THE INTERACTION OF ABILITY AND MOTIVATION IN PERFORMANCE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE MEANING OF MODERATORS1
Abstract
It was hypothesized that one possible explanation of moderator effects is that they are due to different degrees of homogeneity with respect to a causal variable among different subgroups. This hypothesis was tested in a laboratory experiment in which performance was predicted from ability using motivation as the moderator. Ability was measured with a work sample and motivation was varied by assigning goals with different degrees of difficulty and specificity. It was found that ability predicted performance better in groups which were homogeneous with respect to motivation that in those which were motivationally heterogeneous. A moderated regression analysis showed that most of the differential validity was reducible to main effects, but significant interaction effects were found. One of them was caused by the fact that in one low motivation condition the variance in performance was reduced, thus decreasing the slope of the regression line.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The interaction hypothesis that motivation and ability interact in their effects on behavioral achievement has received only limited empirical support.
“Interestingly, despite its intuitive plausibility, the interaction hypothesis has received only limited empirical support (see Locke, Mento, & Katcher, 1978).”
From The theory of planned behavior (1991) · cites this paper as Locke, Mento, & Katcher, 1978
Cites
Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives
Locke, E. A. (1968) · Organizational Behavior and Human Performance · doi:10.1016/0030-5073(68)90004-4 · Cited by 2,409 · see citing works
Self-citationMotivational effects of knowledge of results: A goal-setting phenomenon?
Locke, E. A., Cartledge, N., & Koeppel, J. (1968) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/h0026737 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 20
- 10.1177/001316445201200410 · DOI
- Boehm V. R., 1977, Differential prediction: A methodological artifact, Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 146, 10.1037/0021-9010.62.2.146 · DOI
- Cohen J., 1975, Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences
- 10.1037/h0032933 · DOI
- 10.1037/0021-9010.62.5.624 · DOI
- 10.1037/h0044885 · DOI
- 10.1037/h0045444 · DOI
- 10.1037/h0024239 · DOI
- 10.1037/0021-9010.62.2.137 · DOI
- Kerlinger F. N., 1973, Multiple regression in behavioral research
- 10.1037/h0040371 · DOI
- 10.1146/annurev.ps.28.020177.001135 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1966.tb02025.x · DOI
- 10.2466/pms.1965.21.3.719 · DOI
- Locke E. A., 1976, Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology
- Moran L. J., 1959, Repetitive psychometric measures, Psychological Reports, 5, 269, 10.2466/pr0.1959.5.3.269 · DOI
- 10.1037/h0031150 · DOI
- 10.1177/001316445601600205 · DOI
- 10.1037/h0037337 · DOI
- 10.1037/h0031543 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The theory of planned behavior
Ajzen, I. (1991) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-t · Cited by 90,587 · see citing works
Task complexity as a moderator of goal effects: a meta-analysis
Wood, R. E., Mento, A. J., & Locke, E. A. (1987) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.72.3.416 · Cited by 598 · see citing works
- Authors
- LOCKE, E. A., MENTO, A. J., & KATCHER, B. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- ORCID
- LOCKE, EDWIN A.
- Venue
- Personnel Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1978-06
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 269-280
- ISSN
- 0031-5826 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-6570
- OpenAlex
- W2031630383
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 3.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personnel Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Employee Performance and Motivation
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- moderator effects, goal difficulty, goal specificity, motivation, ability, performance prediction, differential validity
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 ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
