Motivation and Feedback Influencing Change in the Goal-Setting Process

This study explored the influence of performance appraisal feedback (i.e., developmental, evaluative, or no feedback) on task specific motivation and the types of goals (i.e., process, outcome, new and more challenging) participants subsequently set. University students ( N = 159) took part in a class schedule-making task developed by Earley, 1985. Using two 3 (feedback) X 4 (time) mixed repeated measures design Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVAs) with task specific motivation as the dependent variable (analysis 1: intrinsic, analysis 2: extrinsic) and general motivation as covariates (analysis 1: intrinsic, analysis 2: extrinsic) it was found that participants given developmental feedback experienced higher task specific intrinsic motivation over time than participants given evaluative feedback. Bivariate correlations also demonstrated that participants with higher task specific intrinsic motivation were found to set more new and challenging goals (discrepancy creation) than participants with lower task specific intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed