Using backup plans during goal pursuit: Vice or virtue?

The present thesis investigates the effects of backup plan making on goal performance, by focusing on people's choices about using backup plans as a moderator, and goal desire and state anxiety as parallel mediators. Although recent research pointed out to unexpected motivational costs of backup plan making on goal performance, the role of intentionality in making backup plans was previously unexplored. The current study addresses this gap by examining people's choices, while addressing the question of whether people make adaptive decisions (in terms of goal performance) regarding the use of backup plans during goal pursuit. In an online experiment, we collected data from 280 university students (206 female, 68 male). Our results did not indicate a significant effect of backup plan making on goal performance depending on individuals' choices, which prevents us from coming to a conclusion regarding the adaptive use of backup plans. The effects of potential boundary conditions are discussed.