Previous research has investigated the relationship between seven major life goals and the five-factor model of personality (Roberts & Robins, 2000; Stoll et al., 2020). However, recent theoretical advances in the Cybernetic Big Five Theory (CB5T; DeYoung, 2015) offer new and interesting avenues for exploring links between personality traits and life goals. The present research conceptualises life goals as characteristic adaptations, offering an evolutionary account of how the goals individuals prioritise reflect expressed preferences grounded in underlying dispositional tendencies. Accordingly, the first research goal was to examine the theoretical and empirical relationships between personality, as articulated within the CB5T, and the life goals individuals pursue.

Drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes & Lillis, 2012), an expanded framework of 13 life goals clustered around four basic psychological needs will be presented (Van Lill et al., in press). The study examined the unique, theoretically meaningful relationships between these goals and the ten aspects of personality (DeYoung et al., 2007), on which CB5T is based, using an oblique lower-order confirmatory factor analysis. Data collected from 300 participants across Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom support the structural validity of this model and its integration with human personality architecture.

Life goals are further argued to facilitate meaning by fulfilling the criteria of purpose, coherence, and significance (Martela & Steger, 2016). These goals offer direction through clarified intent, foster coherence by aligning action with ends that are individually and socially valued, and establish significance by framing life as inherently worthwhile. A second research goal was to examine whether the enactment of life goals is associated with the experience of meaning at work (Steger, 2012), with a particular focus on identifying which life goals show the strongest relationships with experiences with meaning at work. In addition to the personality and life goal data, a concurrent measure on the enactment of life goals in the past four months and meaning at work (Steger, 2012) was administered. A dominance analysis revealed that goals related to life structures inside and outside the work context matter for the experience of meaning at work.

Finally, the study explored applications of the findings to areas such as human factors design, including human-technology mismatches (Van Vugt et al., 2024), and how understanding what creates meaning at work could help avoid or alleviate these mismatches. The examples illustrate how modern technologies may interfere with the fulfilment of fundamental human goals.