Toward an Integration of Goal Setting Theory and the Automaticity Model

Abstract

Two laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the extent to which goal setting theory explains the effects of goals that are primed in the subconscious on task performance. The first experiment examined the effect on performance of three primes that connote the difficulty levels of a goal in the subconscious. Participants (n 5 91) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions where they were primed with either a photograph of a person lifting 20 pounds (easy goal), 200 pounds (moderately difficult goal), or 400 pounds (difficult goal). Following a filler task, participants were asked to "press as hard as you can" on a digital weight scale. Participants who were primed with the difficult goal exerted more effort than those who were primed with the moderate or easy goal. The second experiment examined whether choice of goal difficulty level can be primed. Participants (n 5 133) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Those primed with a difficult goal consciously chose to set a more difficult goal on a brainstorming task than those who were primed with an easier goal. Similarly, their performance was significantly higher. Conscientiousness moderated the subconscious goal-performance relationship while the selfset conscious goal partially mediated the subconscious goal-performance relationship.Priming began as an experimental technique to show how information is stored in memory despite the individuals inability to recall it (Bargh, 2014;Koriat & Feuerstein, 1976). The term refers to the facilitative effect of a stimulus in the environment that activates stored knowledge, in the absence of awareness, whenever the situation allows (Higgins, 1996). For this reason, Latham, Stajkovic, and Locke (2010) argued for the use of the term subconscious rather than unconscious or preconscious. Automaticity refers to a lack of awareness that a mental representation stored in memory has been 26 LATHAM ET AL.

The Moderating Effect of Performance Feedback and the Mediating Effect of Self‐Set Goals on the Primed Goal‐Performance Relationship

“…In the second and third experiments of the present research, a primed goal cued the self‐setting of a goal without participants being asked to do so. Consistent with Latham et al (), the self‐set goal in the present experiments mediated the primed goal‐performance relationship. Moreover, the present research replicated these effects by manipulating the valence of the primed goal whereas Latham et al () manipulated the difficulty level of the primed goal.…”

“…The percentage of participants who self-set a goal in the effective primed-goal condition self-set a goal was 54.5%, in the neutral condition 25.3%, and in the ineffective primed-goals condition 8.6%. These findings are different from Latham et al (2017) where all the participants self-set a goal at the request of the experimenter. mediations with each of the dummy variables as the independent variable.…”

“…As noted earlier, Latham et al () found that a primed goal affected the difficulty level of a self‐set goal. The self‐set goal had been requested by an experimenter.…”

“…Second, the results of these four experiments, consistent with the empirical research that preceded it, suggest that goal setting theory provides a framework for conducting research on the automaticity model. Three of the four moderators in the theory have been shown to be boundary conditions of the causal effect of a primed goal on organisational behaviour, namely, ability (Latham et al, ) and goal commitment (Latham et al, ). The present four experiments revealed the effect of a third moderator, feedback.…”

“…Photographs were subsequently used to prime a goal for either performance effectiveness or ineffectiveness. This is because they have been shown to be effective cues in the environment for priming goals in both laboratory (e.g., Chen & Latham, ; Latham et al, ) and field settings (e.g., Shantz & Latham, ; Latham & Piccolo, ). The photograph in each condition appeared at the middle‐top of every page.…”