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EMPLOYEES’ GOAL ORIENTATIONS, THE QUALITY OF
LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE, AND THE OUTCOMES OF JOB
PERFORMANCE AND JOB SATISFACTION
ONNE JANSSEN
NICO W. VAN YPEREN
University of Groningen
As hypothesized, data from 170 employees of a Dutch firm showed that the quality of
leader-member exchange mediated positive relationships between a mastery orienta-
tion and leader-rated in-role job performance, leader-rated innovative job perfor-
mance, and job satisfaction. In contrast, a performance orientation was negatively
related or unrelated to those outcomes. These findings suggest that employees with
stronger mastery orientations are more effective on the job because they tend to
establish higher-quality exchanges with their supervisors.
Important and recurring questions in organiza-
tional science are why employees perform well in
their jobs and why they are satisfied with their jobs.
Achievement goal theory and research suggest that
employees’ job performance and job satisfaction
depend on their goal orientations (e.g., Farr, Hof-
mann, & Ringenbach, 1993; Phillips & Gully, 1997;
Van Yperen & Janssen, 2002). Goal orientations are
believed to create different perceptual-cognitive
frameworks for how individuals approach, inter-
pret, and respond to achievement situations (e.g.,
Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Duda, 2001; Dweck,
1999; Pintrich, 2000; Van Yperen, 2003). Most at-
tention in the achievement goal tradition has been
given to two goal orientations: a mastery orienta-
tion and a performance orientation. A mastery
orientation focuses on developing competence,
gaining skill, and doing one’s best, whereas a per-
formance orientation focuses on establishing one’s
superiority over others.
To date, achievement goal research has been pre-
dominantly focused on exploring individual cogni-
tion, affect, and behavior related to task engage-
ment and task performance in individual task
settings (e.g., Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Button,
Mathieu, & Zajac, 1996; Elliot, 1999; Farr et al.,
1993; Ford, Smith, Weissbein, Gully, & Salas, 1998;
Phillips & Gully, 1997; Pintrich, 2000; Van Yperen,
2003a). Surprisingly, little attention has been given
to the question of how goal orientations influence
individuals in the way they interpret and respond
to the interpersonal context of achievement situa-
tions. In most work and organizational settings,
employees do not act in isolation but interact with
colleagues, supervisors, or customers to perform
their job duties. Employees differing in goal orien-
tations are likely to differ in the way they develop
and maintain relationships with other actors in
their work context. According to leader-member
exchange (LMX) theory (for reviews, see Gerstner
and Day [1997] and Graen and Uhl-Bien [1995]),
each employee establishes a unique social ex-
change relationship with his or her supervisor, and
the quality of this leader-member exchange is gen-
erally found to be positively related to job perfor-
mance and job attitudes.
In the present study, we aimed to develop and
test the idea that goal orientations affect how em-
ployees develop and maintain social exchanges
with their supervisors. More specifically, we argue
that mastery orientations cause employees to estab-
lish high-quality exchanges with their leaders,
whereas performance orientations keep employees
from establishing high-quality exchanges with their
supervisors. In turn, the quality of leader-member
exchange helps employees to be effective on the job
in terms of inrole performance, innovative per-
formance, and satisfaction. Thus, we combined
achievement goal theory and leader-member ex-
change theory to propose that the interpersonal
mechanism of leader-member exchange mediates
the relationships between employees’ goal orienta-
tions and the outcomes of job performance and job
satisfaction.
THEORY AND HYPOTHESES
In the following sections, we first discuss extant
theory and research concerning the relationships
between employees’ goal orientations, and job per-
formance and job satisfaction. We then consider
how a mastery orientation and a performance ori-
entation might differently influence employees in
establishing exchange relationships with their su-
娀Academy of Management Journal
2004, Vol. 47, No. 3, 368–384.
368
pervisors. Finally, we theorize on how the quality
of leader-member exchange facilitates employees’
being effective and satisfied on the job.
Goal Orientations and the Outcomes of Job
Performance and Job Satisfaction
Goal orientations are viewed as rather stable per-
sonality characteristics fostered by “self-theories”
about the nature and development of attributes
(such as intelligence, personality, abilities, and
skills) people have (Dweck, 1999). As such, a mas-
tery orientation stems from the belief that one’s
attributes are dynamic and changeable and that
exerting effort leads to performance improvement,
while a performance orientation stems from the
belief that attributes are fixed, concrete, and inter-
nal entities. Performance-oriented individuals tend
to believe that working hard does not lead to per-
formance improvement. In their view, working
hard indicates low competence, and those who per-
form poorly do not have the attributes necessary to
do well in their jobs (Dweck, 1999).
Early research relying on a dichotomous concep-
tualization of goal orientation repeatedly showed a
mastery orientation to be more beneficial for a wide
range of task performances than a performance ori-
entation (e.g., Button et al., 1996; Farr et al., 1993;
Ford et al., 1998; Phillips & Gully, 1997; Vande-
Walle, Brown, Cron, & Slocum, 1999). However,
recent achievement goal research suggests that a
performance orientation may also have beneficial
effects, particularly with regard to actual perfor-
mance. To clarify these opposite effects of perfor-
mance orientation, Elliot and his associates (e.g.,
Elliot, 1999; Elliot & Church, 1997) proposed a
trichotomous conceptualization of achievement
goals by bifurcating performance orientation into a
performance-approach orientation and a perfor-
mance-avoidance orientation (cf. VandeWalle,
1997). They argued that performance-oriented in-
dividuals can be motivated either to “outperform”
others and to demonstrate their superiority, or to
avoid failure and to avoid looking incompetent,
respectively. The finding that a performance-
approach orientation is associated with superior
performance (e.g., Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000;
Elliot & Church, 1997; Harackiewicz, Barron,
Carter, Letho, & Elliot, 1997) suggests that individ-
uals with performance-approach orientations tend
to exert sufficient effort to accomplish their goal of
outperforming others. The tendency to reduce ef-
fort after encountering setbacks and difficulty often
associated with performance orientations (e.g.,
Duda, 2001; Dweck, 1999) seems to be more char-
acteristic of performance-avoidance-oriented indi-
viduals (Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Elliot, 1999;
Pintrich, 2000). Mastery goals were also bifurcated
into approach and avoidance versions (Elliot &
McGregor, 2001; Van Yperen, 2003a). That is, indi-
viduals endorsing mastery-avoidance goals strive
to avoid deterioration, losing their skill, or leaving
a task incomplete or unmastered, whereas mastery-
approach goals are focused on the development of
competence through task mastery (Elliot & McGre-
gor, 2001). As such, approach-oriented individuals
tend to pursue beneficial outcomes, whereas avoid-
ance-oriented employees tend to avert detrimental
outcomes. The four different types of goal orienta-
tions—that is, mastery approach, mastery avoid-
ance, performance approach, and performance
avoidance—appear to have different antecedents
and consequences (e.g., Elliot & McGregor, 2001).
However, the different types of goal orientations
can coexist in a person, so that, for example, trying
to attain mastery is not necessarily inconsistent
with striving to outperform others. Thus, people
vary in the extent to which they pursue each of the
four achievement goals.
Because we had no clear hypotheses regarding
the avoidance components of mastery and perfor-
mance orientations, we focused exclusively on the
approach versions. That is, we developed and
tested theory proposing that employees with mas-
tery-approach orientations are more effective on
the job because of their tendency to establish high-
quality exchanges with their supervisors, whereas
employees with performance-approach orienta-
tions are less effective because they fail to establish
exchanges of a high quality with their supervisors.
