Personal Achievement Goals, Learning Strategies, and Perceived IT Affordances

What people perceive when they interact with technologies are not the features and functionalities of the technology but rather the behaviors it affords them. Affordance perception determines how organizational information technology (IT) is used by employees and the benefits they provide to organizations and their members. In this article, we explain how employees who pursue different personal goals and use various learning strategies come to perceive different IT affordances. We identify three distinct pathways: (1) performance-avoidance goals are positively associated with surface processing, which leads to perceptions of common in-role IT affordances; (2) performance-approach goals are positively associated with surface processing and effort regulation and these learning strategies lead to perceptions of common and specialized in-role IT affordances; and (3) mastery goals are associated with deep processing, effort regulation, and peer learning, which are positively associated with perceptions of specialized in-role and extra-role IT affordances. By identifying the different pathways to perceived affordances, the article identifies potential interventions that can help managers steer employees toward certain affordances and away from other, less desirable affordances.

Peer Group Embeddedness and Academic Motivation: A Developmental Perspective

The present study focused on the increasing importance of peer group embeddedness on domain-specific academic motivation (intrinsic value and mastery goals) over the course of early adolescence. In this regard, two important research questions were investigated: (1) Does a change in peer group embeddedness influence a change in student intrinsic value and mastery goals? (2) Does this influence increase over the course of early adolescence? The research questions were investigated based on a five-wave longitudinal study over two school years (seventh and eighth grade) in Germany. The final sample comprised 349 students. True- intraindividual-change models showed a positive effect of a change in peer group embeddedness in the first half of eighth grade on the change of all domain-specific motivational dimensions—except for intrinsic value in English—in the second half of the eighth grade. In the seventh grade, a change in peer group embeddedness had no effect on all motivational dimensions. The results were discussed in terms of taking a developmental perspective for both peer group embeddedness and student academic motivation.

The Role of Passion and Achievement Goals in Optimal Functioning in Sports

This study aimed to test the role of passion in the cognitive goals pursued in sport and the level of Optimal Functioning in Society (OFIS) derived from such sport engagement. A total of 184 competitive water polo and synchronized swimming athletes completed a questionnaire assessing their passion for their sport, achievement goals, and various scales assessing their level of OFIS (e.g., subjective well-being, relationship with their coach, sport performance, and intentions to continue in sport). It was hypothesized that harmonious passion (HP) would be positively associated with mastery goals while obsessive passion (OP) would be positively associated with mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. In turn, mastery goals were expected to positively lead to the four components of OFIS, whereas performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals should display less adaptive relationships with OFIS. The results of a path analysis generally supported the proposed model. As hypothesized, these findings suggest that HP leads to a more adaptive cognitive engagement in sport (than OP) that, in turn, fosters higher levels of optimal functioning.

How Does Self-Control Affect Academic Achievement of Adolescents? The Dual Perspectives of Teacher-Student Relationship and Mastery Approach Goals

This three-wave longitudinal study aimed to investigate whether the relationship between self-control and academic achievement, through mastery goals, was conditional on the nature of the teacher-student relationships. A total of 852 junior school students in China completed questionnaires about self-control, mastery goals, and teacher-student relationships. Academic achievement was obtained from the school. The analyses of moderated mediation effects based on structural equation modeling showed that teacher-student emotional conflict increased the negative effect of students’ low self-control on academic achievement via mastery goals, whereas teacher-student emotional support failed to moderate this link. Thus, both mediating and moderating effects exist in the association between self-control and adolescents’ academic achievement.

Examining College-Level ELLs’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Goal Orientation

The present study aims to investigate the self-efficacy and goal orientation of college-level English Language Learners (ELLs). It further explored the relationship between self-efficacy and goal orientation. The data were collected from 198 ELLs by using an English Language Learning Survey. Participants had positive self-efficacy toward their English learning. ELLs who were 25 years old and above had a higher level of self-efficacy than those who were less than 25 years old. Females had a greater mastery goal orientation tendency than males. There was a positive correlation between self-efficacy and mastery goals, whereas self-efficacy was negatively correlated with performance-avoidance goals. Teachers are encouraged to provide scaffolding and set assessment focus on ELLs improvement and mastery of content to enhance their self-efficacy and facilitate adopting mastery goals.

Who Is Part of the “Mindset Context”? The Unique Roles of Perceived Professor and Peer Mindsets in Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Motivation and Belonging

In the current study, we explore the unique roles that perceived professor and peer beliefs play in creating a mindset context for undergraduate engineering students. We found that students (N = 304) perceived their peers, as compared to their professors, to endorse stronger fixed beliefs about intelligence and more negative beliefs about effort and failure, what we refer to as “unproductive mindsets”. Students’ perceptions of their professors’ unproductive mindsets negatively predicted their motivation (utility, attainment, and intrinsic value of engineering) and sense of belonging, even controlling for students’ own mindsets. Further, students’ perceptions of their peers’ unproductive mindsets negatively predicted their motivation (intrinsic value and mastery goals), sense of belonging, and choice of a difficult assignment, even controlling for students’ own mindsets and their perceptions of their professors’ unproductive mindsets. These results suggest that when considering the mindsets that permeate academic contexts, it is important to consider the unique role of perceptions of both teachers (professors) and peers.

From Teachers’ Personal Achievement Goals to Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Goal Structures: Via Student-oriented Goals and Specific Instructional Practices

While research has documented associations between teachers’ achievement goals and students’ perceptions of classroom goals, little is known about the mechanisms behind these effects. To enlighten the mode of operation of teacher goals on students’ perceptions of instructional practices and classroom goal structures, a study with 84 secondary school teachers and their 1,447 students (ranging from 7th to 9th grade) in the subject of mathematics was conducted. Classroom goal structures and a wide range of specific mastery and performance-oriented instructional practices derived from Ames’ (1992) TARGET model were assessed via student reports. Teachers reported two types of goals, namely personal achievement goals and student-oriented goals. Two-level path modeling indicated that both types of teacher goals were of relevance. Student reports of teachers’ specific mastery-oriented instructional practices were predicted by teachers’ student-oriented goals and, indirectly, by their personal mastery goals (positively) and performance approach goals (negatively), while performance-oriented instructional practices were negatively predicted by teachers’ personal mastery goals. Perceived classroom goal structures were closely related to these specific instructional practices and also indirectly predicted by teachers’ personal and student-oriented goals.

Exploring Factors for English Language Learners’ Language Competence

This study aims to analyze the relationships among self-efficacy, strategies, and goal orientations of college-level English Language Learners (ELLs). Participants who were more than 25 years old had a lower level of strategy use than those who were less than 25 years old. Greater strategy use could result in higher level of self-efficacy and goal orientations. When mastery goals increased, use of overall strategy, compensation, cognitive, metacognitive strategy and social strategy increased. Teachers are suggested to use scaffolding, set goals and adopt assessment methods to promote ELLs’ ability and mastery of class content instead of external evaluation to improve learners’ self-efficacy and confidence.