Research suggests that higher education teachers worldwide experience high levels of stress, burnout, and other adverse experiences due to the challenging nature of their work. To better understand why, under similar conditions, some teachers struggle while others flourish, studies are needed which recognize multiple facets of their subjective well-being (SWB) and explain differences therein using comprehensive theoretical frameworks. From an achievement goal perspective, goals can be expected to underlie differences in one’s emotions, cognitions, and behaviours in achievement contexts. However, this theoretical notion remains largely uninvestigated when it comes to understanding differences in higher education teachers’ SWB. Our research thereby offers a comprehensive overview of the associations between higher education teachers’ achievement goals and, acknowledging the multifaceted nature of SWB, their positive emotions, negative emotions, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. For international and institutional generalizability, we conducted a study in which 1,338 teachers from three countries (Germany, the USA, and India) and two higher education institution types (research- and teaching-oriented institutions), completed measures of their achievement goals and multifaceted SWB. We found that, invariant across the different countries and higher education institutions, achievement goals were meaningfully and differentially associated with facets of SWB. Notably, mastery approach goals (task approach goals) were adaptively associated with all facets of SWB, while the opposite was found for work avoidance goals. Our findings highlight the relevance of achievement goals for understanding and supporting higher education teachers’ SWB, as well as the importance of employing differentiated and comprehensive perspectives in achievement goal and SWB research.
Crossroads of Higher Education in Troubled Times Facing the Future of Work and the Subjective Well-Being of Professionals in Latin America
