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Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 90 No. 3 2005

Goal Regulation Across Time: The Effects of Feedback and Affect.

Remus Ilies; Timothy A. Judge1

1 University of Florida

Abstract

This research focused on the processes individuals use to regulate their goals across time. Two studies examined goal regulation following task performance with 6 samples of participants in a series of 8-trial task performance experiments. The experiments involved: (a) 3 task types, (b) 2 goal types, and (c) actual or manipulated performance feedback referring to the focal participant's own performance or to the participant's performance compared with others' performance. Applying multilevel methods, the authors examined (a) how performance feedback influences subsequent goals within individuals across both negative and positive performance feedback ranges, and (b) the mediating role of affect in explaining the relationship between feedback and subsequent goal setting. Results showed that participants adjusted their goals downwardly following negative feedback and created positive goal-performance discrepancies by raising their goals following positive feedback. In each sample, affect mediated substantial proportions of the feedback-goals relationship within individuals.

DOI
10.1037/0021-9010.90.3.453
Volume
90
Issue
3
Pages
453-467
Language
en
Sources
crossref openalex

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