Journal of Applied Psychology

2006, Vol. 91, No. 1, 185192

Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association

0021-9010/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.91.1.185

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Self-Regulation: From Goal Orientation to Job Performance

Christine L. Porath

Thomas S. Bateman

University of Southern California

University of Virginia

The authors investigated the effects on job performance of 3 forms of goal orientation and 4 selfregulation (SR) tactics. In a longitudinal field study with salespeople, learning and performance-prove
goal orientation predicted subsequent sales performance, whereas performance-avoid goal orientation
negatively predicted sales performance. The SR tactics functioned as mediating variables between
learning and performance-prove goal orientations and performance. Social competence and proactive
behavior directly and positively predicted sales performance, and emotional control negatively predicted
performance.
Keywords: self-regulation, goal orientation, job performance

implications for peoples work behaviors and ultimately their job

performance. However, only a few studies using students (Brett &
VandeWalle, 1999; Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot & McGregor,
1999; VandeWalle, Cron, & Slocum, 2001) have investigated the
differential effects of the three dimensions of goal orientation on
(exam) performance, and those studies yielded inconsistent results.
Moreover, when researchers have studied SR tactics, they generally have isolated a single SR tactic and tested it as an independent
variable, not as one of a set of mediators between goals and
performance. By investigating three work-related goal orientations, subsequent job performance, and four mediating SR tactics,
we attempt to create with this longitudinal research a more comprehensive explanation of how people effectively regulate their
own job performance.

Peoples ability to self-regulate may be their most essential

asset. Self-regulation (SR) is defined by processes that enable an
individual to guide his or her goal-directed activities over time and
across changing circumstances, including the modulation of thought,
affect, and behavior (R. Kanfer, 1990; Karoly, 1993; Zimmerman,
2001). In organizations, practicing managers want people to achieve
high performance levels; industrial organizational psychologists
accordingly are interested in individuals regulation of their own
levels of job performance (Vancouver, 2000). But despite knowing
what is important for people to self-regulate at work, industrial
organizational psychologists know little about how people attempt
to do so and, especially, how it can be done most effectively. In
this study, we show that different goal orientations differentially
predict subsequent job performance, as mediated by four specific
self-regulatory tactics: feedback seeking, proactive behavior, emotional control, and social competence.
Although SR research has highlighted the importance of goals,
it typically has focused narrowly on a single task goal and has
neglected the mediating tactics between goals and job performance
(Karoly, 1993). But peoples goals at work are not composed
merely of single task goals. People can have and act on at least
three different types of broad goal orientations (VandeWalle,
1997; Elliot, 1999): learning, performance-prove, and performance-avoid. These goal orientations potentially hold important

Goal Orientation and Its Effects

The goal construct is perhaps the most essential component in
SR theories (R. Kanfer, 1990; Vancouver, 2000). Traditionally,
psychology and organizational behavior studies have focused on
peoples goals surrounding task performance (VandeWalle, 1997).
However, Dweck and her colleagues (e.g., Dweck & Leggett,
1988) made a substantial addition to the performance perspective
by identifying another type of goal: learning. Whereas performance goal orientation involves demonstrating and validating
ones competence, learning goal orientation involves developing
competence by acquiring new skills and mastering new situations
(Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliott & Dweck, 1988). Since these
studies were done, a considerable amount of research in the classroom (e.g., Bell & Kozlowski, 2002) and some research in training
and organizational contexts (e.g., Fisher & Ford, 1998; Kozlowski
et al., 2001) have demonstrated the relationships between learning
and performance goal orientations and different affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses.
Recent empirical evidence indicates that goal orientation is best
represented not by two but by three dimensions (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; VandeWalle, 1997): learning, performance-prove,
and performance-avoid. People with a high learning goal orientation view skills as malleable (Martocchio, 1994); they make efforts
not only to achieve current tasks but also to develop the ability to

