Motivational orientations of college band students: A cross-cultural examination of a collective 2 x 2 achievement goal model

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the cross-cultural validity of a collective achievement goal model using a sample of non-music-major college band students from the US and Singapore. The study was situated within a theoretical framework that posited individual and collective achievement goal orientations of mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance. These constructs were also examined in relation to three adaptive learning outcomes: flow, grit, and commitment to band. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that whether considering the US, the Singapore, or the entire sample, the collective 2 × 2 achievement goal framework yielded a superior fit to the data when compared with four competing dichotomous and trichotomous models. Model invariance testing found that although the collective 2 × 2 achievement goal model appears to fit fairly well to the data from both groups of participants, cross-cultural model invariance can only be claimed conditionally. Hierarchical regression indicated that independent of any variation already explained by achievement goal sub-scales from the individual perspective, scales from the collective perspective explained a small but significant increase in variance for flow.