Work Ethic and Motivation of Achievement

Abstract

The article presents the mutual relations between the components of work ethic and achievement goals: mastery- approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Work ethic was presented as a syndrome of the following attitudes: 1) perceiving work as a moral value, 2) treating work as a central value in life, and 3) the belief in the importance of hard work that leads to success. This ethic also consists of the following components: 4) unwillingness to waste time, 5) disapproval of spare time (anti-leisure), 6) willingness to delay gratification, 7) willingness to act honestly at work (morality/ethic), and 8) being independent (self-reliance). The research conducted on the sample of 206 employees showed that the dimensions of work ethic are related the most strongly, average and positively to mastery-approach goals but weakly to mastery-avoidance. Performance- approach and performance-avoidance goals correlate positively with only two dimensions: self-reliance and the belief in the importance of hard work. Morality is negatively related to performance goals (approach and avoidance). Being independent (self-reliance) correlates positively but weakly with mastery goals (approach and avoidance). The results show clearly that work ethic is associated with mastery-approach goals. A person who assesses work high, aspires to reach the standard of mastery and it is the motivation that relies mainly on aspiration. Key words: work ethic, achievement motivation, achievement mastery goals, goals

Consumerism at work and its relationship to employees’ personal goals, self-concept clarity, well-being and growth mindset

“…Significant consequences included the obligation of continuous development, the pressure of being always informed and the destructive influence of work-life imbalance on one's physical and mental health. Grabowski (2012;Grabowski & Rachwaniec-Szczecińska, 2016) in his publications links the changes in work ethic with the values central to the working environment and the contemporary consumer culture. He analyzed the relationships between work engagement, the attitudes towards occupation and work ethic, and distinguished four types of employees with regard to work ethics, the level of centrality of work in one's life, valuing hard work, self-fulfillment, aversion to wasting time, self-reliance and realization at work prosocial values.…”