By nature, a work goal creates a discrepancy between an employee’s current performance and some future state. Research suggests that goal-performance discrepancies motivate employees to modify their goals (either up or down) or adjust their efforts (by trying harder or slacking off). A recent study (Converse et al., 2010) suggests that several individual differences predict how people behave in response to goal-performance discrepancies, which comes in the form of performance feedback. The study was conducted on a sample of 90 college students taking an introductory psychology course.
LOCUS OF CONTROL
Past research has found that, in general, people tend to set lower goals after receiving negative feedback and set higher goals following positive feedback. This study found that this trend is especially true for people with an internal locus of control, meaning those who believe that they have control over the outcomes effecting them. However, this pattern of behavior is not true for people with an external locus of control, or those who believe that they have little control over outcomes. Instead, these people tend to set slightly higher goals following negative feedback.
SELF-EFFICACY
In addition, people with high levels of self-efficacy (those who believe they can succeed) tend to set higher goals for themselves, especially after receiving positive feedback. These people have more confidence in their ability and thus are more willing to challenge themselves by setting the bar a little higher.
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Finally, while conscientious people tend to increase effort following negative feedback, they may actually reduce effort following positive feedback. The researchers speculate that conscientious people may allocate resources away from a specific goal after receiving positive feedback; instead, they may move on to consciously juggle other priorities, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Converse, P.D., Steinhauser, E., & Pathak, J. (2010). Individual differences in reactions to goal-performance discrepancies over time. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 138-143.
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