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Summary
The Pygmalion effect, a type of self-fulfilling prophecy, has been demonstrated in educational settings with empirical studies, qualitative reviews and meta-analyses. It has also been studied in organizational settings. This meta-analysis provides a review of the Pygmalion literature, an analysis of findings to date, and a deeper look into the nature of the effect. The present analysis of 13 effect sizes revealed an overall d for the Pygmalion effect in work organizations of 0.81. Moderator analyses revealed stronger effects when the initial level of performance was low and when the experiment took place in a military rather than a business setting. Implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Introduction
'If raising teacher expectations enhances pupil performance, wouldn't raising manager expectations boost subordinate productivity?' (Eden, 1984, p. 64). The present meta-analysis attempts to provide a comprehensive answer to this question. While expectation effects in educational and laboratory settings have been demonstrated in numerous studies, review articles, and meta-analyses (Rosenthal and Rubin, 1978), a solid answer awaits a quantitative summary of the literature regarding expectations in work organizations. The answer cannot be obtained by simply turning to reviews of the Pygmalion effect in educational and laboratory settings. Results from these settings may not generalize to work organization settings because of key differences between them. For instance, participants in Pygmalion studies conducted in educational and laboratory settings are often either children or animals. It is possible that Pygmalion manipulations may not produce the same results with adults in employment settings. It is important and appropriate to conduct a meta-analysis of the Pygmalion effect in work organizations in order to (a) determine where the literature stands in response to questions such as Eden's above inquiry and (b) to effectively direct avenues of future research in understanding how the Pygmalion effect occurs. Thus, the aim of this meta-analysis is to quantitatively examine (a) the extent to which the Pygmalion effect operates in work organizations and (b) variables that may moderate the Pygmalion effect.
The self-fulfilling prophecy, a phenomenon that has possibly existed since the dawn of civilization, has only begun to be understood in the past few decades. A special case of the selffulfilling prophecy, the Pygmalion effect, involves a person...