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How learning goal orientation leads to vitality, moderated by

workload and autonomy

A quantitative report

Pre-master program business administration

Team members: Sabina van Steenderen, 2567808, s.van.steenderen@student.vu.nl

Daniël Veen, 2558970, d.veen@student.vu.nl

Lisanne Vermeulen, 2565673, l.vermeulen@student.vu.nl

Team 1F

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To get the best out of employees, the well-being of employees within an organization is

essential. With this paper we aim to gain insight into whether certain work conditions

positively or negatively influence the well-being of employees who have a different level of

learning goal orientation. The well-being of an employee can be influenced by many internal

and external factors. The relationship between the personality characteristic learning goal

orientation and the well -being, specifically vitality, is the topic of our research. An individual

who is learning goal oriented, continuously wants to gain knowledge and improve his abilities.

Prior research has shown that an individual who is more learning goal oriented has a more

positive well-being than others who are less or not learning goal oriented (Dweck, 1989;

Veiga & Turban, 2014; Tuominen-Soini, Salmela- Aro and Niemivirta, 2008). Button and

Mathieu (1996), researched the construct goal orientation and concluded that it is two-

dimensional and distinguished learning goal orientation from performance goal orientation.

Their research was primarily focused on developing the best measuring method for both

constructs. As this paper focuses on learning goal orientation, performance goal orientation

will not be researched. Well-being is a term that can include several specific components, in

this research the aim is towards one of them: vitality. Vitality can be defined as the mental

state of being full of energy, activity and vigour and is part of a person‟s well-being. Zacher,

Brailsford, & Parker (2014) imply that employees could achieve higher levels of vitality over

time when employees are educated about the general or long-term use of work strategies. In

other words, the more educated or trained employees are, the higher the level of vitality could

be. Their research also suggests another way to obtain higher levels of occupational well-

being, which is establishing an organizational

culture that prioritizes employees' daily and occupational well-being.

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In our opinion the relationship between learning goal orientation of an employee and its

vitality can be weakened or strengthened by certain conditions. The moderating influence of

two of these conditions, workload and autonomy, have been researched individually in several

ways but not on the specific relationship between learning goal orientation and someone‟s

vitality. This theoretical calling is essential in order to better understand why learning goal

orientation of employees is related to the well-being of employees and why the moderating

conditions of workload and autonomy might individually influence this relationship.

This study has two primary objectives. The first is to establish and demonstrate the

relationship between learning goal oriented employees and their vitality. Second, is to

establish and demonstrate the moderating influence of autonomy and workload relative to the

vitality of learning goal oriented employees.

Learning goal orientation and vitality

Goal orientation is a wide concept that is described in multiple ways. Goal orientation is

defined by Brett and VandeWalle (1999) as „‟a mental framework to how individuals interpret

and respond to achievement situations‟‟ (p. 2). According to Veiga and Turban (2014) goal

orientation is „‟a broad term that reflects the reason why a person does a task or pursues a

goal‟‟ (p.3). Because the second definition by Veiga and Turban (2014) lays more emphasis

on the ability of an individual to influence his goal orientation, the second definition will be

used in this report.

The construct „goal orientation‟ is mostly seen as two-dimensional and distinguishes learning

goal orientation (LGO) from performance goal orientation (PGO). A learning goal oriented

person (sometimes referred to as a mastery oriented person) wants to continuously build his

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knowledge and improve his capabilities. A person that is performance goal oriented focuses

on the performance of the task only in order to receive positive feedback and wants to avoid

negative feedback on their capabilities (Button, Mathieu & Zajac, 1996).

This distinction comes from the motivational theory of Dweck (1989) which explains the

difference between LGO and PGO with the use of two possibly held views on ability: the

incremental theory and the entity theory. Individuals who believe in the incremental theory

see intelligence as something malleable that is influenced by hard work, these individuals are

more likely to be supporters of the learning goal orientation. On the other hand, the entity

theory suggests that intelligence is fixed and hard work cannot contribute to becoming more

intelligent. The entity theory is more likely to be supported by performance goal oriented

individuals. This study will only consider the incremental theory thus learning goal

orientation and the possible relation it has with vitality.

