Structure and Relationships of University Instructors’ Achievement Goals

Abstract

The present study examines the achievement goals of university instructors, particularly the structure of such goals, and their relationship to biographic characteristics, other aspects of instructors’ motivation, and teaching quality. Two hundred and fifty-one university instructors (184 without Ph.D., 97 with Ph.D., thereof 51 full professors; 146 males, 92 females) answered a questionnaire measuring achievement goals, self-efficacy, and enthusiasm in altogether 392 courses. Teaching quality was assessed using reports from 9,241 students who were attending these courses. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance, work avoidance, and relational goals as being distinguishable from each other. Distinct relationships were found between different instructors’ achievement goals, and gender, age, and career status as well as self-efficacy and enthusiasm. Hierarchical linear models suggested positive associations of instructors’ mastery goals with teaching quality, while negative associations were indicated for performance avoidance goals and work avoidance goals in relation to teaching quality. Exploratory analyses conducted due to a quite large correlation between performance approach and performance avoidance goals indicated that for university instructors, differentiating performance goals into appearance and normative components might also be adequate. All in all, the study highlights the auspiciousness of the theoretical concept of university instructors’ achievement goals and contributes to making it comprehensively accessible.

University instructors’ achievement goals for teaching.

“…Also, it can be assumed that the structure of achievement goals may be distinct for university instructors because they work in achievement settings that encompass a wide array of learning and performance aspects. For instance, concerning the defining elements of performance goals for different populations, for students, normative aspects (being better than others) of performance goals may be of particular importance, while for school teachers, appearing competent in front of students may be rather decisive; however, for university instructors, both aspects may constitute equal and distinct aspects of performance goals (Daumiller et al, 2016). Addressing these structural issues is important when investigating achievement goals in a new population and crucial in order to advance AGT.…”

“…Given this importance, in the next section we elaborate on existing findings concerning the structure of the achievement goals of university instructors. Daumiller et al (2016) found that splitting university instructors' performance goals into approach and avoidance components worked just as well as splitting them into appearance and normative components. All components yielded distinct relationships with other motivational variables and performance outcomes.…”

Researchers’ achievement goals: Prevalence, structure, and associations with job burnout/engagement and professional learning

“…As both teaching and research constitute explicit achievement contexts, and achievement goals have been successfully used to describe the motivations for teaching at schools and universities (Butler, 2007;Daumiller, Dickhäuser, & Dresel, 2019;Daumiller, Dickhäuser, Grassinger, & Dresel, 2016;Retelsdorf, Butler, Streblow, & Schiefele, 2010) as well as for university scholars' vocational goal striving on a general level (without distinguishing between teaching, research, and other activities; Janke & Dickhäuser, 2018), we applied Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) as a framework to describe motivations for research. As AGT has not yet been investigated in university researchers with respect to their research activities, an important prerequisite is to confirm the suitability of this approach.…”

Motivation von Lehrkräften

“…B. besser als andere zu sein; Normziele) oder auf der Erscheinung liegt (z. B. einen guten Eindruck machen, unabhängig davon, wie kompetent man tatsächlich ist; Erscheinungsziele)denn diese unterschiedlichen Aspekte können differenziell mit unterschiedlichem Erleben und Verhalten assoziiert sein Daumiller, Grassinger, Dickhäuser & Dresel, 2016;s. a. Hulleman et al, 2010;Senko & Dawson, 2017).…”