Christine L. Porath, Department of Management and Organization,

University of Southern California; Thomas S. Bateman, McIntire School of
Commerce, University of Virginia.
Funding from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Smith
Graduate Research Fund Grant supported this study. We thank James
Dean, Jane Dutton, Christine Pearson, Benson Rosen, and Albert Segars
for their support as well as their insightful suggestions and assistance,
which helped to shape this study. We also thank Sue Ashford, Stacie Furst,
Cristina Gibson, Peter Kim, Phil Birnbaum-More, Kimberly Perttula, Nandini Rajagopalan, and Ian Williamson for their valuable comments and
suggestions on drafts of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christine L. Porath, University of Southern California, Marshall School of
Business, Bridge Hall 307D, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808. E-mail:
cporath@marshall.usc.edu
185

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186

RESEARCH REPORTS

accomplish future tasks (Button, Mathieu, & Zajac, 1996; Farr,

Hofmann, & Ringenbach, 1993). People with a high performanceprove goal orientation tend to focus on performance and try to
demonstrate their ability by looking better than others. People with
a high performance-avoid goal orientation also focus on performance, but this focus is grounded in trying to avoid negative
outcomes (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996); it is fundamentally aversive and threat based (Elliot, 1999).
The distinctions among these goal orientations are especially
pertinent to SR (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996). Learning and
performance-prove goal orientations are characterized as SR focused on potential positive outcomes (task mastery and normative
competence, respectively). These approach orientations motivate
affective and cognitive processes that facilitate optimal task engagement (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996). Processes including
challenge construal, sensitivity to success-relevant information,
and cognitive and affective immersion in the activity (Depreeuw,
1992; Folkman & Lazarus, 1985; Wegner, 1994) lead to a mastery
pattern of beneficial outcomes such as achievement (Elliot &
Church, 1997; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996). Performance-avoid
goal orientation, however, is characterized as SR focused on
avoiding negative outcomes, and it is hypothesized to motivate
processes that produce detrimental achievement outcomes because
self-protective processes interfere with or prevent optimal task
engagement (e.g., threat construal, anxiety-based preoccupation
with self-presentational rather than task concerns; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996). Experimental results provided support for this
conceptualization (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996).
On the basis of this theorizing and experimentation, in our field
study of salespeople, we predicted the following:
Hypothesis 1: Learning and performance-prove goal orientations but not performance-avoid orientation will positively
predict subsequent job performance.
We also expected that learning and performance-prove goal
orientations would positively predict certain SR tactics. Learning
goal orientation has a positive relationship with the desire to work
hard (Helmreich & Spence, 1978) and with the belief that greater
effort leads to success (Ames, 1992) and thus should motivate
people to use more SR tactics. Learning goal orientation has been
linked to a wide range of positive processes and outcomes (Elliot,
1999), including a number of SR tactics among students. For
example, learning goal orientation was associated with effort,
persistence, self-determination, willingness to seek help,
challenge-related affect, and deep processing of information (Elliot
& Church, 1997; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; Elliot & McGregor,
1999; Elliot, McGregor, & Gable, 1999; McGregor & Elliot, 1999;
Middleton & Midgley, 1997).
Performance-prove goal orientation also has been linked empirically to several SR tactics in school settings, including calmness
during evaluation, higher levels of aspiration, absorption during
task engagement, and challenge-related affect while studying, as
well as higher course grades and better exam performance (Elliot
& Church, 1997; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; Elliot & McGregor,
1999; Elliot et al., 1999; McGregor & Elliot, 1999; Middleton &
Midgley, 1997; Skaalvik, 1997). But in contrast to learning and
performance-prove orientations, performance-avoid goal orientation prompts people to fall into a maladaptive pattern of helpless-

