Organizational tenure and mastery-avoidance goals: the moderating role of psychological empowerment

Abstract

Mastery-avoidance (MAv) goals are recognized to be detrimental as they arouse counterproductive work-related behaviors. In the current literature, MAv goals are assumed to be more predominant among newcomers and longer-tenured employees. The alleged relationship provides important implications but yet has received scant empirical attention. In response, this study examines the proposed U-shaped curvilinear relationship between organizational tenure and MAv goal orientation. In addition, the potential moderating role of psychological empowerment on this curvilinear relationship is investigated. Based on data from 655 certified accountants, the results support the existence of the hypothesized curvilinear relationship. Also, it revealed that for employees who experience higher levels of psychological empowerment, the U-shaped relationship between organizational tenure and MAv goal orientation becomes flattened. Implications and future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• achievement goal theory
• curvilinear relationships
• mastery-avoidance goals
• organizational tenure
• psychological empowerment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. We use mastery goal and performance goal as labels in this article. In contrast, other researchers refer to mastery goals as ‘task’ goals (Nicholls, 1984) or learning goals (Dweck, 1999). In addition, performance goals are often referred to as ‘ego’ goals (Nicholls, 1984).