The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions

The Journal of Applied Psychology
Adam M Grant

Abstract

Does task significance increase job performance? Correlational designs and confounded manipulations have prevented researchers from assessing the causal impact of task significance on job performance. To address this gap, 3 field experiments examined the performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions of task significance. In Experiment 1, fundraising callers who received a task significance intervention increased their levels of job performance relative to callers in 2 other conditions and to their own prior performance. In Experiment 2, task significance increased the job dedication and helping behavior of lifeguards, and these effects were mediated by increases in perceptions of social impact and social worth. In Experiment 3, conscientiousness and prosocial values moderated the effects of task significance on the performance of new fundraising callers. The results provide fresh insights into the effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions of task significance, offering noteworthy implications for theory, research, and practice on job design, social information processing, and work motivation and performance.

Citations

Jan 15, 2013·Perspectives on Medical Education·B F MulderJ Cohen-Schotanus
Oct 22, 2016·The Journal of Social Psychology·M Teresa CardadorBrandon C Grant
Dec 10, 2015·The Journal of General Psychology·Francis Y L Cheung, Vivian Miu-Chi Lun
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Jan 12, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Tatjana Schnell, Carmen Hoffmann
Apr 16, 2021·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Jiafang ChenGerben A van Kleef

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