Employee achievement orientations and personality as predictors of job satisfaction facets

This paper examines the incremental value of achievement orientations (Mastery-Approach; Mastery-Avoid; Performance-Approach; Performance-Avoid), above Extraversion and Neuroticism, in predicting two different types of satisfaction outcomes; expectation-based-job-satisfaction (EX-JS) and satisfaction-with-one’s-own-job-performance (P-JS). Using structural equation modelling, data from 242 UK government body employees showed that only Extraversion shared a (positive) relationship with EX-JS. Whereas, the strongest relations with P-JS were found for Neuroticism and Mastery-Approach with both sharing positive relationships with this satisfaction outcome. Analyses indicated that Mastery-Approach accounted for unique variance in P-JS beyond Extraversion and Neuroticism. Findings show that there is scope for experiences of satisfaction at work to be traced to stable approach competence specific motivational tendencies.     

The impact of different sources of social support on academic performance: Intervening factors and mediated pathways in the case of master's thesis

IntroductionAcademic failure and dropout are pervasive challenges at all levels of the education system. Research so far pointed out different aspects of this large phenomenon. On the one hand, some scholars have argued that social support is a key factor to foster learning and persistence. On the other hand, some other scholars have rather highlighted the role of student motivation and engagement itself in improving performance on academic tasks. In this article, we tested theoretical models that combine the two approaches in a whole process.AimsWe aimed at clarifying (1) the specific contribution of several sources of perceived social support to academic performance, and (2) the mediation role of motivation and engagement in the relationships between perceived social support and performance.MethodThe sample consisted of 226 last year university students. Structural equation modeling analyses were used to test the hypothesized associations.ResultsStructural equation modeling analysis revealed that institutional and supervisor support were associated with motivation, which in turn predicted greater behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement. Further, behavioral engagement was the unique contributor of academic performance at the master's thesis.ConclusionThe results clarify the specific contribution of different sources of perceived social support and underline the importance of the supervisor and the institution. They also underline the importance of considering different sources of perceived social support at the same time. Finally, theoretical assumptions concerning the mediational role of motivation were confirmed.     

Cultivating a Sense of Place in Religious Studies

This essay analyzes student learning through place‐based pedagogies in an American Religions course. In the course, students analyzed cultural meanings and practices of regional religious communities and participated in sensory awareness and ecological learning in a campus garden. Embodied learning increased student understanding and appreciation of land‐based religious practices and epistemologies, and promoted multiple student literacies. In Religious Studies, place‐based learning is vital to the examination of the rich dimensions and expressions of religious experience. Across disciplines, place‐based pedagogies can expand and deepen text‐based learning, cultivate recognition of various ways of knowing, foster affective connections to the local community, and develop critical skills for addressing patterns of displacement and ecological denigration.     

Moved to action? Gender differences in perceived effort and motor performance after video-based achievement motive arousal

Achievement incentives in sports are assumed to trigger achievement motivation, which in turn increases performance. We used a within-subject-design to test achievement motive arousal (using an A-B-A design) using video clips. We hypothesized that an ACH-video clip arouses the achievement motive (PSE) stronger, leads to better performance in a skipping task and elicits stronger perceived effort and commitment for the task than the NEUTRAL- and NO-video conditions. We investigated gender differences. 184 students (92 women, age: M = 27.66 years, SD = 9.72) participated in a three-part web-survey. Neither main nor interaction effects of Video-Condition and Gender were found on motive arousal and skipping frequency. Significant interaction effects on skipping slope and perceived effort, however, showed that women are more engaged after the ACH-video than after the NEUTRAL-video and NO-video and here even outperformed men. Results are discussed in terms of why external “motivators” (e.g., videos) affect men and women differently.     

