Self-Leadership and Goal Striving Across Cultures

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Year:
Pages:112
ISBN:0-7734-5397-0
978-0-7734-5397-5
Price:$119.95 + shipping
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This study considers the goals which people from different cultures set for themselves and the strategies they employ in order to attain these objectives. Thirty-six American undergraduates and thirty-six undergraduates from the People’s Republic of China set for themselves individual professional goals. These students then elaborated what they associated with attaining their chosen objectives. The American group tended to imagine career advancement as the outcome of their self-set goal; in contrast, the Chinese group imagined acquisition of knowledge as their main objective. Concerning the attainment of their goals, the American students did not specify which strategies they would use to attain their goals, but thought that the existence of abilities and resources, such as money, determined whether or not they would be successful; in contrast, the Asian students imagined hard work, diligence and personal effort to be necessary. This book provides crucial insights into cross-cultural differences in people’s self-guided goal striving behavior, knowledge which is important to those who support individuals across the world in their goal setting and goal attainment behavior.

Reviews

“This excellent study examines the goal setting and goal striving of students from New York and Beijing. Do they have similar or different goals? What factors determine the initiation of goal striving? What strategies do they use to attain their goals? The book begins with a most valuable and very broad review of the literature on goals. It then examines the literature on cultural differences and presents an empirical study of goal setting and striving that identifies both similarities and differences across cultures.” – Dr. Harry C. Triandis, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

“In this book, Dr. Sibylle Georgianna presents a valuable and fresh study that investigates a major issue, namely people’s goal striving behavior across cultures. The study analyzes, in two aptly chosen populations, people’s self-leadership behavior during goal striving. Dr. Georgianna’s book is based on the empirical results of a study she carried out with young adults in the United States and the People’s Republic of China.” – Professor Günter F. Müller, Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau

“This study provides a practical framework for allowing us to understand and observe the strategies used by people in both Western and Non-western societies in striving to attain their goals. I strongly recommend this book as a starting point to design and implement culturally sensitive self-leadership interventions that are evidence-based and outcome driven to foster individuals’ goal striving behaviors in today’s interconnected world.” – Dr. Jeffery D. Houghton, Associate Professor of Management, College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University

Table of Contents

Foreword by Harry C. Triandis, Ph.D.
Acknowledgements
1 Goal Setting and Goal Striving
2 The Impact of Culture on Goal Setting and Goal Striving
3 The Current Study
4 Culture’s Influence on Goal Selection
5 Career and School Aspirations across Cultures
6 Self-development across Cultures
7 Culture and the Influence of Others
8 Culture and Money
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

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