| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between goal orientations and motivational climates on one hand, and burnout on the other hand. The former two can be seen as what constitutes the achievement goal theory (AGT), and the interplay between these aspects will be analyzed as possible antecedents to burnout. Hypotheses are developed, and it will be proposed that the perceived motivational climate moderates the relationship between employees’ goal orientation and the occurrence of burnout. A cross-sectional survey among 8282 technologists and engineers in different organizations in Norway show that the relationship between goal orientations and burnout is indeed moderated by the perceived motivational climate. Both mastery and performance climates are supported as moderators, particularly revealing that a performance climate has a negative influence on burnout, while mastery climate has a positive influence. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed. The theoretical contribution of this study is that it extends previous research on both AGT and burnout, in that it considers the interplay between the person and the situation, and that it focuses on employee ill-being, rather than productivity, which has typically been the focus area in the past. Keywords: goal orientation; motivational climate; burnout | no_NO |
