Abstract
The interactive effect of participation in goal setting and goal rationales on goal commitment was examined in the present study. Two justice mediation models that might explain these effects were also hypothesized. The results of a laboratory study demonstrated that goal rationales were especially important for increasing goal commitment when goals were assigned rather than participatively set. Support was also found for the role of interactional justice in mediating the effect of goal rationales on goal commitment; however, the hypothesis that procedural justice would mediate the effect of goal participation on goal commitment was not supported.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Barling, J., & Phillips, M. (1993). Interactional, formal, and distributive justice in the workplace: An exploratory study. Journal of Psychology, 127, 649–656.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
Beugre, C. D., & Baron, R. A. (2001). Perceptions of systematic justice: The effects of dis-tributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31, 324–339.
Bies, R. J., & Moag, J. F. (1986). Interactional Justice: Communication criteria of fairness. In R. J. Lewicki, B. H. Sheppard, and M. H. Bazeman (Eds.), Research on negotiations in organizations, vol. 1. (pp. 43–55). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Brunstein, J. C. (1993). Personal goals and subjective well-being: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1061–1070.
Cohen, C. Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 278–321.
Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 425–445.
Cropanzano, R., Byrne, Z. S., Bobocel, D. R., & Rupp, D. E. (2001). Moral virtues, fairness heuristics, social entities, and other denizens of organizational justice. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, 164–209.
Cropanzano, R., & Greenberg, J. (1997). Progress in organizational justice: tunneling through the maze. In C. Cooper and I. Robertson (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 317–372). New York: Wiley.
Cropanzano, R., Prehar, C. A., & Chen, P. Y. (2002). Using social exchange theory to dis-tinguish procedural from interactional justice. Group and Organizational Manage-ment, 27, 324–351.
Donovan, J. J., & Radosevich, D. J. (1998). The moderating role of goal commitment on the goal difficulty-performance relationship: A meta-analytic review and critical reanalysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 308–315.
Earley, P. C. (1986). Supervisors and shop stewards as sources of contextual information in goal setting: A comparison of the United States with England. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 111–117.
Earley, P. C., & Kanfer, R. (1985). The influence of component participation and role models on goal acceptance, goal satisfaction, and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, 36, 378–390.
Earley, P. C., & Lind, E. A. (1987). Procedural justice and participation in task selection: The role of control in mediating justice judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1148–1160.
Erez, M., & Arad, R. (1986). Participative goal-setting: Social, motivational, and cognitive factors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 591–597.
Folger, R. (1977). Distributive and procedural justice: Combined impact of “voice” and improvement on experienced inequity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 108–119.
Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (pp. 79–103). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erl-baum Associates.
Greenberg, J. (1994). Using socially fair treatment to promote acceptance of a work site smoking ban. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 288–297.
Hollenbeck, J. R., & Klein, H. (1987). Goal commitment and the goal-setting process: Problems, prospects, and proposals for future research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 212–220.
Klein, H. J., Wesson, M. J., Hollenbeck, J., & Alge, B. J. (1999). Goal commitment and the goal-setting process: Conceptual clarification and empirical synthesis. Journal of Ap-plied Psychology, 84, 885–896.
Klein, H. J., Wesson, M. J., Hollenbeck, J. R., Wright, P, M., & DeShon, R. P. (2001). The assessment of goal commitment: a measurement model meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 85, 32–55.
Latham, G. P., Erez, M., & Locke, E. A. (1988). Resolving scientific disputes by the joint design of crucial experiments by the antagonists: Application to the Erez-Latham dis-pute regarding participation in goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73, 753–772.
Latham, G. P., Steele, T. P., & Saari, L. M. (1982). The effects of participation and goal difficulty on performance. Personnel Psychology, 35, 677–686.
Leventhal, G. S. (1976). The distribution of rewards and resources in groups and organi-zations. In L. Berkowitz and W. Walster (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psy-chology. vol. 9 (pp. 91–131). New York: Academic Press.
Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In K. Gergen, M. Greenberg, and R. Willis (Eds.), Social exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27–55). New York: Plenum.
Locke, W. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance. Engle-wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Locke, W. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57, 705–717.
Locke, W. A., Shaw, K. N., Saari, L. M., & Latham, G. P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 125–152.
Mento, A. J., Steel, R. P., & Karren, R. J. (1987). A meta-analytic study of the effects of goal setting on task performance: 1966–1984. Organizational Behavior and Human Deci-sion Processes, 39, 52–83.
Ployhart, R. E., Ryan, A. M., & Bennett, M. (1999). Explanations for selection decisions: Applicants' reactions to informational and sensitivity features of explanations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 87–106.
Roberson, Q. M., Moye, N. A., & Locke, E. A. (1999). Identifying a missing link between participation and satisfaction: The mediating role of procedural justice perceptions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 585–593.
Seijts, G. H., & Latham, G. P. (2001). The effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 291–307.
Skarlicki, D. P., & Folger, R. (1997). Retaliation in the workplace: The roles of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 434–443.
Skarlicki, D. P., Folger, R., & Tesluk, P. (1999). Personality as a moderator in the rela-tionship between fairness and retaliation. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 100–108.
Tepper, P. J. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 178–190.
Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Vroom, V. H., & Yago, A. C. (1988). The new leadership: Managing participation in orga-nizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Yukl, G., & Tracey, J. B. (1992). Consequences of influence tactics used with subordinates, peers, and the boss. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 525–535.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, A., Butler, A.B. The Effects of Participation in Goal Setting and Goal Rationales on Goal Commitment: An Exploration of Justice Mediators. Journal of Business and Psychology 19, 37–51 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOBU.0000040271.74443.22
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOBU.0000040271.74443.22