Goal setting: A meta-analytic examination of the empirical evidence.

Abstract

Meta-analyses were conducted to estimate the amount of empirical support for the major postulates of goal theory (Locke, 1968;Locke, Shaw, Saari, & Latham, 1981). A technique similar to that described by Hunter, Schmidt, and Jackson (1982) was used to (a) accumulate effect sizes, (b) correct the mean and variance of those effect sizes for the effects of sampling error and attenuation, and (c) determine whether methodological characteristics of the studies have moderated the results. The results of well-controlled studies were generally supportive of the hypotheses. However, sources of variation in findings were discovered, including the setting in which the study took place and the manner in which goal setting factors were operationalized. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Unique effects of setting goals on behavior change: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

“…Encouraging people to set goals is a technique that is used widely to promote behavior change, and the present review showed a positive effect on Kleingeld, van Mierlo, & Arends, 2011; Mento, Steele, & Karren, 1987;Tubbs, 1986;Wood, Mento, & Locke, 1987). However, the present review is arguably more robust because it excluded correlational studies, included unpublished dissertations and studies that had reported a non-significant result but did not provide data.…”

“…The idea that goals should be "sufficiently difficult" is supported by evidence showing medium to large effects on behavior/ performance (the overall effect sizes found by meta-analyses range from d = .44 to d = .82) of setting difficult goals compared with setting easy goals (Chidester & Grigsby, 1984; Kleingeld et al, 2011;Mento et al, 1987;Tubbs, 1986;Wood et al, 1987).…”

“…The implication is that the combined capabilities of people in groups exceeds that of solo individuals, meaning that groups are better equipped to handle complex tasks; this reflects the premise that the moderating effect of task complexity is only likely to occur when the person does not have sufficient ability (Locke & Latham, 1990). Feedback has also been found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between goal setting and behavior change when studies compare a goal setting plus feedback condition with a goal setting only condition (the overall effect sizes found by the two meta-analyses are d = .56 and d = .63; Neubert, 1998;Tubbs, 1986). In contrast with the research reviewed above, in 6 which provision of feedback was experimentally manipulated, meta-analyses that coded for the presence or absence of feedback produced mixed results.…”

The Impact of a Target on Newsvendor Decisions

“…To the best of our knowledge, the only descriptive research is a field study by Merchant and Manzoni (1989), who show that in practice the targets are usually set in a way such that they can be achieved in eighty to ninety percent of the time. The other stream of research, which can be considered as a guide on how to set targets normatively, mainly focus on how the challenging level of the goal impacts employee performance (e.g., Tubbs 1986, Locke & Latham 2002, and Fried & Slowik, 2004. While how the targets should be set is an interesting issue to investigate, it is beyond the scope of this paper.…”

Strategic Risk Management

“…Precise rather than vague goals have been found to foster individual's motivation, effort, persistence, and performance (e.g., Locke and Latham, 1990;Mento, Steel, and Karren, 1987;Tubbs, 1986). The activities implied by strategic planning, notably: clarifying the longer term goals and the means for achieving them, help at shaping a firm-wide understanding Hrebianiak and Snow, 1982;Priem, 1990), which reduces ambiguity in objectives, means for attaining objectives, and the roles of individual units and managers Answering this question seems particularly important given that both practices consume time and managerial attention -two scarce organizational resources (Gifford, 1992.…”