AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIVE IMPACT OF ASSIGNED GOALS AND SELF-EFFICACY ON PERSONAL GOALS AND PERFORMANCE OVER TIME

A model of goal-setting processes was developed that depicted the infl uence of previous performance, assigned goals, and self-efficacy on pe rsonal goals and performance. Three levels of assigned goals were mani pulated in a counterbalanced fashion across two performance trials. As signed goals were hypothesized to have a greater influence than self-e fficacy on personal goals for the first trial, whereas efficacy was hy pothesized to have a stronger influence than assigned goals on Trial 2 goals. Although the hypothesized model fit fairly well overall, the s pecific results concerning the relative impact of assigned goal and se lf-efficacy were not supported. In general, the observed trends indica ted the effects were the opposite of what was expected. Potential expl anations for these results and recommendations for future research are offered.