Abstract
Goal-setting theory states that challenging, specific, and concrete goals (i.e., subordinate goals) are powerful motivators and boost performance in goal pursuit more than vague or abstract goals (i.e., superordinate goals). Goal-setting theory predominantly focuses on single, short-term goals and less on broad, long-term challenges. This review article extends goal-setting theory and argues that superordinate goals also fulfill a crucial role in motivating behavior, particularly when addressing broad, long-term challenges. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the benefits of superordinate goals, which have received less attention in research, and to show theoretically that people pursue long-term goals more successfully when they focus on subordinate as well as superordinate goals than when they focus on either subordinate or superordinate goals alone.
Highlights
Pursuing goals in the long run is crucial to addressing challenges on a personal level, on an organizational level, and on a societal level
Expanding goal-setting theory to consider goals at different levels of abstraction promises to enrich the understanding of how goals operate and to widen the knowledge about the determinants of effective goal setting and goal striving
This understanding and knowledge provides a basis for interventions that can help people to select and pursue their goals successfully in the long run and thereby achieve sustainable behavioral change
Summary
This broad scope of contexts can foster long-term goal pursuit in two ways It follows up the process wherein focusing on a superordinate goal can lead to sustained discrepancy and thereby foster motivation and hinder compensation effects. A specific endpoint allows a person to track progress in goal pursuit and to notice and address discrepancies, which foster motivation to pursue the goal (e.g., Locke and Latham, 1990; Carver and Scheier, 2001). These detrimental interference effects disappear when people formulate specific plans for their unfulfilled goals (Masicampo and Baumeister, 2011a) This indicates that focusing on subordinate goals as well can alleviate the drawbacks of superordinate goals and facilitate goal pursuit in various ways (Locke and Latham, 1990, 2002; Bandura, 1997; Gollwitzer and Brandstätter, 1997).
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