ness, which precludes optimal task engagement and is not conducive to either engaging in SR or performing at high levels (e.g.,
Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot & Sheldon, 1997). Performanceavoid orientation may distract or constrain people from devoting
the same energy to SR because they focus more narrowly and
passively on avoiding failures or consider SR tactics to have less
instrumental value. Thus, performance-avoid goal orientation is
unlikely to have the same positive effects as the two approachbased goal orientations.
In the study of salespeople reported here, we investigated four
work-related SR variables: feedback seeking, proactive behavior,
emotional control, and social competence. Feedback seeking (Ashford & Cummings, 1983) is central to the SR literature (e.g.,
Ashford & Tsui, 1991); actively seeking feedback is a means for
gathering information about how to develop ones skills and master tasks (e.g., VandeWalle, Ganesan, Challagalla, & Brown,
2000). Proactive behavior (Bateman & Crant, 1993) involves
actions that effect constructive change rather than passive adaptation to circumstances or compliance with the status quo; proactive
behavior is known to predict important performance outcomes (cf.
Crant, 2000) but is unstudied in the goal-orientation or SR literatures. We also studied two subsets of emotional intelligence, better
established in the practitioner literature than in the academic
management literature. We investigated emotional intelligence
with a measure of emotional control, which involves keeping
performance anxiety and other negative emotional influences from
interfering with task performance (F. H. Kanfer & Ackerman,
1996), and a measure of social competence, or social skills used to
interact effectively with others (R. A. Baron & Markman, 2003;
Schneider, Ackerman, & Kanfer, 1996). Social competence has
recently been found to be positively related to entrepreneurial
success (R. A. Baron & Markman, 2003) as well as academic
achievement and school adjustment (Alexander & Entwistle, 1988;
Patrick, Yoon, & Murphy, 1995).
High learning orientation prompts feedback seeking as a means
to gather information about how to develop skills and master tasks
(e.g., VandeWalle et al., 2000). Employees with a higher learning
goal orientation are also more likely to be proactive to enhance
self-development (Farr et al., 1993) because they are more interested in increasing competency. Those with a strong learning
orientation are also more likely to engage in role innovation or to
implement changes in their work both examples of proactive
behavior because they typically view these initiatives as challenges that can foster learning (Farr et al., 1993). People with a
higher performance-prove goal orientation should exhibit similar
behaviors because they are more motivated to take actions to
outperform others or differentiate themselves from others. Thus,
we expect individuals with a greater performance-prove goal orientation to seek feedback more actively than others without such a
strong orientation, using the knowledge gained to outperform
others, and to proactively initiate behaviors that would give them
a competitive advantage. Both positive, approach-related goals, in
contrast to performance-avoid goals, should also motivate people
to engage in other constructive SR tactics such as exhibiting
emotional control and social competence, because such behaviors
can be instrumental toward increasing task mastery and performance (Elliot & Church, 1997).

RESEARCH REPORTS

Hypothesis 2: Learning and performance-prove goal orientations but not performance-avoid orientation will positively
predict the four specific SR tactics: feedback seeking, proactive behavior, emotional control, and social competence.

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SR Tactics and Job Performance

