The effect of intrinsic and extrinsic goals on work performance: Prospective and empirical studies on goal content theory

Abstract

Purpose

Based on the goal content theory (GCT), the purpose of this paper is to focus on the essence of goals and examine the associations between different work goal contents (intrinsic and extrinsic goals) and work performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 279 employees and their immediate supervisors, and the theoretical hypotheses were tested by correlation and hierarchal regression analyses.

Findings

The results of the analyses showed that intrinsic goal content positively predicted task performance, dedicative performance, interpersonal performance, and adaptive performance and that extrinsic goal content positively predicted the task performance and adaptive performance; intrinsic goals were also found to enhance the relationship between extrinsic goals and task performance.

Originality/value

The contribution of the current study is that it explores whether both extrinsic goals and intrinsic goals can contribute to predicting work performance. Moreover, different from previous studies that focus on discussing the separate effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goals on outcomes, the authors aim to study the interaction effect between these goals, which enriches GCT.

Citation

Zhang, Y., Zhang, J. and Li, J. (2018), "The effect of intrinsic and extrinsic goals on work performance: Prospective and empirical studies on goal content theory", Personnel Review, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 900-912. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-03-2017-0086