Why do people set more self-concordant goals in need satisfying domains? Testing authenticity as a mediator

•Examine why self-concordant goals are set in domains with high psychological need satisfaction (NS).•Use multilevel SEM looking at multiple goals per person.•Test if authenticity mediates between domain NS and goal self-concordance.•Domain authentic behaviour, but not authentic awareness, acts as a mediator.•An alternative model rules out the possibility that NS is influenced by authenticity.

Previous research has demonstrated that people set and pursue more self-concordant goals in domains where they experience the satisfaction of psychological needs (Milyavskaya, Nadolny, & Koestner, 2014). However, the mechanism for this has not been investigated. The present study proposes that authenticity experienced in a domain mediates the relationship between domain need satisfaction and goal self-concordance. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we investigate two components of authenticity and find that only authentic behaviour, but not authentic awareness, relates to goal self-concordance and acts as a mediator. We also test an alternative model, ruling out the possibility that need satisfaction is influenced by authenticity.