We predicted further that the four SR tactics would positively
predict subsequent job performance. Feedback seeking is an important SR tactic for reducing discrepancies between the current
state and ones goals, and it is likely to affect performance by
motivating individuals and directing them toward effective performance strategies (cf. Ammons, 1956; Ashford, Blatt, & VandeWalle, 2003). Active feedback seeking may be essential for obtaining information about such things as others evaluations of
ones work (Ashford & Tsui, 1991), the relative importance of
various goals within a particular setting (Ashford & Cummings,
1983), and the ways in which an organization operates (Morrison,
1993), as well as for improving job performance (London, Larsen,
& Thisted, 1999). A study of newcomers conducted by Morrison
(1993) offered support for the feedback seekingjob performance
relationship.
Proactive behavior improves performance because proactive
people select environments conducive to effective performance,
and because they initiate and sustain efforts that beneficially alter
their environments (Bateman & Crant, 1993). For example, proactive behavior includes identifying and pursuing opportunities for
self-improvement, such as acquiring additional education or other
skills that may improve performance (Seibert, Crant, & Kraimer,
1999). Proactive behavior not only is significantly correlated with
certain types of personal achievements (Bateman & Crant, 1993)
but also predicts objective job performance, even after controlling
for the effects of experience, social desirability, general mental
ability, conscientiousness, and extraversion (Crant, 1995).
Emotional control may facilitate performance by keeping offtask concerns and emotions from diverting attention away from
ones tasks (F. H. Kanfer & Ackerman, 1996) and inhibiting
emotional states that may undermine action (Kuhl, 1985). Emotional control also enables people to harness and use emotions to
facilitate decision making and problem solving (Salovey, Hsee, &
Mayer, 1993), which ultimately should improve performance.
Social competence can affect a persons performance in several
ways. First, people may develop work skills and learn appropriate
role behaviors (e.g., how best to serve the needs of clients) on the
basis of their socially competent interactions with others (e.g.,
Bauer & Green, 1994; Reichers, 1987). Second, greater social
competence should allow one to achieve better performance because much of the work people perform requires the cooperation of
others (Tsui, 1984). Third, greater social competence may help to
build friendship networks and social support, which may be instrumental in achieving success (e.g., R. A. Baron & Markman,
2003). Some limited evidence (R. A. Baron & Markman, 2003)
suggests that social competence does affect success in business.
Hypothesis 3: Feedback seeking, proactive behavior, emotional control, and social competence will positively predict
subsequent job performance.
On the basis of the above discussions of the effects of goal
orientations and of the four specific SR tactics, we predicted that

187

the SR tactics would mediate the relationships between both learning goal orientation and performance and performance-prove goal
orientation and performance. Our mediated model is consistent
with the logic outlined above and with other theory. R. Kanfer and
Heggestad (1997) stressed that goal choice is the first step to
achieving performance, whereas the second step consists of processes involving SR tactics. Consistent with this, Zimmermans
(2001) social cognitive model of SR describes causal relations
among three elements: goal cognitions predict SR tactics, which
are followed by judgments regarding ones own performance.
Hypothesis 4: The relationships between learning and performance-prove goal orientations and subsequent job performance will be mediated by feedback seeking, proactive behavior, emotional control, and social competence.

Method
Study Design
To test the hypotheses, we surveyed and collected subsequent performance data from salespeople working from virtual offices for a large,
multinational, computer product and services organization. These participants primarily worked remotely with a significant degree of autonomy.
Salespeople were sent, via e-mail, a cover letter explaining the study along
with the Internet link to the survey. The sample included 121 respondents,
representing a 40% response rate. Our contact and a human resource
representative at the sample organization confirmed statistically that the
demographics (age, gender, tenure, and race) of the sample were representative of the nonrespondents in the sales division of this organization.
Of the 121 respondents, we were able to obtain the (sales) performance
data for 88 participants. The other participants, who had changed regions
or had been moved to sales positions that used different measures of
performance, were dropped from the analyses. We conducted all analyses
with the 88 participants for whom we had complete data. There were no
significant demographic or work history (e.g., tenure) differences between
these two samples.

Measures
Demographic characteristics. The sample was 44% women and 56%
men, with ages ranging from 24 to 54 years (M 37 years). Tenure with
the organization averaged 9 years 5 months and ranged from 11 months to
over 32 years.
Predictor variables. Participants were asked to consider the last 6
months in responding to the questions asking about their goal orientation
and SR tactics. Learning goal orientation ( .86) was measured with
four items asking salespeople the extent to which they valued developing
their sales skills. Performance-prove goal orientation ( .71) was
measured with four items that asked salespeople the extent to which they
valued others knowing their sales accomplishments and the extent of their
concern for performing better than others. Both the learning and performance-provefocused goal orientation items were developed and validated
by Sujan, Weitz, and Kumar (1994) for their study of salespeople and
subsequently used by VandeWalle et al. (1999) in their study of salespeople. However, neither study included performance-avoid items.
Performance-avoid goal orientation ( .69) was measured with three
items from VandeWalle (1997) that asked the extent to which people desire
to avoid disproving their competence and to avoid negative judgments
about it. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using
LISREL 8.53 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) on the goal orientation items to
test whether the three dimensions were empirically valid. The preferred fit
statistics (and those that are not dependent on sample size)root mean

