Content uploaded by Elizabeth Bayardelle
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Elizabeth Bayardelle on Mar 17, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Behavioral Responses to Failure: The Effects of Goal Orientation, Psychological Capital, and Intrinsic Motivation
Abstract and Figures
Failure can be a feared or even fatal stumbling-block for many individuals and businesses but
can also be the hallmark of a successful entrepreneur or enterprise. Whether failure becomes an insurmountable obstacle or a refining challenge depends largely on an individual’s behavior after a failure. This study examined the effects of goal orientation, psychological capital, and intrinsic motivation on the post-failure behavior of 180 adults currently employed in a workplace environment. Main findings included: 1) significant correlations found between age and many adaptive characteristics, confirming that a productive failure response is something that can be learned, developed, or trained over time, 2) data better supported a tripolar model of goal orientation than the 2x2 model used, 3) significant intercorrelations between various failure responses indicated that individuals don’t usually respond to failure with a single behavior but with a cluster of related behaviors, 4) strongest relationships were found with mastery-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations, which each correlated respectively with adaptive and maladaptive responses to failure, 5) the mediating relationships involving PsyCap and intrinsic motivation within the SEM model were diametrically opposed to what was hypothesized as well as what was suggested in the existing literature. Overall, results showed promise for the potential of a cohesive failure model connecting an interrelated network of preexisting individual characteristics to the way people respond after a failure, but some unexpected findings indicate that further research is necessary to determine the structure and placement of the different variables within the model.
Figures - uploaded by Elizabeth Bayardelle
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Elizabeth Bayardelle
Content may be subject to copyright.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the processes that occur between entrepreneurs’ primary attribution for failure and the emergent learning dimensions from failure, in the context of regenerative failures.
Design/methodology/approach – The study focusses on 21 entrepreneurs operating in the producing services sector, a major subsector of the Irish Information and Communication Technology industry. All the entrepreneurs experienced business failure and subsequently re-entered the entrepreneurial sphere at a later date. A qualitative approach examines their attributions for failure, responses to failure, and learning dimensions from failure.
Findings – Regenerative entrepreneurs’ primary attributions for business failure are examined in detail; four types of failure attributions are uncovered – internal individual level; external firm level; external market level; and hybrid attributions. Entrepreneurs’ attributions impact their responses to the failure; this in turn affects entrepreneurial learning. When failure is primarily attributed to internal factors, the entrepreneur’s response is affective, leading to deep, personal learning about oneself. External attributions (both firm level and market level) result in a primarily behavioural response, with learning focussed on the venture, and networks and relationships. Those primarily attributing failure to hybrid factors have a largely cognitive response and they learn about venture management.
Research limitations/implications – This study is a retrospective analysis of business failure.
Originality/value – The study contributes to the growing literature on entrepreneurs’ attributions for business failure by focussing on regenerative failure; it links attributions to – responses to, and learning from, failure. The key contribution to knowledge emerges from the development of a model of the underlying processes affecting learning from failure for regenerative entrepreneurs. The research also establishes and identifies clear links between attributions, responses, and lessons learned in the context of regenerative failure.
Keywords Start-ups, Business failure, Attribution theory, Entrepreneurial learning, Hybrid attributions, Regenerative failure
Paper type Research paper
This study examines the effects of a community-based program designed to delay onset and reduce the frequency of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among high-risk youths, ages 12-14, through strengthening family resilience. It is part of a larger five-year demonstration project funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP). The program was implemented in multiple church communities in rural, suburban, and inner city settings. Program components of this study included parent or guardian and youth training, early intervention services, and follow-up case management services. The results show that the program produced positive direct effects on family resilience. The evaluation also found positive moderating effects on delayed onset of alcohol and other drug use and frequency of alcohol and other drug use among youths in the form of conditional relationships with changes in those family resilience factors that were targeted by the program.
