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Grainne Fitzsimons

Grainne Fitzsimons

George C. Lamb, Jr. University Distinguished Professor
Fuqua School of Business

Selected Publications

Tying the value of goals to social class.

Journal Article Journal of personality and social psychology · October 2023 Although everyone strives toward valued goals, we suggest that not everyone will be perceived as doing so equally. In this research, we examine the tendency to use social class as a cue to understand the importance of others' goals. Six studies find eviden ... Full text Cite

Interpersonal consequences of conveying goal ambition

Journal Article Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · September 1, 2022 Setting ambitious goals is a proven strategy for improving performance, but we suggest it may have interpersonal costs. We predict that relative to those with moderately ambitious goals, those with highly ambitious goals (and those with unambitious goals) ... Full text Cite

Congratulations, So Happy for You! Promotion Motivation Predicts Social Support for Positive Events

Journal Article Motivation Science · August 4, 2022 People benefit when others react enthusiastically to their good news, a process known as capitalization. However, little is known regarding individual differences that predict who responds enthusiastically, and how capitalization might benefit responders. ... Full text Cite

Agency and Assistance in Transactive Goal Systems

Journal Article Psychological Inquiry · January 1, 2022 Full text Cite

The Effects of Extra-Team Goal Disclosure on Team Performance, Viability, and Satisfaction

Journal Article Frontiers in Psychology · January 12, 2021 In addition to the team’s shared goals, team members also often hold goals unrelated to the team. Research about such goals, which we call “extra-team goals” (ETGs), has been limited. In the current research, we examine how awareness of a team member’s ETG ... Full text Cite

She’ll take two: Relationship interdependence and negative emotion in everyday choice for others

Journal Article Journal of the Association for Consumer Research · July 1, 2020 Individuals frequently make choices for others. However, little work has examined the emotional quality of doing so or explored how relationship factors affect such choices. In three experiments and one longitudinal study, we explore how relationship inter ... Full text Cite

Self-regulatory consequences of observing others making goal progress: A longitudinal field study in weight loss groups.

Journal Article British journal of health psychology · November 2019 ObjectiveWhat happens when people see others making progress toward a goal that they also hold? Is it motivating or could it undermine goal pursuit because people feel that they have made progress themselves (i.e., they experience vicarious goal s ... Full text Cite

For Better or for Worse? Outsourcing Self-Regulation and Goal Pursuit

Journal Article Social Psychological and Personality Science · March 1, 2019 In recent years, there has been increasing interest in how close relationships can impact personal goal pursuit. Extensive research on social support has shown that support often facilitates goal pursuit. However, Fitzsimons and Finkel found that perceived ... Full text Cite

Lean in messages increase attributions of women's responsibility for gender inequality.

Journal Article Journal of personality and social psychology · December 2018 Although women's underrepresentation in senior-level positions in the workplace has multiple causes, women's self-improvement or "empowerment" at work has recently attracted cultural attention as a solution. For example, the bestselling book Lean In ... Full text Cite

Transactive-Goal-Dynamics Theory: A Discipline-Wide Perspective

Journal Article Current Directions in Psychological Science · October 1, 2018 Theories of goal pursuit typically conceptualize goal pursuers as isolated actors; in contrast, empirical research from diverse areas of psychology has demonstrated that goal setting, pursuit, and achievement are deeply embedded within social relationships ... Full text Cite

Coke vs. Pepsi: Brand compatibility, relationship power, and life satisfaction

Journal Article Journal of Consumer Research · February 1, 2018 Individuals often evaluate, purchase, and consume brands in the presence of others, including close others. Yet relatively little is known about the role brand preferences play in relationships. In the present research, the authors explore how the novel co ... Full text Cite

Erratum: Coke vs. Pepsi: Brand compatibility, relationship power, and life satisfaction [Journal of Consumer Research, 44, 5, (2018) (991-1014)] DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucx079

Journal Article Journal of Consumer Research · February 1, 2018 In the article "Coke vs. Pepsi: Brand Compatibility, Relationship Power, and Life Satisfaction," by Danielle J. Brick, Gráinne M. Fitzsimons, Tanya L. Chartrand, and Gavan J. Fitzsimons, doi: 10.1093/jcr/ucx079, the findings for studies 4 and 6 were incorr ... Full text Cite

The energizing nature of work engagement: Toward a new need-based theory of work motivation

Journal Article Research in Organizational Behavior · January 1, 2017 We present theory suggesting that experiences at work that meet employees’ expectations of need fulfillment drive work engagement. Employees have needs (e.g., a desire to be authentic) and they also have expectations for how their job or their organization ... Full text Cite

How self-control promotes health through relationships

Chapter · January 1, 2017 Self-efficacy and self-control shape the kinds of social networks in which people find themselves pursuing their health goals. This chapter examines two interrelated processes, reviewing research on each and suggesting areas for further examination. First, ... Full text Cite

Personal goal pursuit as an antecedent to social network structure

Journal Article Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · November 1, 2016 Three studies using diverse methods examine the effects of goals on instrumental mindsets and social network activation. We hypothesize that individual advancement and interpersonal affiliation goals evoke distinct patterns of interpersonal perception and ... Full text Cite

Power and the pursuit of a partner's goals.

