Organizational & Industrial Psychology in the 21 st Century—Goal-Setting Theory and Performance Management: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Goal setting is a typical aspect of behavior change interventions, although when it is most successful is unknown. The aims of this systematic literature review were to determine: 1) the basic concepts of the goal-setting theory; 2) to investigate and scrutinize the major findings of this specific theory; 3) to discuss the practical use of the theory in the working environment; 4) to demonstrate a critical review; 5) to examine future research. For this purpose, 3 databases were searched for papers that assessed the unique effects of goal-setting theory on the performance management system. The results of this systematic review were: 1) the more difficult is a goal, the better the result will be; 2) commitment is higher when the goal is more characterized or unambiguous; 3) the best outcome comes from goals that are both detailed and risky; 4) commitment to goals is particularly significant when they are exact and hard to accomplish; 5) where there is feedback on the progress toward a specific goal, then the result would be more successful; 6) goal setting and goal-related activities can be trained and/or adopted; 7) the planning quality is frequently greater than when there are no goals, and finally, individuals are least effective in discovering acceptable task methods when they have no prior experience or training on the job. The current survey adds novel experience into the means by which goal setting may be increased to augment conduct change and set the plan for future projects of examination.