The dark side of consecutive high performance goals: Linking goal setting, depletion, and unethical behavior

Welsh, David T.; Ordóñez, Lisa D.

doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.07.006

Cited by 219 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Participants who were close to meeting their goal were the likeliest to behave dishonestly. These findings were replicated in a study that repeated the experiment with different levels of goal difficulty [13]. In this setting, participants produced the highest output for the highest goals.…”

Section: Goals Can Encourage Such Unethical Behavior As Cheating and mentioning

confidence: 67%

Goal setting and worker motivation

Goerg

2015

izawol

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in eLeVator PitCHEmployers want motivated and productive employees. Are there ways to increase employee motivation without relying solely on monetary incentives, such as pay-for-performance schemes? One tool that has shown promise in recent decades for improving worker performance is setting goals, whether they are assigned by management or self-chosen. Goals are powerful motivators for workers, with the potential for boosting productivity in an organization. However, if not chosen carefully or if used in unsuitable situations, goals can have undesired and harmful consequences. Goals are a powerful tool that needs to be applied with caution. aUtHor'S Main MeSSaGeEmpirical field and laboratory studies demonstrate that well-chosen work goals, whether assigned or self-chosen, can increase employee productivity, with and without monetary incentives. Goals are most productive in simple work environments, where productivity is defined along a single dimension of effort, such as output quantity, and where chances for adverse behavior are low. In more complex environments, multidimensional goal setting is harder to get right and can lead to undesirable behavior and ultimately to lower quality. Broader organizational objectives should be communicated to workers to avoid too narrow a focus on some goals. ConsGoals that focus solely on output quantity can lead to lower quality outputs. If assigned goals are too ambitious, excessive risk taking may result. Work goals that are based on the output of individual workers can reduce cooperation among workers. Goals can encourage unethical behavior and lead to overcharging and misreporting of performance measures. Many of the caveats that apply to monetary incentives also apply to goal setting. Goal setting and worker motivationIndividual work goals can increase a worker's performance, but they need to be chosen wisely

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Section: Goals Can Encourage Such Unethical Behavior As Cheating and mentioning

confidence: 67%

Goal setting and worker motivation

Goerg

2015

izawol

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“…by Welsh and Ordóñez (2014). Items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from never (1) to always (7).…”

Section: Daily Ego Depletion Supervisors Rated Their Daily Ego Deplementioning

confidence: 99%

My Family Made Me Do It: A Cross-Domain, Self-Regulatory Perspective on Antecedents to Abusive Supervision

Courtright

Gardner

Smith

et al. 2016

AMJ

197

208

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Drawing on resource drain theory, we introduce self-regulatory resource (ego) depletion stemming from family-to-work conflict (FWC) as an alternative theoretical perspective on why supervisors behave abusively toward subordinates. Our two-study examination of a cross-domain antecedent of abusive supervision stands in contrast to prior research, which has focused primarily on work-related factors that influence abusive supervision. Further, our investigation shows how ego depletion is proximally related to abusive supervision. In the first study, conducted at a Fortune 500 company and designed as a lagged survey study, we found that after controlling for alternative theoretical mechanisms, supervisors who experience FWC display more abusive behaviors toward subordinates, and that this relationship was stronger for female supervisors and for supervisors who operate in environments with greater situation-control. These results were then replicated and expanded in an experience sampling study using a multi-organization sample of supervisors. This allowed us to study the FWC-abusive supervision relationship as it emerges on a day-to-day basis and to examine ego depletion as an explanatory mechanism. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that FWC is associated with abusive supervision, ego depletion acts as a mediator of the FWC-abusive supervision relationship, and that gender and situationcontrol serve as moderators. AbstractDrawing on resource drain theory, we introduce self-regulatory resource (ego) depletion stemming from family-to-work conflict (FWC) as an alternative theoretical perspective on why supervisors behave abusively toward subordinates. Our two-study examination of a cross-domain antecedent of abusive supervision stands in contrast to prior research, which has focused primarily on work-related factors that influence abusive supervision. Further, our investigation shows how ego depletion is proximally related to abusive supervision. In the first study, conducted at a Fortune 500 company and designed as a lagged survey study, we found that after controlling for alternative theoretical mechanisms, supervisors who experience FWC display more abusive behaviors toward subordinates, and that this relationship was stronger for female supervisors and for supervisors who operate in environments with greater situation-control.These results were then replicated and expanded in an experience sampling study using a multiorganization sample of supervisors. This allowed us to study the FWC-abusive supervision relationship as it emerges on a day-to-day basis and to examine ego depletion as an explanatory mechanism. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that FWC is associated with abusive supervision, ego depletion acts as a mediator of the FWC-abusive supervision relationship, and that gender and situation-control serve as moderators.

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“…The results concluded that researchers should not assume that the frequency of self-reporting should be approximated by the observer-reporter frequency (Zuber & Kaptein, 2014). Welsh and Ordóñez (2014) contend that specific, challenging, and unachievable performance goals may motivate unethical behavior within an organization. Goals with cash value and goals with no external rewards were found to motivate unethical behavior (Welsh & Ordóñez, 2014).…”

Section: Copyright By Author(s); Cc-by 111mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Welsh and Ordóñez (2014) contend that specific, challenging, and unachievable performance goals may motivate unethical behavior within an organization. Goals with cash value and goals with no external rewards were found to motivate unethical behavior (Welsh & Ordóñez, 2014). Goal-based compensation systems increased unethical behavior more than linear piece-rate and tournament-based compensation (Welsh & Ordóñez, 2014).…”

Section: Copyright By Author(s); Cc-by 111mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Goal-based compensation systems increased unethical behavior more than linear piece-rate and tournament-based compensation (Welsh & Ordóñez, 2014). Performance goals can increase unethical behavior due to creating high cognitive loads that focus mental processes on goal attainment as oppose to moral standard (Welsh & Ordóñez, 2014).…”

Section: Copyright By Author(s); Cc-by 111mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Current Trends Of Unethical Behavior Within Organizations

Askew¹,

Beisler²,

Keel³

2015

IJMIS

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(Jex & Britt, 2008). Ethical behavior is the behavior companies seek to drive performance and success. Companies are highly concerned about unethical behavior for a number of reasons. Decreases in organizational performance, financial losses, reputational damage, safety concerns, and a loss of customers are all concerns that are connected with unethical behavior. Understanding the why behind these types of behaviors could possibly dictate the success of a given organization.

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The dark side of consecutive high performance goals: Linking goal setting, depletion, and unethical behavior

Cited by 219 publications

References 51 publications

Goal setting and worker motivation

Goal setting and worker motivation

My Family Made Me Do It: A Cross-Domain, Self-Regulatory Perspective on Antecedents to Abusive Supervision

Current Trends Of Unethical Behavior Within Organizations

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