Abstract

THE PRACTICAL REALITY OF GOAL SETTING THEORY: EVIDENCE FROM THE PERFORMANCE OF NURSES IN THE SUNYANI REGIONAL HOSPITAL OF GHANA

Dr. Felix Kwame Opoku

Volume: 6 Issue: 1 2016

Abstract:

Several studies on goal setting theory have shown that goals direct and sustain employee effort toward goal-relevant activities and away from goal irrelevant activities. Although the theory is a common research topic in most advanced countries, it is gradually being tested in other cultures such as the Sub-Saharan Africa. The current study, therefore, is an extension of existing research on goal setting theory as it describes the core elements of the theory, and how it relates to the performance of 100 registered nurses in the Sunyani Regional Hospital in Ghana. Consistent with some previous studies, a significantly positive relationship between goal acceptance, goal specificity and employee performance was found. Surprisingly, goal difficulty failed to support this relationship.

Back Download

References

• Ambrose, L.M. & Kulik, C.T. (1999). Old friends, new faces: Motivation research in the 1990s. Journal of Management, 25, 231 – 292.
• Bandura, A. & Cervone, D. (1983). Self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms governing the motivational effects of goal systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1017 – 1028.
• Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social-cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Campbell, J. P. (1990). Modeling the performance prediction problem in industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette, & L. M. Hough (Eds), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed.). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychology Press.
• Campbell, J. P., McCloy, R. A., Oppler, S. H., & Sager, C. E. (1993). A theory of performance. In N. Schmmitt, W. C. Borman, & Associates (Eds), Personnel selection in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• DeNisi, A.S. & Kluger, A.N. (2000). Feedback effectiveness: Can 360 degree appraisals be improved? Academy of Management Executive, 14, 129 – 139.
• Douri, J. B. (2014). Workload and nursing care: A case study in some selected hospitals in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Unpublished Master of Public Health thesis submitted to the Department of Community Health, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
• Heslin, P.A., Carson, J.B., & Vandewalle, D. (2009). Practical application of goal setting theory to performance management. Putting Research into Action, 88 – 114.
• Ken, S.G. & Michael, H.A. (2005). Great minds in management: The process of theory development. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Kleingeld, A.D., Heleen, V.M., & Arends, L. (2011). The effects of goal setting on group performance: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1289 – 1304.
• Leedy, D. P., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical research: Planning and design (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education International.
• Locke, E. (1996). Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 5, 117 – 124.
• Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M.D. Dunnette (Ed), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Chicago: Rand-McNally
• Locke, E. A. (2001). Self-set goals and self-efficacy as mediators of incentives and personality. In M. Erez, H.U. Kleinbeck, & H. Thierry (Eds.), Work motivation in the context of a globalizing economy. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Locke, E.A. & Bryan, J. (1969). The directing function of goals in task performance. Organisational Behaviour and Human Performance, 4, 35 – 42.
• Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task performance: A 35 year odyssey. American Psychologists, 57, 705 – 717.
• Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P. (2006). New directions in goal setting theory. Association for Psychological Sciences, 15(5), 265 – 268.
• Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P. (2013). New development in goal setting and task performance. New York: Walsworth Publishing Company.
• Murphy, K. R. (1989). Dimensions of job performance. In R. Dillon, & J. Pellingrino (Eds.), Testing: Applied and theoretical perspectives (pp. 218 – 247). New York: Praeger.
• Nunally, J. C., & Bernstein, L. H. (1994). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw Hill. Opoku, F.K. (2011). Business management: Concepts, theories and principles. Woeli Publishing Services, Accra, Ghana.
• Punch, K. F. (2005). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications Inc.
• Robbins, S. P., Millett, B., Cacioppe, R., & Waters-Marsh, T. (1998). Organisational behaviour: Leading and managing in Australia and New Zealand. Sydney: Prentice Hall.
• Rothkopf, E. & Billington, M. (1979). Goal-guided learning from text: Inferring a descriptive processing model from inspection times and eye movements. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 310 – 327.
• Rotundo, M., & Sackett, P. R. (2002). The relative importance of task, citizenship and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: A policycapturing approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 66 – 80.
• Ryan, T.A. (1970). Intentional behaviour. New York: Ronald Press.
• Schuler, R. S., Jackson, E. S. (2006). Human resources management: International student edition. Australia: Thomson, South-Western.
• Sekaran, U. (2005). Research methods for business: A skill-building approach (4th ed.). NY: John-Wiley & Sons.
• Sonnentag, S., & Frese, M. (2002). Performance concept and performance theory. In S. Sonnentag (Ed.), Psychological management of individual performance (pp. 3 – 25). ChiChester: Wiley.
• Sonnentag, S., Volmer, J., & Spychala, A. (2010). Job performance. In J. Barling (Ed.), Sage handbook of organisational behaviour. Los Angeles: SAGE.
• Tubbs, M.E. (1993). Commitment as a moderator of the goal-performance relation: A case for clearer construct definition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 86 – 97.
• Viswesvaran, C., & Ones, D. S. (2000). Perspectives on models of job performance. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 8(4), 525 – 531.
• Weinberg, R., Bruya, L., Garland, H., & Jackson, A. (1990). Effect of goal difficulty and positive reinforcement on endurance performance. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 12, 144 – 156.
• Wood, R., Mento, A., & Locke, E. (1987). Task complexity as a moderator of goal effects. Journal of Applied Psychology, 17, 416 – 425.
• Wood, R.E. (1986). Task complexity: Definition of the construct. Organisational behavior and human decision processes, 37, 60 – 82.
• Yearta, K.S., Maitlis, S., & Briner, R.B. (1995). An exploratory study of goal setting in theory and practice: A motivational technique that works? Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, 68, 237 – 252.