Personality in the Workplace

Goal Orientation, Task Difficulty, and Task Interest: A Multilevel Analysis

• Published in 2006 in Motivation and Emotion
• Authors: M. Horvath, H. A. Herleman, & R. L. McKie
• For more information, contact: Mike Horvath

Abstract: We studied whether goal orientation affects the relationships that task difficulty and interest have with self-set goals. Using a sample of 499 undergraduate students who listed grade goals for their classes, we employed Hierarchical Linear Modeling to explain differences in the extent to which difficulty and interest related to goals. Higher goals were set for more interesting and easier classes, and for individuals higher in mastery goal orientation and for those lower in performance-avoidance orientation (at average levels of interest and difficulty). Furthermore, performance-approach and performance-avoidance orientations reduced and strengthened (respectively) the effects of task difficulty on self-set goals, and the buffering effect of mastery orientation was marginally significant.