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The role of goal specificity in the goal-setting process

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between goal specificity and task performance, with specificity operationalized as a continuous quantitative variable reflecting the range of performance levels individuals chose as their personal goals. It was hypothesized that, controlling for goal difficulty, specific personal goals would be associated with higher levels of task performance. It was also hypothesized that task strategy would mediate the relationship between goal specificity and performance and that specific goals would be associated with smaller goal-performance discrepancies. The results from a sample of 162 college students working on an eye-hand coordination task supported the hypothesis concerning goal-performance discrepancies. They hypotheses regarding task strategy and the relationship between goal specificity and performance were supported only on the second of two trials.

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The authors would like to thank Marybeth DeGregorio, David McKellin, and Jillian Shapiro for their valuable input and assistance with this study and Edwin Locke, Patrick Wright, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Klein, H.J., Whitener, E.M. & Ilgen, D.R. The role of goal specificity in the goal-setting process. Motiv Emot 14, 179–193 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00995568

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