Final Report Summary - ATTMAIN (Comparing the properties and the consequences of attainment versus maintenance goals)
The research objective of the proposed project is to expand, refine and test the theoretical framework developed by the fellow during his doctoral studies for systematic comparisons between attainment and maintenance goals. This objective involves two key components: First, identify and empirically establish differences in the properties of the two goal types. Second, to stimulate further research in the field.
The fellow now has three papers in the review process of leading academic journals in the fields of marketing and organizational behavior. The first of the aforementioned papers is a continuation of his doctoral dissertation. The latter demonstrated that individuals perceive maintenance goals to be relatively harder than modest attainment goals, although objectively the opposite is true. This paper demonstrates that on top of abstract perceptions, this effect is also observed in actual consequential consumer choices. Specifically, people are more likely to pursue a “modest attainment” course of action, rather than a “maintenance” course of action, because the former is perceived to be easier than the latter when judged in isolation.
On top of this, the author has developed with his colleagues a whole new paper that expands his research focus on maintenance versus attainment goals. This paper demonstrates in a series of seven experimental and field studies that consumers with an independent (versus an interdependent) self-construal, are more motivated to pursue attainment (versus maintenance) goals. Importantly, although these findings would be attributed to regulatory effects by the state of the art literature, the paper argues and shows a whole different process. Specifically, independent (versus an interdependent) self-construal are usually active when pursuing attainment (versus maintenance goals). As such, these self-construals have stronger cognitive associations with knowledge relevant for succeeding in the respective goal type. Thus, activation of an independent (versus an interdependent) self-construal activates this relevant knowledge too, making attainment (versus maintenance) goals to look more achievable, and thus more motivating. Given that both consumers and organizations use both types of goals in several domains (e.g. saving and spending, weight management, organizational objectives etc.), this research has important implications for the society, by helping decide what type of goal should be pursued under specific circumstances. For instance if we take the example of a bank that wishes to encourage its customers savings rates, this research proposes that
• In the case of a healthy economy, and/or a society built on interdependent values, and/or a bank account with a more “interdependent” purpose (e.g. family account), a maintenance savings goal would be more effective.
• In the case of an unhealthy economy, and/or a society built on independent values, and/or a bank account with a more “independent” purpose (e.g. personal account), a modest attainment savings goal would be more effective.
The third paper, developed with colleagues from IE Business School-IE University, lies in a new research area for the fellow, that of satisfaction. Specifically, it shows that when individuals are evaluated relatively (e.g. curve-based rankings), then a lower (versus a higher) absolute score (e.g. an absolute grade) may result to higher satisfaction, as long as relative performance is constant. For example, an employee who has an absolute evaluation of 6/10, being in the top 30% of the ranking in his company, may be more satisfied with his/her performance than one with an absolute evaluation of 8/10, also being in the top 30%. This counterintuitive effect occurs when the social comparison orientation of the individual is high. This research can has important implications for all organizations that use relative evaluation systems (e.g. big companies, Universities, etc.) as it provides insights as to how increase the satisfaction of the individuals being evaluated. For instance, the research shows that satisfaction of employees who work in a competitive environment would lower (versus higher) when evaluation feedback given to employees is higher (lower).
Finally, in an advanced working paper (4 field and lab studies completed), the author further pushes the boundaries of his secondary research stream, visual perception. An important theoretical contribution of this paper is that it is one of the first to demonstrate that sensory (in this case, visual) inputs may have semantic associations. Specifically, this paper demonstrates that the visual property of “asymmetry” is semantically associated with the concept of “excitement”. As a result, because of higher processing fluency, brands that have exciting (vs., for instance, sincere or sophisticated personalities) are better liked when they have an asymmetric (vs. a symmetric) logo. From a theoretical perspective, this work is also important because it is one of the first pieces of work to demonstrate negative effects of symmetric visual patterns. The results of this research are also very important from a managerial perspective. Specifically, the research shows that a congruency between brand personality (exciting) and logo (asymmetric) has important effects that extent to actual brand equity, and brand financial value. As such, this research provides brand managers with guidelines that can boost the performance of their brand and company.
