Focus on opportunities and adaptive performance: The importance of distinguishing between subjective and objective performance measures

Abstract

According to meta-analytic evidence, people who perceive more opportunities in their occupational future often report better well-being and motivation. A positive correlation with performance was also reported, but only a few performance facets were examined extensively, such as task and contextual performance. Furthermore, performance was usually assessed via self-reports in previous studies, which leads to validity concerns (e.g., overestimation of own performance). The present study (N = 258) helps close these research gaps by examining the relationship with a different performance facet and assessing performance subjectively and objectively (task scores). Specifically, the present study investigated whether focusing on occupational opportunities helps people adapt to changes (adaptive performance). While focus on opportunities was related to self-reported adaptive performance, there was no substantial evidence that focus on opportunities promotes adaptive performance (transition adaption and reacquisition adaption) on a specific task. Present findings indicate that it is important to distinguish between subjective and objective performance measures when investigating potential outcomes of focus on opportunities. Due to the limitations of subjective performance measures, such as the threat of overestimating own performance, it is recommended that future studies examining the relationship with performance facets also include objective measures. Since previous research is almost exclusively based on subjective performance measures, it is currently unclear whether focus on opportunities is of practical relevance in the performance context.