RESEARCH REPORTS

188

Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations of the Independent and Dependent Variables
Variable
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Learning goal orientation

Performance-prove goal orientation
Performance-avoid goal orientation
Feedback seeking
Proactive behavior
Emotional control
Social competence
Performance

SD

5.77
5.58
1.93
4.16
5.26
5.10
5.41
104.45

0.62
0.81
0.93
1.68
0.75
0.96
0.84
16.11

(.84)
.321**
.334**
.291**
.506**
.289**
.303**
.282*

(.71)
.199
.385**
.349**
.209*
.271*
.300**

(.69)
.137
.286**
.110
.132
.286**

(.88)
.221*
.319**
.059
.055

(.80)
.361**
.370**
.399**

(.82)
.451**
.051

(.85)
.273*

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Note. Reliabilities are listed in parentheses on the diagonal.

* p .05. ** p .01.

square error of approximation (RMSEA .01), comparative fit index

(CFI .99), and incremental fit index (IFI .99)all fell (Gerbing &
Anderson, 1992) in the acceptable range (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). This
three-dimensional model was considerably better than the one- or twodimensional models.
Mediating variables. Feedback seeking was measured with two items
from Callister, Kramer, and Turbans (1999) supervisor feedback (inquiry)
scale ( .86). One item is I asked my supervisor if I was meeting all my
job requirements. Proactive behavior was measured using five 7-point
items ( .80) from Bateman and Crant (1993). An example is I always
looked for a better way to do things. Emotional control was measured
with the five items from Kuhls (1985) emotional control scale ( .80).
Items included I put myself in the moods I needed in order to keep on
track. Social competence was measured with five items from R. A. Baron
and Markmans (2003) social competence scale ( .85). Participants
rated items that included I could usually read others well in terms of how
they felt in a given situation.
We performed a CFA to determine whether the factors representing the
tactics were statistically valid. This four-factor SR tactic model, built on
the established constructs and scales, achieved good model fit (RMSEA
.07, goodness-of-fit index .90, CFI .90) and was considerably better
than a one-factor model of the SR tactics and other competing models.1
Dependent variable. Job performance was measured as the percentage
of the sales quota metthe companys objective measure of salespeoples
performancefor the 6 months (two quarters) after the questionnaire was
completed. In establishing the sales quotas, the organization attempted to
take into account several factors that could affect performance, such as the
size of the salespersons territory, past client sales, previous salesperson
performance, and potential for new sales.

Results
Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, and correlations
among all variables. With regard to Hypothesis 1, sales performance was positively related to learning goal orientation (r
.282, p .05) and performance-prove goal orientation (r .300,
p .01), as predicted, and negatively related to performance-avoid
goal orientation (r .286, p .01).
To test Hypothesis 2, we performed a multivariate multiple
regression analysis, regressing the SR tactics (feedback seeking,
proactive behavior, emotional control, and social competence) on
the learning, performance-prove, and performance-avoid goal orientations. Hypothesis 2 was supported. The omnibus multivariate
test was strongly significant for learning goal orientation, F(7,
80) 5.05, p .01. As shown in Table 2, learning goal orientation significantly predicted three of the four SR tactics. As pre-

