The Beneficial Role of Personal Goal Pursuit in Preventing Self-Alienation Among Entitled Employees

Description

Objective
The present study tests the hypothesis that the emphasis entitled individuals place on personal goal pursuit, rooted in a strong personal identity, contributes to a diminished fit between their self-concept and the work environment. Conceptualizing state authenticity as fit to environment, we hypothesize that a lack of opportunities to express this central aspect of their entitled identity manifests in feelings of self-alienation. Therefore, we investigate the moderating role of trait entitlement in the relationship between personal goal pursuit and self-alienation. Additionally, we controlled the results for the three sources of need satisfaction according to Self-Determination theory (SDT), as well as Dark Triad Narcissism.
Method
A total of 187 adolescent employed individuals (mean age = 38,81, SD = 10,15; 43,9% female) completed an initial survey assessing sociodemographics, trait entitlement (PES) and trait narcissism. Three days later, they were invited to participate in a diary study with seven measurement occasions. We used a random slope multilevel model to test our hypothesis.
Results
Results of the cross-level moderation analysis indicate that the role of personal goal pursuit in reducing feelings of self-alienation is significantly more pronounced in individuals with high levels of entitlement compared to those with low levels. This effect persists beyond the influence of SDT needs.
Conclusions
By examining the role of personal goal pursuit in highly entitled individuals, it becomes clear that their behaviour is rooted in a strong personal identity. This highlights the role of identity construction for understanding psychological entitlement and its negative outcomes in the workplace, such as elevated turnover rates.

Period	23 May 2025
Event title	European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology Congress: Transforming Working Environments: Challenges & Opportunities
Event type	Conference
Location	Prag, Czech RepublicShow on map