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Goal-Setting: A State Theory, but Related to Traits
This study aims to examine how external locus of control (eLoC) impacts students’ academic procrastination behaviors in asynchronous distance education with regard to compulsive internet habits, cyberloafing, disrespect for copyright, learning goal orientation, and self-efficacy. The sample comprised a total of 916 undergraduate students. Mediation analyzes were conducted to elicit the relationships among the variables. Data were collected through an online inventory, which included a personal information form and various scales.The results indicated that eLOC positively predicted academic procrastination. This association is mediated by compulsive internet use, learning goals, self-efficacy, and disrespect for copyright. Moreover, this study also revealed mediator relationships between cyberloafing, compulsive internet use, self-efficacy, learning goal orientation, and disrespect for copyright. In conclusion, procrastination in distance education settings has a complex and multifaceted nature in terms of the interrelationships between self-perception, motivational beliefs, and distracting online behaviors.
Affect is a critical factor impacting students’ goal setting and goal achievement in learning. While existing studies have demonstrated the vital role of affect in learning and goal achievement, the day-to-day fluctuations of affect and their impact on learning have rarely been examined. This study explored the dynamic relationships between positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and daily learning goal achievement (LGA) in 72 college students ahead of a high-stakes test, analyzing 32 days of survey responses totaling 2111 observations. We employed dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) to assess the stability, variability, and potential reciprocal relationships of PA, NA, and LGA. Additionally, we investigated the effects of depression, age, and the number of semesters studied on these variables. Results indicated that PA, NA, and LGA remained stable over the observation period, with no systematic changes or trajectories, yet exhibited significant fluctuations within and between participants. All autoregressive effects for PA, NA, and LGA were significant. Both PA and NA were significantly related to concurrent measures of LGA, although no significant cross-lagged relationships between PA and NA were found. Variability in PA, NA, and LGA was significantly explained by students’ age, number of semesters studied, and level of depressive symptoms. Further findings and implications of the study are discussed.
Aims: Several diet quality indicators have been developed primarily for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in Western countries. However, those previous indicators are complicated and less feasible in clinical and health-promoting settings. Therefore, we aimed to develop a concise dietary risk score for CVD prevention in Japanese.
Methods: Using the self-administered food frequency questionnaire with 35 food items, we developed a concise healthy diet score (cHDS) ranging from 0 to 5 points. We examined the association of cHDS with risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality among 23,115 men and 35,557 women who were free of CVD and cancer.
Results: During 19.2 years of median follow-up, 6,291 men and 5,365 women died. In men, the multivariable hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the highest cHDS (5 points) compared to the lowest (0-1 points) were 0.74 (0.60–0.91, P-trend=0.008) for CVD and 0.86 (0.77-0.95, P-trend=0.05) for all causes. No significant associations were found for stroke, coronary heart disease, and other causes in men. The corresponding hazard ratio in women was 0.65 (0.52–0.81, P-trend＜0.001) for CVD, 0.63 (0.45–0.88, P-trend＜0.001) for stroke, 0.48 (0.30–0.78, P-trend=0.008) for coronary heart disease, 0.67 (0.54-0.84, P-trend＜0.001) for other causes, and 0.75 (0.66–0.85, P-trend＜0.001) for all causes.
Conclusion: We developed a concise diet quality score named cHDS in the Japanese population and found the inverse association of cHDS with mortality from CVD and all causes for both men and women.
This article discusses the development of goal setting theory through induction. The processes such as formulating concepts and definitions, measurement issues, data gathering, data integration and presentation, identifying moderators and mediators, resolving contradictions, noting issues in application, expansions and extensions, and the role of induction in deduction are explained. A multi-decade effort that involves these processes led to a useful theory that has withstood the test of time.
An understudied issue in the goal priming literature is why the same prime can provoke different responses in different people. The current research sheds light on this issue by investigating whether an individual difference variable, core self-evaluations (CSE), accounts for different responses from the same prime. Based on the findings of experiments showing that individuals with high CSE have higher performance after consciously setting a task-related goal than individuals with lower CSE, two hypotheses were tested: (1) Individuals who score high on CSE perform better following a subconsciously primed goal for achievement than do individuals who score low on CSE, and (2) this effect is mediated by a self-set goal. Two laboratory experiments (n = 207, 191) and one field experiment (n = 62) provided support for the hypotheses. These findings suggest that personality variables such as the CSE can provide an explanation for the "many effects of the one prime problem".