For the remainder of this article, we restrict the use
of the terms “mastery goal” and “performance goal”
to the approach versions of these goal orientations.
As it stands now, achievement goal theory sug-
gests that both mastery-oriented and performance-
oriented individuals are strongly motivated to meet
their respective performance standards. However,
in work and organizational settings, mastery-ori-
ented and performance-oriented employees may
differ in the aspects of job performance they focus
on. Job performance is a broad and complex con-
struct comprising two fundamentally different as-
pects, namely, in-role job performance mandated
by an organization, and more spontaneous innova-
tive work behaviors (Katz, 1964). So far as we
know, no research has been conducted to answer
the question of how the different goal orientations
relate to these fundamentally different aspects of
job performance.
In-role job performance can be defined as actions
specified and required by an employee’s job de-
scription and thus mandated, appraised, and re-
2004 369Janssen and Van Yperen
warded by the employing organization. These sets
of rules and procedures make work behavior pre-
dictable so that basic organizational tasks can be
coordinated and controlled in order to achieve or-
ganizational goals. The proficiency with which em-
ployees carry out their work activities and work
roles appears to be an important individual source
of variation in job performance (Borman & Motow-
idlo, 1993; Motowidlo & Van Scotter, 1994). Be-
cause a mastery orientation creates a tendency to
improve proficiency on the job and to persist effec-
tively in the face of obstacles (cf. Dweck, 1999),
mastery-oriented employees can be expected to
meet or even exceed their organization’s standards
for in-role job performance. However, we also ex-
pected that performance goal orientations would
motivate employees to perform well with respect to
in-role task requirements. A performance goal re-
flects the desire to demonstrate superior compe-
tence to others. As such, employees with perfor-
mance orientations tend to perceive in-role job
requirements as competitive standards that moti-
vate them to exert effort in order to outperform
others and to obtain favorable competence judg-
ments from their organization’s appraisal and re-
ward systems. Moreover, performance goal orienta-
tions have been argued to cause employees to
rehearse job components and skills until they re-
quire little attention and can be performed auto-
matically in a very efficient and effective manner
(Steele-Johnson, Beauregard, Hoover, & Schmidt,
2000). Accordingly, the following hypotheses were
formed:
Hypothesis 1. A mastery orientation is posi-
tively related to in-role job performance.
Hypothesis 2. A performance orientation is
positively related to in-role job performance.
An organization has to find the right balance
between using rules and procedures to make work
performance predictable and giving employees the
freedom to spontaneously innovate to adapt to
problems, opportunities, and unusual situations
(cf. Jones, 2001; Katz, 1964). Innovative job perfor-
mance can be defined as the intentional generation,
promotion, and realization of new ideas within a
work role, work group, or organization in order to
benefit role performance, a group, or an organiza-
tion (e.g., Kanter, 1988; Scott & Bruce, 1994; West &
Farr, 1989). A mastery goal orientation can be ex-
pected to be an important motivational source for
innovative job performance for several reasons.
First, individuals pursuing mastery goals have a
preference for challenging and complex tasks
(Ames & Archer, 1988; VandeWalle, 1997). Innova-
tion is an especially complex and challenging task
encompassing a broad variety of cognitive and so-
cial activities, such as generating, promoting, dis-
cussing, modifying, and ultimately implementing
creative ideas (Kanter, 1988). Moreover, innovative
job performance concerns the development and ap-
plication of something new for which the requisite
knowledge and strategies have yet to be learned.
Research has shown that a mastery goal focuses an
individual’s attention on the elaboration and devel-
opment of new knowledge and deep processing
strategies leading to effectiveness in complex and
unfamiliar tasks (Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Fisher &
Ford, 1998; Steele-Johnson et al., 2000; Winters &
Latham, 1996).
Second, mastery-oriented employees have per-
sonal and intrinsic interest in the tasks they per-
form (Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Elliot, 1999;
Pintrich, 2000; Van Yperen, 2003a). Creativity is
evoked by the pleasure provided by the tasks them-
selves, and the innovation literature emphasizes
that this intrinsic aspect of work motivation is an
essential motivational base for performing innova-
tive activities (e.g., Amabile, 1988; Redmond,
Mumford, & Teach, 1993). According to Amabile
(1985, 1988), intrinsic motivation affects innova-
tiveness by influencing the likelihood that alterna-
tive—and potentially more innovative—response
possibilities will be explored during task engage-
ment.
Third, when obstacles such as demanding task
difficulties are encountered, mastery-oriented em-
ployees tend to deal with these challenging circum-
stances by putting more effort into their jobs
(Dweck, 1999; Farr et al., 1993). As has already
been mentioned above, innovation requires a broad
variety of cognitive and sociopolitical efforts from
individual innovators (e.g., Kanter, 1988). More-
over, innovation involves change that may give rise
to resistance because of the insecurity and uncer-
tainty it may bring (Frost & Egri, 1991; Janssen,
2003; Jones, 2001). Hence, innovative employees
are likely to meet resistance from other workers in
their work environment who want to prevent inno-
vative change. Convincing those workers of the
benefits of innovation can be difficult and demand-
ing. Mastery-oriented employees are likely to cope
effectively with such difficulties by putting sub-
stantial effort into the job of innovation in order to
identify and apply the strategies needed to succeed
(cf. Dweck, 1999; Farr et al., 1993).
In contrast with a mastery goal orientation, a
performance orientation might be less beneficial for
innovative behaviors on the job. Fisher and Ford
(1998) found that performance orientations cause
individuals to rehearse task strategies and familiar
370 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
task components until they become rapid and au-
tomatic. Such a focus on practicing job components
can interfere with innovation and learning as indi-
viduals possess a fixed number of attentional re-
sources that can be allocated to a variety of job
components (e.g., Steele-Johnson et al., 2000). Per-
formance-oriented employees tend to devote their
attention to surface processing (Elliot & McGregor,
2001; Elliot et al., 1999) and practicing in-role job
components that may help them to outperform oth-
ers. This focus on surface processing and practicing
in-role job components further refines and estab-
lishes the existing framework for doing things and
is likely to prevent employees from devoting atten-
tional resources to developing innovative ideas for
doing things differently.
Furthermore, performance-oriented employees
have an extrinsic work motivation in the sense that
they tend to define success on the job primarily in
terms of outperforming others and demonstrating
superiority. The task of innovation, however, is an
uncertain and controversial endeavour. That is, the
process and outcomes of innovation are unpredict-
able, as progress comes in spurts among unforeseen
delays, setbacks, and costs (e.g., Kanter, 1988).
Moreover, innovation poses a threat to vested in-
terests and alternative courses of action and, there-
fore, often leads to political problems and failure
(Frost & Egri, 1991; Kanter, 1988). As a conse-
quence, employees with performance orientations
may tend to keep away from innovation because
innovative tasks imply the risk of failure, which
would demonstrate their inferiority rather than the
superiority they pursue.
This line of reasoning about the relationship be-
tween goal orientation and innovative job perfor-
mance led to the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 3. A mastery orientation is posi-
tively related to innovative job performance.
Hypothesis 4. A performance orientation is
negatively related to innovative job perfor-
mance.
