The Effects of Goal Setting, External Feedback, and Self-Generated Feedback on Outcome Variables: A Field Experiment

Abstract

This study compared the motivational impact of goal setting and performance feedback on four measures of performance, intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Goal setting was found to be superior to nongoal-setting, feedback was superior to nonfeedback, and self-generated feedback with goal setting was more powerful than externally generated feedback with goal setting.