The moderating effects of goal orientations on reactions to goal-performance discrepancies

Due to the growing popularity of goal setting programs within organisations, an understanding of the mechanisms underlying the dynamic regulation of performance is paramount (Williams, Donovan, & Dodge, 2000). Goals serve as standards or referents by which behaviour is directed and evaluated. Whilst their importance is well established in the existing literature (e.g. Locke & Latham, 1990), more recent research has highlighted the potential importance of goal-performance discrepancies. Moreover, the relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and outcomes such as self-efficacy and personal goals appears to vary between people (Schmidt & Chambers, 2002). Of interest in the current study was how these relationships were impacted by goal orientation. Ninety-seven participants completed 30 two-minute trials of an Air Traffic Control task. Task specific goal orientation was measured prior to commencement of the task and measures of self-efficacy and personal task goals were taken at each trial to assess the within-person relationships between goal performance discrepancies and each of these dependant variables, as well as the moderating effects of goal orientations on these relationships. Analysis supported the existence of a positive relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and outcome variables, with performance-approach and –avoidance orientations significantly moderating these associations. Implications and future directions are discussed.