Vitality can be described as a mental state of mind and part of a person‟s well-being. Ryan &

Frederich (1997) (in Zacher, Brailsford & Parker, 2014) refer to vitality as the state of being

full of energy, being active and feeling vigour. According to Ryan & Frederich in (Bourhis,

Giles & Rosenthal, 1981) vitality is also potentially related to autonomy. Because this

research tests the relationship between learning goal orientation and the moderating influence

of autonomy, the definition of Ryan & Frederich (1997) will be used to describe vitality.

The potential relationship between learning goal orientation and an individual his well-being

has not been a broad researched topic (Tuominen-Soini, Salmela-Aro & Niemivirta, 2008).

This could be interpreted as an irregular course of circumstances because earlier research on

goal orientation has found that different goal orientations lead to different ways of handling a

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task and coping with emotions (Dweck, 1989). Dweck states that children who are mastery-

oriented are more likely to show adaptive patterns when dealing with difficult tasks, such as:

establishing and maintaining personally challenging and valued achievement goals. Children

who are not mastery-oriented and therefore are more PGO show more signs of maladaptive

patterns, which are related to a failure to establish, maintain and attain valuable goals.

Although this research focuses on the effect of LGO on employee vitality and not on children

their vitality, it can be assumed that the findings of Dweck (1989) also apply to individuals.

Dweck (1989) states that children who display a maladaptive pattern are more likely to show

signs of negative affect (e.g. anxiety) and negative self-esteem when they are confronted with

a difficult task. Dweck (1989) continuous his reasoning by stating that children with adaptive

patterns seem undismayed when confronted with a difficult task or even perform better during

the difficult task. However, the maladaptive children were seriously troubled with thinking up

and carrying out a potential solution. Considering the emotional reactions of these PGO

individuals and their cognitive strains it can be assumed from Dweck (1989) his article that a

difference in LGO and PGO could potentially contribute to a change in well-being and thus

on vitality.

A different research, of Veiga and Turban (2014), researched the role LGO played in the

effect stress had on job seekers. Veiga and Turban (2014) concluded that individuals who

were highly learning goal oriented regulated themselves differently during the process of job

seeking than persons with a low LGO; Individuals with a higher LGO experienced more

adaptive responses to perceived stress. The study of Veiga and Turban (2014) could indicate

that well-being or vitality is also related to LGO as the individuals who are LGO are less

prone to stress and could therefore be thought to be more vital.

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In a different organizational research, the study of Janssen & Yperen (2004) showed that

LGO could also be thought of as related to an emotional reaction. The researchers found that

mastery oriented individuals experience more job satisfaction and enjoyment from their work

than PGO individuals. Being mastery oriented is often related to having a high level of LGO.

Although job satisfaction is a different concept that vitality, there can be argued that job

satisfaction and enjoyment might be having an influence on the well-being and vitality of an

individual.

Sonnentag, Kuttler & Fritz (2010) found that activities like mastery and relaxation increased

the energy level of an individual, which can directly be related to vitality. As noticed before,

an individual who is LGO shows high mastery-oriented responses (Button & Mathieu, 1996).

The most recent study that found an effect of LGO on emotions is the research of Tuominen-

Soini, Salmela-Aro and Niemivirta (2008). This research mostly resembles this study because

the relationship between goal orientation and the subjective well-being of an individual was

tested. The researchers found that there were important difference between students having a

LGO and PGO in terms of well-being. Tuominen-Soini, Salmela-Aro and Niemivirta (2008)

stated that for student who adopted a PGO approach, achievements were coupled with a lower

self-esteem, more depressive symptoms, a tendency to be subjected to burnout and could

experience stress concerning their future ambitions. It can be concluded from the article of

Tuominen-Soini, Salmela-Aro and Niemivirta (2008) that a different goal orientation is

related to well-being and therefore potentially related to the vitality of an individual.

It can be concluded from the previous part that a difference in goal orientation is likely to lead

to a different cognitive approach to a certain task. These cognitive approaches are according

to Dweck (1989) directly related to emotional states. The research of Veiga and Turban

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(2014) and Janssen & Yperen (2004) showed that the differences in goal orientation can have

an effect on stress and job satisfaction and Sonnentag, Kuttler & Fritz (2010) found that

mastery-oriented activities directly relate to an increase in energy level. Tuominen-Soini,

Salmela-Aro and Niemivirta (2008) found a direct relation between goal orientation and well-

being, which could be potentially directly related to vitality. Because of these findings we

hypothesize that:

Hypothesis 1: Learning goal orientation of employees will have a positive relationship with

vitality.