With regard to the affective outcome of job satis-
faction, achievement goal research demonstrates
that mastery-oriented individuals derive more sat-
isfaction and enjoyment from their efforts to reach
their goals than performance-oriented individuals
(e.g., Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Elliot, 1999;
Harackiewicz et al., 1997; Pintrich, 2000; Van
Yperen & Janssen, 2002). When increased task re-
quirements are encountered, mastery-oriented in-
dividuals direct extra effort to a task itself. They
tend to view exerting great effort as a desirable
attribute of the self so that, for them, exerting effort
is in itself indicative of success (Duda, 2001;
Dweck, 1999). In contrast, performance-oriented
individuals believe that working hard signifies low
ability, which makes them uncertain about their
capacities to meet their competitive standards (cf.
Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Van Yperen & Janssen,
2002). Furthermore, mastery-oriented individuals
have predominantly internal loci of perceived con-
trol and causality (e.g., Dweck & Leggett, 1988),
whereas performance-oriented individuals typi-
cally evaluate task performance on the basis of
social comparison criteria that appear to them to be
largely outside their personal control (cf. Button et
al., 1996; Elliot, 1999; Farr et al., 1993; Philips &
Gully, 1997). The work stress literature has shown
that a lack of control is accompanied by negative
affective outcomes, especially when task require-
ments are high (e.g., Karasek & Theorell, 1990; Van
Yperen & Hagedoorn, 2003). Hence, we hypothe-
sized that a mastery orientation is positively related
to job satisfaction, whereas a negative relationship
was expected between performance orientation and
job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 5. A mastery orientation is posi-
tively related to job satisfaction.
Hypothesis 6. A performance orientation is
negatively related to job satisfaction.
Goal Orientations and the Quality of Leader-
Member Exchange
Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and re-
search suggest that the quality of the exchanges that
develop between employees and their leaders are
predictive of performance-related and attitudinal
job outcomes, especially for employees (Gerstner &
Day, 1997; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). LMX theory is
unique among leadership theories in its focus on
the dyadic exchange relationships between super-
visors and each of their subordinates (Gerstner &
Day, 1997). High-quality exchange relationships
are characterized by mutual trust, respect, and ob-
ligation that generate influence between an em-
ployee and his or her supervisor. Low-quality
exchange relationship, on the other hand, are char-
acterized by formal, role-defined interactions and
predominantly contractual exchanges that result in
hierarchy-based downward influence and distance
between the parties.
Goal orientations may influence how employees
approach, interpret, and establish their relation-
ships with their supervisors. Employees with mas-
tery goal orientations strive to develop their com-
petence, skills, and ability. Given this focus,
supervisors should be of interest as valuable
2004 371Janssen and Van Yperen
sources of work-related knowledge, information,
and experience that can provide employees with
prospects for skill development and self-improve-
ment. Therefore, mastery-oriented employees may
tend to frequently seek social exchanges with their
leaders in order to discuss and learn how to better
deal with emerging problems and opportunities
when performing their jobs. These exchange inter-
actions may help employees to succeed in their
goal of improving ability and skill.
Furthermore, given mastery-oriented employees’
intrinsic work motivation and willingness to work
hard, supervisors may provide these employees
with support, decision latitude, and freedom so
that they can initiate, control, and carry out their
tasks without excessive supervision. In turn, em-
ployees may reciprocate by working hard, doing
extra tasks needed for performance improvement,
and performing spontaneous and innovative extra-
role behaviors going beyond contractual expecta-
tions (e.g., Basu & Green, 1997; Howell & Hall-
Merenda, 1999; Sparrowe & Liden, 1997; Wayne,
Shore, & Liden, 1997). As such, exchanges between
mastery-oriented employees and their supervisors
are likely to develop to high levels. That is, they
can count on each other for support and loyalty,
share important informational and behavioral re-
sources, and base the exchange process on mutual
trust, respect, and obligation (cf. Graen & Uhl-Bien,
1995; Howell & Hall-Merenda, 1999).
In contrast, employees with performance goal
orientations strive to outperform others and to
demonstrate superiority. Given this focus, they
may perceive supervisors as threats, as their higher
rank suggests that their attributes (such as intelli-
gence and abilities) are superior to those of the
subordinate employees. Moreover, performance-
oriented employees tend to believe that the at-
tributes people have are fixed and primarily a prod-
uct of innate talent (Dweck, 1999).
Consequently, such employees may see little
possibility of ever showing superior competence in
their relationships with their supervisors. In ex-
changes with their supervisors, they will always be
confronted, by definition, with their own inferior-
ity. Therefore, employees with performance orien-
tations may prefer to restrict their interactions with
their supervisors to the necessary economic ex-
change behaviors required and mandated by their
formal employment contracts. Given their extrinsic
work motivation and meaning systems (Dweck,
1999), supervisors might be less willing to provide
performance-oriented employees with decision lat-
itude and autonomy for carrying out their tasks.
Thus, leader-member exchanges are likely to be
formal and impersonal and characterized by eco-
nomic exchange behaviors and social-emotional
distance between the exchange parties (cf. Graen &
Uhl-Bien, 1995; Howell & Hall-Merenda, 1999).
This theorizing on goal orientations’ influence on
how employees establish social exchanges with
their supervisors led to the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 7. A subordinate’s mastery orien-
tation is positively related to the quality of
leader-member exchange.
Hypothesis 8. A subordinate’s performance
orientation is negatively related to the quality
of leader-member exchange.
Leader-Member Exchange as an Intermediate
Interpersonal Mechanism
Finally, we expected to find that the quality of
leader-member exchange is an interpersonal mech-
anism that mediates the relationships between goal
orientation, and job performance and job satisfac-
tion. As argued above, mastery orientations cause
employees to establish high-quality exchanges with
their leaders, providing them with opportunities
for skill development and self-improvement. This
proficiency development may help employees to
perform well on in-role job duties.
Furthermore, innovative workers depend on
their supervisors for the information (data, exper-
tise, political intelligence), resources (materials,
space, time), and social-political support (endorse-
ment, legitimacy, backing) necessary to develop,
protect, and apply their innovative ideas (Kanter,
1988). As outlined above, mastery-oriented em-
ployees are likely to receive these resources and
support because they tend to develop high-quality
exchange relationships with their supervisors.
Prior research has found that such a high quality of
leader-member exchange is predictive of innova-
tive job performance (e.g., Basu & Green, 1997;
Scott & Bruce, 1994).
The support and autonomy that supervisors may
provide to mastery-oriented employees may also
lead to higher levels of job satisfaction. Employees
who feel a sense of self-determination on the job
see themselves as the origin of and responsible for
work actions and are, therefore, more likely to ex-
perience intrinsic rewards and satisfaction from
work (cf. Deci & Ryan, 1985). Moreover, the support
and backing of a supervisor can help employees to
overcome work-related problems and, therefore,
contribute to their job satisfaction. Indeed, previ-
ous research has consistently indicated that higher-
quality levels of leader-member exchange produce
higher levels of job satisfaction among employees
372 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
(e.g., Gerstner & Day, 1997; Green, Anderson, &
Shivers, 1996).
This line of reasoning on the interpersonal mech-
anism of leader-member exchange led to the fol-
lowing three hypotheses:
Hypothesis 9. Leader-member exchange medi-
ates the positive relationship between a subor-
dinate’s mastery orientation and in-role job
performance.
Hypothesis 10. Leader-member exchange me-
diates the positive relationship between a sub-
ordinate’s mastery orientation and innovative
job performance.
