While many studies have demonstrated the relatively successful performance implications of formalized goal-setting programs in organizations, these findings typically do not identify the specific factors behind such techniques which are largely responsible for their success. Toward this end, research relating to six factor-analytically derived attributes of employees' task goals is reviewed to ascertain which attributes are more consistently related to performance. The six "task goal attributes" are: (1) goal specificity, (2) participation in goal-setting, (3) feedback, (4) peer competition, (5) goal difficulty, and (6) goal acceptance. While goal specificity and goal acceptance were found to be most consistently related to performance, several intervening variables emerged which tended to affect significantly the impact of certain attributes on performance. The findings are discussed within a motivational framework and it is argued, based on the data, that performance under goal-setting conditions is a function of at least three important variables: the nature of the task goals, additional situational-environmental factors, and individual differences. (A 13-page bibliography is included.) (Author/BP)