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

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 partner support may actually undermine motivation and decrease goal pursuit intentions. In this article, we report three well-powered studies (N = 850) that investigated the conditions under which romantic partners may bolster or undermine goal pursuit. In contrast with the original Fitzsimons and Finkel’s findings, the results of these studies consistently showed that perceived partner support bolsters goal pursuit intentions by increasing goal commitment. Implications for successful goal pursuit in the context of relationships are discussed.

Duke Scholars

Author Grainne Fitzsimons Fuqua School of Business