Fig. 1: Visualization of hypothesis 1

The moderating role of autonomy

A work condition that is assumed to moderate the relationship between a learning goal

oriented employee and its well-being, specifically vitality, is job autonomy. Autonomy has

been defined in several ways. In early research by Hackman and Oldham (1975), autonomy

was conceptualized as the extent to which the job provided employees with freedom and

independence over their work schedules and work processes. One of the most recent

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developments of the term autonomy distinguishes three complimentary perspectives on job

autonomy: work scheduling autonomy, work methods autonomy, and decision-making

autonomy (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006). Karasek (1979) uses the term job-decision latitude

to describe autonomy. In his study, he describes job-decision latitude as an employee‟s

individual choice to determine the tasks he carries out and his behavior during the working

day. Ryff (1989) contributed with his study to a more complete model of antecedents of

psychological well-being because he found that, among other factors, autonomy plays an

important role in conceptualizing well-being. However, this evidence was lacking in prior

literature (Ryff, 1989). Finally, Ryan and Deci (1985) who developed the self-determination

theory, made a strong claim that autonomy is a need that must be satisfied in order for human

beings to function optimally. They stated it improves work motivation, productivity and well-

being. In another article by Ryan and Deci (2011) they stated that autonomous self-regulation

is important in allowing the individual to choose and develop his/her own ways of being, and

in doing so will satisfy basic psychological needs which in turn lead to vitality and happiness.

The previously mentioned Vitamin Model of Warr (1987) also included job autonomy. He

hypothesized that certain job attributes, like workload and autonomy, function like „vitamins‟.

In other words, they are commendable up to certain levels but can be harmful or ineffective at

extreme levels. According to his theory he hypothesized that job autonomy is assumed to

have a non-linear curve, this means that high levels of autonomy are potentially harmful for

the level of mental health of the employee, because it implies high responsibilities, difficulty

in decision-making and uncertainty. Many researchers tested Warr‟s Vitamin Model and the

outcomes are distinct.

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De Jonge & Schaufeli (1998) tested Warr‟s

Vitamin Model and indeed found a non-linear

relationship between autonomy and occupational

well-being. They found that the curve is an

inverted U-shape. This outcome is blamed to

excluding personal characteristics like the

individual need for autonomy. The authors argue

that less autonomy often results in dissatisfaction,

Figure 2. Relationship Autonomy and Vitality whereas more autonomy results in satisfaction

and more activity. However, too much autonomy can exhaust someone and has a negative

influence on occupational well-being. Figure 2 visualizes the relationship of autonomy on

vitality based on the findings of De Jonge and Schaufeli (1998) and it shows that the level of

autonomy influences the level vitality non-linearly. In other words, a low level of autonomy

will result in low level of vitality (see letter A in fig. 2), a medium level of autonomy will

result in a high level of vitality (see letter B in fig. 2) and a high level of autonomy will result

in a low level of vitality (see letter C in fig. 2).

According to Gagne and Bhave (2011), there are three important outcomes of job autonomy

for employees and organizations: employee engagement, individual performance and

employee well-being. They refer to employee engagement in cognitive terms, such as vitality,

absorption, involvement, commitment and empowerment, and to behavioural terms, such as

extra-role behaviour, proactivity, initiative and adaptation. They assume that satisfaction of

the need for autonomy will create a more positive employee engagement. Based on this

argument, we can assume that a certain level of autonomy has a positive influence on vitality.

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Sufficient literature can be found about the influence of autonomy on vitality, but there is no

clear literature about the influence of autonomy on the relationship between a learning goal

oriented employee and its vitality. Prior research that involved students showed that learning

goal activities were stimulated in an autonomous environment and if they engage in school

activities with a strong sense of autonomy and volition, they report feeling well and vital

(Reeve & Assor, 2011). We are interested in employees and not in students, but we can

assume that learning goal-oriented employees, who perceive a certain level of autonomy in

the workplace, will have influence on its vitality. Karasek (1979) suggests that a worker's

personality affects his/her perception of the level of autonomy. This means that a personal

characteristic could affect the extent to which an individual experiences autonomy as

favourable. Learning goal orientation is a personality characteristic, but no evidence in the

literature was found that this specific characteristic could affect the individual perception of

autonomy. In general, we can conclude that we have found sufficient evidence in the existing

literature that a certain level of autonomy should influence the extent to which an employee

feels vital. In addition, a person who is learning goal oriented is expected to be more

comfortable with autonomy and therefore to have a higher level of vitality, but in line with

