(Un)Locking self-motivation: Action versus state orientation moderates the effect of demanding conditions on self-regulatory performance

•Self-regulatory performance of action and state orientation depends on the intensity of demands.•Both personality types have challenging and desirable sides depending on the context.•Action-oriented individuals do not unlock their self-motivation potential unless there is some kind of demand.•State-oriented individuals do not show a locking of self-motivation when demands are still low.•Our research highlights the importance of considering the dynamic interaction of personality and situation. The present research examined whether individual differences in self-regulatory ability (action-state orientation) moderate the effect of demands on self-regulatory performance. Whereas state-oriented individuals consistently show a locking effect (impaired self-regulatory performance under demands), it is empirically less clear whether action-oriented individuals need at least some demands to unlock their self-motivation potential. We examined the impact of demanding conditions (Study 1: low positive affect; Studies 2 and 3: uncompleted intention) on action-state orientation in established self-regulatory tasks. Across all studies, action-state orientation moderated the effect of demands on self-regulatory performance. Specifically, action-oriented participants showed better self-regulatory performance under moderate compared to low demands. This shows that action-oriented individuals do not unlock their self-motivation potential unless there is some kind of demand.