People as Means to Multiple Goals: Implications for Interpersonal Relationships

The present research examines the implications of having relationship partners who serve as means to multiple goals. Specifically, we test the hypotheses that (a) partners who serve more goals will be evaluated as more interpersonally close, supportive, and responsive than those who serve fewer goals, and (b) partners who serve more goals will be less common in social networks than those who serve fewer goals. Three studies ( N = 1,064) found consistent support for these hypotheses while examining relationships with all members of participants' active social network and their full range of goal pursuits. In addition, we found that the association between number of goals a partner serves and relationship evaluation is stronger for people who perceived their social networks as less (vs. more) instrumental on average, and among people who perceived their relationships as less close, less supportive, and less responsive, on average. Implications for close relationships are discussed.

Mitigating influence of transcendence on politics perceptions’ negative effects

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a cognitive process, transcendence, moderates the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POPs) and several work outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants across two studies (Study 1: 187 student-recruited working adults; Study 2: 158 information technology employees) provided a demographically diverse sample for the analyses. Key variables were transcendence, POPs, job satisfaction, job tension, emotional exhaustion, work effort, and frustration.

Findings

Results corroborated the hypotheses and supported the authors’ argument that POPs lacked influence on work outcomes when individuals possessed high levels of transcendence. Specifically, high levels of transcendence attenuated the decreases in job satisfaction and work effort associated with POPs. Additionally, transcendence acted as an antidote to several workplace ills by weakening the increases in job tension, emotional exhaustion, and frustration usually associated with POPs.

Research limitations/implications

This study found that transcendence, an individual-level cognitive style, can improve work outcomes for employees in workplaces where POPs exist. Future studies should use longitudinal data to study how changes in POPs over time affect individuals’ reported levels of transcendence.

Practical implications

Although it is impossible to eliminate politics in organizations, antidotes like transcendence can improve individuals’ responses to POPs.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to utilize an individual-level cognitive style to examine possible options for attenuating the effects of POPs on individuals’ work outcomes.

Quantifying the psychological value of goal achievement

It is often assumed that people put forth the least amount of effort necessary to obtain a reward. This assumption is consistent with so-called "rational" economic models of behavior. Yet these models rarely take into account the motivating effects of goals, which may lead to departures from objective reward maximizing behavior. We present an experiment in which people make a series of prioritization decisions whilst pursuing two approach or avoidance goals. Participants were rewarded $10 if they achieved both goals on a randomly selected trial, and either $0, $2.50, $5, $7.50, or $10 if they achieved only one. Bayesian parameter estimation was used to examine the subjective values that people placed on various goal achievement outcomes. The results suggested that people often discounted the achievement of the first goal, relative to a reward maximizing model, particularly when pursuing avoidance goals. These results were most evident among participants who could obtain the full reward after achieving just one goal, yet behaved as if achieving one goal was only half as valuable as achieving both. Our findings question the notion that people put forth the least amount of effort required to obtain a reward. They suggest that when tasks have explicit goals, people may even sacrifice financial reward to achieve the goals.