The Impact of Need for Achievement Components on Goal Commitment and Performance

Abstract

A laboratory study examined the effects of components of need for achievement on goal commitment and performance. It was predicted that need for mastery and need for work are related to goal commitment. It was also predicted that need for mastery and need for work are more highly related to goal commitment than competitiveness, given the characteristics of the task environment. Finally, goal commitment was expected to mediate the effects of need for mastery and need for work on performance. Fifty‐four undergraduate students performed nine trials of a complex task and completed a need for achievement scale composed of four subscales. Support was obtained for the first two predictions, and evidence of a sequential model partially supported the third prediction.

The Effect of Goal Conflict on Performance

“…Keman and Lord (1990) indicate that individuals high in need for achievement are more goal-committed and outperform those low in need for achievement. Hollenbeck, Klein, O'Leary, and Wright (1989), Hollenbeck, Williams and Klein (1989), and Johnson and Perlow (1992) also found significant correlations between need for achievement and goal commitment.…”

Poverty, Psychological Resources And Subjective Well-Being

“…Individuals with high achievement motivation seek challenging tasks, compete in order to do things better than others, and derive satisfaction from personal mastery (Maehr, 1978, in Salili, 1996. These individuals are characterized by being energetic and having high levels of concentration in their work (Barling and Boswell, 1995), they prosper in competitive atmospheres (Ward, 1995), they are oriented toward achieving goals (Johnson and Perlow, 1992), they have a high potential for leadership (Fletcher, 1991) and are proactive, and consequently, potential leaders (Baterman and Crant, 1993).…”

Old Friends, New Faces: Motivation Research in the 1990s

“…In addition to contextual factors, researchers in the 1990s studied individual differences that might be associated with goal commitment. Johnson and Perlow (1992) found that a component of need for achievement (need for mastery) was associated with college students' commitment to a difficult goal assigned for an air traffic controller simulation. Barrick et al (1993) found that sales representatives who were high in conscientiousness were more likely to have autonomously set goals in the past, and to be more committed to subsequent goals.…”