The influence of monetary incentives on goal choice, goal commitment, and task performance

Abstract This study was designed to investigate the mechanism by which monetary incentives influence goal choice, goal commitment, and task performance. It is hypothesized that the explanation for incentive effects on goals and performance is in their influence on mediating events. A model attempting to explain the process of goal choice, work motivation, and performance in terms of cognitions is presented. Subjects were recruited for 5 days of part-time employment in a simulated organization to perform a clerical data transfer task. The 130 subjects were assigned randomly to 7 experimental conditions differing in terms of the magnitude of incentive offered for various levels of performance. The quantity and quality of performance was recorded daily and research questionnaires were administered at different times during their employment. Results provide support for the model presented and therefore suggest that the process of goal choice and commitment is central to understanding how incentives influence goals, motivation, and performance. The model provides a useful basis for investigating the relationships between organizational context and employee cognitions and for integrating goal setting with expectancy theory. The findings and future research issues are discussed.