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Effect of goal acceptance on the relationship of goal difficulty to performance

Effect of goal acceptance on the relationship of goal difficulty to performance Tested the hypotheses that goal acceptance moderates the relationship of goal difficulty to task performance as follows: (a) The relationship is positive and linear for accepted goals; (b) it is negative and linear if the goal is rejected; and thus, (c) slope reversal from positively to negatively linear relationships is associated with transition from positive to negative values of goal acceptance. The experiment was a within-S design, allowing for high variance in acceptance, with technicians and engineers (21–50 yrs of age) divided at random into a 2-phase experimental condition (n = 104) with specific goal difficulty gradually increasing from Trial 1 to 7 and a control group (n = 36) with the general instructions to "do your best." Instructions for Phase 2 differed from Phase 1 in that Ss were instructed to reassess their acceptance of difficult goals. The task consisted of determining, within 2-min trials, how many digits or letters in a row were the same as the circled one to the left of each row. Results support the hypotheses. (16 ref) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Applied Psychology American Psychological Association

Effect of goal acceptance on the relationship of goal difficulty to performance

Erez, Miriam; Zidon, Isaac
Journal of Applied Psychology , Volume 69 (1): 10 – Feb 1, 1984
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Publisher
American Psychological Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 American Psychological Association
ISSN
0021-9010
eISSN
1939-1854
DOI
10.1037/0021-9010.69.1.69
Publisher site
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Abstract

Tested the hypotheses that goal acceptance moderates the relationship of goal difficulty to task performance as follows: (a) The relationship is positive and linear for accepted goals; (b) it is negative and linear if the goal is rejected; and thus, (c) slope reversal from positively to negatively linear relationships is associated with transition from positive to negative values of goal acceptance. The experiment was a within-S design, allowing for high variance in acceptance, with technicians and engineers (21–50 yrs of age) divided at random into a 2-phase experimental condition (n = 104) with specific goal difficulty gradually increasing from Trial 1 to 7 and a control group (n = 36) with the general instructions to "do your best." Instructions for Phase 2 differed from Phase 1 in that Ss were instructed to reassess their acceptance of difficult goals. The task consisted of determining, within 2-min trials, how many digits or letters in a row were the same as the circled one to the left of each row. Results support the hypotheses. (16 ref)

Journal

Journal of Applied Psychology – American Psychological Association

Published: Feb 1, 1984

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