Democratising Goal Setting: Possibilities and Pitfalls of Online Deliberation and Big Data Methods

Recent research suggests that a participative approach to goal setting is not sufficient to ensure goal commitment. Instead, goal commitment can be bolstered by a deliberative approach, where managers engage employees in mutual reasoning when setting goals. In this chapter, the impact of a deliberative goal-setting style on goal commitment will be discussed. Attention will be paid to the mediating effect of supervisor-focussed justice and the moderating effect of employees’ personality on this relationship. Facilitating deliberative processes in face-to-face forums could become a demanding task for managers. Consideration will, therefore, be given to the potential of online forums and big data methods to facilitate discussions and analyse large amounts of textual data based on more deliberative forms of goal setting. The aforementioned methodologies are not without pitfalls, and the unwanted influence of demagoguery and misapplications of big data methods will be addressed accordingly.