In recent years, many students have developed a fixed mindset as a result of the national focus on raising test scores. The present study aims to investigate the effects of teacher language and the inclusion of growth mindset feedback on the writing motivation of second and third grade students. The researcher used a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design, employing both discourse analysis and a comparison of means, to determine the effects of the experimental treatment. Results indicated no statistically significant effects; however, qualitative findings indicated that objective feedback positively impacted writing motivation. Additionally, growth mindset feedback, especially combined with objective compliments, moved students forward on a growth mindset developmental progression, leading to increased writing motivation. Implications for educational research, policies, and teaching practice are included.
I: Background.- 1. An Introduction.- 2. Conceptualizations of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination.- II: Self-Determination Theory.- 3. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Perceived Causality and Perceived Competence.- 4. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Interpersonal Communication and Intrapersonal Regulation.- 5. Toward an Organismic Integration Theory: Motivation and Development.- 6. Causality Orientations Theory: Personality Influences on Motivation.- III: Alternative Approaches.- 7. Operant and Attributional Theories.- 8. Information-Processing Theories.- IV: Applications and Implications.- 9. Education.- 10. Psychotherapy.- 11. Work.- 12. Sports.- References.- Author Index.
Motivation in science in school is a national issue but is often overlooked in educational reform (Usher, A., and N. Kober. 2012. Student motivation – An overlooked piece of school reform. Centre on Education Policy, Graduate School of Education and Human Development. The George Washington University). Despite new curriculum content reforms in England to promote education and uptake, science remains an area of concern (Department for Education. 2015. 2010 to 2015 government policy: school and college qualifications and curriculum. Accessed October 27, 2016 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-school-and-college-qualifications-and-curriculum/2010-to-2015-government-policy-school-and-college-qualifications-and-curriculum; Department for Education. 2016. Revised A level and other level 3 results in England, 2014/2015. Accessed August 15, 2016 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502158/SFR03_2016__A_level_and_other_level_3_results_in_England_SFR_revised.pdf. This article explores students’ lack of motivation towards studying science and strategies to enhance motivation in a secondary school academy with students aged 14–15 years of age. The quasi-experimental research design used qualitative and quantitative methods analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings suggest that the motivational factors most lacking in students are task value, self-efficacy and self-regulation. The intervention programme had significant impact on the students involved in the study and suggests the need to move towards a growth mindset style of teaching that makes science relevant to everyday life.
Researchers examined teacher-related variation in the effects of a classroom intervention designed to impact seventh graders' beliefs about the nature of ability in science as fixed or malleable. Analyses of quantitative data from 7 science classrooms across 2 teachers revealed significant teacher effects in the extent to which students' beliefs about mindset, students' mastery-oriented learning goals, and students' achievement were sustained several months following the intervention. Classroom observational data and teacher reports of their beliefs offered some explanation for these differences. The teacher whose students had better outcomes placed more emphasis on mastery goals, growth mindset, conceptual development, and use of learning strategies in her daily interactions with students than did the other teacher. Program developers may want to design and study ways to impact teachers' practices in order to maximize and sustain program impact.
In the past twenty years, educational researchers have intensely focused their interest on numerous internal and external factors that contribute to a students' academic achievement. In particular, some research has explored the relationship between students' motivational beliefs (e.g. self-efficacy, control perceptions, learning goal orientations) and their academic achievement, while others have investigated the role of students' personality traits in that achievement. However, not much research has examined the relationship between the Big Five traits, academic motivation, and academic achievement within the same study (Komarraju, Karau, & Schmeck, 2009). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether achievement goal orientations mediate the relationship between personality traits (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Intellect) and academic achievement. The participants were 501 (160 boys and 341 girls; M-age = 16.19) high school students in Croatia. They answered questions about their final mid-term grade in chemistry (the Croatian academic grade scale ranges from 1-fail to 5-excellent) and completed two questionnaires: The IPIP Big-Five factor markers (Goldberg, 1999) and the Achievement Goals Questionnaire (Rovan 82 Jelie, 2010). The mediation analysis (a bootstrapping method) revealed that learning approach, performance-approach and work-avoidance goal orientations fully mediate the relationship between students' personality traits and their academic achievement, but only for Conscientiousness.