Hypothesis 11. Leader-member exchange me-
diates the positive relationship between a sub-
ordinate’s mastery orientation and job satisfac-
tion.
Similarly, low-quality leader-member exchange
may play a mediating role in the relationship be-
tween a performance orientation and innovative
job performance. That is, in low-quality exchange
relationships, employees cannot count on their su-
pervisors for the extra support and backing needed
to move potentially innovative ideas into reality.
This anticipated lack of support can be expected to
reinforce the tendency of performance-oriented
employees to keep away from risky innovative ac-
tivities. In addition, the low levels of support and
autonomy received from their supervisors may
clarify why performance-oriented employees expe-
rience relatively low job satisfaction. These argu-
ments suggest the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 12. Leader-member exchange me-
diates the negative relationship between a sub-
ordinate’s performance orientation and inno-
vative job performance.
Hypothesis 13. Leader-member exchange me-
diates the negative relationship between a
subordinate’s performance orientation and job
satisfaction.
Because of the low-quality exchanges between
performance-oriented employees and their supervi-
sors, performance-oriented employees can be ex-
pected to use sources other than leader-member
exchange to perform in-role job duties well. As
noted earlier, performance orientations may cause
employees to rehearse components and skills until
they require little attention and can be performed
in efficiently and effectively.
METHODS
Sample and Procedures
The relationships between goal orientations,
leader-member exchange, and the outcomes of job
performance and job satisfaction were examined in
a field study conducted in a division of a Dutch
energy supplier. The data were collected as part of
a more general survey of job-related attitudes and
job performance among nonmanagement lower-
level employees. These employees performed a
wide range of different jobs in different functions,
including customer service, meter reading, front
office work, back office work, invoicing, collection,
accounting, and call center work. Meetings were
scheduled to inform the employees about the gen-
eral purpose of the study, to emphasize confiden-
tiality, and to administer questionnaires. All 288
employees were asked to participate in the research
and received questionnaires, which were filled out
during work time and returned via the internal mail
system.
Of the 288 employees who received question-
naires, 187 responded by providing “self-reports”
of their goal orientations, leader-member exchange,
and job satisfaction, resulting in a response rate of
65 percent. Since supervisors played a pivotal part
in appraisal and rewards systems, the employees’
job performance was rated by their immediate su-
pervisors (n⫽14), who filled out a questionnaire
that assessed the in-role and innovative job perfor-
mance of their subordinates. Supervisor ratings
were obtained for 170 of the 187 respondents in the
sample.
Of this final sample of 170 respondents, 75 per-
cent were male. Their ages ranged from 19 to 61
years, averaging 44.09 years (s.d. ⫽9.52). The or-
ganizational tenure of the participants ranged from
less than 1 year to 41 years, and their average ten-
ure was 19.32 years (s.d. ⫽10.49).
Measures
The items comprising the scales described gen-
erally below are detailed in the first two tables, in
the results section.
Goal orientations. Individual differences in goal
orientation were assessed by administering scales
for measuring mastery and performance goal orien-
tation developed by Van Yperen (e.g., Van Yperen
& Janssen, 2002). The subjects responded to the
question “I feel most successful in my job when
...,” after which they judged 11 mastery and 8
performance orientation items. Responses were
provided on a seven-point scale ranging from 1,
“strongly disagree,” to 7, “strongly agree.” The
2004 373Janssen and Van Yperen
scales achieved high levels of internal reliability,
.90 for mastery orientation and .91 for performance
orientation.
Quality of leader-member exchange. This vari-
able was assessed using seven items based on the
member versions of leader-member exchange ques-
tionnaires developed and used in prior research
(e.g., Liden & Graen, 1980; Scandura & Graen, 1984;
Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997). Respondents indi-
cated the extent to which the items characterized
the quality of their exchange relationships with
their supervisors (1, “to a very low extent,” to 7, “to
a very high extent”;
␣
⫽.93).
Job performance. We measured in-role job per-
formance using Podsakoff and MacKenzie’s (1989)
five-item scale for in-role job performance. The im-
mediate supervisors of the respondents indicated
the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with
five statements about the quality and quantity of
the respondents’ in-role activities (1, “strongly dis-
agree,” to 7, “strongly agree”;
␣
⫽.85).
Innovative job performance was assessed using
Janssen’s (2000, 2001) nine-item scale of individual
innovation in the workplace, which draws on
Kanter’s (1988) work on the stages of innovation.
Three items refer to idea generation, three items to
idea promotion, and the remaining three to idea
realization. Immediate supervisors rated how often
the subjects performed the nine innovative work
behaviors in the workplace (1, “never,” to 7, “al-
ways”). A high reliability was achieved for the in-
novative job performance scale (
␣
⫽.98).
Job satisfaction. Satisfaction on the job was
measured using a five-item scale developed by
Bacharach, Bamberger, and Conley (1991). This
general job satisfaction scale “emphasizes the
match between expectations and perceived real-
ity for broad aspects of the job taken as a whole”
(Bacharach et al., 1991: 45). Appropriate to the
context of this study, this operational definition
of job satisfaction allowed us to examine the ex-
tent to which employees’goal orientations on the
job were related to the fulfilment of their job
expectations. The subordinates responded to the
question “How satisfied or dissatisfied are you
with . . .”(1, “very dissatisfied,”to 7, “very sat-
isfied”;
␣
⫽.88), after which they judged five
aspects of their jobs.
Covariates. To control for the possibility that
sociodemographic differences in the predictor and
outcome variables might lead to spurious relation-
ships, gender (1, “male,” 2, “female”), age (in
years), and organizational tenure (in years) were
entered as covariates in the analyses.
RESULTS
Response Bias
From the initial sample of 187 respondents, 17
were excluded as a result of missing supervisor
ratings, leading to a final sample of 170 respon-
dents. To test whether the included respondents
systematically differed from the excluded respon-
dents with respect to their scores on goal orienta-
tion, leader-member exchange, and job satisfaction,
we conducted a multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA). The results of the MANOVA did not
demonstrate significant differences, minimizing
concern about potential sampling bias.
Exploratory Factor Analyses
Before testing the hypotheses, we conducted two
exploratory factor analyses in order to get some
evidence for the measures’ discriminant validity.
First, the items of the self-reported measures of
mastery orientation, performance orientation, lead-
er-member exchange, and job satisfaction were sub-
mitted to a principal components analysis with
oblique rotation. As can be seen in Table 1, four
factors emerged with eigenvalues greater than 1,
accounting for 61.84 percent of the variance. Each
item “loaded” on its appropriate factor, with pri-
mary loadings exceeding .44 and cross-loadings
lower than .33. Second, the items of the job perfor-
mance measures rated by the respondents’ supervi-
sors were submitted to a principal components
analysis with oblique rotation. As is shown in Ta-
ble 2, the two factors that emerged appropriately
represented the in-role and innovative job perfor-
mance items, whereby primary loadings exceeded
.68 while cross-loadings were lower than .34. The
two factors had eigenvalues greater than 1 and ac-
counted for 83.51 percent of the variance.
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations
Means, standard deviations, and zero-order Pear-
son correlations among all variables in this study
are presented in Table 3. As expected, mastery
orientation appeared to be positively correlated to
the mediating variable of leader-member exchange
and to the outcome variables of in-role job perfor-
mance, innovative job performance, and job satis-
faction. However, no significant zero-order correla-
tions were found between performance orientation
and the mediating and outcome variables. As pre-
dicted, leader-member exchange was positively re-
lated to both in-role and innovative job perfor-
mance, and to job satisfaction.
