A Time for Change: Motivational Dynamics in Three Employment Contexts

Integrating regulatory focus theory with a dynamic systems perspective, we examined changes in weekly goal-pursuit strategies and goal progress in the preceding and subsequent weeks. As a relevant context and boundary condition for strategy use and change, we focused on three employment arrangements (permanently employed, permanent work with side hustles, gig work). We used two-level structural-equation modeling based on multi-week time snippets to test the relationship between regulatory strategies and goal progress. We then extended those analyses to mixture and multigroup models to investigate the recursive interplay of goal progress and strategy changes and finally tested qualitative differences due to differences in employment arrangement. Our analyses showed that voluntary gig workers pursued eager approach strategies to a higher degree and reported higher levels of goal progress than permanent employees. Moreover, we observed changes in strategy type and intensity from week to week. These changes were not driven by prior satisfaction with goal progress, however, and neither did we find the association between strategy use and goal progress established by between-person research. Our study makes both theoretical and methodological contributions to advancing knowledge about the dynamic interplay between personality, motivational processes, and employment as a contextual factor.