Goal Motives, Approach/Avoidance Appraisals, Psychological Needs, and Well-Being: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The self-concordance model (SCM) examines the entire sequence from goal inception to attainment and presents a framework for how outcomes vary based on the quality of motivation for goal striving. The first aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to synthesize a rich literature on the topic spanning over 25 years and to present a cohesive picture of the associations among the SCM constructs (Model 1). The second goal was to test an alternative formulation of the model in which we (a) decomposed the self-concordance index into autonomous and controlled goal motives, and (b) included antecedents, avoidance appraisals, psychological need frustration, and ill-being (Model 2). Guided by the PRISMA criteria, we searched six electronic databases and employed multilevel meta-analytic structural equation modeling to analyze data from 77 studies, yielding 978 effect sizes (N = 10,289 for Model 1; N = 39,470 for Model 2). For Model 1, we obtained very large associations (rs > .40) among the model constructs. In Model 2, we found theoretically expected relations of at least medium effect size among all model constructs. The core assertion of the SCM, that pursuing self-concordant goals is associated with increased goal effort and attainment, psychological need satisfaction, and well-being, was supported. Furthermore, the alternative model added value by showing that the original SCM model can be broadened to integrate additional factors.