Goal attainability and performance: Evidence from Boston marathon qualifying standards |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Economics, College of Business, University of Central Oklahoma, 100 North University Dr., Edmond, OK 73034, United States;2. Department of Economics, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield, CT 06824, United States;1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;2. Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA;1. MEMOTEF, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy;2. Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy;1. IRCCS Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Clinical research, Milan, Italy;2. University of Brescia, Clinical and Experimental Sciences Department, Brescia, Italy;3. IRCCS Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation Milan Italy- University of Brescia, Clinical and Experimental Sciences Department, Brescia, Italy |
| |
| Abstract: | In this paper we test if performance improves once goals become more attainable. Goal-setting literature suggests that workers respond to challenging but achievable goals with increased performance. Empirical evidence supports the notion of goals increasing performance; however the evidence on how attainability of goals affects performance is mixed. This paper tests whether efforts increase, improving performance as the goals become more attainable. We are employing a unique set of publicly available marathon data from 1970 to 2015 to directly analyze the effect of goal attainability on performance. With the probable goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, we test if runners increase their effort, and consequently improve their performance if they enter a new age group and as a result have a more attainable goal. We find that runners who enter a new age group perform better than the runners whose qualifying time did not change. This effect is seen with runners in younger age groups, but not found in the results of runners in more advanced years. |
| |
| Keywords: | Goal-setting Performance Effort D84 J22 L83 Z20 2360 3720 |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
