Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey
Edwin Locke and Gary Latham review thirty-five years of research on goal-setting theory. They report that specific, difficult goals generally lead to higher performance than an instruction to do your best, and that performance rises with goal difficulty until people reach the limits of their ability or lose commitment to a very hard goal. They name four ways goals work: directing attention, raising effort, extending persistence and prompting people to find task strategies. They set out three conditions that shape the effect. Commitment matters most when a goal is difficult. People need feedback on progress, and goals combined with feedback work better than goals alone. On complex tasks the effect of goals is smaller, because success there depends on finding effective strategies. The paper also covers the link between goals and satisfaction, goals as mediators of incentives, practical applications and the theory's limits.
Edwin Locke and Gary Latham review thirty-five years of research on goal-setting theory. They report that specific, difficult goals generally lead to higher performance than an instruction to do your best, and that performance rises with goal difficulty until people reach the limits of their ability or lose commitment to a very hard goal. They name four ways goals work: directing attention, raising effort, extending persistence and prompting people to find task strategies. They set out three conditions that shape the effect. Commitment matters most when a goal is difficult. People need feedback on progress, and goals combined with feedback work better than goals alone. On complex tasks the effect of goals is smaller, because success there depends on finding effective strategies. The paper also covers the link between goals and satisfaction, goals as mediators of incentives, practical applications and the theory's limits.
Written from the full text of the paper as read on a university course reading copy, 2026-10-29.
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Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705 https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705