The influence of structural competitiveness on university students’ task outcomes: The mediating role of achievement goals

Abstract

Structural competitiveness has been rarely studied in previous studies. This study explored the influence of structural competitiveness on Chinese students’ task performance, task interest (i.e., intrinsic motivation) and positive and negative affect, as well as the mediation of achievement goals based on the hierarchical model of achievement motivation. 134 undergraduate students from Nanjing Normal University participated in the research. Two preliminary studies were conducted to select appropriate anagrams used as experiment tasks. Results showed that there were significant differences in performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals and intrinsic motivation between competition group and control group, indicating the positive impact of competition in collectivist cultural background. However, the mediation effects of achievement goals were not significant.