dicted, greater learning goal orientation predicted proactive behavior ( .50, p .001, R2 .25), emotional control ( .29, p
.05, R2 .08), and social competence ( .30, p .05, R2
.09). Greater learning goal orientation did not predict feedback
seeking in this analysis, although the bivariate correlation was
significant. Performance-prove goal orientation also predicted the
set of SR tactics, F(7, 80) 4.05, p .01. Performance-prove
goal orientation predicted feedback seeking ( .39, p .01,
R2 .14) and proactive behavior ( .35, p .05, R2 .12).
Performance-avoid goal orientation was unrelated to the SR
tactics.
To test how well the SR tactics predicted subsequent performance (Hypothesis 3), we conducted a multivariate multiple regression analysis, regressing the sales performance measure on the
SR tactics. As a set, the SR tactics strongly predicted performance,
F(4, 83) 7.25, p .001, R2 .26. As shown in Table 3, the
omnibus multivariate test indicated that three of the four SR tactics
predicted performance. Proactive behavior ( .43, p .001,
R2 .16) and social competence ( .25, p .05, R2 .07)
positively predicted performance, whereas emotional control negatively predicted performance ( .30, p .01, R2 .01).
Feedback seeking was not related to performance.
To test whether the SR tactics mediated the relationships between learning and performance-prove goal orientations and sales
performance (Hypothesis 4), we followed R. M. Baron and Kennys (1986) three-step mediation regression procedures. The first
requirement is that the predictor variables (in this case, learning
and performance-prove goal orientation) must be related to the
mediators (SR tactics). As shown in Table 2, this condition was
met for learning goal orientation with proactive behavior, emotional control, and social competence and for performance-prove
goal orientation with proactive behavior. Second, the predictor
variables must be related to the dependent variable. As shown in
Table 1, this condition is evidenced by the positive correlations
1

In addition to conducting separate CFAs on the goal orientation and

tactics items, we also conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with
varimax rotation on the combined scales using the complete initial sample
(N 121; CFA was not used because of the poor item to sample size ratio
even using the largest available sample). The EFA yielded a good solution
that replicated the a priori structure of the scales, providing some empirical
evidence that our participants distinguished the goal orientation and the SR
tactics constructs.

RESEARCH REPORTS

Table 2
Multivariate Regression Analysis for Self-Management Tactics
on Learning, Performance-Prove, and Performance-Avoid Goal
Orientation

Variable

Table 4
Analysis of Mediation for Learning and Performance-Prove
Goal Orientation and Performance Using Hierarchical
Regression

F(4, 83)

Learning goal orientation

Feedback seeking
Proactive behavior
Emotional control
Social competence

.29
.50
.29
.30

Variable
2.80
16.33***
4.69*
4.39*

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Performance-prove goal orientation

Feedback seeking
Proactive behavior
Emotional control
Social competence

.39
.35
.21
.27

189

9.56**
4.14*
1.37
3.13

Block 1
Learning goal orientation
Performance-prove goal orientation
Block 2
Learning goal orientation
Performance-prove goal orientation
Proactive behavior
Emotional control
Social competence
* p .05.

R2
model

Change
in R2
block

t(82)

.21
.23

1.94*
2.19*

.13
.29

.16**
.09
0.80
.16
1.60
.33
2.88**
.34 3.10**
.23
2.10*

** p .01.

Performance-avoid goal orientation

Feedback seeking
Proactive behavior
Emotional control
Social competence
* p .05.

** p .01.

.14
.29
.11
.13

0.01
1.31
0.01
0.02

*** p .001.

between performance and both learning and performance-prove

goal orientations. Third, the effect of the predictor variables on the
dependent variable must be significantly reduced or disappear
when included in a regression with the mediating variables. Table
4 shows the results of a hierarchical multivariate multiple regression analysis in which performance was regressed on learning and
performance-prove goal orientations (entered first) followed by the
three significant SR tactics. As shown in Table 4, proactive
behavior, emotional control, and social competence remained statistically significant, whereas the relationships between learning
and performance-prove goal orientations and performance
disappeared.

Discussion
In this study, we investigated how people self-regulate in ways
that enhance their job performance. Zimmerman (2001) noted that
SR tactics are of little value if people cannot motivate themselves
to use them (p. 17). Of course, SR tactics are also of no value
unless they increase effectiveness. Our results revealed that learn-

Table 3
Regression of Performance on the Self-Management Tactics
Variable

t(83)

Feedback seeking
Proactive behavior
Emotional control
Social competence

.07
.43
.30
.25

0.69
4.05**
2.61*
2.29*

Note. R2 .26; adjusted R2 .22; F(4, 83) 7.25, p .01.