The Present study empirically examines the impact of perfectionist striving on active behavior and task performance. Work motivation used as a mediating mechanism and basic psychological needs employed as a moderator between perfectionist striving and workplace behaviors. It’s a moderated mediating study because of the interest of knowing the conditional nature of mediating variable. Self-determination theory has been employed as theoretical background of these relationships in order to have full and thorough understanding of the link from perfection to performance. Data were collected from 220 subordinatessupervisor matching dyads of engineers from different organizations of Pakistan using convenient sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression used to check the direct relationships. Indirect macro used for mediating relations and process macro used for moderating relation of the study.
Results supported the positive association of perfectionist striving with task performance and proactive behaviour. Furthermore, results also supported the mediating effect of work motivation. However, results could not predict the moderating role of basic psychological needs. Moreover, findings of present research bring an important implications for organizations to consider perfectionism as positive attitude because it relates to adaptive outcome and positive work behaviours such as performance.
Background
There has been increasing interest in growth approaches to students' academic development, including value-added models, modelling of academic trajectories, growth motivation orientations, growth mindsets, and growth goals.AimsThis study sought to investigate the relationships between implicit theories about intelligence (incremental and entity theories) and growth (personal best, PB) goals - with particular interest in the ordering of factors across time.SampleThe study focused on longitudinal data of 969 Australian high school students.Method
The classic cross-lagged panel design (using structural equation modelling) was employed to shed light on the ordering of Time 1 growth goals, incremental theories, and entity theories relative to Time 2 (1 year later) growth goals, incremental theories, and entity theories.ResultsFindings showed that Time 1 growth goals predicted Time 2 incremental theories (positively) and entity theories (negatively); Time 1 entity and incremental theories negatively predicted Time 2 incremental and entity theories respectively; but, Time 1 incremental theories and entity theories did not predict growth goals at Time 2.Conclusion
This suggests that entity and incremental theories are negatively reciprocally related across time, but growth goals seem to be directionally salient over incremental and entity theories. Implications for promoting growth goals and growth mindsets are discussed.
Uniting separate research streams on situational and dispositional goals, we investigated goal setting and goal orientation together in a complex business simulation. A specific learning goal led to higher performance than did either a specific performance goal or a vague goal. Goal orientation predicted performance when the goal was vague. The performance goal attenuated correlations between goal orientation and performance. The correlation between a learning goal orientation and performance was significant when a learning goal was set. Self-efficacy and information search mediated the effect of a learning goal on performance. Goal setting studies have their roots in organizational psychology, in contrast to research on goal orientation, which has roots in educational psychology. The focus of goal orientation studies is primarily on ability, whereas that of goal setting is on motivation. Consequently, the tasks used in goal setting research are typically straightforward for research participants, as the emphasis is primarily on effort and persistence. The tasks used in studies of goal orientation are usually complex, as the focus is on the acquisition of knowledge and skill. Performance is a function of both ability and motivation. Yet one research camp rarely takes into account findings by the other. The result is increasing confusion in the literature between a performance goal and a performance goal orientation; between the roles of situational as opposed to dis-positional goals as determinants of behavior; the circumstances in which a learning goal versus a learning goal orientation is likely to increase performance ; and whether goal orientation is a mod-erator of the goal-performance relationship. The purpose of the experiment reported here was to draw connections between these two related yet separate streams of work in organizational behavior , namely, goal setting and goal orientation.
Other things equal, higher intelligence leads to better job performance on all jobs. Intelligence is the major determinant of job performance, and therefore hiring people based on intelligence leads to marked improvements in job performance – improvements that have high economic value to the firm. This principle is the subject of this chapter.
People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach–avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations) from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach–avoidance, expectancy–value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenonomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain.
Contrary to the extant thinking on motivation in the workplace, we argue that performance or outcome goals can have a deleterious effect on one's performance. We demonstrate that in situations where primarily the acquisition of knowledge and skills rather than an increase in effort and persistence is required, a specific challenging learning rather than an outcome goal should be set. A learning goal draws attention away from the end result. The focus instead is on the discovery of effective strategies or processes to attain desired results. The practical implications of learning goals for leadership, performance appraisal, and professional development are explained.
