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Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey.
Abstract
The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory, describing the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives.
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“These mutual goals direct attention and effort, serve an energizing function, contribute to persistence, and spark action indirectly by leading to interests, discoveries, and use of knowledge, strategies, and skills (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
From The Principles of Strengths-Based Education (2009) · cites this paper as Locke & Latham, 2002
In the citing paper
“Unrealistic expectations surrounding weight changes can lead to discouragement [67].”
From Barriers and facilitators to diet, physical activity and lifestyle behavior intervention adherence: a qualitative systematic review of the literature (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
In the citing paper
“Locke and Latham (2002) argue that learning goals are especially important for driving self-regulated attention and motivation.”
From Summarise, elaborate, try again: exploring the effect of feedback literacy on AI-enhanced essay writing (2026) · cites this paper as Locke and Latham (2002)
In the citing paper
“goal setting is generally acknowledged as an essential treatment intervention for procrastination because insufficient or inadequate goals often impair problem solving and lower motivation (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
From Understanding and Treating Procrastination: A Review of a Common Self-Regulatory Failure (2014) · cites this paper as Locke & Latham, 2002
In the citing paper
“goal setting is generally acknowledged as an essential treatment intervention for procrastination because insufficient or inadequate goals often impair problem solving and lower motivation (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
From Understanding and Treating Procrastination: A Review of a Common Self-Regulatory Failure (2014) · cites this paper as Locke & Latham, 2002
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“The idea behind the GST is that setting goals specifies the objectives of behavior, directs effort to goal-relevant activities, and increases commitment [39].”
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“Goals are internally represented desired states (Austin and Vancouver 1996) and aims of an action ( Locke and Latham 1990, 2002 ).”
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“The ubiquity of strategic plans, with strategic objectives and performance measures, reflects a widely shared assumption that clarifying an organization's goals enhances performance (Locke and Latham 2002 ; Wright 2004 ).”
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“In their model of goal-setting theory, Locke and Latham (2002) describe five moderators that further affect goal-driven performance.”
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“For consistency sake, these procedures are used for all effect size d calculations reported in this article. hypothesized significant main effects on performance for both consciously and subconsciously primed goals (for reviews, see Chartrand & Bargh, 2002; Locke & Latham, 2002).”
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“…example, action theory (Frese, 2005), control-theory (Carver & Scheier, 1981), and goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1984; Locke & Latham, 1990; Locke & Latham, 2002) emphasize the explanatory power of consciously set goals that are explicitly set and are in focal awareness for predicting,…”
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“One reason is that they have a higher level of self-efficacy (Locke and Latham 1990; Bandura and Locke 2003; Donovan 2009) and this makes them persist at pursuing their career goals for longer (Locke and Latham 2002).”
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“As indicated within the goal-setting literature, this monitoring of team goals will aid teams in more effectively achieving their goals (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
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“Similar to self-efficacy, aims direct people’s attention, produce motivational energy, create persistence, and foster skill development (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
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“1 is based on insights from organizational management theory (Van Herpen et al., 2005; Moers, 2000; Gibbons, 1998), psychological motivational theory (Locke and Latham, 2002; Colquitt, 2001; Hollenbeck and Klein, 1987; Bies and Moag, 1986), and economic agency and reciprocity theory (Fehr and”
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“Once a need is satisfied, the drive to continue in a psychological pursuit reduces and the tourist returns to normal routines or milieu (Locke & Latham, 2002; Seward, 1956).”
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“Behavioural homeostasis works best when guided with a planned series of goals that can help to regulate action (Locke and Latham, 2002).”
