An Investigation of the Side Effects of High Performance Goal Setting: Target Difficulty and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior

Abstract

Corporate scandals have become apparent. One of the causes is a high performance goal. The difficult but achievable goals have been considered useful in achieving high performance. However, high goals also have the negative effect of causing employees to behave unethically. In this study, we focus on the unethical behaviors that employees take for the benefit of the organization. Specifically, we examining the impact of target difficulty on employees’ willingness to engaging in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Results of analysis using data collected by online survey, it was found that the employees’ willingness to engage in UPB increase as the target difficulty level increases, but when it exceeds a certain point, their willingness to engage in UPB would start to decrease.