374 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
Test of the Hypothesized Model
Hierarchical regression analyses consisting of
two successive steps were conducted to test Hy-
potheses 1–8. In the first step, the sociodemo-
graphic variables were entered as covariates to con-
trol for relationships with goal orientation, leader-
member exchange, job performance, and job
satisfaction. In the second step, we included mas-
tery and performance orientation to test their hy-
pothesized effects on the mediating and outcome
TABLE 1
Results of Principal Components Analysis of Mastery Orientation, Performance Orientation, Leader-
Member Exchange, and Job Satisfaction
a
Items
Factors
1234
Mastery orientation
I feel successful on my job when . . .
I acquire new knowledge or learn a new skill by trying hard. .84 .02 .04 ⫺.01
I acquire new knowledge or master a new skill which was difficult for me in the past. .83 ⫺.07 .05 ⫺.20
I learn something that motivates me to continue. .82 ⫺.08 ⫺.04 ⫺.05
I feel I am improving. .80 ⫺.07 ⫺.04 ⫺.05
I learn something that makes me want to practice more. .77 .17 ⫺.03 .03
I learn something new that is fun to do. .68 .12 .21 ⫺.08
I get the maximum out of myself. .60 .12 ⫺.10 .23
I improve on particular aspects. .59 ⫺.07 ⫺.10 .05
I master new knowledge or a new skill. .58 .24 .19 ⫺.12
I perform to my potential. .45 ⫺.06 .11 .10
I do my very best. .44 .13 .04 .23
Performance orientation
I feel successful on my job when . . .
I perform better than my colleagues. ⫺.05 .85 .01 ⫺.04
Others cannot do as well as me. .06 .84 ⫺.04 ⫺.12
Others mess up and I do not. ⫺.03 .84 ⫺.01 .09
I can clearly demonstrate that I am the best qualified person. .02 .78 ⫺.18 .03
I accomplish something where others failed. .04 .78 .12 ⫺.13
I am clearly the most productive employee. ⫺.08 .77 .01 .17
I am the only one who knows about particular things or who has a particular skill. ⫺.04 .75 ⫺.02 ⫺.07
I am the best. .32 .56 ⫺.03 .02
Leader-member exchange
My supervisor would be personally inclined to help me solve problems in my work. ⫺.04 .11 .86 ⫺.06
My working relationship with my supervisor is effective. .02 ⫺.02 .86 .04
I have enough confidence in my supervisor that I would defend and justify his/her
decisions if he or she were not present to do so.
.01 ⫺.01 .86 .12
My supervisor considers my suggestions for change. ⫺.03 ⫺.05 .85 .04
My supervisor and I are suited to each other. .03 ⫺.11 .76 .15
My supervisor understands my problems and needs. .01 ⫺.09 .75 .15
My supervisor recognizes my potential. .08 ⫺.01 .72 ⫺.15
Job satisfaction
How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with . . .
The progress you are making toward the goals you set for yourself in your present
position.
⫺.03 .08 .07 .81
Your present job in light of your career expectations. .13 ⫺.10 ⫺.12 .81
Your present job when you compare it to jobs in other organizations. ⫺.08 .02 .12 .81
The chance your job gives you to do what you are best at. .04 ⫺.06 .03 .79
Your present job when you consider the expectations you had when you took the job. ⫺.05 .02 .14 .77
Eigenvalue 7.29 3.22 5.93 2.73
Percentage of variance explained 23.52 10.38 19.12 8.82
a
Items are quoted from our survey. Boldface indicates a significant loading.
2004 375Janssen and Van Yperen
variables. For all the regression equations reported
below, we checked the underlying model assump-
tions. By comparing the standardized residuals
with the predicted values, we detected nine outli-
ers (outside three standard deviations) for in-role
job performance and three outliers for job satisfac-
tion. These outliers were left out of the respective
regression analyses reported below. It is notewor-
thy that additional analyses showed that the outli-
ers’ inclusion did not meaningfully change the re-
sults and interpretations. No major violations were
found in the normal probability plots of standard-
ized residuals.
As shown in Table 4, a mastery orientation was
positively related to the outcome variables of in-
role job performance, innovative job performance,
and job satisfaction (see step 2 of the regression
equations). These findings were in line with Hy-
potheses 1, 3, and 5, respectively. Furthermore, as
Hypothesis 7 predicts, a mastery orientation was
found to be positively related to the mediating vari-
able of leader-member exchange. Contrary to Hy-
TABLE 2
Results of Principal Components Analysis of In-Role and Innovative Job Performance
a
Items
Factors
12
In-role job performance
This worker always completes the duties specified in his/her job description. .90 .16
This worker meets all the formal performance requirements of the job. .88 .08
This worker fulfills all responsibilities required by his/her job. .85 .21
This worker never neglects aspects of the job that he/she is obligated to perform. .70 ⫺.33
This worker often fails to perform essential duties
b
.68 .01
Innovative job performance
How often does this worker perform the following work activities?
Creating new ideas for improvements ⫺.08 .98
Mobilizing support for innovative ideas .02 .97
Searching out new working methods, techniques, or instruments ⫺.06 .97
Acquiring approval for innovative ideas .02 .96
Transforming innovative ideas into useful applications .02 .96
Generating original solutions to problems .03 .95
Introducing innovative ideas in a systematic way ⫺.01 .95
Making important organizational members enthusiastic for innovative ideas .09 .94
Thoroughly evaluating the application of innovate ideas .08 .89
Eigenvalue 3.11 8.58
Percentage of variance explained 22.20 61.31
a
Boldface indicates a significant loading. Items are quoted from our survey.
b
Reversed.
TABLE 3
Univariate Statistics and Pearson Correlations among the Variables
a
Variable Mean s.d. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Gender 1.25 0.43
2. Age 44.09 9.52 ⫺.46
3. Tenure 19.32 10.49 ⫺.43 .84
4. Mastery goal orientation 5.61 0.88 .09 ⫺.14 ⫺.14
5. Performance goal orientation 3.97 1.28 .01 ⫺.07 ⫺.08 .33
6. Leader-member exchange 3.48 0.89 .12 ⫺.01 .04 .26 ⫺.07
7. In-role job performance 5.95 0.88 .22 ⫺.21 ⫺.20 .20 ⫺.01 .34
8. Innovative job performance 2.59 1.48 .18 ⫺.26 ⫺.11 .21 .06 .34 .17
9. Job satisfaction 4.89 1.11 .18 .13 .15 .22 ⫺.03 .37 .08 .09
a
Correlations above .16 are significant at the .05 level, and those above .19 are significant at the .01 level. Tests of significance were
two-sided. n⫽170.
376 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
potheses 2 and 4, a performance orientation was
found to be negatively related to in-role job per-
formance and unrelated to innovative job perfor-
mance. In line with Hypotheses 6 and 8, a perfor-
mance orientation was negatively related to job
satisfaction and leader-member exchange.
Furthermore, the quality of leader-member ex-
change was hypothesized to mediate the effects of
goal orientation on job performance and job satis-
faction. Under the guidelines provided by Baron
and Kenny (1986), mediation is indicated if the
effect of the independent variable (here, goal orien-
tation) on the outcome variable (job performance
and job satisfaction) substantially decreases upon
the addition of the mediator (leader-member ex-
change) to the model, while the mediator has a
significant, unique effect on the outcome variable.
