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An exploratory field experiment of the effect of subconscious and conscious goals on employee performance

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  • Shantz, Amanda
  • Latham, Gary P.

Abstract

The effect of both a primed and a conscious goal on performance in the workplace was investigated. The primed goal was pilot tested. People on their way to work (n = 52) shown a photo of a woman winning a race performed better on a brainstorming task within a 2-min time period than people in the control group. A laboratory experiment (n = 71) revealed that this primed goal significantly increased the participants' subconscious need for achievement, as measured by a projective test, relative to those in the control group. A 2 (primed goal vs. control group) x 2 (conscious goal vs. do best goal) factorial design involving call center employees (n = 81) revealed a main effect for this primed goal, as well as a main effect for a conscious goal for money solicited from donors.

Suggested Citation

  • Shantz, Amanda & Latham, Gary P., 2009. "An exploratory field experiment of the effect of subconscious and conscious goals on employee performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 9-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:109:y:2009:i:1:p:9-17
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    Cited by:

    1. Kanfer, Ruth & Chen, Gilad, 2016. "Motivation in organizational behavior: History, advances and prospects," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 6-19.
    2. Relling, Marleen & Schnittka, Oliver & Sattler, Henrik & Johnen, Marius, 2016. "Each can help or hurt: Negative and positive word of mouth in social network brand communities," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 42-58.
    3. Valerie L. Bartelt & Alan R. Dennis & Lingyao Yuan & Jordan B. Barlow, 2013. "Individual Priming in Virtual Team Decision-Making," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 873-896, September.
    4. Christine R Harris & Noriko Coburn & Doug Rohrer & Harold Pashler, 2013. "Two Failures to Replicate High-Performance-Goal Priming Effects," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-1, August.
    5. Thomas, Tyler F., 2016. "Motivating revisions of management accounting systems: An examination of organizational goals and accounting feedback," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Ford, Robert C., 2014. "Prime time: The strategic use of subconscious priming to enhance customer satisfaction," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 269-277.
    7. Ola Andersson & Marieke Huysentruyt & Topi Miettinen & Ute Stephan, 2017. "Person–Organization Fit and Incentives: A Causal Test," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(1), pages 73-96, January.
    8. Sitzmann, Traci & Bell, Bradford S., 2017. "The dynamic effects of subconscious goal pursuit on resource allocation, task performance, and goal abandonment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 1-14.
    9. Martin, Sean R. & Harrison, Spencer H. & Hoopes, Charlotte & Schroeder, Juliana & Belmi, Peter R., 2022. "Talking shop: An exploration of how talking about work affects our initial interactions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    10. Andrejkow, Joanna & Berger, Leslie & Guo, Lan, 2022. "Conscious and nonconscious goal pursuit in multidimensional tasks," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Ola Andersson & Topi Miettinen & Kaisa Hytönen & Magnus Johannesson & Ute Stephan, 2017. "Subliminal influence on generosity," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 20(3), pages 531-555, September.
    12. Soowon Park & Jongho Shin, 2017. "The influence of anonymous peers on prosocial behavior," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Ford, Robert C., 2017. "Combining performance, learning, and behavioral goals to match job with person: Three steps to enhance employee performance with goal setting," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 345-352.
    14. Anna Katharina Bachmann & Thomas Maran & Marco Furtner & Alexander Brem & Marius Welte, 2021. "Improving entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the attitude towards starting a business venture," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1707-1727, August.
    15. Bruce A. Reinig & Robert O. Briggs, 2013. "Putting Quality First in Ideation Research," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 943-973, September.
    16. Chen, Xiao & Latham, Gary P., 2014. "The effect of priming learning vs. performance goals on a complex task," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 88-97.

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    Keywords

    Subconscious Conscious goal setting;

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