Undesirable Effects of Goal Setting on Perceived Fairness, Commitment, and Unethical Behavior
A Replication and Extension of a Study by Welsh and Ordóñez (2014) in a German Sample
Abstract
Abstract. The positive effects of goal setting on motivation and performance are among the most established findings of industrial–organizational psychology. Accordingly, goal setting is a common management technique. Lately, however, potential negative effects of goal-setting, for example, on unethical behavior, are increasingly being discussed. This research replicates and extends a laboratory experiment conducted in the United States. In one of three goal conditions (do-your-best goals, consistently high goals, increasingly high goals), 101 participants worked on a search task in five rounds. Half of them (transparency yes/no) were informed at the outset about goal development. We did not find the expected effects on unethical behavior but medium-to-large effects on subjective variables: Perceived fairness of goals and goal commitment were least favorable in the increasing-goal condition, particularly in later goal rounds. Results indicate that when designing goal-setting interventions, organizations may consider potential undesirable long-term effects.
Zusammenfassung. Dass hohe und spezifische Ziele motivierend und leistungsförderlich sind, gilt als eines der am besten belegten Erkenntnisse der Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie. Führung durch Zielsetzung ist entsprechend weit verbreitet. In jüngerer Zeit werden allerdings vermehrt auch mögliche negative Konsequenzen von Zielsetzung, z. B. unethisches Verhalten, diskutiert. Diese Arbeit repliziert und erweitert ein in den USA durchgeführtes Laborexperiment zu negativen Effekten aufeinanderfolgender Zielsetzungen auf unethisches Verhalten. Unter einer von drei Zielbedingungen (Do-your-best-Ziele, gleichbleibend hohe Ziele, ansteigende Ziele) arbeiteten 101 Versuchspartner/innen über fünf Runden hinweg an einer Suchaufgabe. Die Hälfte von ihnen (Transparenz ja/nein) wurde vorher über die Zielentwicklung informiert. Die erwarteten Effekte auf unethisches Verhalten zeigten sich nicht, wohl aber mittlere bis starke Effekte auf subjektive Variablen: Wahrgenommene Fairness und Zielbindung (commitment) waren in der Bedingung ansteigender Ziele am ungünstigsten ausgeprägt, insbesondere in den späteren Zielrunden. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass bei der Gestaltung von Zielsetzungsinterventionen mögliche unerwünschte Langzeiteffekte mitbedacht werden sollten.
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