title: The competition-performance relation: a meta-analytic review and test of the opposing processes model of competition and performance.
abstract: What is the relation between competition and performance? The present research addresses this important multidisciplinary question by conducting a meta-analysis of existing empirical work and by proposing a new conceptual model--the opposing processes model of competition and performance. This model was tested by conducting an additional meta-analysis and 3 new empirical studies. The first meta-analysis revealed that there is no noteworthy relation between competition and performance. The second meta-analysis showed, in accord with the opposing processes model, that the absence of a direct effect is the result of inconsistent mediation via achievement goals: Competition prompts performance-approach goals which, in turn, facilitate performance; and competition also prompts performance-avoidance goals which, in turn, undermine performance. These same direct and mediational findings were also observed in the 3 new empirical studies (using 3 different conceptualizations of competition and attending to numerous control variables). Our findings provide both interpretational clarity regarding past research and conceptual guidance regarding future research on the competition-performance relation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Munich, Leopoldstrasse 13 (PF 67), Munich, Germany, 80802. murakou@orion.ocn.ne.jp
authors.forename: Kou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murayama
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Elliot
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D012201:Reward