Changes in personal work goals in relation to the psychosocial work environment: A two-year follow-up study

Abstract

Associations between changes in the psychosocial work environment and changes in personal work goals were investigated in a two-wave, two-year longitudinal study. Psychosocial work environment was studied within the context of the Effort–Reward Imbalance model (ERI; Siegrist, 1996). The participants consisted of 423 young Finnish managers. Their most important personal work goals were categorized into seven content categories of competence, progression, well-being, job change, job security, organization, and finance at both measurement times. There were differences, especially in changes in the career opportunities factor of reward, between participants whose goals changed during the study. First, those who became engaged in job change goals also reported a decrease in rewards between T1 and T2, whereas participants who became engaged in competence or organizational goals also reported an increase in rewards over time. Second, participants who disengaged from job change goals reported an increase in reward and a reduction in effort–reward imbalance. Finally, a reduction in rewards and an increase in ERI were accompanied by disengagement from job security goals. The study highlights the central role of psychosocial factors, and in particular the reward factor of career opportunities, in goal pursuit. These results can have implications for the occupational well-being of employees.