A meta-analysis of the regulatory focus nomological network: Work-related antecedents and consequences

Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998) has received a great deal of recent attention in the organizational behavior literature. Despite the amount of new evidence surrounding regulatory focus and its relationships with other variables, a quantitative summary of this literature is lacking. The authors used meta-analysis to summarize correlations from 77 empirical studies that included self-report measures of promotion and prevention focus. Meta-analytic effect sizes between promotion and prevention focus and work-related variables are reported. In general, results indicated that promotion and prevention focus are orthogonal constructs and each construct is uniquely related to other theoretically relevant constructs. The results also demonstrate the importance of regulatory foci to organizational researchers as well as the need for a unified approach to their measurement.

► Conducted a meta-analysis of 77 empirical studies of regulatory focus. ► Promotion and prevention were found to be orthogonal constructs. ► Promotion and prevention foci were uniquely related to work-related constructs. ► Regulatory foci accounted for unique variance in job satisfaction and performance.