Warr‟s Vitamin Model an extreme high or low level of autonomy is expected to make them

less comfortable and have a lower level of vitality. Based on the findings of Warr‟s Vitamin

Model and De Jonge and Schaufeli (1989) as visualized in figure 2 and previous arguments

about the influence of learning goal orientation on vitality, we assume that a low level of

autonomy will weaken the relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality. Also

we assume that a medium level of autonomy will strengthen the relationship and a high level

of autonomy will again weaken the relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality.

Therefore, the following can be hypothesized:

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Hypothesis 2: The relationship between learning goal orientation and the vitality of an

employee is moderated by autonomy. Depending on the amount of autonomy, the

relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality will be strengthened or

weakened. Low autonomy will weaken the relationship, medium autonomy will strengthen

the relationship and high autonomy will weaken the relationship.

The moderating role of workload

Workload is also referred to as job demand, Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner and Schaufeli

(2001) describe a job demand as the physical, social and organizational parts of a job that

need physical or psychological effort and thus are related to physical and mental costs.

Although research has been carried out about the effect workload has on an individual, no

studies were found that studied the moderating effect workload possibly has on the

relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality. However, the articles that study

the effect workload has on individuals provide some indications about the possible effect of

workload on the hypothesized relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality.

In his job demand-control model, Karasek (1979) distinguishes four different kinds of jobs

according to occupational well-being moderated by job demands (i.e. workload) and job

decision latitude (i.e. autonomy). In all four the jobs; passive, active, high-strain and low-

strain, provided that the job decision latitude does not moderate, workload is always

negatively related to well-being.

Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli (2001) indicated in their article that several

studies have shown that high job demands can cause exhaustion, depression and anxiety. The

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later mentioned consequences could relate negatively to vitality. Although Demerouti et al.

(2001) do not distinguish between learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation,

it can be expected that every individual has a maximum output capacity and the level of

workload only needs to be heightened to a certain extent to create stress on an individual.

Taris and Feij (2004) indicated that prior research has found that a greater knowledge, skill

and efficacy enable the individual to cope more effectively with work demands. Low job

demands, in addition, are expected to lower the level of learning, work motivation and

productivity.

As a final, the study of Schaufeli, Bakker and Rhenen (2009) showed that changes in job

demands are able to predict if an individual will be subjected to a burnout. When a burnout is

interpreted as a situation with a low vitality and a high level of exhaustion, the findings of

Schaufeli et al. (2009) show a direct relation between workload and vitality. Thus, with

support of prior research, job demands (i.e. workload) is related to a person‟s well-being.

High job demands could therefore be assumed to relate negatively with vitality or, in other

words, if workload would moderate the relation between a person and its vitality it would

weaken this relationship.

Interestingly, Warr (1987) found an inverted u-shaped relationship with job demand and well-

being in his Vitamin Model. He uses affective well-being as a construct because that is an

indicator of job related health. This affective well-being construct has on vitality different

dimensions from which one is called “depressed – actively pleasure” based on job related

health (Jonge & Schaufeli, 1998). This means that Warr found that low job demands as well

as too much job demands do not improve someone‟s actively pleasure but a certain amount of

job demands do increases someone‟s activity, thus vitality referring back to Ryan and

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Frederick‟s (1997) (in Zacher, Brailsford, & Parker, 2014) definition of vitality which states

that vitality is a state of being full of energy, activity and vigour. Yet, Jonge & Schaufeli, who

tested the Vitamin Model of Warr again because of inconclusive results, found a linear

relationship between job demand and well-being (Jonge & Schaufeli, 1998). The extent to

which one feels comfortable with workload might therefore be dependent on whether the

curve is either linear

or u-shaped.

The following section will take a step into the moderating role of workload on the

relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality. In this research it is expected that

primarily the model of Warr (1985) will determine the moderating effect of workload on the

relationship between LGO and vitality. It is expected that Warr (1985) his findings will be

valid because the reasoning of Warr (1985) seem more appropriate than the linear reasoning

and finding of Jonge & Schaufeli (1998).