The purpose of this research was to develop an efficient, construct-valid measure of goal commitment. Drawing from a set of 9 unidimensional items, a 4-item unidimensional scale was developed that exhibited a .71 internal consistency estimate of reliability. This scale showed statistically significant relationships with 3 alternative measures of the same construct: force to attain the goal, self-set goal-assigned-goal discrepancy, and actual goal change. With respect to other constructs in the goal commitment nomological net, the results indicated that the scale was consistently related to performance. Moreover, the pattern of the results with expected antecedents such as goal publicness, monetary incentives, need for achievement, locus of control, and task involvement were statistically significant and in the predicted direction.
The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory’s limitations.
Goal setting is an “open” theory built on inductive findings from empirical research. The present paper briefly summarizes this theory. Emphasis is then given to findings that have been obtained in the present millennium with regard to (1) the high performance cycle, (2) the role of goals as mediators of personality effects on performance, (3) personality variables as moderators of goal effects on performance, the effect of (4) distal, (5) proximal, and (6) learning goals on performance on tasks that are complex for people, (7) the ways in which priming affects the impact of a goal, (8) the interrelationship between goal setting and affect, and (9) the results of goal setting by teams. Potential directions for research on goal setting in the workplace are suggested with regard to goal abandonment, perfectionism, an employee's age, subconscious goals, and the relationship between goals and knowledge.
: A review of both laboratory and field studies on the effect of setting goals when learning or performing a task found that specific, challenging goals led more often to higher performance than easy goals, 'do your best' goals or no goals. This is one of the most robust and replicable findings in the psychological literature, with 90% of the studies showing positive or partially positive results. The main mechanisms by which goals affect performance are by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development. Goal setting is most likely to improve task performance when the goals are specific and sufficiently challenging, when the subjects have sufficient ability (and ability differences are controlled), when feedback is provided to show progress in relation to the goal, when rewards such as money are given for goal attainment, when the exerimenter manager is supportive, and when the assigned goals are actually accepted by the individual. No reliable individual differences have emerged in goal setting studies, probably because goals were typically assigned rather than self-set. Need for achievement and self esteem may be the most promising individual difference variables. (Author)
The effect of learning versus outcome goals on performance quality on a simple versus a complex scheduling task was examined using business school students as participants (n = 114). On a simple task an outcome goal led to significantly more correct schedules being produced than urging people to do their best. On a complex task, assigning a learning goal led to performance that was significantly higher than either an assigned outcome goal or being urged to do one's best. Self-efficacy was significantly higher in the learning goal condition than it was in the do-best condition. Moreover, the number of effective task strategies used on a complex task was significantly higher in the learning goal condition than it was in the other two conditions. These findings suggest that when attempting new complex processes, such as acquiring new businesses, organizations should set specific difficult learning as opposed to performance outcome goals.
In Exp I, 60 female clerical workers were randomly assigned to participative, assigned, and "do best" goal conditions on a clerical test. Specific goals led to higher performance than did the "do best" goals. With goal difficulty held constant, there was no significant difference between the assigned and participative conditions on performance or goal acceptance. Goal attainment, however, was higher in the assigned condition than it was in the participative condition. No main or interaction effects were found for knowledge of results (KR) or for individual difference measures with performance or goal acceptance. However, high self-esteem Ss who received KR attained their goals more often than did Ss with low self-esteem when the goals were participatively set. Exp II was conducted with 28 employees from the same sample in a performance-appraisal setting over an 8-mo period. Assigned goals resulted in higher performance and greater goal acceptance than participatively set goals. There was a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and performance in the participative condition only. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Results from a review of laboratory and field studies on the effects of goal setting on performance show that in 90% of the studies, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than easy goals, "do your best" goals, or no goals. Goals affect performance by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development. Goal setting is most likely to improve task performance when the goals are specific and sufficiently challenging, Ss have sufficient ability (and ability differences are controlled), feedback is provided to show progress in relation to the goal, rewards such as money are given for goal attainment, the experimenter or manager is supportive, and assigned goals are accepted by the individual. No reliable individual differences have emerged in goal-setting studies, probably because the goals were typically assigned rather than self-set. Need for achievement and self-esteem may be the most promising individual difference variables. (3½ p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The antecedents and consequences of content goals for 252 participants in a complex skill-training program were examined in a longitudinal study. Using LISREL 8 to test a mediated model, it was found dispositional goal orientation was related to the content of goals that individuals adopted for the training program. Not all content goals were related to training performance; only content goals with a skill improvement focus had a positive relationship with performance. Results provide a richer understanding of the antecedents of content goals and their relationship to performance and have implications for managers and for