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Abstract
Implicit theories, also known as mindsets, are beliefs about the fixedness or plasticity of personal attributes (e.g., intellectual ability and personality) that can have profound self-regulatory and interpersonal implications. The mindsets literature initially focused on studies of how students’ mindsets influence their learning, performance, and social judgments. Over the last decade, research on mindsets has emerged in organisational realms such as performance appraisals, procedural justice, and job performance. I aim to contribute to this literature by first theorising about the role of mindsets in employees’ work engagement. An underlying assumption of this theoretical model—and the mindsets literature more broadly—is that individuals simultaneously hold different mindsets about their various abilities.
This doctoral thesis then provides what I believe is a preliminary empirical test of this assumption. In the context of a looming job loss, I conducted a mixed methods investigation into whether job seekers hold different mindsets regarding their networking, vacancy search, interviewing, and negotiating abilities. The differentiated mindsets I observed have implications for understanding job seekers’ engagement in various job search initiatives, as well as for tailoring more targeted job search interventions.
This thesis finally examines whether mindsets about other people’s abilities differ at the within-person level. In an initial experiment, I investigated whether individuals simultaneously hold different mindsets about the capacity for some employee groups (e.g., recent graduates) to develop their abilities more than others (e.g., older workers). To explore if mindsets about older employees’ ability limit the developmental opportunities they are afforded, I conducted a second experiment to investigate the impact of a targeted growth mindset intervention on managers’ mindset about older employees and their willingness to invest in their development. I discuss the theoretical, research, and practical implications of the finding that people can indeed hold differentiated mindsets about others’ abilities.