Page 231 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

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personality effects were often mediated or partially mediated by goals and self-efficacy
(Locke, 2001).
An individual difference concept that has received considerable attention in the past
decade is that of a learning vs. a performance goal orientation. Confusion has arisen over
these traits, in large part due to poorly chosen terminology. If one looks at the actual
items in the scales, a learning goal orientation seems to refer to the desire to undertake
challenging tasks and acquire new knowledge and skills, whereas a performance goal
orientation refers to a desire to ensure success by choosing tasks or goals that one can
easily master and hence get praise from others for success (e.g., Button, Mathieu, &
Zajac, 1996; VandeWalle, Brown, Cron, & Slocum, 1999).
The evidence, as discussed subsequently in this chapter, suggests that people with a
learning (challenge) goal orientation do better than those with a performance (success
on easy tasks) goal orientation.
In summary, the relation of goals and personality traits when used to predict perfor-
mance is neither fully understood nor extensively researched. However, there is evidence
of both mediation and moderation (interaction) effects. This topic is in need of additional
study.

MEDIATORS

As noted earlier, and shown in Figure 10.1, four mediators explain how or why goals
increase job performance. The first three, labeled by Wood and Locke (1990) as universal
task strategies, are primarily motivational, namely, direction, effort, and persistence. The
fourth mediator, task specific strategies, is primarily cognitive.

DIRECTION

Bagozzi and Warshaw (1990) proposed a theory of goal pursuit based on behavioral
intentions. Attention or direction is a result of the decision made to attain a specific goal.
Empirical support for this assertion was obtained by Hinsz and Ployhart (1998).
Kernan and Lord (1990), as well as Kanfer and her colleagues (Kanfer, Ackerman,
Murtha, Dugdale, & Nelson, 1994), drew upon the attentional resource allocation model
to explain the relationship between goals and performance in multiple goal environments.
Direction occurs through a prioritization process that is affected by situational cues, the
personal importance of one goal relative to another, and feedback. Tubbs and Ekeberg
(1991) found that performance is highest when an individual is adept at shifting attention
between levels in a multi-task hierarchy.

EFFORT AND PERSISTENCE

Inastudyinvolvingsoftwareengineers,RaschandTosi(1992)showedthatgoaldifficulty
affects the level of effort expended which in turn affects performance. With regard
to persistence, Multon, Brown, and Lent (1991) found that some of the variance was
accounted for by self-efficacy.
That mediators do not always operate in isolation is shown in a study by Theodorakis,
Laparidis, Kioumourtzoglou and Goudas (1998). Effort, persistence, and task strategies