Citation
van Hooft, E., & Noordzij, G. (2009). The effects of goal orientation on job search and reemployment: A field experiment among unemployed job seekers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6), 1581-1590.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the effects of goal orientation—the way individuals frame their objectives in a given situation—on job search and reemployment among unemployed job seekers.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which participants were assigned to one of three workshops: a learning goal-oriented (LGO) workshop, a performance goal-oriented (PGO) workshop, and a control workshop. The authors compared the job-search and reemployment outcomes of participants in the LGO or PGO workshops to the outcomes of those in the control workshop.
- The study found that participants in the LGO workshop were 22 percentage points more likely to be reemployed eight weeks after the workshop than were participants in the control workshop, a statistically significant difference.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high for the comparison of PGO versus control participants’ reemployment statuses because these outcomes derived from a well-conducted RCT with low attrition. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to workshop type and not to other factors. However, the quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low for the comparison of LGO and control participants’ job-search behaviors and reemployment statuses and the comparison of PGO and control participants’ job-search behaviors because these outcomes derived from an RCT with high attrition that did not control adequately for potential differences in the analytic samples. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to workshop type; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
The Workshops Studied
Features of the Intervention
Three types of workshops were included in the study. All lasted two to three hours and were held in groups of about five people.
- The learning goal-oriented (LGO) workshop aimed for participants to use the workshop as an aid to improve their job seeking skills and master something new. Participants were asked to set learning goals and were given information and tools (an exercise book) to help them. Participants evaluated their competence according to whether they had mastered the task or developed their skills.
- The performance goal-oriented (PGO) workshop aimed for participants to obtain the best possible results in their job search. Participants were asked to set performance goals and were given instruction and tools to help them, but were also encouraged to compete with one another and reward themselves when performing well. Participants evaluated their competence according to how they performed compared to others.
- The control workshop had a similar structure to the LGO and PGO workshops but focused on exploring how participants' personalities related to their job search. At the workshop, participants completed a personality questionnaire. They then discussed the results of the questionnaire and how their personalities may be related to their job search.
Features of the Study
The study took place at a reemployment counseling agency in the Netherlands. The study sample included 109 unemployed job seekers registered with the agency. The sample was 52.3 percent female with an average age of 46. Sample members had relatively little education: 56.0 percent had completed primary school or lower vocational training, 36.7 percent had graduated from high school, and 7.3 percent had completed college. Participants were randomly assigned to an LGO workshop, a PGO workshop, or a control workshop.
Participants completed a baseline questionnaire just before the workshop began and a similar questionnaire just after it ended. Participants also completed telephone interviews two and eight weeks after the workshop. The authors used regression analyses to compare the job-search and reemployment outcomes of participants in the LGO and PGO workshops with those in the control workshop, controlling for measures of job-search behavior and goal orientation collected in the pre-workshop survey.
Findings
- The study found that participants in the LGO workshop were 22 percentage points more likely to be reemployed eight weeks after the workshop than were participants in the control workshop, a statistically significant difference.
- Immediately following the workshops, participants in the LGO workshop demonstrated higher job-search intentions than did participants in the control workshop, a statistically significant difference. Participants in the LGO workshop also demonstrated significantly higher job-search intentions than those in the PGO workshop.
- Two weeks following the workshops, participants in the LGO workshop exhibited greater job-search behaviors than did participants in the control workshop, a statistically significant difference.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors implemented an RCT, so outcomes that were measured through follow-up questionnaires administered immediately after the workshop, which all sample members completed, received a high causal evidence rating. However, not all sample members responded to the two- and eight-week follow-up interviews. In particular, attrition was high for the comparisons of LGO versus control and PGO versus control on job-search behavior outcomes and LGO versus control on reemployment outcomes. RCTs with high attrition can receive a moderate causal evidence rating if the authors either demonstrated that the analytic samples were equivalent before the intervention began or included adequate controls in the empirical model. In this case, the authors did not demonstrate equivalence on the analytic sample and did not control for age or a pre-intervention measure of employment, as CLEAR requires. As a result, the comparisons received a low causal evidence rating.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high for all job-search intention comparisons and the comparison of PGO versus control participants’ reemployment statuses because these outcomes derived from a well-conducted RCT with low attrition. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to workshop type and not to other factors. However, the quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low for the comparison of LGO and control participants’ job-search behaviors and reemployment statuses and the comparison of PGO and control participants’ job-search behaviors because these outcomes derived from an RCT with high attrition that did not control adequately for potential differences in the analytic samples. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to workshop type; other factors are likely to have contributed.