Abstract
Effects of goal-setting on performance have been well-examined in organizational settings, though questions remain unanswered regarding the effectiveness of goal-setting in a sport context, and underlying factors that explain ambiguities in obtained results (Locke & Latham, 2002; Latham & Seijts, 2001). One prominent criticism of goal-to-performance research is an "omssion in studying naturally set goals", as the goal content is often supplied by the researcher (Kane et al., 2001). We conducted phenomenological, semi-structured interviews with 12 varsity athletes from various sports (martial arts, table tennis, track-and-field sports) to add to the body of goal-setting research by providing information about the cognitive and imagery processes behind athletes' naturally set goals. Led by concepts based on Construal Level Theory (CLT; Liberman et al., 1998), we found a thematic clustering by task demands (dynamic vs stable task context, e.g. table tennis point vs long jump), as various tasks require a processing of either more proximal or distant stimuli. In line with previous research in CLT, these functional cues appear to shape evaluations on different levels of abstraction (i.e., goals on either a low or high construal level). Depending on their task context and individual thinking styles, as measured by the Behavior Identification Form (Vallacher & Wegner, 1989), athletes also perceived either low or high construal as more motivating and helpful. Furthermore, the time distance dimension shapes goal construal as CLT would suggest, with athletes creating mental representations on different levels of abstraction, dependent on and influenced by the distance relation to their goal.
