Megan Cardova, who works as a sales executive at Orbit Bank, has been failing to meet her sales targets for the last 10 months. Recently, she had a face-to-face discussion with her manager where she said that the unrealistic targets were the reason for her underperformance. The manager, however, noticed that all the other team members were achieving their targets and sometimes were even achieving more than the set numbers. Which of the following is Cardova's behavior most likely to be characterized by according to the attribution theory?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to the attribution theory, when an individual's behavior is not consistent with others in a similar situation (low consensus), the cause of the behavior is internal rather than external. In this case, all other team members are achieving their targets, so Cardova's underperformance is more likely to be attributed to her internal factor rather than the external one she claimed (unrealistic targets).

Megan Cardova, Who Works as a Sales Executive at Orbit