the administration of training programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Used 91 sales representatives to test a process model that assessed the relationship of conscientiousness to job performance through mediating motivational (goal-setting) variables. Linear structural equation modeling showed that sales representatives high in conscientiousness are more likely to set goals and are more likely to be committed to goals, which in turn is associated with greater sales volume and higher supervisory ratings of job performance. Results also showed that conscientiousness is directly related to supervisory ratings. Consistent with previous research, results showed that ability was also related to supervisory ratings of job performance and, to a lesser extent, sales volume. Contrary to expectations, 1 other personality construct, extraversion, was not related to sales volume or to supervisory ratings of job performance. Implications and future research needs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two central constructs of applied psychology, motivation and cognitive ability, were integrated within an information-processing (IPR) framework. This framework simultaneously considers individual differences in cognitive abilities, self-regulatory processes of motivation, and IPR demands. Evidence for the framework is provided in the context of skill acquisition, in which IPR and ability demands change as a function of practice, training paradigm, and timing of goal setting (GS). Three field-based lab experiments were conducted with 1,010 US Air Force trainees. Exp 1 evaluated the basic ability–performance parameters of the air traffic controller task and GS effects early in practice. Exp 2 evaluated GS later in practice. Exp 3 investigated the simultaneous effects of training content, GS and ability–performance interactions. Results support the theoretical framework and have implications for notions of ability–motivation interactions and design of training and motivation programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Goal commitment has been given a critical role in goal-setting theory, yet the factors associated with commitment to difficult goals have not often been studied. This study examined possible antecedents of commitment to difficult goals. Two sets of such variables were examined: situational (goal publicness and goal origin) and personal (need for achievement and locus of control) factors. Both sets of variables accounted for significant amounts of variance in goal commitment among 190 college students with academic goals. A Person × Situation interaction also accounted for a significant increment of variance. Specifically, commitment to difficult goals was higher when (a) goals were made public rather than private, (b) when locus of control was internal, and (c) when subjects were high in need for achievement, especially when goals were self-set as opposed to assigned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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)
The purpose of this research was to develop an efficient, construct-valid measure of goal commitment. Drawing from a set of 9 unidimensional items, a 4-item unidimensional scale was developed that exhibited a .71 internal consistency estimate of reliability. This scale showed statistically significant relationships with 3 alternative measures of the same construct: force to attain the goal, self-set goal–assigned-goal discrepancy, and actual goal change. With respect to other constructs in the goal commitment nomological net, the results indicated that the scale was consistently related to performance. Moreover, the pattern of the results with expected antecedents such as goal publicness, monetary incentives, need for achievement, locus of control, and task involvement were statistically significant and in the predicted direction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted a 1-min goal-setting experiment with 247 undergraduates assigned to 14 goal levels. Ss had to think of uses for common objects within their 1 min. A significant curvilinear relationship was found between goal level and performance level. Goals were linearly related to performance when the goals ranged from easy to difficult but were unrelated to performance after goals became impossible. Performance, however, did not drop as goals reached impossible levels, since nearly all Ss were at least trying to get as close as they could to the goal. Variance in mean performance was positively related to goal level across the entire range of goal levels. Ability was unrelated to performance within the easy to difficult goal range but was significantly related to ability within the impossible goal range. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Eight experiments were conducted to explore the relationships between goal level, valence, and instrumentality. Valence, measured in terms of anticipated satisfaction across a range of performance levels, was strongly but negatively related to goal level. This finding was explained by showing that low goals entail using less stringent standards for self-evaluation than do high goals. Instrumentality was positively associated with goal level. Ss believed that trying for hard goals would be more likely to give them a sense of achievement, develop their skills, and prove them competent than would trying for easy goals. Ss also believed that high goals would lead to more practical (job and life) benefits, as well as more pride and self-respect, than would low goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose of this experiment was to examine the interplay of goal content, conscientiousness, and tension on performance following negative feedback. Undergraduate students were assigned either a learning or performance goal and then were provided with false feedback indicating very poor performance on the task they performed. After assessing tension, participants performed the task again with the same learning or performance goal. A mediated moderation model was tested, and results were supportive of our hypotheses. Specifically, individuals assigned a learning goal experienced less tension and performed better following negative feedback than individuals assigned a performance goal. Individuals high in conscientiousness experienced greater tension than individuals low in conscientiousness. Conscientiousness and goal content interacted in relating to both tension and performance, with tension as a mediator, such that high conscientiousness amplified the detrimental effect of a performance goal on tension following negative feedback leading to lower performance. High conscientiousness facilitated performance for participants with a learning goal.
