Consider the following. Let’s say you’re handed a difficult project by a senior manager in you company. You can react in one of two ways. You can be approach-oriented and frame the task as an opportunity for challenge and growth. Or you can be avoidance-oriented and frame the task as a potential for abject failure.

If you view this task as a chance to make headway in your career, you are likely approach motivated. Those geared towards approach motivation tend to strive for success and view situations in terms of challenges. Conversely, avoidance motivated individuals are more concerned with preventing failure and avoiding personal threats.

Going back to the current study, the researchers predicted that job engagement would lead to negative outcomes (e.g. unethical behavior), particularly for those high in avoidance motivation. Conversely, those high in approach motivation would be more likely to experience the positive outcomes (e.g. task performance) of job engagement.

The study & findings

The researchers had the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Job based ownership → Job engagement

Hypothesis 2: Job-based ownership → positive outcomes of job engagement IF high in approach motivation

Hypothesis 3: Job-based ownership → negative outcomes of job engagement IF high in avoidance motivation

In order to test these hypotheses, sale’s representatives in a large pharmaceutical company were recruited to participate in two studies. For measuring the outcome variables, the participants filled out a survey, with response options ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

To begin the first study, the physical, cognitive and emotional dimensions of job engagement were measured with items like “I devote a lot of my energy to my job”.

Job-based PO was measured with items like “I feel a very high degree of personal ownership for my job”.

Approach and avoidance motivation were measured with items like “when I see an opportunity for something I like, I get excited right away”.

In-role performance was measured with items like “this employee asks good questions and listens to find out what a customer wants”. This survey was filled out by the participants supervisor.

Proactive work behavior was measured with items like “this employee anticipates issues or needs a customer might have and proactively develops solutions”. This survey was also filled out by the participants supervisor.

Territorial behavior was measured with items like “let’s others know that the ‘customer information and relationships’ have been claimed”.

Lastly, knowledge hiding was measured with items like “when your coworkers request knowledge of customer information and relationships from you, you pretend that you don’t know what s/he is talking about”.

For the second study, the researchers recruited employees who worked at an electronics company. Each set of constructs were assessed once again, using the same scales, in addition to in-role performance, proactive work behavior, and organizational citizenship behavior.

The results of these two studies provided support for the hypotheses. The relationship between job engagement and the various positive and negative outcomes was explained by changes in job-based psychological ownership. In particular, highly engaged employees with avoidance motivation styles are more likely to display negative workplace behavior such as territorial behavior, knowledge hiding and unethical behavior.

Those who are avoidance motivated tend to be focused on what they can lose, rather than gain. This fear of loss can drive individuals to perform unethical behavior in order to maintain ownership over their job. Oppositely, those who are approach motivated are focused on what can be gained, and therefore they don’t exhibit the same degree of territorial behavior.

In sum, being approach motivated allows you to experience the positive outcomes of job engagement and job-based ownership. In contrast, being avoidance motivated means you’ll likely experience the positive and negative outcomes.

The results applied

Be approach motivated and promotion focused

As previously mentioned, being approach motivated can allow you to invest into your job without the negative side effects of engagement. Being approach motivated has also been shown to enhance creativity and elicit positive emotions. Try the following tips to be more approach motivated:

Write down what motivates you: Start by creating a T chart On the left side, list all potential job-related losses (e.g. missing out on a promotion) It’s helpful to be aware of these potential losses but it’s important that you remind yourself that this isn’t where your attention should be directed. On the right side, list all potential job-related gains (e.g. social prestige, a raise) The key is to focus on what’s written here. Devoting your energy to potential gains will put you on the track to becoming a more approach motivated person.

