Gary P Latham
Biographic Data
| ID | 1662994 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gary P Latham |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gary P |
| FAMILY NAME | Latham |
| SIGNATURE | LATHAM G P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5922-0321 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 558 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The feedforward interview
This paper describes a structured interview process intended to support managers in developing their employees. In response to the challenges with traditional feedback and performance management practices, the feedforward interview provides an alternative discussion format where the manager is focused on listening and understanding the employee, while guiding through a process to identify performance strengths. The benefits of this technique for …
Direct and indirect longitudinal relationships among self‐efficacy, job performance and career advancements
The present study examined the longitudinal relations among work self‐efficacy beliefs, job performance and career success, defined as objective career advancements. We argued that job performance would mediate both the influence of worker's self‐efficacy beliefs on career success and the influence of career success on subsequent self‐efficacy beliefs. The participants were 976 employees of one of the largest companies in Italy, assessed at three…
The upsides and downsides of thought experiments in I‐O/OB
Conducting thought experiments prior to conducting a pilot study followed by a field experiment or correlational study have proven invaluable to the author for selecting an issue worthy of study, generating testable hypotheses, ways of manipulating the independent variable, selecting/developing a reliable dependent variable, thinking through a doable procedure, and coming up with ways to persuade senior managers to approve the proposed studies/ex…
The Relationship Between Unlearning and Innovation Ambidexterity with the Performance of New Product Development Teams
Previous research has suggested that unlearning is not linked to performance improvements in a team setting. Further, unlearning may have deleterious effects on performance outcomes because when it happens, teams are likely to lose the way they perform tasks and the reasons for their operational existence. In contrast, this study predicts that teams can conduct exploitative and exploratory activities in a balanced manner predicated on unlearning …
Advancing Primed Goal Research in Organizational Behavior
In this rejoinder, we address three issues discussed in the commentaries on our lead article: possible ethical issues in goal priming in organizational settings, whether goal priming is restricted to routine behaviors, and the relationship of goal priming with self‐fulling prophecies and an organization’s climate. Finally, our data were examined by an independent researcher who tested for publication bias
An Enumerative Review and a Meta‐Analysis of Primed Goal Effects on Organizational Behavior
Drawing on results from 32 published and 20 unpublished laboratory and field experiments, we conducted an enumerative review of the primed goal effects on outcomes of organizational relevance including performance and the need for achievement. The enumerative review suggests that goal setting theory is as applicable for subconscious goals as it is for consciously set goals. A meta‐analysis of 23 studies revealed that priming an achievement goal, …
The development of goal setting theory
Perspectives of a Practitioner-Scientist on Organizational Psychology/Organizational Behavior
In this article I comment on areas where I agree/disagree with the five previous perspectives on organizational psychology/organizational behavior (OP/OB). This is followed by a dire prediction of the future for OP doctoral programs, criticisms of the journal editorial processes and the overemphasis on deductive theory building, the value of qualitative analyses and enumerative reviews, the importance of mentors for advancing one's career, and th…
Distinguished Scholar Invited Essay
This article reviews goal-setting theory in terms of the causal relationships it specifies, the boundary conditions within which the causal relationships occur, and the mediators that explain the causal relationships. Three types of goals are described: performance, behavioral, and learning. Emphasis in the article is placed on findings regarding the beneficial effect of setting a specific, difficult learning goal
The Science and Practice of Goal Setting
Specific high goals lead to higher performance than easy goals, no goals or even urging people to do their best. The higher the goal the higher the performance, given ability, commitment, feedback, and resources. Goals are effective because they give people direction, they increase effort and persistence, and they cue people on strategies to attain them.
Performance Appraisal/Performance Management
Performance appraisals often hurt rather than help and employees improve their performance. Solutions include using an appraisal instrument that is tied to the organization's strategy, employing 360‐degree feedback on what a person should start, stop, or continue doing, coaching an individual on an on going basis, and adhering to principles of organizational justice.