To test this mediation model, we added a third
step, containing leader-member exchange, to the
regression analyses of the outcome variables. As is
shown in Table 4, when leader-member exchange
was added to the models, the regression coeffi-
cients of the relationships between mastery orien-
tation and the outcome variables decreased from
.33 (p⬍.001) in the second step to .24 (p⬍.01) in
the third step for in-role job performance, from .19
(p⬍.05) to .09 (n.s.) for innovative job perfor-
mance, and from .35 (p⬍.001) to .26 (p⬍.001) for
job satisfaction. Moreover, although the effect of
mastery orientation decreased, leader-member ex-
change as a mediator had a significant, unique ef-
fect on all three outcome variables. With respect to
performance orientation, the regression coefficients
only slightly decreased from ⫺.26 (p⬍.01) in the
second step to ⫺.22 (p⬍.01) in the third step for
in-role job performance, and from ⫺.13 (p⬍.05)
to ⫺.09 (n.s.) for job satisfaction when we added
leader-member exchange to the models.
Finally, to test whether the effect of goal orienta-
tion significantly decreased upon the addition of
leader-member exchange, we performed the Sobel
test (Baron & Kenny, 1986; Sobel, 1982). This test
revealed that leader-member exchange mediated
the positive effects of mastery orientation on in-role
job performance (Z⫽2.71, p⬍.01), innovative job
performance (Z⫽2.84, p⬍.01), and job satisfac-
tion (Z⫽2.74, p⬍.01). Thus, these results pro-
vided full support for Hypotheses 9, 10, and 11.
Leader-member exchange was not found to be a
significant mediator in the relationship between
performance orientation and in-role job perfor-
mance (Z⫽⫺1.45, n.s.). Furthermore, since perfor-
mance orientation was not significantly related to
the outcome variable of innovative job perfor-
mance, the results provided no support for Hypoth-
esis 12, predicting leader-member exchange to be a
mediator variable in the negative effect of perfor-
mance orientation on innovative job performance.
Finally, in line with Hypothesis 13, leader-member
exchange mediated the negative relationship be-
TABLE 4
Results of Regression Analyses
a
Step and Variables
In-Role Job Performance Innovative Job Performance Job Satisfaction
Leader-
Member
Exchange
12 3 1 2 3 12 312
1. Gender .15 .13 .09 .10 .09 .05 .03 .03 ⫺.02 .15 .14
Age ⫺.17 ⫺.16 ⫺.14 ⫺.51*** ⫺.50*** ⫺.48*** .21 .26 .25 ⫺.08 ⫺.06
Tenure .13 .14 .08 .36** .37** .32* ⫺.03 ⫺.04 ⫺.06 .17 .18
2. Mastery orientation .33*** .24** .19* .09 .35*** .26*** .31***
Performance
orientation
⫺.26** ⫺.22** ⫺.01 .04 ⫺.13
†
⫺.09 ⫺.16*
3. Leader-member
exchange
.30*** .30*** .27***
⌬R
2
.04 .11*** .08*** .11*** .03* .08*** .03 .11*** .06*** .03 .09***
Adjusted R
2
.02 .12** .20*** .09*** .12*** .19*** .01 .11*** .17*** .01 .09**
a
Standardized regression coefficients are reported for the respective regression steps, including sociodemographics (step 1), socio-
demographics and goal orientations (step 2), and sociodemographics, goal orientations, and leader-member exchange (step 3). For the
regression of in-role job performance, nwas 161. For innovative job performance and leader-member exchange, nwas 170. For job
satisfaction, nwas 167.
†
p⬍.05 (one-tailed test)
*p⬍.05 (two-tailed test)
** p⬍.01 (two-tailed test)
*** p⬍.001 (two-tailed test)
2004 377Janssen and Van Yperen
tween performance orientation and job satisfaction
(Z⫽⫺1.80, p⬍.05, one-tailed test).
Supplementary Analyses
The modest correlation between mastery and
performance orientations (r⫽.33, p⬍.001) indi-
cates that trying to attain mastery is not necessarily
inconsistent with striving to outperform others. By
implication, a mastery and a performance goal ori-
entation might interact in their effects. Therefore,
we conducted additional hierarchical regression
analyses to detect possible interactions. These re-
gressions consisted of three steps. After controlling
for the sociodemographic variables in step 1 and
the “main effects” of the goal orientations in step 2,
we added the third step, which involved the cross-
product term of mastery and performance orienta-
tion, in order to detect interactive effects. To min-
imize problems of multicollinearity and facilitate
interpretation, we centered the predictor variables
before calculating the cross-product term and re-
gression statistics (Aiken & West, 1991). The anal-
yses showed that mastery and performance orien-
tations did not interact in their effects on leader-
member exchange (⌬R
2
⫽.01, n.s.), innovative job
performance (⌬R
2
⫽.01, n.s.), and job satisfaction
(⌬R
2
⫽.01, n.s.). However, we found an interactive
effect of mastery and performance orientations on
in-role job performance (⌬R
2
⫽.03, b⫽.11, p⬍
.05). To interpret this interaction effect, we re-
arranged the total regression equation into simple
regressions of in-role job performance on perfor-
mance orientation, given conditional values of
mastery orientation (mean ⫹1 s.d.; mean ⫺1 s.d.;
cf. Aiken & West, 1991). As shown in Figure 1, in
the case of a strong mastery orientation, relatively
high levels of in-role job performance were ob-
tained regardless of the strength of an individual’s
performance orientation (b⫽⫺.05, n.s.). However,
when mastery orientation was weak, performance
orientation had a negative relationship with in-role
job performance (b⫽⫺.24, p⬍.001). These find-
ings signify that mastery and performance orienta-
tions interacted in such a way that a strong mastery
orientation was needed to buffer the negative effect
of a performance orientation on in-role job perfor-
mance (cf. Van Yperen & Janssen, 2002). These
additional results contradicted Hypothesis 2,
which predicts a positive relationship between per-
formance orientation and in-role job performance.
In this article, goal orientations are viewed as
rather stable personality characteristics that may
influence employees in the way they establish ex-
change relationships with their leaders. However,
alternatively, the quality of leader-member ex-
change might be a contextual factor that can impact
the goal orientations of employees. Therefore, we
conducted a series of regression analyses to test
alternative path models in which mastery and per-
formance orientations mediated the effects of
leader-member exchange on the outcome variables.
After controlling for the sociodemographic vari-
ables in the first step, we found that leader-member
exchange was positively related to in-role job per-
formance (⌬R
2
⫽.13, b⫽.37, p⬍.001), innovative
job performance (⌬R
2
⫽.10, b⫽.32, p⬍.001), and
job satisfaction (⌬R
2
⫽.12, b⫽.35, p⬍.001). When
mastery orientation and performance orientation
were added to the equations, the regression coeffi-
cients of the relationships between leader-member
exchange and the outcome variables declined only
FIGURE 1
Effects of Interaction of Performance and Mastery Orientation on In-Role Job Performance
378 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
modestly, from .37 (p⬍.001) to .30 (p⬍.001) for
in-role job performance, from .32 (p⬍.001) to .30
(p⬍.001) for innovative job performance, and from
.35 (p⬍.001) to .28 (p⬍.001) for job satisfaction.
