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Exploring the Meaning and Usefulness of Measures of Subjective Goal Difficulty 1
Author(s) -
Lee Cynthia,
Bobko Philip
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1992.tb00957.x
Subject(s) - psychology , construct (python library) , perception , goal setting , goal orientation , task (project management) , measure (data warehouse) , meaning (existential) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , construct validity , goal pursuit , applied psychology , psychometrics , developmental psychology , computer science , management , database , neuroscience , economics , psychotherapist , programming language
Despite the critical role of the goal difficulty construct in predicting the effects of goals on task performance, the choice of goal difficulty measure(s) has not played a prominent role in goal setting research. The current laboratory study, using 92 college students, examines three operationalizations of the goal difficulty construct: assigned goal level (objective or direct measure), self‐referenced goal difficulty perception. and an externally‐referenced goal difficulty perception. The results clearly demonstrated that the choice of a goal difficulty measure matters in relation to other constructs in goal setting theory. Furthermore, it was found that the externally‐referenced goal difficulty perception measure corresponded best with assigned goal level.