Vibrant memory scapes: Encountering memorials on unstable ground

This article uses walking ethnography to approach the memoryscape of Stockton, a peninsula settlement opposite the city of Newcastle, Australia. As new residents of the city, we walked the memoryscape of Stockton together and with friends and family seeking encounters with the material objects of local memory as an entry into place. Stockton's memoryscape is full of objects gravid with deeply localised meanings. In some cases, our encounters have stimulated inquiry into documented histories and stories behind the objects, however we remain primarily concerned with the prospects, and limitations, of encountering the memoryscape ‘fresh’. From these experiences we adopt a three-part argument. First, Stockton's memoryscape exhibits a shared local identity based on defiance evident in three groups of memorial objects: (i) unintentional memorials created by the unstable landscape (ii) DIY memorials made by local residents, and (iii) monuments sanctioned by local authorities. Second, Stockton's memoryscape remains powerfully rooted in place. It is vibrant, defying digitisation, defying displacement and re-placement. Stockton's memorials and monuments need to be found, encountered, shared in situ on the unstable ground of ballast and sinking sand. Third, walking ethnography restricted to a bounded area, mode of mobility (walking), theme (memorials), and epistemology (encounter with objects) generates rich ethnographic material on place, even without expert knowledge of the past. These experiments in walking and encountering objects in the vernacular memoryscape animated our imagination even with only limited detail on what to remember and how to feel about it. This offers a contribution to interdisciplinary research on the affective power of found material objects in ethnographic analysis.     

In the context of a sports match,the goal to win is most important,right? Suggestive evidence for a hierarchical achievement goal system

When evaluating one’s own or others’ performances, there is a strong tendency to rely on social comparison information. Remarkably, however, the extant achievement goal research suggests that the prevalence of other-based goals is very low, also in sport contexts. In the present research, we argue and demonstrate that in the context of a sports match: (1) most athletes’ overarching achievement goal is an other-based approach goal (i.e., the goal to win), and (2) athletes with an overarching other-based approach goal also rely on self-based criteria (referring to one’s personal performance trajectory) and task-based criteria (referring to the absolute demands of the task). Survey data was collected among 647 competitive korfball players (69.4% women), ranging in age from 16 to 56 years. As expected, for most athletes (51.6%), to win matches was their overarching achievement goal, and pursuing self-based and task-based approach goals added to their competence satisfaction. In such a hierarchical achievement goal system, subordinate goals likely help athletes to increase their awareness of what actions and means facilitate their focal objective: Coming out victorious.     

Sharing therapeutic experiences of place: Co-creative digital storytelling as a way to explore connection to place

This paper explores two seemingly diverse case studies that share stories of place through co-creative media digital storytelling practices. The co-creative media practice of digital storytelling is applied as a framework to extend the current understanding of community issues in their individual contexts. Case one applied digital storytelling as a tool to investigate aged-care residents' therapeutic landscape experience. In Case two, it explores local communities’ experience of flood and how digital storytelling was applied as a way to relieve trauma. This research adopts a comparative case studies methodology. With the two cases in very different contexts, common themes of “a sense of identity”, “memories and belonging” and “therapeutic narratives” emerged. Findings suggest digital storytelling enables social connection. It also engages with memories as narratives and is an effective way to recall significant experiences, in our research contexts, therapeutic experiences. Finally, digital storytelling as a co-creative practice is also a way to build resilience and contribute to co-creating places.     

Perceived social image and life satisfaction across cultures

We studied the relationship between perceived social image and life satisfaction in four different cultural groups. One-hundred nine Indian (63 females, 46 males), 67 Pakistani/Bangladeshi (36 females, 31 males), 76 White British (43 females, 33 males), and 94 European Americans (43 females, 48 males) completed measures on the cultural importance of social image, positive and negative emotions, academic achievement, and perceived social image. Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi participants valued social image more than White British and European-American participants. Consistent with this value difference, a positive perceived social image predicted life satisfaction among Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi participants only. For these participants, perceived social image predicted life satisfaction above and beyond the effects of emotions and academic achievement. Academic achievement only predicted life satisfaction among White British and European Americans. Emotions were significant predictors of life satisfaction for all participants.     

Performing well in an evaluative situation: The roles of perceived competence and task-irrelevant interfering thoughts

Abstract

This research expands on previous research by arguing and demonstrating that high perceived competence buffers the detrimental effects of an evaluative situation. In Study 1 (n=75, 38.7% male), the situation (evaluative vs. non-evaluative) and perceived competence (high vs. low) were manipulated, whereas in Study 2 (n=42, 33.3% male), perceived competence relied on naturally occurring differences in perceived competence. The results of Study 1 indicate that people may underachieve in an evaluative situation. More importantly, in Study 2 it was demonstrated that such an evaluative situation had only a negative effect on test performance among individuals low in perceived competence. The occurrence of task-irrelevant interfering thoughts during task completion accounted for this inimical effect of an evaluative situation on test performance among these individuals.