R.H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, and 2Rotman School of Management, University of
Toronto
ABSTRACTGoal-setting
KEYWORDSgoal
setting;
self-efficacy;
commitment;
subconscious goals
the work and tenacity (see Fig. 1). The role of goals and
self-efficacy as mediators of other motivators was also
found in previous studies in which the individual was the
level of analysis (Locke & Latham, 2002).
Goals and Subconscious Priming
To regulate behavior during goal-directed action, a
consciously held goal does not have to be in focal
awareness every second.
Communicated
Vision
Passion
Goals
Venture
Growth
Tenacity
SelfEfficacy
Fig. 1. Therelationshipoftraits(passionandtenacity),vision,goals,and selfefficacy to the sales and employment growth of small ventures. Adapted
from The Relationship of Entrepreneurial Traits, Skill, and
MotivationtoSubsequentVentureGrowth,byJ.R.Baum&E.A.Locke, 2004,
Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, p. 592. Copyright 2004, American
Psychological Association. Adapted with permission.
Goal-Setting Theory
Recommended Reading
Latham, G.P. (2006). Work motivation: History, theory, research
and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P. (2005). Goal setting theory: Theory
building by induction. In K.G. Smith & M.A. Mitt (Eds.),
Great minds in management: The process of theory
development. New York: Oxford.
REFERENCES
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control.
Stanford: W.H. Freeman.
Bargh, J., &Williams,E. (2006).The automaticity of social life.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 14.
Baum, J.R., & Locke, E.A. (2004). The relationship of
entrepreneurial traits, skill, and motivation to subsequent
venture growth. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 587
598.
Brown, S.P., Jones, E., & Leigh, T.W. (2005). The attenuating
effect of role overload on relationships linking self-efficacy and
goal level to work performance. Journal of Applied Psychology,
90, 972979. DeShon, R.P., Kozlowski, W.J., Schmidt, A.M.,
Milner, K.R., & Wiechmann, D. (2004). Multiple-goal, multilevel
model of feed-
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