Sk. Yearta et al., AN EXPLORATORY-STUDY OF GOAL-SETTING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE - A MOTIVATIONAL TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS, Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 68, 1995, pp. 237-252
Although goal setting is a common organizational practice, studies con
cerning goal setting have almost exclusively been carried out in exper
imental settings. Ir may therefore be erroneous to assume chat the rel
ationships found to exist in controlled settings will hold true within
organizations. Goal difficulty and participation in the goal setting
process were examined as they related to goal performance. Participant
s were 132 scientists and professional staff, and 27 of their supervis
ors. The positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and perf
ormance typically found in controlled settings was not replicated. Con
sistent with some previous studies, a modest but significant relations
hip between participation and performance was found. The results of th
is research have implications for practitioners, researchers conductin
g goal setting studies within applied settings, and for goal setting t
heory in general.