Sample
The study included 139 employee-supervisor dyads recruited from multiple organizations in the United States. Employees’ ages ranged from 19 to 69 (M = 39.21, SD = 11.66), and 53% were male. Ethnic representation included 89 White, 25 Black, 12 Mixed, 11 Asian, and 2 Other. Supervisory experience with the employee varied: more than 2 years (41%), 1–2 years (23%), 6–12 months (19%), 3–6 months (9%), and less than 3 months (7%).
Instrument
The Ambition to Learn test is a multidimensional assessment created in collaboration with the GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. It measures motivation and attitudes toward learning across three subdomains:
1. Intellectual Learning: Motivation to engage with cognitively demanding material, acquire new knowledge, and master intellectually challenging tasks.
2. Social Learning: Motivation to learn through others, seek feedback, observe coworkers, and acquire skills in social or collaborative contexts.
3. Individual Interests: Intrinsic curiosity and self-driven desire to pursue new knowledge, explore ideas independently, and deepen personal expertise.
Internal Consistency
The internal consistency of the Ambition to Learn Test was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. Intellectual Learning demonstrated excellent internal consistency with an alpha of 0.851, and Social Learning showed similarly strong reliability with an alpha of 0.891. The Individual Interests subscale demonstrated a lower level of internal consistency, with an alpha of 0.579, which is considered acceptable for constructs that intentionally encompass a broader range of motivational tendencies.
Limitations: Reliability was assessed solely using internal consistency metrics. Although Cronbach’s alpha provides strong evidence of coherence among items within each subscale, it does not assess temporal stability. Future studies will incorporate test–retest designs to evaluate reliability over time and to strengthen the robustness of the evidence.