Open Access

Raven Rinas

• Faculty members largely contribute to the functioning and development of higher education, science, and society. Given their fundamental role, there is a need to ensure that they are equipped with high levels of subjective well-being—not only as a means of promoting productivity and success, but also personal satisfaction, flourishing, and fulfillment. Despite this, studies clearly indicate that faculty members struggle with aspects of their subjective well-being and face numerous professional challenges linked to stress and burnout (see Kinman & Johnson, 2019). It is thereby crucial that research efforts focus on identifying relevant predictors and outcomes of faculty subjective well-being to enhance both individual and institutional health and vitality. To this end, faculty members’ individual motivations, particularly their achievement goals, have been found to play a central role in their work-related perceptions and experiences (Daumiller, Stupnisky, & Janke, 2020). AchievementFaculty members largely contribute to the functioning and development of higher education, science, and society. Given their fundamental role, there is a need to ensure that they are equipped with high levels of subjective well-being—not only as a means of promoting productivity and success, but also personal satisfaction, flourishing, and fulfillment. Despite this, studies clearly indicate that faculty members struggle with aspects of their subjective well-being and face numerous professional challenges linked to stress and burnout (see Kinman & Johnson, 2019). It is thereby crucial that research efforts focus on identifying relevant predictors and outcomes of faculty subjective well-being to enhance both individual and institutional health and vitality. To this end, faculty members’ individual motivations, particularly their achievement goals, have been found to play a central role in their work-related perceptions and experiences (Daumiller, Stupnisky, & Janke, 2020). Achievement goals are defined as cognitive representations of end states in achievement contexts that individuals strive to approach or avoid (Hulleman et al., 2010). These goals are posited to give rise to different thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, including patterns of self-evaluation and coping (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Nicholls, 1984). Based on this, it can be expected that faculty members’ achievement goals are closely linked with their subjective well-being, making this a promising research avenue for understanding how to better support them. However, this topic has received little empirical attention, leaving several central research questions unanswered: How are faculty members’ achievement goals associated with different facets of their subjective well-being? Are these associations robust across faculty members from different contexts? What is the temporal ordering of these constructs from a longitudinal perspective? These questions form the primary focus of this dissertation and were investigated within three empirical studies. In the first study (Study I), a focus was placed on examining the associations between faculty members’ (N = 439) achievement goals and the emotional facets of their subjective well-being, namely their positive and negative discrete emotions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that mastery (learning) approach goals were positively associated with enjoyment and negatively associated with anger and boredom, while mastery (learning) avoidance goals were positively associated with anger. Performance (appearance) approach goals were positively associated with pride, whereas performance (appearance) avoidance goals were linked with anxiety and shame. Additionally, relational goals were positively associated with shame and boredom, and work avoidance goals were negatively associated with enjoyment and positively associated with shame and boredom. Building on these findings, the second study (Study II) investigated the associations between achievement goals and both emotional and cognitive facets of subjective well-being (positive and negative emotions, personal accomplishment, and life satisfaction) in a sample of 1,335 faculty members using structural equation modelling. The study also examined potential differences in associations based on the country (Germany, USA, India) and type of higher education institution (research-focused vs. teaching-focused) that faculty members worked in. The results indicated that mastery (task) approach goals were positively related to aspects of subjective well-being, while performance (appearance) approach, performance (appearance) avoidance, and work avoidance goals were negatively related. Mixed findings emerged for mastery avoidance and relational goals. These associations were not found to significantly differ across faculty from different countries or institution types. The final study (Study III) assessed the temporal ordering of faculty members’ (N = 493) achievement goals and multifaceted subjective well-being (positive and negative affect, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction), over the course of one semester (three months). Findings from latent change score modelling revealed that faculty members who had higher levels of subjective well-being at the semester start experienced subsequent increases in mastery approach and performance (appearance) approach goals, and decreases in performance (appearance) avoidance and work avoidance goals. Moreover, higher levels of mastery approach and performance approach goals at the semester start positively predicted respective increases in positive affect and job satisfaction.…