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The influence of goal orientation on gratitude at work considering prosocial motivation

Sanchez, Janice; Tsay, Chia-Jung; Lopez-Perez, Belen; (2025) The influence of goal orientation on gratitude at work considering prosocial motivation. Motivation and Emotion 10.1007/s11031-024-10109-7. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Although research has shown that gratitude has mostly beneficial consequences, less is known about its motivational antecedents. As goal orientations influence goals and behaviors, we considered how they also impact emotions. To that aim, we investigated the relation between work domain goal orientation and the experience of gratitude. Study 1 (N = 102) demonstrated that a learning goal orientation was positively correlated with gratitude but a performance goal orientation was not. Study 2 (N = 87) experimentally demonstrated that participants experienced more gratitude when learning goals rather than performance goals were valued at work. In Study 3 (N = 157), work prosocial motivation cross-sectionally mediated the impact of a learning goal orientation on gratitude. Preregistered Study 4 (N = 257) replicated Study 2 and 3’s findings through an experiment and categorical mediation. Our results suggest that goal orientation influences gratitude, and that prosocial motivation can serve an explanatory function for its relationship with gratitude at work.

Type: Article
Title: The influence of goal orientation on gratitude at work considering prosocial motivation
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s11031-024-10109-7
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-024-10109-7
Language: English
Additional information: © 2025 Springer Nature. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Gratitude, Goal orientation, Learning, Performance, Prosocial motivation
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > UCL School of Management
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204664
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