It is expected that workload has a moderating effect on the relationship between LGO and

vitality depending on the amount of workload that an individual experiences. When a person

has a low level of workload it is expected that the relationship between LGO and vitality will

be weakened. It is expected that a low level of workload weakens the basic relationship

because Warr (1985) found that a low level of workload has a negative effect on vitality (see

letter A in fig. 3) and thus the same is expected to be seen when workload acts as a moderator.

When an individual has a medium level of workload it is expected that the relationship

between LGO and vitality will be strengthened. It is expected that a medium level of

workload has a positive effect on vitality (see letter B in fig. 3) and therefore the same effect

is expected to be seen when workload acts as a moderator. When workload is high for an

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individual it is expected that the relationship

between LGO and vitality will be weakened.

Again, it is found by Warr (1985) that a high

level of workload leads to a low level of vitality

(see letter C in fig. 3) and therefore the same

effect is to be expected as workload acts as a

moderator.

Fig. 3 Relationship workload and vitality

Hypothesis 3: The relationship between learning goal orientation and the vitality of an

employee is moderated by workload. Depending on the amount of workload, the

relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality will be strengthened or

weakened. Low workload will weaken the relationship, medium workload will strengthen

the relationship and high workload will weaken the relationship.

Figure 4 below concludes the introductory section by stating the relations that are expected in

in this study.

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Fig. 4 Conceptual model of the hypothesized relationships

Method

Procedures and Samples. The sample of our research consisted of carefully selected

participants by the researchers. All participants held a „steady‟ job position and worked at

least 32 hours a week. The participants were asked to fill in a baseline survey measuring

demographic variables, personality constructs and work-related variables. We used SPSS to

analyze our data. The data was cleaned from outliers and test cases. Outliers were not found

because the survey was electronically and no respondent could fill in a number that was not

corresponding with an answer. The test cases were removed and all cases that only included

„1‟ were also removed from the data. The final sample counted 293 (N=293) respondents after

the data cleaning process. To visualize the findings of the influence of the individual

moderators and their interaction effect we used Dawson‟s (2014) excel template to form the

graph.

Measures

Learning goal orientation. Learning goal orientation was only measured in the

baseline survey. In order to measure this variable a 7-item, 5-scale measure was used (Zajac,

1996). The used scale ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). These items

indicate the extent to which participants have a desire to perform challenging work, learn new

skills, and develop alternative strategy when working on a difficult task. An example item

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was: “The possibility to learn new things is important to me.” A factor analysis was

conducted and one factor with eigenvalue >1 was presented. Five of the seven items loaded

with. >.661 at least and 2 items loaded with .433 and 3.66. Nevertheless, the Cronbach‟s

alpha for the scale was .83 and would only increase by .01 when these last 2 items would be

removed from the scale. It is a valid scale and the reliability would not increase significantly,

therefore, the scale for learning goal orientation is used in the analyses as a 7-item, 5-scale

measure.

Vitality. Vitality was measured in the weekly surveys. Participants were asked

whether they felt vital and vigorous in their previous workweek. The 6-item subscale of

POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppleman (1971) was used on a 7-point scale ranging from 1

(never) – 7 (always). An example question was: “I feel vital”. A factor analyses was

conducted and all items loaded >.624 at least on 1 factor with eigenvalue >1. The Cronbach‟s

alpha for the scale was .92.

Autonomy. Autonomy was measured in both the baseline and the weekly study by

using a 3-item 5-scale instrument regarding freedom of activities, decision freedom and self-

regulation. Scale 1 „not at all‟ ranging to scale 5 „very much‟ (Karasek, 1979). An example

item in the baseline study was: “Can you take part in making decisions regarding work?” A

factor analyses was conducted and all items loaded >.484 at least on 1 factor with eigenvalue

>1. The Cronbach‟s alpha for the scale was .87. As the Cronbach‟s alpha would not increase

significantly, the valid autonomy scale will be used in this research as a 3-item.

Workload. Workload was measured in both the baseline and the weekly study. The

baseline study consisted 5-item 5-scale instrument measuring the pace, load of work and work

pressure. Scale 1 (never) ranging to scale 5 (always) (Karasek, 1979). An example item in

baseline survey was: “Do you work under pressure?” A factor analyses was conducted and all

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items loaded >.622 at least on 1 factor with eigenvalue >1. The Cronbach‟s alpha for the scale

was .85.