Goal-Setting Theory
New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance
It is normal to pursue multiple goals at work and in our everyday life. Consider the case of college professors, who may set themselves several specifi c, diffi cult goals: publishing three articles in one year in high-impact journals with a high rejection rate, earning course evaluations from students of say 5.0 on a 7-point scale, and serving on two committees. Similarly, CEOs of business organizations have to pursue multiple goals, for example…
Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies
Supervisors' exceedingly difficult goals and abusive supervision
This study examined a contextual predictor of abusive supervision. Specifically, we hypothesized that job goals that are judged by supervisors to be exceedingly difficult to attain is a predictor of subordinate‐rated abusive supervisory behavior. Drawing on the cognitive theory of stress, we hypothesized that exceedingly difficult job goals assigned to supervisors predict abusive behavior directed at their subordinates, as mediated by the supervi…
The Effect of Employee Learning Goals and Goal Commitment on Departmental Performance
The relationship between employee goals at the individual level and firm performance at the department level was examined across a variety of industries. Specifically, three types of employee goals—learning, performance, and do-your-best—were studied with regard to department-level performance. Employee learning goals were related to higher levels of department-level performance than were performance or do-your-best goals. The relationship betwee…
Networking with boundary spanners
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a potential mechanism through which gender segregation in the engineering profession is created and sustained. Specifically, boundary spanners for women and men were examined because they may be a source of valuable information to job seekers. Design/methodology/approach Applicant data for the role of a senior technical engineer ( n =100) from an engineering organisation in the UK were analyzed. Fin…
The Relationship of Employee Perceptions of the Immediate Supervisor and Top Management With Collective Efficacy
Middle-level managers ( N = 1,149) in an Italian service organization were administered a questionnaire that assessed self- and collective efficacy in dealing with job responsibilities and tasks, perceptions of their immediate supervisor regarding support and encouragement, perceptions of top management regarding the coordination of different units and communication, and affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Structural equatio…
New Developments in and Directions for Goal-Setting Research
Goal setting is an “open” theory built on inductive findings from empirical research. The present paper briefly summarizes this theory. Emphasis is then given to findings that have been obtained in the present millennium with regard to (1) the high performance cycle, (2) the role of goals as mediators of personality effects on performance, (3) personality variables as moderators of goal effects on performance, the effect of (4) distal, (5) proxim…
Theory and research on coaching practices
To date the coaching literature has been dominated by practitioner contributions, and the commercial coaching industry itself has been significantly influenced by simplistic folk psychology and pseudoscientific approaches. There has been a paucity of solid theory and empirical research. Advances in industrial/organisational psychology often occur from adapting theories, concepts and methods from other subdisciplines of psychology. The explicit li…
New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory
Goal-setting theory is summarized regarding the effectiveness of specific, difficult goals; the relationship of goals to affect; the mediators of goal effects; the relation of goals to self-efficacy; the moderators of goal effects; and the generality of goal effects across people, tasks, countries, time spans, experimental designs, goal sources (i.e., self-set, set jointly with others, or assigned), and dependent variables. Recent studies concern…
Work Motivation Theory and Research at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
In the first Annual Review of Psychology chapter since 1977 devoted exclusively to work motivation, we examine progress made in theory and research on needs, traits, values, cognition, and affect as well as three bodies of literature dealing with the context of motivation: national culture, job design, and models of person-environment fit. We focus primarily on work reported between 1993 and 2003, concluding that goal-setting, social cognitive, a…
Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation
Context and the Employment Interview
The effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task
The effects of learning versus outcome distal goals in conjunction with proximal goals were investigated in a laboratory setting using a class‐scheduling task. The participants ( n = 96) needed to acquire knowledge in order to perform the task correctly. A ‘do your best’ outcome goal led to higher performance than the assignment of a specific, difficult outcome goal. However, the assignment of a specific, difficult learning goal led to higher per…
Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation
Goal setting and task performance
A review of both laboratory and field studies on the effect of setting goals when learning or performing a task found that specific, challenging goals led more often to higher performance than easy goals, 'do your best' goals or no goals. This is one of the most robust and replicable findings in the psychological literature, with 90% of the studies showing positive or partially positive results. The main mechanisms by which goals affect performan…
Cognitive and motivational effects of participation
Previous experimental studies of participation have typically examined its motivational (especially commitment) benefits. These studies showed that these benefits are neither large nor consistent. The present study focused on the cognitive benefits of participation in decision making (pdm) and on the role of a different motivational mediator, self‐efficacy. Unlike previous research which claimed to study the cognitive (informational) effects of p…
The effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task
