Goal Orientation, Self-Regulation Strategies, and Job Satisfaction: Employed People With Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Data were gathered from 95 people with intellectual disabilities in order to examine the relationship between goal orientation, self-regulation strategies in employment, and job satisfaction. As a result of factor analysis, “mastery-approach goal orientation” and “performance-approach goal orientation” were identified as goal orientation factors, whereas “extrinsic satisfaction” and “intrinsic satisfaction” were job satisfaction factors. A path analysis showed the following: (a) “Flexible regulation” of meta-cognitive strategies specified behavior and environmental management strategies. (b) Regarding the relationship between goal orientation and self-regulation strategies in employment, mastery-approach goal orientation was correlated positively with “goal setting,” “flexible regulation,” and “task strategy,” and indirectly predicted behavior and environmental management strategies by mediating “flexible regulation.” (c) “Help seeking” and “task strategy” were correlated positively with job satisfaction. Moreover, except for the positive correlations with job satisfaction, it was shown that goal orientation may indirectly affect job satisfaction by these strategies. It was suggested that support for self-regulation strategies in employment may be important for improving the job satisfaction of people with intellectual disabilities.