Studies of the relationship between satisfaction, goal-setting, and performance

Abstract

Previous research and theory has indicated that (a) goals and intentions are the most immediate motivational determinants of task performance; (b) external incentives affect behavior through their effects on goals; and (c) emotional (affective) reactions are the result of value judgments. The present research was concerned primarily with the problem of how evaluations and emotions lead to goal-setting. It was argued that being dissatisfied with one's past performance generates the desire (and goal) to change one's performance, whereas satisfaction with one's performance produces the desire (and goal) to repeat or maintain one's previous performance level. Five experiments were reported in which: (a) satisfaction was predicted from value judgments; (b) goal-setting was predicted from satisfaction; and (c) performance was predicted from goals. In nearly all cases the correlations were both high and/or significant. It was found, however, that in some cases the level of performance that yielded satisfaction in the past was not necessarily that which produced it in the future. In these cases it was the individual's anticipated (rather than past) satisfaction that best predicted subsequent goal-setting. The relationship of the present theory to other theories of task motivation is discussed briefly (e.g., Dulany; Miller, Galanter, & Pribram; Porter & Lawler; Ryan; and Vroom). © 1970.