An updated meta-analysis of the primed goal-organizational behaviour relationship

Environmental cues (e.g. achievement-related words and pictures) can prime/activate, in the absence of awareness, a mental representation of importance stored in memory. Chen .'s 2021 , 216-253. (doi:10.1111/apps.12239) meta-analysis revealed a moderate, significant overall effect for the goal priming-organizational behaviour relationship, with three moderators identified: context-specific versus a general prime, prime modality (i.e. visual versus linguistic) and experimental setting (field versus laboratory). An independent researcher found that their finding was negligibly affected by a publication bias. Shanks & Vadillo (2021), , 210544. (doi:10.1098/rsos.210544) (field: = 13, = 683, = 0.64), questioned Chen .'s conclusion regarding the effect size found in field studies (field: = 8, = 357, = 0.68). In this paper, we discussed Shanks & Vadillo's selection of additional field experiments that led to their conclusion of a publication bias. We updated Chen .'s meta-analysis to include relevant studies conducted since that study's publication. The present meta-analysis reproduced the original findings in Chen . (field: = 11, = 534, = 0.67). The updated findings are consistent with: (i) laboratory findings, (ii) the findings obtained in field experiments on consciously set goals and (iii) goal setting theory (Latham & Locke, 2018 In , vol. (eds D Ones, N Anderson, C Viswesvaran, H Sinangil), pp. 103-124).