The moderating role of goal commitment on the goal difficulty performance relationship: A meta-analytic review and critical reanalysis

Despite the nearly unanimous view that goal commitment is a vital component of goal setting, few studies have empirically assessed its hypothesized role as a moderator of the goal-performance relationship. In addition, those studies that have examined the moderating effects of goal commitment have presented inconsistent conclusions. To clarify this situation, a meta-analysis was conducted to examine the overall strength of the moderating effect of goal commitment. The results indicated that the Goal Difficulty X Goal Commitment effect accounted for less than 3% of the variance in task performance. Additionally, the type of goal commitment measure used (self-report vs, discrepancy) was a significant moderator of this relationship. Measurement issues and directions for future conceptualizations of the goal commitment construct are discussed.