Control measure. In order to control for the hypothesis about the moderation

variables, the linear relationship of learning goal orientation on vitality moderated by

workload and autonomy are going to be tested. As a u-shaped relation is expected, in order to

accept the hypotheses, the linear relationship must not be significant.

Results

This chapter is going to present the results that are gained through the analyses of the data that

was obtained. Table 1 sums up the means, standard deviations of the variables that are used in

this study and the correlations among them. The Cronbach‟s alphas are presented in brackets

in a diagonal. As can be seen in the table, almost all variables had a significant correlation,

except workload had no significant correlation to autonomy. The independent and dependent

variables, however, did have a certain relationship to each other and the moderating variables.

In order to test the hypotheses, the mean was used for the dependent variable vitality and

standardized z-scores were made for the independent variable learning goal orientation and

the moderating variables.

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4

1. Learning goal orientation 3,8294 0,57762 (.832)

2. Autonomy 3,6014 0,91277 0,251** (.868)

3. Workload 2,9846 0,84888 0,172** 0,1 (.849)

4. Vitality 4,7557 0,92216 0,442** 0,361** 0,128* (.917)

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**. Correlation is significant at the 0,01 level (2-tailed)

*. Correlation is significant at the 0,05 level (2-tailed)

Note. Cronbach's Alpha appears along the diagonal in parentheses

Table 1. Means, standard deviations (SD), and correlations of the study variables, N = 293

Hypothesis 1 proposed that the personality characteristic learning goal orientation positively

relates to the vitality of an employee. As noted in table 1, there is a positive correlation

between learning goal orientation and vitality, r = .442, p < 0.01. This finding provides

support to accept hypothesis 1. The relation is graphed in Figure 5.

Figure 5: The linear positive relation between learning goal orientation and vitality.

Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5, present the results of the regression analyses. The process was executed

in two steps. In the first step, the main effects of the independent variable learning goal

orientation and the moderators on vitality were being tested using a regression analyses. In the

second step, the interaction effect between the independent variable and one of the moderators

was tested, also using a regression analyses. These analyses were done twice per each

moderator, the first time the linear main effects and linear moderating interactions were tested

and the second time the linear main effect and quadratic moderating effects were tested as

well as the interaction. As discussed in the method section, in order to control for the

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hypotheses, linear interactions are going to be tested as well as quadratic interactions. Only

table 4 and 5 can reject or accept hypotheses 2 and 3.

Both autonomy and workload presented to have a positive main and significant main effect on

vitality, β = .361, p < 0.01 and β = .128, p < 0.05, consecutively. The graphs of these linear

main effects can be seen in figure 6 and 7.

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Fig. 6. The linear positive relationship of autonomy Fig. 7. The linear positive relationship of workload

and vitality. and vitality.

Hypothesis 2 proposed that autonomy moderates the relationship between learning goal

orientation and vitality. This moderating effect is expected to be quadratic and strengthen or

weaken the main relationship based on the amount of autonomy. The results in table 4 provide

significant support for this hypothesis, ΔR² = 0,024, p < 0.01. The interaction graph can be

found in figure 8. Hypothesis 3 proposed that workload would moderate the relationship

between learning goal orientation and vitality. This moderating effect is expected to be

quadratic and strengthen or weaken the main relationship based on the amount of workload.

The results in table 5 provide significant support for this hypothesis, ΔR² = 0,019, p < 0.01.

The interaction graph can be found in figure 9.

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Additional analyses showed that there is no significant linear moderating effect of workload

or autonomy on the linear main relation between learning goal orientation and vitality. These

findings are showed in table 2 and 3. These findings provide additional support for the

hypotheses 2 and 3.

Figure 8 displays the interaction effect of the quadratic moderator autonomy on the linear

main relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality. As can be seen in the graph,

there is slightly any difference between a low and medium level of autonomy. A high level of

autonomy results in a stronger effect on the relationship between learning goal orientation and

vitality.

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Fig. 8. The quadratic effect of autonomy on the relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality

Figure 9 displays the interaction effect of the quadratic moderator workload on the linear

main relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality. Again there is slightly any

difference between a low and medium level of workload. A high level of workload shows a

stronger increasing effect on the relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality.