Proposes that diverse data challenge and undermine the central assumptions of the traditional trait approach to personality. The implications for conceptions of individual differences and situations in the study of personality are examined. The issues discussed include the nature of behavioral "specificity," the acquired meaning of stimuli, the uses and misuses of traits, and the construction of personality. The following cognitive social learning variables are proposed as basic units for the study of individuals: cognitive and behavioral construction competencies, encoding strategies and personal constructs, behavior-outcome and stimulus-outcome expectancies, subjective stimulus values, and self-regulatory systems and plans. The specific interactions between these person variables and psychological situations are analyzed within the framework of a cognitive social learning approach. (4 p. ref.)
4 laboratory experiments are reported which examine the relationship between degree of task success and degree of liking for and satisfaction with the task. A number of different tasks, measures, and situations were used. In all cases there was clear evidence for a significant (positive) linear relationship between success and measures of liking and satisfaction. The major reasons given for liking a task involved attributes of the individual's performance (e.g., improvement); reasons given for not liking a task most often involved attributes other than individual performance (e.g., the monotony of the task). (18 ref.)
A newly developed personality taxonomy suggests that self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, and neuroticism form a broad personality trait termed core self-evaluations. The authors hypothesized that this broad trait is related to motivation and performance. To test this hypothesis, 3 studies were conducted. Study 1 showed that the 4 dispositions loaded on 1 higher order factor. Study 2 demonstrated that the higher order trait was related to task motivation and performance in a laboratory setting. Study 3 showed that the core trait was related to task activity, productivity as measured by sales volume, and the rated performance of insurance agents. Results also revealed that the core self-evaluations trait was related to goal-setting behavior. In addition, when the 4 core traits were investigated as 1 nomological network, they proved to be more consistent predictors of job behaviors than when used in isolation.
IntroductionThe High Performance CycleDemands Influence PerformanceMediatorsModeratorsPerformance Leads to Organization CommitmentSatisfaction Leads to Organization CommitmentDiscussionAcknowledgementReferences
The authors used 91 sales representatives to test a process model that assessed the relationship of conscientiousness to job performance through mediating motivational (goal-setting) variables. Linear structural equation modeling showed that sales representatives high in conscientiousness are more likely to set goals and are more likely to be committed to goals, which in turn is associated with greater sales volume and higher supervisory ratings of job performance. Results also showed that conscientiousness is directly related to supervisory ratings. Consistent with previous research, results showed that ability was also related to supervisory ratings of job performance and, to a lesser extent, sales volume. Contrary to expectations, 1 other personality construct, extraversion, was not related to sales volume or to supervisory ratings of job performance. Implications and future research needs are discussed.
Agreeableness is probably best conceptualized as a general latent variable that summarizes more specific tendencies and behaviors. Agreeableness should certainly qualify as an individual difference having significance for people's daily transactions. It can be predominantly an affective evaluation and may be a more diffuse reaction. Across a range of studies, agreeableness emerges in the natural language descriptions of the self and peers. Furthermore, there is evidence that self-rating and peer evaluations converge in assessing agreeableness. Later, the prosocial personality is discussed in this chapter. Prosocial behavior can be conceptualized as a form of agreeableness. Recent research suggests that there may be important dispositional components to prosocial behavior, and these may be seen even in young children. Precise identification of these dispositions has been inhibited by problems of differentiating among social motives, and by weak measures of altruism as an outcome and as a disposition. Basic bio-behavioral research suggests that individual differences in agreeableness in adults may have their origins in affective self-regulatory processes in childhood. In particular, individual differences in the pattern of inhibition of negative effect may be related to the development of agreeableness and these may be related to health, especially cardiovascular disease.