* p .05. ** p .01.

ing and performance-prove goal orientations predicted SR tactics,

several of which in turn predicted subsequent job performance.
Until recently, only two types of goal orientation were studied,
with results generally showing positive effects of learning goal
orientation and negative or neutral effects of performance goal
orientation (cf. Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996). Parsing performance
goal orientation into performance-prove and performance-avoid
types, as suggested by Elliot and Harackiewicz (1996) and VandeWalle (1997), revealed different effects in our study: Performanceprove goal orientation positively predicted sales performance,
whereas performance-avoid goal orientation negatively predicted
performance. Furthermore, whereas VandeWalle and Cummings
(1997) found a negative relationship between performance goal
orientation and feedback seeking, we found that relationship to be
negative only for performance-avoid goal orientation; performance-prove goal orientation was positively related to feedback
seeking. The general positive outcomes commonly associated with
learning orientation are supported in this study, but performanceprove orientation had some positive effects as well; it was performance-avoid orientation that was not beneficial.
Elliot and colleagues (e.g., Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot &
McGregor, 1999) proposed that the optimal framework for individuals may be the simultaneous adoption of the two approach
orientations (learning and performance-prove) and the absence of
the performance-avoid goal orientation. They suggested further
that learning and performance-prove goal orientations may be
longer and shorter term facilitators of performance, respectively.
Previous research had not demonstrated whether these two goal
orientations can function effectively together (Elliot & McGregor,
1999). Our study sheds some light on this issue, providing evidence that learning and performance-prove goal orientations can
function effectively together, particularly with employed adults in
sales positions and autonomous work settings. Both learning and
performance-prove goal orientations predicted proactive behavior,
but learning goal orientation predicted emotional intelligence tactics whereas performance-prove goal orientation predicted a different SR tactic, feedback seeking.
Performance-prove goal orientation may prompt feedback seeking due to impression management motivations (e.g., asking for
feedback to convey that they care more than others or to strategi-

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190

RESEARCH REPORTS

cally prompt supervisors to discover or acknowledge high performance). This explanation is plausible in part because our sample
routinely received high levels of feedback from a variety of different sources, making feedback seeking unnecessary. Furthermore, if feedback seeking was used as an impression management
technique, this also would explain the lack of a relationship between learning goal orientation and feedback seeking. Future research in other job contexts might explore more fully when and
why these goal orientations motivate different SR tactics.
Our study extends VandeWalle et al.s (1999) work, as called
for by several scholars (e.g., Elliot & McGregor, 1999; R. Kanfer,
1990; VandeWalle et al., 1999), by including several previously
untested SR tactics and finding that these tactics mediate the
relationship between learning and performance-prove goal orientations and sales performance. In addition to demonstrating how
goal orientations influence SR processes, our results identified
which SR tactics enhance performance. Proactive behavior and
social competence positively predicted performance, whereas
emotional control negatively predicted performance. Social competence operated as a suppressor variable (cf. J. Cohen, Cohen,
West, & Aiken, 2003) in the latter relationship, which was insignificant as a zero-order correlation but significant as a regression
parameter when social competence was in the equation. The positive and negative consequences of emotional control, studied as
specific tactics in different circumstances and in operation with
other variables, represent a potentially fruitful avenue for future
research.
One limitation of this study is that many of the variables were
measured using employee self-reports. However, self-reports are
less problematic than some critics maintain and are appropriate
when the respondent can validly assess the constructs (Crampton
& Wagner, 1994). Moreover, our dependent variable was an objective, lagged measure of performance. The lagged measure of
performance improves the confidence with which we can interpret
causality, but unmeasured variables could have affected the relationships and should be controlled in future research. For example,
intelligence or education might be correlated with particular goal
orientations and SR tactics.
Another limitation involves the generalizability of the results.
First, although the study had sufficient power to reveal important
effects, the small sample size could have affected the mediation
results. With a large sample, the small but positive parameters for
learning (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.57, 8.36) and performance-prove goal orientations (95% CI 0.83, 7.52) could
become statistically significant, indicating partial rather than complete mediation and either direct effects of goal orientations or the
operation of additional mediators not measured in this study.
Second, effective SR may depend on the nature of the job and the
technology it involves (Tsui & Ashford, 1994). As examples, the
importance of feedback seeking may vary depending on levels of
existing feedback and the ability of others to provide useful feedback, and performance-prove goal orientation may be less important when performance measures are more ambiguous than those
of our sample. The salespeople in this study had precise performance goals that allowed simple comparisons of their own performance against a standard, against past performance, and against
their self-set goalsand upon which rewards were clearly contingent. In addition, the relative strength of different goal orientations
may change depending on the tasks and situations. Within-subjects

