Attainment Discrepancy Research Articles

Aspiration-Level Adaptation in an American Financial Services Organization: A Field Study

Using field data from an American financial services organization, we examined the effects of three important variables in Cyert and March's (1963) initial conceptualization of the aspiration-level adaptation process: The previous aspiration level, performance feedback, and social comparison. Past findings obtained in controlled contexts (Glynn et al. 1991; Lant 1992) have provided empirical support for the attainment discrepancy model (Lewin et al. 1944), which includes variables of the previous aspiration level and attainment discrepancy (i.e., performance feedback). We replicated these findings in the field: The effects of the previous aspiration level and attainment discrepancy on the current aspiration levels were significant and positive. In addition, we investigated the effect of social comparison using a variable based on the difference between the performance of the focal unit and the performance of comparable others (Greve 1998). Based on the assumption that decision makers in organizations will expect to observe similar performance levels among those in the same comparison group (Wood 1989), we posited that the effect of social comparison would be negative, refiecting managerial efforts to reduce performance discrepancies among similar units. The empirical results supported the prediction from this reasoning. We conclude by discussing implications of our findings for theory and research in organizational learning and the behavioral theory of the firm.

Socioeconomic status, age and the classification of dyslexics and poor readers: the dangers of using IQ scores in the definition of reading disability

Two studies are reported that raise additional serious questions about the use of IQ scores in the definition of dyslexia. Participants in the studies were children with reading difficulties and IQ ⩾80. Children were categorized into ‘dyslexic’ and ‘poor reader’ groups on the basis of whether or not there was a significant discrepancy between their IQ and their reading performance. The first study was based on a sample of 161 7–8-year-old children. There was a significant positive correlation (0.351) between the IQ scores of the children and the socioeconomic status (SES) scores of the parents. Furthermore, the dyslexic children had significantly higher SES scores than the poor readers. The second study investigated the changes in IQ with age, using a total of 473 children aged 7–16 years. Two key findings emerged: first, the mean IQ scores were lower for the older children, suggesting an effective decline with age; second, the ratio of poor readers to dyslexic children increased with age. The findings suggest strongly that the measured IQ of a dyslexic child decreases with age, leading to a reclassification from dyslexic to poor reader using the discrepancy approach. Two children with equivalent reading difficulties might therefore be diagnosed differently by the IQ–attainment discrepancy criterion, with a child with lower SES or who is older being more likely to be classified as a poor reader. Therefore children with lower SES or who are older are victims of discrimination if the IQ–achievement discrepancy definition of dyslexia is used. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Aspiration Level Adaptation: An Empirical Exploration

Organizations have been modeled as goal directed systems which use simple decision rules to adapt behavior in response to performance feedback. This paper examines the formation of organizational goals, or aspiration levels, over time in groups of individuals representing top management teams of simulated organizations. The analysis compares the empirical validity of an adaptive attainment discrepancy model with models derived from rational and adaptive expectations theories. The results suggest that the attainment discrepancy model, which is based on a simple decision rule of adjustment to performance feedback, provides the most robust description of aspiration formation. They are also informative with regard to the application of expectation models to aspiration formation: There is a great deal of similarity between these results and those of prior studies on expectation formation. In addition, the study finds that there tends to be an optimistic bias in aspiration formation, that adaptation is not consistently incremental, and that adaptive learning may, over time, lead to behavioral outcomes that are consistent with rationality.

Level of Aspiration in Coronary Prone and Noncoronary Prone Adults

It was hypothesized that the competitive achievement striving of the Type A individual would result in his showing a consistent pattern of overaspiration on an experimental series of puzzles despite his early experiences with failure on this goal setting task. Subjects were classified as either Type A or Type B according to their respective placement in the upper or lower third of a JAS score distribution. Comparisons of goal setting behavior indicated that whereas Type As displayed no difference in total puzzle performance, they did maintain a significantly higher level of aspiration, attainment discrepancy and goal discrepancy than did the Bs. The experimental hypothesis implicating a pattern of inordinately high goal striving as a behavioral manifestation of the Type A coronary prone pattern was, therefore, confirmed. Implications of this goal setting preference for the general behavior of Type As are discussed.

THE EFFECT OF FOUR PATTERNS OF P-M LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR ON THE FOLLOWER'S RISK TAKING BEHAVIOR

The purpose of this study is to make clear the effect of P-M pattern leadership behavior on the follower's risk taking behavior, using inverted alphabet printing task. Used as subjects were 27 junior high school boys. As an experimental condition, the leader's P-M pattern leadership behavior was operated, and four patterns leadership condition (PM type, P type, M type, and pm type) were provided.The hypotheses were as follows:(1) PM and M type conditions have plus Goal Discrepancy score (GD score), and the latter is larger than the former. P type condition has minus GD score. However, we cannot generalize about risk taking behavior under pm type condition.(2) PM and P type conditions have plus Attainment Discrepancy score (AD score), and the latter is larger than the former. But M type condition has minus AD score, and this absolute score is larger than P type condition's score.The results indicated that:Only PM type condition had plus GD score, and the other three type (P, M, and pm) conditions had minus GD score, especially pm type condition had the lowest GD score. The three type (pm, M, and P) conditions had plus AD score, and pm type condition had the highest AD score. But PM type condition failed to have plus AD score.Typical shift appeared the most frequently under PM type condition, followed by P, M, and pm type, in that order. Conversely, atypical shift appeared the most frequently under pm type condition, followed by M, P, and PM type, in that order.The first hypothesis was confirmed partially, while the second was not confirmed. The results were discussed in terms of Atkinson's Resultant Motivation model.

Level of aspiration behaviour in relation to payoffs and costs following success and failure

This study investigated the effect on goal-setting behaviour of varying both payoffs and costs in a level of aspiration situation. Payoffs were defined as “high” when points awarded for success equalled actual performance, and as “low” when points awarded for success equalled stated level of aspiration. Costs were defined as “high” when S obtained zero points after failure, and as “low” when S obtained points equal to actual performance after failure. Results show that mean goal discrepancy scores are higher and mean attainment discrepancy scores are lower when payoff is low rather than high, and when cost is low rather than high. Differences are greatest when a low payoff-low cost condition is compared to a high payoff-high cost condition. Results are discussed in relation to decision theoretical approaches to the analysis of factors involved in level of aspiration behaviour.