Goals and intentions as mediators of the effects of monetary incentives on behavior

Abstract

HYPOTHESIZED THAT MONETARY INCENTIVES WOULD AFFECT TASK PERFORMANCE ONLY THROUGH OR BY MEANS OF THEIR EFFECTS ON THE INDIVIDUAL'S GOALS OR INTENTIONS. 2 OF THE 5 EXPERIMENTS DEALT WITH THE RELATIONSHIP OF PERFORMANCE GOALS TO LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE ON A TASK AS A FUNCTION OF INCENTIVE CONDITION. 3 EXPERIMENTS EXAMINED THE RELATIONSHIP OF BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS TO TASK CHOICE AS A FUNCTION OF INCENTIVE. IN ALL 5 STUDIES, SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS WERE OBTAINED BETWEEN PERFORMANCE GOALS OR BEHAVORIAL INTENTIONS AND BEHAVIOR. WHEN GOAL OR INTENTION LEVEL WAS CONTROLLED, THERE WAS NO EFFECT OF MONETARY INCENTIVE ON BEHAVIOR. IN THE 3 CHOICE STUDIES WHERE INCENTIVE DID HAVE AN INITIAL EFFECT ON CHOICE, THESE DIFFERENCES WERE ACCOMPANIED BY EQUIVALENT DIFFERENCES IN INTENTIONS. WHEN THE LATTER WERE PARTIALED OUT, THE ORIGINAL INCENTIVE EFFECT WAS VITIATED. THE DATA WERE INTERPRETED AS SUPPORTING THE HYPOTHESIS. (32 REF.) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)