Goal orientation and performance adaptation: A meta-analysis

Abstract

AcknowledgementsThis research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Declarations of interest: noneI wish to thank Thomas Staufenbiel for valuable comments on the first draft of this paper and both Kim Mehlitz and Wiebke Schmidt for help with coding. Furthermore, I am grateful toThe relationship between goal orientation and performance adaptation across studies was assessed in the present article. The relevance of performance adaptation can be exemplified by the desire to optimize performance and mitigate the negative effects of change in organizational and educational contexts (i.e. new co-workers, new software, emergencies).Three-level meta-analyses were conducted for learning goal orientation (LGO) and performance goal orientation (PGO). Furthermore, within PGO a distinction between avoid performance goal orientation (APGO) and prove performance goal orientation (PPGO) could be made. In moderator analyses the influence of measurement method of performance adaptation (subjective ratings vs objective scores) was assessed amongst others. Although significant effects were found they were primarily visible for subjective ratings and not objective scores.

How important is cognitive ability when adapting to changes? A meta-analysis of the performance adaptation literature

“…job performance). Furthermore, none of the mean correlations from previous meta-analyses devoted to performance adaptation, where predictors like Big Five personality traits or goal orientation were used (Huang et al, 2014;Stasielowicz, 2019b;Woo et al, 2014), reached the level identified here for cognitive abilities. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the effect sizes identified in the present meta-analysis indicates that there are circumstances where the predictive validity of cognitive abilities is somewhat higher than the mean effect size.…”

“…One objective of the current meta-analysis was to examine whether cognitive ability could be a more useful predictor than Big Five personality traits (Huang et al, 2014;Woo et al, 2014) and goal orientation (Stasielowicz, 2019b) as these predictors have been examined metaanalytically in the past. Superficially, examining the role of cognitive ability may seem trivial, since it has been established as a good performance predictor across different situations (Judge et al, 2007;Lang et al, 2010;Schmidt & Hunter, 2004, 1998.…”

“…To illustrate, tasks usually require learning new technologies, and procedures, but participants are not necessarily required to show other aspects of performance adaptation like intercultural adaptive performance. The distinction between subjective ratings and objectives scores could already be identified as an important moderator in another metaanalysis devoted to performance adaptation (Stasielowicz, 2019b), where the aim was to assess the relationship with goal orientation. There is preliminary evidence, that this distinction could also be empirically relevant when examining the relationship with cognitive abilities.…”

“…Thus, it is not surprising that researchers have tried to establish predictors of performance adaptation. However, neither the Big Five personality traits (Huang, Ryan, Zabel, & Palmer, 2014;Woo, Chernyshenko, Stark, & Conz, 2014) nor the motivational aspects like goal orientation (Stasielowicz, 2019b) are strongly related to performance adaptation. It is not necessarily surprising, considering that performance is Plamondon, 2000) defined performance adaptation as "altering behavior to meet the demands of a new situation, event, or set of circumstances" (p. 615).…”

“…Overall, the raw correlations with performance adaptation were small indicating that personality traits like Big Five are not pivotal when it comes to predicting performance adaptation. In another systematic review the role of motivational variables has been assessed (Stasielowicz, 2019b). Specifically, the dimensions of goal orientation were considered (learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation).…”