This study investigated the relation of the "Big Five" personality di- mensions (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Consci- entiousness, and Openness to Experience) to three job performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled). Results indicated that one dimension of person- ality. Conscientiousness, showed consistent relations with all job per- formance criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining per- sonality dimensions, the estimated true score correlations varied by occupational group and criterion type. Extraversion was a valid pre- dictor for two occupations involving social interaction, managers and sales (across criterion types). Also, both Openness to Experience and Extraversion were valid predictors of the training proficiency criterion (across occupations). Other personality dimensions were also found to be valid predictors for some occupations and some criterion types, but the magnitude of the estimated true score correlations was small (p < .10). Overall, the results illustrate the benefits of using the 5- factor model of personality to accumulate and communicate empirical findings. The findings have numerous implications for research and practice in personnel psychology, especially in the subfields of person- nel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal.
This study investigated the relationship between goal-setting strategies and locus of control on on-task behavior. Four female Level 8 and 9 gymnasts were selected to participate, two with an internal, and two an external locus of control. Using a within-subjects, alternating treatment design, subjects were exposed to both self-and coach-set goal conditions. Results revealed a differential effect; subjects with a more internal locus of control spent relatively more time on-task under the self-set goal condition while those with a more external locus of control spent more time on-task when the coach set their goals. Implications for the theoretical understanding of goal setting processes as well as more applied considerations for coaching practice are considered.
Analyzed are 32 established organizational science theories in terms of their rated importance, validity, and usefulness. Little evidence of any relationships among these three variables is found. However, other significant findings do emerge from the analyses. Their relevance for an emerging organizational science discipline is explored. Certain parameters of such a discipline are specified.
The hedonic principle that people approach pleasure and avoid pain has been the basic motivational principle throughout the history of psychology. This principle underlies motivational models across all levels of analysis in psychology from the biological to social. However, it is noted that the hedonic principle is very basic and is limited as an explanatory variable. Almost any area of motivation can be discussed in terms of the hedonic principle. This chapter describes two different ways in which the hedonic principle operates—namely, one with a promotion focus and other with a prevention focus. These different ways of regulating pleasure and pain, called “regulatory focus,” have a major impact on people's feelings, thoughts, and actions that is independent of the hedonic principle per se. The chapter also presents some background information about another regulatory variable, called the “regulatory reference.” A self-regulatory system with a positive reference value essentially has a desired end state as the reference point.
Little is currently known about the cognitive processes entrepreneurs engage in as they develop and implement strategies. A computer simulation was used to investigate this question. Repeated measures regression analysis indicated that participants using a learning goal were able to keep their simulated firms running longer than those using a performance outcome goal. Strategy mediated the relationship between task-specific self-efficacy and performance. Conversely, task-specific self-efficacy mediated the relationship between strategy use and performance. General self-efficacy added explanatory power to firm survival, even after controlling for the effects of specific self-efficacy. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
In this study we examined whether task complexity interacts with goal specific- ity over multiple performance periods. A 2 x 2 x 3 design manipulated goal condition (specific difficult vs. do-your-best) and task complexity (simple vs. complex) over performance on 3 separate days. Results across performance periods indicated that do-your-best goals led to higher quantity of performance than specific difficult goals on a complex task, whereas specific difficult goals led to higher quantity of performance than do-your-best goals on a simpler version of the task. Additionally, goal specificity and task complexity led to greater change in strategy over repeated performance periods, with those in the complex, specific difficult condition exhibiting the highest amount of change in strategy. Finally, there were no differences in quality of performance for indi- viduals working on simple versus complex tasks. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
review recent literature in I/O psychology that relates to a more productive role for personality constructs
highlight issues related to three key elements that require careful consideration . . . : the personality constructs to be studied, the criteria to be measured, and the context in which personality-criteria relationships are to be examined
constructs / nomological networks / measurement strategies / criteria / type / level / time /
context / situational strength / suitable contexts (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Although the dispositional approach to job satisfaction has garnered considerable research attention in recent years, this perspective often has lacked theoretical concepts that explain how dispositions affect job satisfaction. Because job satisfaction is an affective experience formed through a process of evaluation, an especially promising theoretical approach is to focus on individuals' fundamental (metaphysical) value judgments or ''core evaluations.'' We propose a dispositional model based on core evaluations individuals make about themselves, the world. and other people. We also show how this model helps integrate the dispositional perspective with more traditional models of job satisfaction.