Journal Article Journal of personality and social psychology · June 2016 We investigated how power dynamics in close relationships influence the tendency to devote resources to the pursuit of goals valued by relationship partners, hypothesizing that low (vs. high) power in relationships would lead individuals to center their in ... Full text Cite

Transactive Goal Dynamics Theory: A relational goals perspective on work teams and leadership

Journal Article Research in Organizational Behavior · January 1, 2016 Transactive Goal Dynamics (TGD) Theory is a multi-level, relational theory of goal pursuit that can be used to understand behavior within organizational teams. The theory describes the nature of goal-related interdependence (called transactive density) wit ... Full text Cite

Transactive goal dynamics.

Journal Article Psychological review · October 2015 Transactive goal dynamics (TGD) theory conceptualizes 2 or more interdependent people as 1 single self-regulating system. Six tenets describe the nature of goal interdependence, predict its emergence, predict when it will lead to positive goal outcomes dur ... Full text Cite

Close relationships and self-regulation: How relationship satisfaction facilitates momentary goal pursuit.

Journal Article Journal of personality and social psychology · September 2015 In the new millennium, scholars have built a robust intersection between close-relationships research and self-regulation research. However, virtually no work has investigated how the most basic and broad indicator of relationship quality, relationship sat ... Full text Cite

The burden of responsibility: Interpersonal costs of high self-control.

Journal Article Journal of personality and social psychology · May 2015 The psychological literature on self-control has illustrated the many benefits experienced by people with high self-control, who are more successful both personally and interpersonally. In the current research, we explore the possibility that having high s ... Full text Cite

Goal interdependence

Journal Article Current Opinion in Psychology · February 1, 2015 With friends, family members, romantic partners, and coworkers, people form interdependent units, shaping each other's everyday experiences. According to the Transactive Goal Dynamics model, goal pursuit occurs within these units, not apart from them. As a ... Full text Cite

The Manhattan effect: when relationship commitment fails to promote support for partners' interests.

Journal Article Journal of personality and social psychology · April 2014 Research on close relationships has frequently contrasted one's own interests with the interests of the partner or the relationship and has tended to view the partner's and the relationship's interests as inherently aligned. The present article demonstrate ... Full text Cite

Contextualizing Marriage as a Means and a Goal

Journal Article Psychological Inquiry · January 1, 2014 Full text Cite

Motivated misperception: Self-regulatory resources affect goal appraisals

Journal Article Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · January 1, 2014 Three studies examine how self-regulatory resources affect goal appraisals, finding support for the hypothesis that when low in self-regulatory resources, individuals endorse statements that rationalize either inaction or less effortful goal pursuit. Study ... Full text Cite

Automaticity in close relationships

Chapter · January 1, 2013 Defining Close Relationships The formation and maintenance of close relationships are likely manifestations of the fundamental human need for belonging and connection (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; see also Andersen, Reznik, & Chen, 1997). We define close rela ... Full text Cite

Goal Competition, Conflict, Coordination, and Completion: How Intergoal Dynamics Affect Self-Regulation

Chapter · January 1, 2012 On any given day, people have to negotiate the regulatory demands of mul-tiple goals. Should they wake up early and eat a leisurely breakfast or sleep in and be more rested for the day? Do they stop to put gas in their car before work or attempt to stay ah ... Full text Cite

Inter-Goal Dynamics

Chapter · 2011 Cite

Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated Behavior: How Apple Makes You "Think Different"

Journal Article Journal of Consumer Research · March 2008 This article first examines whether brand exposure elicits automatic behavioral effects as does exposure to social primes. Results support the translation of these effects: participants primed with Apple logos behave more creatively than IBM primed and ... Cite

Dogs on the Street, Pumas on Your Feet: How Cues in the Environment Influence Product Evaluation and Choice

Journal Article Journal of Marketing Research · February 1, 2008 Little empirical research has examined the implicit effects of environmental cues on consumer behavior. Across six studies using a combination of field and laboratory methods, the authors find that products are more accessible, evaluated more favorably, an ... Full text Cite

License to Sin: The Liberating Role of Reporting Expectations

Journal Article Journal of Consumer Research · April 2007 This research examines the impact of asking intention questions about "vice behaviors," or behaviors about which respondents simultaneously hold both negative explicit and positive implicit attitudes. Asking questions about the likelihood of engaging in ... Cite

The self, online

Chapter · 2002 Cite