Goal orientation

Goal orientation, or achievement orientation, is an "individual disposition towards developing or validating one's ability in achievement settings".^[1] In general, an individual can be said to be mastery or performance oriented, based on whether one's goal is to develop one's ability or to demonstrate one's ability, respectively.^[2] A mastery orientation is also sometimes referred to as a learning orientation.

Goal orientation refers to how an individual interprets and reacts to tasks, resulting in different patterns of cognition, affect and behavior.^[3] Developed within a social-cognitive framework, the orientation goal theory proposes that students' motivation and achievement-related behaviors can be understood by considering the reasons or purposes they adopt while engaged in academic work.^[4] The focus is on how students think about themselves, their tasks, and their performance.^[5] Goal orientations have been shown to be associated with individuals' academic achievement, adjustment, and well-being.^[6][7][8]

Research has examined goal orientation as a motivation variable that is useful for recruitment, climate and culture, performance appraisal, and choice.^[9][10] It has also been used to predict sales performance, adaptive performance,^[11] goal setting, learning and adaptive behaviors in training, and leadership.^[9]