A field study was conducted with 41 female typists in a large corporation to test an explanatory model of goal setting. Weekly productivity goals were either assigned by the supervisors or were set jointly with a typist. Goals were set for ten consecutive weeks. A correlational analysis of the data indicated that difficult goals led to higher performance. Higher performance led to higher absolute goals for the subsequent week, but smaller improvement goals. Persons with a high need for achievement and an internal control orientation set higher goals. Goal setting led to greater overall performance improvement for employees who had high self esteem or who perceived goal attainment to be instrumental for getting extrinsic rewards. Hypothesized relationships involving goal acceptance were not supported, which may have been due to a lack of validity for the goal acceptance measure.
The research described in this article examined the interaction effects between self-esteem and perceived goal difficulty on subjects' self-set goals, certainty, performance, and attributions. Perceived goal difficulty was manipulated by asking subjects to compete on the same task against themselves, a difficult competitor, and an easy competitor. Subjects were divided into two groups characterized by high or low self-esteem. Analysis showed that certainty, ability attribution, and task satisfaction for groups with low self-esteem were affected by perceived goal difficulty especially in the difficult condition, whereas groups with high self-esteem were not. Further, groups with low self-esteem had lower goals, certainty, and task performance than groups with high self-esteem. Subjects set higher goals and had higher performance in the difficult condition than in the easy one. Implications related to human resource development are discussed.
Higgins' (2000) theory of regulatory fit proposes that motivational strength will be enhanced when the manner in which people work toward a goal sustains (rather than disrupts) their regulatory orientation. This enhanced motivational strength in turn should improve efforts at goal attainment. In Experiment 1, predominantly promotion- and prevention-focused participants were given the goal of writing a report on their leisure time, and were assigned either eagerness- or vigilance-framed means to use. Promotion/eagerness and prevention/vigilance participants were about 50% more likely to turn in their reports than promotion/vigilance and prevention/eagerness participants. In Experiment 2, participants read either a promotion- or a prevention-framed health message urging them to eat more fruits and vegetables, and were then asked to imagine either the benefits of compliance or the costs of non-compliance. Promotion/benefits and prevention/costs participants subsequently ate about 20% more fruits and vegetables over the following week than promotion/costs and prevention/benefits participants. The implications of regulatory fit's enhancement of motivational strength are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Situational strength pertains to the idea that various characteristics of situations have the ability to restrict the expression and, therefore, the criterion-related validity of individual differences. Despite situational strength's intuitive appeal, however, little information exists regarding its construct space. This review (a) categorizes extant operationalizations into four facets (constraints, consequences, clarity, and consistency), (b) examines the empirical literature on situational strength-relevant hypotheses, and, on the basis of the proposed taxonomy and literature review, (c) provides several avenues for future theoretical and empirical research. It is the authors' hope that these efforts will encourage additional research and theorizing on this potentially important psychological construct.
This study tested the situational effects of goals and stress on the performance of complex tasks and on adaptation to change in the task. Difficult goals often exceed the individual's resources and thus create stress. However, stress may be appraised as either challenge or threat. Challenge is experienced when there is an opportunity for self-growth with available coping strategies, whereas threat is experienced when the situation is perceived as leading to failure with no available strategies to cope with it. We hypothesized that participants who appraised the situation as a challenge would perform better and adapt better to changes under difficult goal conditions, as compared with general goals or strategy goals. By contrast, threat appraisals would be better addressed by strategy goals rather than difficult goals. One hundred and fifty five students performed a task, which required their making predictions concerning the value of 120 companies' stocks based on three manipulated cues. We used a three by three by two factorial design in which goals, stress, and change (as a repeated factor) were varied to test the hypotheses. Results supported the main hypotheses and demonstrated that the same level of goal difficulty may lead to high or low performance and adaptation to change depending on the appraisal of the situation as challenging or threatening. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are further discussed.
