MANAGING THE LESS THAN OPTIMAL: THE MODERATING ROLE OF MANAGER GOAL ORIENTATION IN THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MINDSET AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Research has established that employees with a more incremental mindset are more likely to be related to positive work outcomes than are those with a more entity mindset. However, although an incremental mindset is often ideal, entity mindset individuals and situational factors that run counter to the incremental mindset do exist and need to be managed effectively. Utilizing an experimental design with a sample of 170 and building on research on employee fit, this study looks at how the relationship between mindset and performance could be influenced by the fit with the manager’s goal orientation. Specifically, those with an entity mindset performed better when they appeared to fit better with their manager’s goal orientation than did those with an incremental mindset.