A Newcomer Socialization Perspective on the Proliferation of Unethical Conduct in Organizations: The Influences of Peer Coaching Practices and Newcomers’ Goal Orientations

Elliot et al. suggested a refinement of these constructs (Elliot and McGregor 2001; Elliot and Harackiewicz 1996; Vandewalle 1997): a mastery-approach goal focuses on developing knowledge and skills; a mastery-avoidance goal focuses on preventing developmental stagnation or skill loss; a performance-approach goal focuses on attaining favorable judgments of competence; and a performance-avoidance goal focuses on preventing perceptions of failure and incompetence. Although it is useful to distinguish the approach and avoidance forms of goal orientations among learners in self-controlled educational settings, researchers found that employees’ avoidance tendencies in the work setting typically are confounded by managerial supervision and workplace rules (VandeWalle et al. 2001). This is further complicated by the criticism that existing measures seem to capture negative affectivity rather than the theoretical construct of avoidance goals (Elliot and Murayama 2008). Indeed, Janssen and van Yperen (2004) suggested that unless there is a clear theory guiding the effects of mastery and performance avoidance orientations, researchers should focus on the approach facets. Following their recommendation, we focus only on approach goals and do not develop formal hypotheses regarding mastery or performance avoidance goals. We restrict the use of the terms “mastery goals” and “performance goals” to the approach components of these goal orientations in this study.

For more information, see University of California Berkeley Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects. (2016). Research involving the secondary use of existing data. Retrieved from https://​cphs.​berkeley.​edu/​secondarydata.​pdf.

Additional analysis suggests that if no control variables are included, Hypothesis 4 is supported at a 90% CI but not at a 95% CI (indirect effect = 0.049, bias-corrected bootstrap 95% CI [− 0.006, 0.173], 90% CI [0.001, 0.150]).