Enjoying influence on others: Congruently high implicit and explicit power motives are related to teachers’ well-being

The present study examined the associations of implicit and explicit power motives with the well-being of teachers. Teachers (N = 170) participated in an online assessment, which included measures for implicit motives (assessed by the operant motive test), explicit motives, and well-being. We expected congruently high power motives to be linked with the highest levels of well-being. We tested this assumption using polynomial regressions with response surface analysis. Results were consistent with our hypothesis. Additionally, there was an effect of directional motive incongruence (a combination of a low implicit and a high explicit power motive was associated with higher well-being than a high implicit/low explicit combination), which did not hold when controlling for emotional stability. Results for achievement were comparable, but weaker, and there was no effect for motive incongruence. No significant associations were found for motive (in)congruence in the affiliation domain. Our findings underline the importance of the power motive in understanding individual differences in teachers’ well-being. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9516-8 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-115581 Accepted Version Originally published at: Wagner, Lisa; Baumann, Nicola; Hank, Petra (2016). Enjoying influence on others: Congruently high implicit and explicit power motives are related to teachers’ well-being. Motivation Emotion, 40(1):69-81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9516-8 Running head: POWER MOTIVES AND TEACHERS’ WELL-BEING 1 This manuscript was published as: Wagner, L., Baumann, N., & Hank, P. (2015). Enjoying influence on others: Congruently high implicit and explicit power motives are related to teachers’ well-being. Motivation and Emotion. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s11031-015-9516-8 Enjoying Influence on Others: Congruently High Implicit and Explicit Power Motives Are Related to Teachers’ Well-being Lisa Wagner University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Distance University of Switzerland, Brig, Switzerland Nicola Baumann & Petra Hank University of Trier, Trier, Germany Corresponding author: Lisa Wagner, Personality and Assessment, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/7, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland POWER MOTIVES AND TEACHERS’ WELL-BEING 2