The DOI matches its Crossref record; 129 of the 131 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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“…fueled by this reinforced intrinsic motivation and sense of control, students set mastery goals oriented toward acquiring knowledge and developing abilities rather than performance goals focused on avoiding challenges or merely demonstrating competence (Ames & Archer, 1988; Locke & Latham, 2002).”
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
About these checks
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.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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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.
