Are All Challenges Equal? Goal Orientations and Their Relationship With Private and Public Challenging Job Experiences

This study seeks to advance theory on the motivational underpinnings of striving for challenge. We propose and empirically demonstrate that challenging job experiences can be meaningfully subdivided into private challenging job experiences (private challenges) and public challenging job experiences (public challenges). Drawing on achievement goal theory, in a two-wave field study among 226 employees (Study 1) and a multi-source field study among 326 employees (Study 2), we found initial evidence regarding differential effects of employees’ mastery-approach goals and performance-approach goals in relation to private challenges and public challenges. Furthermore, Study 2 showed a negative relationship between performance-approach goals and supervisor-rated in-role job performance when public challenges were low. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.