Disposition-situation approach to study the relationship between achievement-orientedness and helping behavior.

Abstract

With progress in society, a lot of focus is placed on achievement. A culture promoting achievement-orientedness will help one climb up the social hierarchy faster. On the other hand, achievement-orientedness leads to less interpersonal sensitivity. Is achievement-orientedness an important factor in determining helping behavior? This study sets out to show that high achievement-orientedness does impede helping behavior but only in an achievement-focused situation. Results showed that individuals who were highly achievement-oriented were more likely to help compared to individuals who were less achievement-oriented, but only in the competitive condition but not in the self-competitive condition. Suggestions for future direction are looked at as well.