Vicissitudes of goal commitment: Satisfaction, investments, and alternatives

Constructs typically used to understand commitment between individuals were used to elucidate individual differences in goal commitment. In Study 1, 299 college students completed assessments of goal satisfaction, investments, alternatives and commitment regarding an academic goal. Structural equation modeling demonstrated confirmatory evidence for satisfaction’s, investments’, and alternatives’ collective impact on people’s goal commitment. In Study 2, the model components were manipulated by having 236 college students considered the goal to learn a new language and read information suggesting they were high or low in satisfaction, investments, and alternatives. Results demonstrated all three factors had a causal impact on people’s level of goal commitment. Both studies found an individual’s level of goal commitment was strongest when satisfaction and investments were high and the impact of alternatives was low.

► Investigated individual differences in goal commitment.
► Commitment was a function of satisfaction, investment & alternatives.
► Sat, Inv & Alt each exerted an independent influence on goal commitment.
► People’s goal commitment highest when sat & inv high, and alt goals low.
► Importance of Sat, Inv & Alt in why some are more committed to goals than others.