The fellow now has three papers in the review process of leading academic journals in the fields of marketing and organizational behavior. The first of the aforementioned papers is a continuation of his doctoral dissertation. The latter demonstrated that individuals perceive maintenance goals to be relatively harder than modest attainment goals, although objectively the opposite is true. This paper demonstrates that on top of abstract perceptions, this effect is also observed in actual consequential consumer choices. Specifically, people are more likely to pursue a “modest attainment” course of action, rather than a “maintenance” course of action, because the former is perceived to be easier than the latter when judged in isolation.
On top of this, the author has developed with his colleagues a whole new paper that expands his research focus on maintenance versus attainment goals. This paper demonstrates in a series of seven experimental and field studies that consumers with an independent (versus an interdependent) self-construal, are more motivated to pursue attainment (versus maintenance) goals. Importantly, although these findings would be attributed to regulatory effects by the state of the art literature, the paper argues and shows a whole different process. Specifically, independent (versus an interdependent) self-construal are usually active when pursuing attainment (versus maintenance goals). As such, these self-construals have stronger cognitive associations with knowledge relevant for succeeding in the respective goal type. Thus, activation of an independent (versus an interdependent) self-construal activates this relevant knowledge too, making attainment (versus maintenance) goals to look more achievable, and thus more motivating. Given that both consumers and organizations use both types of goals in several domains (e.g. saving and spending, weight management, organizational objectives etc.), this research has important implications for the society, by helping decide what type of goal should be pursued under specific circumstances. For instance if we take the example of a bank that wishes to encourage its customers savings rates, this research proposes that
• In the case of a healthy economy, and/or a society built on interdependent values, and/or a bank account with a more “interdependent” purpose (e.g. family account), a maintenance savings goal would be more effective.
• In the case of an unhealthy economy, and/or a society built on independent values, and/or a bank account with a more “independent” purpose (e.g. personal account), a modest attainment savings goal would be more effective.
The third paper, developed with colleagues from IE Business School-IE University, lies in a new research area for the fellow, that of satisfaction. Specifically, it shows that when individuals are evaluated relatively (e.g. curve-based rankings), then a lower (versus a higher) absolute score (e.g. an absolute grade) may result to higher satisfaction, as long as relative performance is constant. For example, an employee who has an absolute evaluation of 6/10, being in the top 30% of the ranking in his company, may be more satisfied with his/her performance than one with an absolute evaluation of 8/10, also being in the top 30%. This counterintuitive effect occurs when the social comparison orientation of the individual is high. This research can has important implications for all organizations that use relative evaluation systems (e.g. big companies, Universities, etc.) as it provides insights as to how increase the satisfaction of the individuals being evaluated. For instance, the research shows that satisfaction of employees who work in a competitive environment would lower (versus higher) when evaluation feedback given to employees is higher (lower).
Finally, in an advanced working paper (4 field and lab studies completed), the author further pushes the boundaries of his secondary research stream, visual perception. An important theoretical contribution of this paper is that it is one of the first to demonstrate that sensory (in this case, visual) inputs may have semantic associations. Specifically, this paper demonstrates that the visual property of “asymmetry” is semantically associated with the concept of “excitement”. As a result, because of higher processing fluency, brands that have exciting (vs., for instance, sincere or sophisticated personalities) are better liked when they have an asymmetric (vs. a symmetric) logo. From a theoretical perspective, this work is also important because it is one of the first pieces of work to demonstrate negative effects of symmetric visual patterns. The results of this research are also very important from a managerial perspective. Specifically, the research shows that a congruency between brand personality (exciting) and logo (asymmetric) has important effects that extent to actual brand equity, and brand financial value. As such, this research provides brand managers with guidelines that can boost the performance of their brand and company.