In the performance management literature, it is a widely held
assumption that the involvement of frontline employees in
performance management systems increases employees’ goal
support, which, in turn, improves organizational performance.
Yet empirically, this assumption is unsubstantiated. Therefore,
the aim of this study is to make an empirical contribution to
the literature by examining experimentally how involvement
affects frontline employees’ support of performance goals. To
test the assumption, we conduct a survey experiment on
more than 1600 public caseworkers working in Danish
employment agencies. Contrary to the mainstream assumption, but in line with psychological theory, our experimental
test shows that involving employees has no effect on their
goal support. In addition, our findings highlight various challenges for managers who seek to improve goal support
through employee involvement.