Edwin Locke

U. of MD · Smith School of Business

The goal of this paper is to provide a long overdue clarification and upgrade to what has been called the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy in the realm of motivation. We argue that the concept of intrinsic motivation should be limited to refer to the pleasure gained from an activity, divorced from any further elements. It means liking the doing. The t...

For decades, research on pay level satisfaction has focused on two theories and one approach: the direct link theory, the discrepancy theory, and the no‐difference‐scores approach. However, there are still unsolved puzzles facing pay level satisfaction research. We develop a combined theory to consider the impact of the interaction of reported pay...

Making wise choices is the paramount and most challenging task of any executive. Successful managers meet this challenge by carefully managing the process by which hard decisions are made.

Human behavior is extensively motivated and regulated anticipatorily by cognitive self‐influence. Among the mechanisms of self‐influence, none is more focal or pervading than belief of personal efficacy. Unless people believe that they can produce desired effects and forestall undesired ones by their actions, they have little incentive to act. What...

Coping with stress at work can be defined as an effort by a person or an organization to manage and overcome demands and critical events that pose a challenge, threat, harm or loss to that person and that person's functioning or to the organization as a whole. Coping can occur as a response to an event or in anticipation of upcoming demands, but it...

This paper identifies problems with ego depletion theory including failures to replicate, non-support for glucose as a mediator, the stress on single replication studies rather than replication with variation, the failure to document generalizability, the stress on physical as opposed to psychological moderators and mediators, and the overemphasis...

I have written on this subject in the past (Locke, 2009; Locke, Mode, & Binswanger, 1980), but here I will both reiterate and expand on what I have said before.

Even though emotions are automatic responses programmed by the subconscious, their causes can be identified and understood. Moreover, emotions can be changed by changing their causes. Further, one has a choice as to how one act in the face of emotions. There is no innate conflict between reason and emotion. A key to happiness and the harmony of rea...

Provides the obituary for one of the field of industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology's most eminent scholars and practitioners, Patricia Cain Smith, professor emerita of psychology, Bowling Green State University, who passed away on October 26, 2007. Pat is remembered for her sense of humor, her passion for clarity in thinking and writing, and...

Whether you're a manager, company psychologist, quality control specialist, or involved with motivating people to work harder in any capacity—Locke and Latham's guide will hand you the keen insight and practical advice you need to reach even your toughest cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Discusses theories regarding the proper use of employee participation in decision making. It is proposed that participation (i.e., joint decision making by a manager and an employee or group of employees) is not an ethical imperative but simply a managerial technique that is appropriate only in certain situations. Research findings indicate that, w...

Two studies using a computer-simulated, strategy-formulation game and business students were conducted using simultaneous verbal protocols. It was found that a number of information-processing and information-evaluation thought processes were significantly related to game performance. Consistent with what is known about individual decision making,...

An empirical study of faculty job satisfaction concerned with work achievement, work role clarity, superordinates, co-workers, pay, promotions and facilities. Results show that faculty are most dissatisfied with pay, promotions and administration, and that faculty in academic divisions with higher pay scales are more satisfied than those in divisio...