The Growth Mindset at Work: Will Employees Help Others to Develop Themselves?

Rogers, Benjamin A.; Christian, Jessica Siegel; Jennings, Remy E.; Lanaj, Klodiana

doi:10.5465/amd.2021.0144

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…We instructed participants, “you will be telling us about various features of your life. Specifically, you will be telling us about objects in different domains of your life, such as your work and home” and then asked them to describe eight aspects of their lives, such as “two noticeable items in your house” and “two noticeable activities you do.” These prompts have served as neutral counterpoints to other narrative interventions related to power, growth mindsets, best possible selves, and positive leadership (Foulk et al, 2018; Jennings et al, 2021; Lanaj et al, 2019; Rogers et al, 2022). Importantly, while the subjects of the prompts are neutrally valenced, they still focus on aspects of people’s lives—their possessions, homes, how they spend their time—that are important to their identities (Belk, 1988; Bellezza et al, 2017) and, as we saw from the structural topic modeling conducted in Study 2, are frequent subjects of life stories that people share with others.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing your life story as a Hero’s Journey increases meaning in life.

Rogers¹,

Chicas²,

Kelly³

et al. 2023

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Meaning in life is tied to the stories people tell about their lives. We explore whether one timeless story—the Hero’s Journey—might make people’s lives feel more meaningful. This enduring story appears across history and cultures and provides a template for ancient myths (e.g., Beowulf) and blockbuster books and movies (e.g., Harry Potter). Eight studies reveal that the Hero’s Journey predicts and can causally increase people’s experience of meaning in life. We first distill the Hero’s Journey into seven key elements—protagonist, shift, quest, allies, challenge, transformation, legacy—and then develop a new measure that assesses the perceived presence of the Hero’s Journey narrative in people’s life stories: the Hero’s Journey Scale. Using this scale, we find a positive relationship between the Hero’s Journey and meaning in life with both online participants (Studies 1–2) and older adults in a community sample (Study 3). We then develop a restorying intervention that leads people to see the events of their life as a Hero’s Journey (Study 4). This intervention causally increases meaning in life (Study 5) by prompting people to reflect on important elements of their lives and connecting them into a coherent and compelling narrative (Study 6). This Hero’s Journey restorying intervention also increases the extent to which people perceive meaning in an ambiguous grammar task (Study 7) and increases their resilience to life’s challenges (Study 8). These results provide initial evidence that enduring cultural narratives like the Hero’s Journey both reflect meaningful lives and can help to create them.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing your life story as a Hero’s Journey increases meaning in life.

Rogers¹,

Chicas²,

Kelly³

et al. 2023

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As one of the factors, a growth mindset can encourage individuals to seek tasks that align with their skills and interests, enhancing both their in-role performance and the meaningfulness they derive from their work. Studies demonstrated that employees with a growth mindset tend to exhibit higher levels of motivation, engagement and effort, all of which contribute to enhanced in-role performance (Blackwell et al, 2007;Han and Stieha, 2020;Rogers et al, 2023). Findings from multiple experiments also reported that employees with a growth mindset are more inclined to help their coworkers, which in turn improving self-development (Rogers et al, 2023).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies demonstrated that employees with a growth mindset tend to exhibit higher levels of motivation, engagement and effort, all of which contribute to enhanced in-role performance (Blackwell et al, 2007;Han and Stieha, 2020;Rogers et al, 2023). Findings from multiple experiments also reported that employees with a growth mindset are more inclined to help their coworkers, which in turn improving self-development (Rogers et al, 2023). In addition, employees with a growth mindset are anticipated to view their work as meaningful, as they view their work as a platform for continuous learning and development.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking a growth mindset, job crafting and in-role performance via meaningfulness at work: a moderated mediation model

Oh,

Han,

Han

2024

JWL

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Purpose Informed by the job characteristics model (JCM) and job crafting theory (JCT), this study aims to investigate the mediating role of meaningfulness at work in the relationship between a growth mindset and in-role performance and moderating role of job crafting in this indirect effect. Design/methodology/approach To this end, the authors examined the moderated mediation model with 271 corporate trainers enrolled in the largest online community for adult educators in South Korea. Findings Results showed that the relationship between a growth mindset and in-role performance is positively mediated by meaningfulness at work. Furthermore, job crafting acted as a moderator in this relationship, such that trainers with high levels of job crafting showed a greater in-role performance, while trainers with low levels of job crafting reported a negative indirect effect of a growth mindset. Originality/value The current study contributes to the JCM and JCT by suggesting a growth mindset as individual characteristics to promote meaningfulness at work and in-role performance. The study also responds to the calls to expand the mediation mechanisms and boundary conditions of a growth mindset in the workplace. The authors provide important insights into how corporate trainers’ job crafting is crucial in enhancing or impeding their performance and meaningful work.

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“…Individuals with higher trait gratitude tend to experience more intense and frequent grateful emotions across multiple domains of life and towards more entities (McCullough et al, 2002). Therefore, trait gratitude can broaden an individual's thoughts, perceptions, and cognitions (Fredrickson, 2013), ultimately leading to a growth mindset of work characterized by open-minded, flexible, and positive thought patterns (Rogers et al, 2023). Although the direct relationship between trait gratitude and a growth mindset of work has not been explicitly investigated, previous studies suggest that trait gratitude positively correlates with self-awareness and perceived employability (Harrison et al, 2021).…”

Section: Source(s): Authors Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait gratitude and subjective career success: the mediating roles of growth mindset and network breadth

Zhang

Zhao

Liu

et al. 2023

CDI

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PurposeBuilding on the broaden-and-build theory and incorporating a self-regulatory perspective, this study examines the relationship between trait gratitude and subjective career success and investigates the mediating roles of growth mindset of work and career network breadth.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged data were collected in three waves from a sample of 314 employees in China. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that trait gratitude is positively related to SCS, mediated by growth mindset of work as an indicator of psychological resources and career network breadth as an indicator of social resources. Trait gratitude is more strongly associated with network breadth (i.e., social resources) than with growth mindset (i.e., psychological resources).Practical implicationsOrganizations may find trait gratitude an applicable addition to the selection criteria during the recruitment process.Originality/valueBy identifying trait gratitude as an antecedent of SCS and revealing its underlying mechanisms, the current study points to a new perspective on the study of career success.

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The Growth Mindset at Work: Will Employees Help Others to Develop Themselves?

Cited by 11 publications

References 105 publications

Seeing your life story as a Hero’s Journey increases meaning in life.

Seeing your life story as a Hero’s Journey increases meaning in life.

Linking a growth mindset, job crafting and in-role performance via meaningfulness at work: a moderated mediation model

Trait gratitude and subjective career success: the mediating roles of growth mindset and network breadth

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