Additional Sobel tests indicated that neither a mas-
tery (Z⫽1.11, n.s.) nor a performance orientation
(Z⫽⫺0.05, n.s.) mediated the relationship be-
tween leader-member exchange and innovative job
performance.
Furthermore, performance orientation had no
significant mediation effects in the regressions of
in-role job performance (Z⫽0.22, n.s.) and job
satisfaction (Z⫽0.57, n.s.). Only mastery orienta-
tion was found to be a modest mediator in the
relationships between leader-member exchange
and the outcome variables of in-role job perfor-
mance (Z⫽2.19, p⬍.05) and job satisfaction (Z⫽
2.47, p⬍.05). This pattern of results indicated that
the alternative model, in which leader-member ex-
change is the independent variable and goal orien-
tation is the mediator variable, was inferior to the
research model, in which goal orientation is the
independent variable, and leader-member ex-
change is the mediator variable.
Furthermore, as 14 supervisors provided perfor-
mance ratings across 170 employees, the data had
potential for bias owing to differences between su-
pervisors in performance evaluations. Moreover,
the 170 respondents were nested within 14 organi-
zational units led by those 14 supervisors and vary-
ing more or less in structure, culture, size, kind of
jobs, technology, and so forth. To consider this
nested data structure and check for possible super-
visor and unit effects, we conducted two-level
analyses using the MLwiN computer package
(Goldstein et al., 1998). These two-level analyses
decomposed the total observed variance in the vari-
ables of interest into individual-level and group-
level residual variances We conducted a two-level
analysis for each of the three outcome variables.
That is, after supervisor and unit effects as well as
the sociodemographic variables had been con-
trolled for, mastery orientation, performance orien-
tation, and leader-member exchange were added to
the models, to predict the outcome variables. These
two-level analyses provided the same pattern of
results that we obtained from the ordinary hierar-
chical regression analyses reported above. That is,
leader-member exchange was again found to medi-
ate the positive effects of mastery orientation on
in-role job performance, innovative job perfor-
mance, and job satisfaction. Moreover, perfor-
mance orientation again interacted with mastery
orientation in predicting in-role job performance.
DISCUSSION
In this study, we developed and tested the idea
that a mastery orientation helps an employee to
establish a high-quality exchange with his or her
leader, while a performance orientation hinders
leader-member exchange of a high quality. In turn,
the quality of leader-member exchange was as-
sumed to clarify why employees with stronger mas-
tery orientations are more effective on the job than
those with stronger performance orientations. As
expected, the present survey results revealed that
a mastery orientation was positively related to in-
role job performance, innovative job performance,
and job satisfaction, and that the quality of leader-
member exchange mediated these relationships.
In contrast, their performance goal orientations
led employees to establish low-quality social ex-
changes with their supervisors. A lower quality
of leader-member exchange was associated with
lower levels of in-role and innovative job perfor-
mance, and with lower job satisfaction. However,
leader-member exchange was found to be only a
mediator in the negative relationship between per-
formance orientation and job satisfaction. Our data
provided no evidence that a low-quality leader-
member exchange was the interpersonal mecha-
nism that could clarify the negative relationship
between performance orientation and job perfor-
mance.
These results provide new insights for the
achievement goal theory, in which the interper-
sonal context of achievement situations has been
largely neglected. In organizational settings, super-
visors are an organization’s most salient agents for
employees, as they principally determine the im-
portant job products of subordinates. This study
provides theoretical logic and empirical evidence
that employees’ goal orientations are related to the
quality of social exchanges they develop and main-
tain with their supervisors. In turn, the quality of
leader-member exchange facilitates employees’ job
effectiveness in terms of in-role and innovative job
performance and job satisfaction.
Furthermore, the results shed new light on the
relationship between goal orientation and job per-
formance. Achievement goal theory suggests that
both mastery-oriented and performance-oriented
individuals are strongly motivated to meet their
respective achievement goals. This high level of
motivation is assumed to clarify the positive effects
of both goal orientations on actual performance that
have been documented in several studies (e.g., Bar-
ron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Elliot & Church, 1997;
Ford et al., 1998; Harackiewicz et al., 1997; Utman,
1997; VandeWalle et al., 1999). Most of the studies
2004 379Janssen and Van Yperen
that have reported positive links between perfor-
mance orientation and actual performance have
been conducted among children and college stu-
dents carrying out fixed cognitive tasks in educa-
tional or laboratory settings (e.g., Barron & Harack-
iewicz, 2000; Elliot & Church, 1997; Ford et al.,
1998; Harackiewicz et al., 1997). However, in the
current study, conducted among employees of an
organization in the energy sector, a performance
orientation in itself appeared to be negatively re-
lated to in-role job performance. Supplementary
analyses showed that this negative relationship
was buffered by a strong mastery orientation. That
is, the level of in-role job performance was high
among employees with high ratings for a perfor-
mance orientation only when they had high ratings
on mastery orientation as well. An explanation of
the present findings may be that a strong mastery
orientation shifts the focus away from typical
performance-oriented cognitions and evaluation
criteria, buffering or moderating the negative con-
sequences of a performance orientation (Van
Yperen & Janssen, 2002). This result underscores
the need to pay more attention to the development of
multiple-goal models in achievement goal research
(Barron & Harackicwicz, 2000; Pintrich, 2000). An
interesting question is whether individuals hold
performance and mastery goals in mind simulta-
neously, or whether they alternate between goal
states (cf. Harackiewicz et al., 1997). At any rate,
the positive correlation between mastery orienta-
tion and performance orientation (r⫽.33) found in
the present study seems to indicate that these dif-
ferent orientations tend to coexist in a person. The
common component responsible for this correla-
tion might be the approach-oriented achievement
motivation reflected in both orientations that di-
rected employees to pursue beneficial outcomes
rather than to avert detrimental outcomes (Elliot &
McGregor, 2001). As such, the positive correlation
between mastery and performance orientations
may call into question the common assumption
that the different goal orientations can be con-
ceived of as orthogonal dimensions.
Furthermore, a performance orientation was
found to be unrelated to innovative job perfor-
mance. The present findings suggest that a per-
formance orientation interferes with employees’ es-
tablishing high-quality relationships with their
supervisors. These low-quality leader-member ex-
changes signify that performance-oriented employ-
ees lack important resources for skill development
and sociopolitical support, which might clarify
why a performance orientation is not advantageous
for an employee’s innovative job performance.
Apparently, there is much research to be done to
improve researchers’ understanding of the link be-
tween performance orientation and actual perfor-
mance, including the conditions under which this
link may exist (cf. Harackiewicz et al., 2002). Fur-
thermore, more research is clearly needed to fur-
ther explore the psychological mechanisms under-
lying the effects of goal orientations (cf. Barron &
Harackiewicz, 2000). For example, VandeWalle
and his colleagues (1999) showed that the self-
regulation tactics of goal setting, effort, and plan-
ning mediated the positive relationship between
mastery orientation and job performance, whereas
performance orientation was unrelated to these
methods of skill development. In addition to those
task-oriented tactics, the added value of the current
study is that it explicates leader-member exchange
as an interpersonal mechanism that mediates the
relationship between employees’ mastery orienta-
tion and effectiveness on the job. An intriguing
question that arises from these cumulative results
is to what extent a high-quality leader-member ex-
change process helps employees to focus on skill
development by means of self-regulation tactics.
