SMART goals are no more effective for creative performance than do-your-best goals or non-specific, exploratory ‘open goals’

Abstract

SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed) are advocated as the gold standard for goal setting. However, goals which are non-specific and exploratory, referred to as ‘open goals’, may be preferred in specific circumstances. In this pre-registered experiment, we compared SMART goals, compared to do-your-best (DYB), and open goals on creative performance. We also assessed the equivalence between open and DYB goals. Participants (N = 247, Mage = 30.40 years) completed the Alternate Use Task as a proxy for creative performance, before and after a goal setting manipulation in a 3 (between-groups: SMART, DYB, open goals) x 2 (within-groups: pre- and post-intervention) experimental design. There were no meaningful differences in creative performance for SMART, DYB, and open goals, DYB and open goals were not statistically equivalent. These findings cast doubt that SMART goals are always the most adaptive for human behaviour, given that open and DYB goals can be as effectual in some circumstances.