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Allocation by Association: Goal Networks and the Allocation of Resources Across Multiple Demands

Dolis, Chad M
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1375388896

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Psychology-Industrial/Organizational.
Despite the central focus on goals in the self-regulation literature, and the interest in the motivational and performance enhancing effects of goals in the I/O literature, few studies have explicitly examined how individuals prioritize and allocate their resources among multiple goals that are being pursued concurrently. The limited research in this area has typically adopted a Control Theory perspective, and has identified relative goal-performance discrepancies as an important driver of resource allocation amongst simultaneously pursued goals. The purpose of the current study was to extend this line of research by adopting a complementary framework, Goal Systems Theory, to identify additional variables and processes that may influence how individuals allocate their resources across multiple tasks in the name of goal achievement. Goal Systems Theory adopts a cognition-as-motivation approach, whereby goals, and the means that serve those goals, are viewed as networked knowledge structures subject to the same operational and organization constraints as other knowledge structures (i.e. semantic networks). Three characteristics of goal networks, as specified by Goal Network Theory, were examined. These characteristics included both structural and functional elements of goal networks that have been shown in past research to have the potential to influence resource allocation. These three characteristics included: 1) means multifinality set size, or the number of goals that a particular means serves, which was hypothesized to be positively related resource allocation; 2) the strength of the cognitive association between a means and a goal was hypothesized to mediate a positive relationship between means- goal instrumentality and means resource allocation, and; 3) the principle of goal property transfer, whereby a means comes to inherit the properties of the goals that it serves, was identified as important in determining the allocation of resources to means. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the resource allocation effects of a goal’s goal-performance discrepancy would transfer to its associated means, influencing the allocation of resources to those means. In total, 103 undergraduate college students completed this study, 84 of which met the inclusion criteria for the testing of the hypotheses. Participants volunteered to participate in a study examining “college student’s goals” that was conducted in two phases. The first phase took place in a laboratory, during which time IV and control variables were collected. The second phase involved keeping a daily journal of all activities engaged in for the two weeks following phase 1, during which the DV, resource allocation was measured. Results partially supported the hypothesis that means multifinality set size was positively related to resource allocation, while the hypotheses regarding association strength and the transfer of goal-performance discrepancies were generally not supported. A number of additional exploratory analyses were also conducted however, that more closely examined the roles of means-goal association strength and the transfer of goal properties in process of means resource allocation.
James Diefendorff, Dr. (Advisor)
Phillip Allen, Dr. (Committee Member)
Dennis Doverspike, Dr. (Committee Member)
Rosalie Hall, Dr. (Committee Member)
Renee Medrey-Camino, Dr. (Committee Member)
Aaron Schmidt, Dr. (Committee Member)
401 p.
Behavioral Psychology; Behaviorial Sciences; Cognitive Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Psychology
Self-Regulation; Goal Systems Theory; Goal Networks; Resource Allocation; Multiple Goals; Goal Performance Discrepancies; Goal Activation; Day Reconstruction Method; Goal Striving; Means; Cognitive Association; Goal Importance; Multifinality; Goals

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dolis, C. M. (2013). Allocation by Association: Goal Networks and the Allocation of Resources Across Multiple Demands [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1375388896

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dolis, Chad. Allocation by Association: Goal Networks and the Allocation of Resources Across Multiple Demands. 2013. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1375388896.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dolis, Chad. "Allocation by Association: Goal Networks and the Allocation of Resources Across Multiple Demands." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1375388896

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1375388896
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© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.