The effects of learning versus outcome distal goals in conjunction with proximal goals were investigated in a laboratory setting using a class‐scheduling task. The participants ( n = 96) needed to acquire knowledge in order to perform the task correctly. A ‘do your best’ outcome goal led to higher performance than the assignment of a specific, difficult outcome goal. However, the assignment of a specific, difficult learning goal led to higher per…
Supervisors' exceedingly difficult goals and abusive supervision
This study examined a contextual predictor of abusive supervision. Specifically, we hypothesized that job goals that are judged by supervisors to be exceedingly difficult to attain is a predictor of subordinate‐rated abusive supervisory behavior. Drawing on the cognitive theory of stress, we hypothesized that exceedingly difficult job goals assigned to supervisors predict abusive behavior directed at their subordinates, as mediated by the supervi…
The Effect of Employee Learning Goals and Goal Commitment on Departmental Performance
The relationship between employee goals at the individual level and firm performance at the department level was examined across a variety of industries. Specifically, three types of employee goals—learning, performance, and do-your-best—were studied with regard to department-level performance. Employee learning goals were related to higher levels of department-level performance than were performance or do-your-best goals. The relationship betwee…
The Relationship of Employee Perceptions of the Immediate Supervisor and Top Management With Collective Efficacy
Middle-level managers ( N = 1,149) in an Italian service organization were administered a questionnaire that assessed self- and collective efficacy in dealing with job responsibilities and tasks, perceptions of their immediate supervisor regarding support and encouragement, perceptions of top management regarding the coordination of different units and communication, and affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Structural equatio…
Distinguished Scholar Invited Essay
This article reviews goal-setting theory in terms of the causal relationships it specifies, the boundary conditions within which the causal relationships occur, and the mediators that explain the causal relationships. Three types of goals are described: performance, behavioral, and learning. Emphasis in the article is placed on findings regarding the beneficial effect of setting a specific, difficult learning goal
Goal setting and task performance
A review of both laboratory and field studies on the effect of setting goals when learning or performing a task found that specific, challenging goals led more often to higher performance than easy goals, 'do your best' goals or no goals. This is one of the most robust and replicable findings in the psychological literature, with 90% of the studies showing positive or partially positive results. The main mechanisms by which goals affect performan…
The effects of appraisal instrument, feedback and goal‐setting on worker satisfaction and commitment
Twenty managers and 125 subordinates participated in a field experiment performed in the Israel Airport Authority. The managers received intensive training in giving performance feedback and setting specific goals when conducting appraisals of their subordinates. Following training, the managers were assigned randomly to one of four conditions: feedback and goals using BOS‐based appraisal; feedback using BOS‐based appraisal with no goals; feedbac…
Work Motivation and Satisfaction
After decades of research it is now possible to offer a coherent, data-based theory of work motivation and job satisfaction. The present model combines aspects of the following theories: goal setting, expectancy, social-cognitive, attribution, job characteristics, equity, and turnover-commitment. The resulting model is called the high performance cycle. It begins with organizational members being faced with high challenge or difficult goals. If h…
Self-regulation through goal setting
Cognitive and motivational effects of participation
Previous experimental studies of participation have typically examined its motivational (especially commitment) benefits. These studies showed that these benefits are neither large nor consistent. The present study focused on the cognitive benefits of participation in decision making (pdm) and on the role of a different motivational mediator, self‐efficacy. Unlike previous research which claimed to study the cognitive (informational) effects of p…
Development and validation of a questionnaire for measuring perceived political considerations in performance appraisal
A 25-item scoring instrument was developed to measure perceptions of the extent to which performance appraisals are affected by organizational politics. The survey was administered to 157 francophone managers. A factor analysis revealed that the perceptions of the extent to which political considerations affect the appraisal an employee receives can be sensibly interpreted in terms of a single general factor. The internal consistency and test-ret…
The effects of proximal and distal goals on performance on a moderately complex task
The effect of a proximal plus a distal goal was investigated relative to setting only a distal goal or urging participants to do their best. Young adults (N=39) were paid on a piece rate basis to make toys. An analysis of variance revealed that the amount of money earned by the participants who were urged to ‘do your best’ was significantly greater than the amount of money earned by the participants who were assigned a distal goal. However, the a…
Context and the Employment Interview
The effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task
The effects of learning versus outcome distal goals in conjunction with proximal goals were investigated in a laboratory setting using a class‐scheduling task. The participants ( n = 96) needed to acquire knowledge in order to perform the task correctly. A ‘do your best’ outcome goal led to higher performance than the assignment of a specific, difficult outcome goal. However, the assignment of a specific, difficult learning goal led to higher per…
Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation
Work Motivation Theory and Research at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
In the first Annual Review of Psychology chapter since 1977 devoted exclusively to work motivation, we examine progress made in theory and research on needs, traits, values, cognition, and affect as well as three bodies of literature dealing with the context of motivation: national culture, job design, and models of person-environment fit. We focus primarily on work reported between 1993 and 2003, concluding that goal-setting, social cognitive, a…