designs that consider goal orientations toward multiple tasks and

longitudinal designs that assess changes in goal orientation as
situations change would provide information that is useful toward
further understanding the dynamics of these processes. In addition
to studying standard types of jobs and work environments, future
research should address SR strategies and tactics in circumstances
in which implementing them and achieving success are particularly challenging and important. Such circumstances include (a)
serious problems such as organizational tragedies (Weick, 2003)
and other situations requiring strong resilience (Sutcliffe & Vogus,
2003) and (b) important opportunities that can be realized only
through positive deviance (Spreitzer & Sonenshein, 2003) or transcendent behavior (Bateman & Porath, 2003).
Managers presumably can help facilitate learning and performance-prove goal orientations, reduce performance-avoid goal
orientation, and help individuals build and use the SR tactics that
contribute to personal effectiveness and well-being (Cameron,
Dutton, & Quinn, 2003). Specific recommendations hinge on
future research that tests the generalizability of the findings in this
study and that identifies how best to train goal orientation and SR
tactics. However, we know that people are not always aware of
useful SR strategies or when and how to apply them (Ames, 1992);
that training programs can help employees develop greater social
competence in ways that increase performance (Hays, 1999); and
that leaders can craft contexts that stimulate, enable, and sustain
effective SR (S. G. Cohen, Chang, & Ledford, 1997; Kerr, Hill, &
Broeding, 1986). The best approaches may be those that make
clear which SR tactics are most instrumental toward successful
performance and that strengthen self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997)
with respect to enacting these tactics.

Conclusion
SR is far more than stoic willpower during goal pursuit: It
requires strategic thought and action (Mischel & Mendoza-Denton,
2003). We did not assume that the constructs measured here are
stable personality traitswe consider them to be manageable
behaviors. Goal orientation, for example, appears to have both
dispositional and situational components (Button et al., 1996; Farr
et al., 1993; Kozlowski et al., 2001) and therefore may be a
malleable construct that individuals can use strategically to better
self-regulate. Purely dispositional approaches typically do not consider underlying processes or dynamics that may be essential for
understanding how people respond to different situations and for
developing effective interventions (Aspinwall & Staudinger,
2003). Effective SR, like human strengths in general (Aspinwall &
Staudinger, 2003), may lie primarily in the ability to flexibly apply
as many different resources and skills as necessary to achieve a
goal.
SR is increasingly an important topic in the new organizational
era (Rousseau, 1997). We emphasize peoples volition in controlling their personal effectiveness. This study and other SR research
contribute to the burgeoning positive psychology literature, which
stresses the development and maximization of peoples strengths
and psychological capabilities (e.g., Cameron et al., 2003; Seligman, 2002). A science of SR must avoid the pitfalls and realize the
potential of positive approaches to behavioral and organizational
sciences (Cameron et al., 2003). In this pursuit, scholars can
identify the most effective strategies and tactics under different

RESEARCH REPORTS

circumstances and find the best ways to help people recognize both
their own behavioral patterns and how they can think and behave
differently to attain desired goals (Mischel & Mendoza-Denton,
2003).

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Received October 14, 2003

Revision received October 8, 2004
Accepted October 14, 2004