Edwin A. Locke is Dean’s Professor (Emeritus) of Leadership and Motivation at the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his BA from Harvard in 1960 and his Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology from Cornell University in 1964.

He has published more than 336 chapters, notes and articles in professional journals, on such subjects as work motivation, job satisfaction, incentives, and the philosophy of science. He is also the author, co author, editor or co editor of 13 books, including The Selfish Path to Romance: How to Love with Passion and Reason (Platform Press, 2011), Study Methods and Study Motivation (Ayn Rand Bookstore, 2008), Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique That Works (Prentice Hall, 1984, with G. Latham), A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance (Prentice Hall, 1990, with G. Latham), New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance, (Routledge, 2013, with G. Latham), Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior (Blackwell, 2000; 2nd edition, Wiley, 2009), The Prime Movers: Traits of the Great Wealth Creators (Second Edition, Ayn Rand Bookstore, 2008), Postmodernism and Management: Pros, Cons and the Alternative (JAI: Elsevier, 2003), and The Illusion of Determinism: Why Free Will is Real and Causal (2018) .

He is internationally known for his research on goal setting. A recent survey found that Locke’s goal setting theory (developed with G. Latham) was ranked #1 in importance among 73 management theories. His work has been supported by numerous research grants, and he has served as consultant to research firms and private businesses.

Dr. Locke has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Society, the Academy of Management, and has been a consulting editor for leading journals. He was a winner of the Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award at the University of Maryland, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Career Contribution Award from the Academy of Management (Human Resource Division), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Management (Organizational Behavior Division), and the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society. He is a writer and lecturer for the Ayn Rand Institute and is interested in the application of the philosophy of Objectivism to behavioral sciences.

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