'It's Not My Fault-But Only I Can Change It": Counterfactual and Prefactual Thoughts of Managers.

Goerke, Martin; Möller, Jens; Schulz‐Hardt, Stefan; Napiersky, Uwe; Frey, Dieter

doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.2.279

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(58 reference statements)

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“…For example, individuals have been shown to use counterfactual thoughts to deny responsibility for negative outcomes (Markman & Tetlock, 2000b), make negative outcomes seem better by comparison (Markman et al, 1993), lower future expectations (Sanna et al, 2001), and suggest that external rather than internal factors prevented a better outcome for self and important ingroups (Goerke et al, 2004;McCrea, 2007;Roese & Olson, 1993).…”

Section: Counterfactual Thinking and Self-protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-handicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual thinking: Consequences for self-esteem and future motivation.

McCrea

2008

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Researchers interested in counterfactual thinking have often found that upward counterfactual thoughts lead to increased motivation to improve in the future, although at the cost of increased negative affect. The present studies suggest that because upward counterfactual thoughts indicate reasons for a poor performance, they can also serve as excuses. In this case, upward counterfactual thoughts should result in more positive self-esteem and reduced future motivation. Five studies demonstrated these effects in the context of self-handicapping. First, upward counterfactual thinking was increased in the presence of a self-handicap. Second, upward counterfactual thoughts indicating the presence of a self-handicap protected self-esteem following failure. Finally, upward counterfactual thoughts that protect self-esteem reduced preparation for a subsequent performance as well as performance itself. These findings suggest that the consequences of upward counterfactuals for affect and motivation are moderated by the goals of the individual as well as the content of the thoughts.

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Section: Counterfactual Thinking and Self-protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-handicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual thinking: Consequences for self-esteem and future motivation.

McCrea

2008

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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“…CSE also highly, positively correlates to intrinsic motivation. This may further indicate a self-serving bias (Bradley, 1978;Goerke, Moller, Schulz-Hardt, Napiersky, & Frey, 2004) where those with a strong self-concept make a favorable, internal attribution regarding what drives their workplace contribution.…”

Section: Methodological Executionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invited reaction: Investigating the influences of core self‐evaluations, job autonomy, and intrinsic motivation on in‐role job performance

Collins

2010

Human Resource Dev Quarterly

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The authors integrate social psychology and management research to examine employee behavior and its relation to human resource development. Specifically, the authors seek to explicate how personality and job context influence individual performance. The authors suggest intrinsically motivated employees are valuable assets who are able to accomplish necessary tasks without consuming considerable organizational resources (e.g., supervisory time, attention, etc.). Because the performance of intrinsically motivated employees ultimately benefits the organization, human resource professionals should understand and support antecedents that empower their most capable employees. The authors investigate two factors that may contribute to intrinsic motivation, self-concept (i.e., core self-evaluations [CSEs]), and job context (i.e., autonomy). They also discuss potential implications of their findings.There is much to like about this work, which the authors position firmly within the confines of contemporary scholarly interest. The authors consider the chosen constructs with the use of a mediated model, empirically testing it with structural equation modeling. The study' s data consist of a reasonably large sample of full-time employees at a Fortune Global 100 company, evaluating behavior within an established, organizational environment. Because this sample utilizes working individuals, the constructs of interest are examined in an environment where legitimate career factors are present.Further, the Korean sample presents an international component, contributing to the generalizability of potential findings. This complements a multitude of

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“…Research has also provided some evidence for self-serving biases in counterfactual thinking (Gilbert, Morewedge, Risen, & Wilson, 2004;Goerke et al, 2004;McCrea, 2007McCrea, , 2008Roese & Olson, 1993). For instance, Goerke et al found that managers generating upward counterfactuals regarding the weak performance of their subordinates tended to refer more frequently to factors relating to the subordinate and the organizational environment and less frequently to themselves.…”

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confidence: 94%

Effect of Motivational Goals on the Causal Realism of Counterfactual Thoughts

Kokkinaki

Sevdalis

2014

The Journal of Psychology

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Counterfactual thinking refers to mental comparisons of reality with imagined alternatives of it. The "functional view" of counterfactual thinking suggests that upward counterfactuals (which improve on reality) serve a preparative function and downward counterfactuals (which worsen reality) serve an affective function. This view presumes that people generate counterfactuals that focus on cause(s) that have actually produced the negative outcomes. The two experiments reported here demonstrate that people spontaneously manipulate the causal content of their counterfactuals, depending on their motivational goals. Specifically, it was found that when people aim to feel better about a poor decision they generate less realistic (upward) counterfactuals, experience less negative affect and tend to attribute the outcome to less controllable causes than when they aim to learn from their experience. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

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'It's Not My Fault-But Only I Can Change It": Counterfactual and Prefactual Thoughts of Managers.

Cited by 24 publications

References 50 publications

Self-handicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual thinking: Consequences for self-esteem and future motivation.

Self-handicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual thinking: Consequences for self-esteem and future motivation.

Invited reaction: Investigating the influences of core self‐evaluations, job autonomy, and intrinsic motivation on in‐role job performance

Effect of Motivational Goals on the Causal Realism of Counterfactual Thoughts

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