Beyond Goal Commitment: How Expectancy Shapes Means Evaluation

This article examines how expectancy of goal achievement influences the perceived instrumentality of means to a focal goal, above and beyond the influence of goal commitment. Based on goal-systems theory (Kruglanski et al., 2002, 2013), the present research found that expectancy of goal achievement positively predicts the perceived instrumentality of multifinal means, which compound value by fulfilling several goals simultaneously, and negatively predicts perceived instrumentality of counterfinal means, which afford greater expectancy of attaining a given goal, but are detrimental to alternative goals. Study 1 found correlational and Study 2 experimental evidence of this phenomenon. Study 3 evinced that expectancy of goal achievement was associated with the number of multifinal and counterfinal means generated for goal pursuit. Study 4 found that expectancy predicted whether people select to engage in multifinal (vs. counterfinal) means. Lastly, Study 5 demonstrated that concern for desirability versus feasibility is the mediating process whereby expectancy influences perceived means instrumentality.