Floreren door te leren: De relatie tussen doeloriëntatie en welbevinden

Employees flourish if they are not only happy and satisfied with their working life, but also function psychologically and socially optimally at work. This research examines the relationship between people's goal orientation and the extent to which they flourish. Goal orientation refers to the goals someone typically sets in achievement situations. It was expected, among other things, that focusing on developing one’s competences – a mastery-approach goal orientation-is positively associated with flourishing. Indeed, the results of a representative sample of Dutch adult working population (n = 208) and non-working people (n = 97) showed that the chance of flourishing was highest in persons with a high mastery-approach goal orientation who at the same time were not focused on avoiding showing incompetence (i.e. low performance-avoidance goal orientation). Employed and non-employed persons were compared; the association between goal orientation and well-being did not significantly differ between the two groups. In general, the relationship between one’s goal orientation and flourishing appears to be substantial, and a mastery-approach goal orientation not only contributes to a happier and more satisfied life, but also more broadly to one’s well-being (flourishing). The implications for future research and for practice are also discussed.