Fig. 9. The quadratic effect of workload on the relationship between learning goal orientation and vitality

Discussion

The relation between learning goal orientation and vitality has not been researched broadly in

the literature. However, different studies regarding the construct goal orientation of different

social groups (i.e. teachers, children) did find an either positive or negative relation with

emotional states. As part of the goal orientation construct, learning goal orientation was taken

as an object of research to find out whether this personal characteristic influences vitality.

This study‟s findings provide support for this relation and it was found that one who is more

learning goal orientated is more vital. These results provide support for previous findings.

In order to broaden the understanding of the relation between learning goal orientation and

vitality, the moderating influences of autonomy and workload individually were tested.

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Although, much research is done regarding the influence of autonomy and workload

individually on an employees (occupational) well-being, the moderating influence of each of

these conditions specifically on the relationship between learning goal orientation and

someone‟s vitality was not researched yet. Studies that did focus on the role of autonomy and

workload on well-being, however, found that the role of autonomy is consistently non-linear

and the role of workload was found being both linear and non-linear.

Warr (1987) found and de Jonge & Schaufeli (1989) tested and accepted a non-linear

relationship between autonomy and occupational well-being. However, their research was not

exhaustive as they did not find a linear relation of autonomy to vitality, whereas, this study

used a linear and quadratic regression model and found a positive significant linear relation,

as well as a positive significant quadratic relation between autonomy and vitality. Learning

goal orientation is a personality characteristic, but no evidence in the literature was found that

this specific characteristic could affect the individual perception of autonomy. This paper

found a positive quadratic interaction effect of autonomy on the linear relationship between

learning goal orientation and vitality. Although it was hypothesized that a high level of

workload would negatively influence the main relation, the opposite occurred and the high

level of workload actually increased the vitality of an employee. A medium workload was

thought to increase the vitality of an employee, however, also these findings do not support

the second hypothesis.

De Jonge and Schaufeli (1989) found a negative linear relationship between workload and

well-being. Unexpectedly, this paper found a weak positive linear relationship between the

two constructs. The findings of de Jonge and Schaufeli (1989) could be interpreted by stating

that more workload leads to less vitality. On the contrary, our findings state that more

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workload leads to more vitality, only the inclination of the line is small. An explanation for

this result could be that employees are protected at work from having too much workload, so

the effect of the workload creates a small positive effect on vitality. Warr (1987) found an

inverted u-shape for workload on occupational well-being but our study did not found a

significant quadratic relationship of workload on vitality. However, an inverted u-shape curve

was found when the moderating role of workload was tested on the relationship between

learning goal orientation and workload. This outcome supports the idea that learning goal

orientation, as a characteristic, determines the way in which a person can cope and even gets

vital with a certain amount of workload. Although it was hypothesized that a high level of

workload would weaken the main relationship, the contrary occurred and a high level of

workload led to a stronger main relationship. Further on it was also hypothesized that a

medium level workload would strengthen the main relationship, this however did not

occurred.

The moderating linear role of either autonomy or workload was not significant, however, the

moderating quadratic role of these moderators gave a positive significant outcome on vitality

when interacting with learning goal orientation. To conclude, the results suggest that learning

goal orientation might affect a person his or her vitality level positively and might also play a

possible role in the extent to which people can cope with job demands.

Limitations and suggestions for future research

This study is not without limitations. The method we used was a general questionnaire that

measured the respondents’ vitality and their experienced job demands and autonomy at one

point in time. As the measurements were carried out at only one moment, it was not possible

to determine whether or not there is causality between the variables. Secondly, the sample

24

does not consist of randomly chosen participants but were contacts from students of the

economic and business faculty. Therefore it could be implied that the sample selection might

exist mostly of highly educated participants.

Practical implications

The findings of this study could provide managers with some guidance concerning decision-

making about autonomy and workload, for learning goal oriented employees. By providing

the appropriate levels of both autonomy and workload, the highest levels of vitality can be

achieved. In the end, high levels of vitality among employees can ensure continuity within an

organization. When hiring personnel, managers could consider hiring learning goal oriented

personnel when autonomy and workload play important roles within an organization. Another

practical issue is that managers could aim to establish an organizational culture that motivates

employees to develop their skills and challenge themselves to learn new things.

Conclusions

Learning goal orientation of employees can improve the levels of vitality among employees,

but certain job demand conditions can alter this relationship. Two previously unexplored

conditions on this relationship are autonomy and workload. We foundd that people who are

learning goal oriented and who perceive a high level of workload or autonomy will have a

higher level of vitality.

25

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