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Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of subgoals on commitment and task performance. A model was developed which hypothesized that progress toward subgoals would affect three mediating variables: satisfaction with performance, expectancy of goal attainment, and intrinsic interest for the task. In turn, those variables were hypothesized to affect goal commitment. Finally, the interaction between goal commitment and goal difficulty was predicted to produce performance differences.
One hundred twenty undergraduate students solved addition problems for 60 minutes. They were assigned a goal for the number of problems to solve correctly that was 0%, 10%, or 20% above their number summing ability. One-half of all subjects were also assigned four subgoals for the number of problems to solve in each of the four 15-minute intervals of the performance session.
Regression and correlation analyses confirmed that the effect of subgoals on goal commitment was mediated by the three hypothesized mediators and that expectancy of goal attainment played a key role in that mediation. However, the variation in commitment produced by the mediational process did not affect performance. A goal difficulty effect was found such that higher goals led to higher performance. There was no effect of subgoals and no subgoal-goal difficulty interaction.
An exploratory set of regression and correlation analyses was conducted in which hypothetical subgoals were generated for subjects not assigned subgoals. Those analyses indicated that the model was also valid without the assignment of subgoals. This finding led to the conclusion that the main function of subgoals was to provide feedback about performance. However, the subgoals did not have the ability to effect performance changes.
It was suggested that future research investigate the utility of self-set subgoals and the frequency with which that strategy is employed.