New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory
Goal-setting theory is summarized regarding the effectiveness of specific, difficult goals; the relationship of goals to affect; the mediators of goal effects; the relation of goals to self-efficacy; the moderators of goal effects; and the generality of goal effects across people, tasks, countries, time spans, experimental designs, goal sources (i.e., self-set, set jointly with others, or assigned), and dependent variables. Recent studies concern…
New Developments in and Directions for Goal-Setting Research
Goal setting is an “open” theory built on inductive findings from empirical research. The present paper briefly summarizes this theory. Emphasis is then given to findings that have been obtained in the present millennium with regard to (1) the high performance cycle, (2) the role of goals as mediators of personality effects on performance, (3) personality variables as moderators of goal effects on performance, the effect of (4) distal, (5) proxim…
Theory and research on coaching practices
To date the coaching literature has been dominated by practitioner contributions, and the commercial coaching industry itself has been significantly influenced by simplistic folk psychology and pseudoscientific approaches. There has been a paucity of solid theory and empirical research. Advances in industrial/organisational psychology often occur from adapting theories, concepts and methods from other subdisciplines of psychology. The explicit li…
The Relationship of Employee Perceptions of the Immediate Supervisor and Top Management With Collective Efficacy
Middle-level managers ( N = 1,149) in an Italian service organization were administered a questionnaire that assessed self- and collective efficacy in dealing with job responsibilities and tasks, perceptions of their immediate supervisor regarding support and encouragement, perceptions of top management regarding the coordination of different units and communication, and affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Structural equatio…
Networking with boundary spanners
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a potential mechanism through which gender segregation in the engineering profession is created and sustained. Specifically, boundary spanners for women and men were examined because they may be a source of valuable information to job seekers. Design/methodology/approach Applicant data for the role of a senior technical engineer ( n =100) from an engineering organisation in the UK were analyzed. Fin…
The Effect of Employee Learning Goals and Goal Commitment on Departmental Performance
The relationship between employee goals at the individual level and firm performance at the department level was examined across a variety of industries. Specifically, three types of employee goals—learning, performance, and do-your-best—were studied with regard to department-level performance. Employee learning goals were related to higher levels of department-level performance than were performance or do-your-best goals. The relationship betwee…
Goal-Setting Theory
New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance
It is normal to pursue multiple goals at work and in our everyday life. Consider the case of college professors, who may set themselves several specifi c, diffi cult goals: publishing three articles in one year in high-impact journals with a high rejection rate, earning course evaluations from students of say 5.0 on a 7-point scale, and serving on two committees. Similarly, CEOs of business organizations have to pursue multiple goals, for example…
Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies
Supervisors' exceedingly difficult goals and abusive supervision
This study examined a contextual predictor of abusive supervision. Specifically, we hypothesized that job goals that are judged by supervisors to be exceedingly difficult to attain is a predictor of subordinate‐rated abusive supervisory behavior. Drawing on the cognitive theory of stress, we hypothesized that exceedingly difficult job goals assigned to supervisors predict abusive behavior directed at their subordinates, as mediated by the supervi…
The Science and Practice of Goal Setting
Specific high goals lead to higher performance than easy goals, no goals or even urging people to do their best. The higher the goal the higher the performance, given ability, commitment, feedback, and resources. Goals are effective because they give people direction, they increase effort and persistence, and they cue people on strategies to attain them.
Performance Appraisal/Performance Management
Performance appraisals often hurt rather than help and employees improve their performance. Solutions include using an appraisal instrument that is tied to the organization's strategy, employing 360‐degree feedback on what a person should start, stop, or continue doing, coaching an individual on an on going basis, and adhering to principles of organizational justice.
Distinguished Scholar Invited Essay
This article reviews goal-setting theory in terms of the causal relationships it specifies, the boundary conditions within which the causal relationships occur, and the mediators that explain the causal relationships. Three types of goals are described: performance, behavioral, and learning. Emphasis in the article is placed on findings regarding the beneficial effect of setting a specific, difficult learning goal
Perspectives of a Practitioner-Scientist on Organizational Psychology/Organizational Behavior
In this article I comment on areas where I agree/disagree with the five previous perspectives on organizational psychology/organizational behavior (OP/OB). This is followed by a dire prediction of the future for OP doctoral programs, criticisms of the journal editorial processes and the overemphasis on deductive theory building, the value of qualitative analyses and enumerative reviews, the importance of mentors for advancing one's career, and th…
Psychology (30 works) · Social Psychology (23 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior (13 works) · Management (12 works) · Applied Psychology (11 works) · Cognitive psychology (11 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Goal setting (10 works) · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports (10 works)