions About Personnel

Effective managers recognize both positive and negative changes in employee performance and take appropriate remedial action when required. Managers assumptions about the rigidity or malleability of personal attributes (e.g., ability and personality) affect their performance of these critical personnel management tasks. To the extent that managers assume that personal attributes are fixed traits that are largely stable over time, they tend to inadequately recognize actual changes in employee performance and are disinclined to coach employees regarding how to improve their performance. However, a growth-mindset intervention can lead managers to relinquish their fixed mindset and subsequently provide more accurate performance appraisals and helpful employee coaching. Implications for performance evaluation procedures and avenues for future research are outlined.