The present study also contributes to the litera-
ture on leader-member exchange. Most research in
this domain has been conducted to examine how
the process of leader-member exchange develops
and how the quality of leader-member exchange is
related to job performance and job attitudes for
employees and supervisors (e.g., Gerstner & Day,
1997; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995; Liden, Sparrowe, &
Wayne, 1997). However, research devoted to pro-
viding knowledge about the antecedents of leader-
member exchange has only recently begun (cf.
Gerstner & Day, 1997). Primary research suggests
that factors such as relational demography, leader-
member similarity, leader delegation, and person-
ality traits of members and leaders influence the
development and quality of leader-member ex-
change (e.g., Gerstner & Day, 1997; Graen & Uhl-
Bien, 1995; Green et al., 1996; Liden et al., 1997).
The present study provides theoretical logic and
empirical evidence supporting the idea that goal
orientation influences employees’ ability to de-
velop and maintain favorable social exchanges
with their supervisors. Moreover, the quality of
leader-member exchange appeared to clarify why
employees with stronger mastery orientations are
more effective in terms of in-role job performance,
innovative job performance, and job satisfaction.
Therefore, future research might examine whether
leader-member exchange mediates the influence of
goal orientation on other effectiveness variables
such as organizational citizenship behaviors and
organizational commitment.
Some limitations of this research should also be
380 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
considered. First, the cross-sectional design of the
present study did not allow us to determine the
direction of causality among the variables. The re-
sults are vulnerable to opposite and to bidirectional
relationships because of the possibility that an em-
ployees’ performance and satisfaction might in-
fluence the development and quality of leader-
member exchange, which, in turn, could shape
employees’ goal orientations. An argument against
such reversed causality is the fact that theory and
previous research persuasively present both goal
orientation and leader-member exchange as major
causes of actual performance and task enjoyment
(e.g., Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Button et al.,
1996; Farr et al., 1993; Gerstner & Day, 1997; Graen
& Uhl-Bien, 1995; VandeWalle et al., 1997). More-
over, goal orientations are viewed as rather stable
personality characteristics that are fostered by peo-
ple’s self-theories about the nature and develop-
ment of attributes such as intelligence, personality,
and abilities (Dweck, 1999). In contrast, the quality
of leader-member exchange is a typical work con-
text variable found to be dependent upon personal
characteristics of employees and leaders (e.g.,
Gerstner & Day, 1997; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995;
Green et al., 1996; Liden et al., 1997). Hence, goal
orientation can be considered as an antecedent
rather than a consequence of the quality of leader-
member exchange. An additional test of alternative
path models in which mastery and performance
orientations mediated the effects of LMX on the
outcome variables confirmed this conclusion.
The results demonstrated no mediation effects in
the regression of innovative job performance and
only modest mediation effects through mastery ori-
entation in the regression analysis of in-role job
performance and job satisfaction. Nonetheless, the
cross-sectional survey data cannot rule out the al-
ternative suppositions that goal orientation and
leader-member exchange are covariates or even
consequences rather than causes of effectiveness on
the job. Hence, longitudinal and experimental stud-
ies are needed to provide evidence of causation.
Although the nature of the performance data (rat-
ings by supervisors) is a strength of the present
study, a second limitation concerns possible com-
mon method variance in the relationships between
the self-reported measures of goal orientation, the
mediating variable of leader-member exchange,
and the outcome variable of job satisfaction. How-
ever, it is hard to imagine that the respondents in
this study would have artifactually caused the dif-
fering patterns of relationships between mastery
orientation and performance orientation, on the
one hand, and leader-member exchange and job
satisfaction, on the other hand. Moreover, the me-
diating effect of leader-member exchange in the
relationship between mastery orientation and job
satisfaction was identical to the mediating effects
in the relationships between mastery orientation
and in-role and innovative job performance rated
by the immediate supervisors of the respondents.
These considerations make us confident that com-
mon method variance is not a major concern.
Finally, the sample consisted of lower-level em-
ployees from an industrial organization in the
energy supply sector. Hierarchical level and partic-
ular organizational factors might vary with employ-
ees’ goal orientations, leader-member exchange,
and job attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, gener-
alization of the present results to employees per-
forming their job duties on higher hierarchical lev-
els and in other types of organizations awaits
further empirical examination.
Several findings of the current study might have
practical implications. In line with prior research
conducted in a field setting (VandeWalle et al.,
1999), the present results suggest that mastery-
oriented employees tend to be more effective on the
job than performance-oriented employees. A mas-
tery orientation might be of particular value for
performing the complex and challenging task of
innovation in the workplace. Employees with mas-
tery orientations are intrinsically motivated in their
work, tend to invest a lot of effort in their jobs, and
attempt to establish high-quality social exchanges
with their supervisors. As delineated in the theo-
retical section of this article, these conditions are
needed in order to succeed in the comprehensive
tasks of generating, promoting, and implementing
innovative ideas. Thus, the results of the present
study suggest that innovative job performance is
related to an employee’s mastery orientation.
Therefore, organizations might consider selecting
employees with strong mastery orientations for po-
sitions and roles directed toward initiating and im-
plementing innovative changes.
Furthermore, although employees’ goal orienta-
tions are rather stable personal characteristics, they
are not indifferent to contextual factors (Ames,
1992; Harackiewicz et al., 1997; Button et al., 1996;
Dweck, 1999; Elliot, 1999; Farr et al., 1993; Pin-
trich, 2000; Van Yperen & Janssen, 2002). As per-
formance standards, production schedules, dead-
lines, and the like are an integral part of any job
(Button et al., 1996), achievement situations on the
job might prompt employees to pursue perfor-
mance goals (Van Yperen, 2003b). The present
findings show that a predominant performance ori-
entation may lead to lower-quality leader-member
exchanges and to lower in-role job performance.
Accordingly, organizations would be wise to de-
2004 381Janssen and Van Yperen
sign a culture and practices that facilitate mastery
orientations among their employees in order to
buffer potential detrimental consequences of per-
formance orientations primed by a given achieve-
ment situation (cf. VandeWalle et al., 1999; Van
Yperen, 2003b). A mastery orientation might be
facilitated by, among other things, self-referenced
rather than other-referenced feedback and compen-
sation systems that focus on effort, personal im-
provement, skill development, experimentation,
and cooperation (e.g., Ames, 1992).
Finally, VandeWalle and his colleagues (1999)
suggested that training employees to change their
self-theories and attitudes towards ability, effort,
and performance could help them to adopt mastery
orientations in the performance of their job duties.
That is, employees can be taught to view effort as a
key determinant of job performance and profi-
ciency as a malleable attribute that can be devel-
oped in many ways. As the results of the present
study suggest, focusing on these mastery orienta-
tion features is important as doing so enables
employees to establish the high-quality leader-
member exchanges that are needed for high job
satisfaction and effective in-role and innovative job
performance.
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Onne Janssen (o.janssen@ppsw.rug.nl) is an assistant
professor of organizational psychology at the University
of Groningen, The Netherlands. His current research fo-
cuses on the determinants and consequences of em-
ployee innovative behavior in organizations.
Nico W. VanYperen is a professor of psychology at the
University of Groningen and at the University of Nijme-
gen, The Netherlands. His research interests include
achievement goals, motivation and job performance, and
organizational stress.
384 JuneAcademy of Management Journal