BackgroundTu, Y., Li, Y., & Zuo, W. (2022) · Human Resource Management · doi:10.1002/hrm.22138 · Cited by 147
Psychological capital and job satisfaction in Egypt
Badran, M. A., & Youssef‐Morgan, C. M. (2015) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/jmp-06-2013-0176 · Cited by 125
Holliday, R. C., Cano, S., Freeman, J. A., & Playford, E. D. (2006) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.2006.102509 · Cited by 121
Impacts of Hedonic and Utilitarian Motives on the Novelty and Utility of User-Developed Innovations
Stock, R., Oliveira, P., & von Hippel, E. (2013) · Journal of Product Innovation Management · doi:10.1111/jpim.12201 · Cited by 134
Wang, B., Xie, F., Kandampully, J. A., & Wang, J. (2022) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103109 · Cited by 135
The effect of high-involvement human resource management practices on supply chain integration
Huo, B., Han, Z., Chen, H., & Zhao, X. (2015) · International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management · doi:10.1108/ijpdlm-05-2014-0112 · Cited by 130
Corporate social responsibility organizational identification and motivation
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“Research in motivation over the past several decades has evolved from theories with a strong mechanistic orientation (e.g. Skinner’s (1953) Reinforcement Theory) to a more organic orientation: Vroom’s (1964) Expectancy Theory, to contemporary Goal-setting Theory (GST) as propounded by Locke and Latham (Locke et al., 1…”
BackgroundInfluentialLi, H., Majumdar, R., Chen, M. A., & Ogata, H. (2021) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104239 · Cited by 152
Latham, G. P., & Brown, T. C. (2006) · Applied Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00246.x · Cited by 132
Self-citationTerblanche, N., & Kidd, M. (2022) · Sage Open · doi:10.1177/21582440221096136 · Cited by 120
“In line with these recommendations Vici was designed to facilitate goal attainment according to goal theory (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
MethodHopp, C., & Sonderegger, R. (2015) · Journal of Small Business Management · doi:10.1111/jsbm.12107 · Cited by 124
Goal‐setting in paediatric rehabilitation: perceptions of parents and professional
Øien, I., Fallang, B., & Østensjø, S. (2009) · Child Care Health and Development · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.01038.x · Cited by 118
Information provision and energy consumption: Evidence from a field experiment
Aydın, E., Brounen, D., & Kok, N. (2018) · Energy Economics · doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2018.03.008 · Cited by 131
“5 Feedback theory suggests that feedback can be more effective on energy consumption behavior when it is accompanied by a goal (Locke and Latham, 2002; Schultz et al., 2015; Karlin et al., 2015).”
Backgroundde Leeuw, S., & van den Berg, J. P. (2011) · Journal of Operations Management · doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.12.009 · Cited by 129
Akhter, S. H. (2014) · Journal of Consumer Marketing · doi:10.1108/jcm-06-2013-0606 · Cited by 128
“When beliefs about self-efficacy are strengthened, commitment to search for suitable alternatives for achieving goals increases (Locke and Latham, 2002).”
BackgroundIdentifying and applying psychological theory to setting and achieving rehabilitation goals
Scobbie, L., Wyke, S., & Dixon, D. L. (2009) · Clinical Rehabilitation · doi:10.1177/0269215509102981 · Cited by 124
Promoting Academic Motivation and Self-Regulation: Practical Guidelines for Online Instructors
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de Visser-Amundson, A. (2020) · Journal of Sustainable Tourism · doi:10.1080/09669582.2020.1849232 · Cited by 128
“Specific commitment messages (versus general) reduce message ambiguity and hence trigger greater behavioural change (Locke & Latham, 2002).”
BackgroundMeeting Satisfaction for Technology-Supported Groups
Briggs, R. O., Reinig, B. A., & de Vreede, G. (2006) · Small Group Research · doi:10.1177/1046496406294320 · Cited by 117
Metadata
- Authors
- Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Venue
- American Psychologist
- Published
- 2002-09
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 705-717
- ISSN
- 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-990X
- OpenAlex
- W4237356565
- Cited by
- 7,766
- References
- 131
- Citations by year
- 2026: 527 · 2025: 509 · 2024: 464 · 2023: 511 · 2022: 428 · 2021: 456 · 2020: 540 · 2019: 467 · 2018: 460 · 2017: 421 · 2016: 395 · 2015: 408 · 2014: 370 · 2013: 313 · 2012: 333
- FWCI
- 59.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Human Behavior and Motivation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- goal setting, task motivation, motivation theories, goal difficulty, goal specificity, feedback, task difficulty
- MeSH terms
- Goals, Humans, Motivation, Psychological Theory
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
