Abstract
This article describes (a) the relationship of goal setting and job enrichment with work satisfaction, intrinsic work motivation and performance, (b) the importance of growth need strength as a moderating variable, and (c) the evidence for a curvilinear association between job design variables and outcome measures. 117 penitentiary guards received the Job Diagnostic Survey of Hackman and Oldham, the Job Descriptive Index of Smith, et al., Steers' questionnaire on goal characteristics and a performance measure. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the specificity of goal and job enrichment were equally effective in the prediction of satisfaction and motivation, while difficulty of goals appears to be the best single predictor of work performance. Growth need strength moderated the relationship between difficulty of goals and work satisfaction. The curvilinear effect was nonsignificant.
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