How leaders support followers’ basic psychological need for competence in the workplace
Application examples: competence | Practical salience | Theoretic fit | Combined score |
---|---|---|---|
Provide development/learning opportunities | 50 | 4.3 | 2.75 |
Support and help build self-esteem and confidence | 49 | 4.3 | 2.70 |
Offer regular positive and constructive feedback | 63 | 3 | 2.69 |
Let team members learn at their own individual pace | 12 | 5 | 1.03 |
Introduce mentoring opportunities | 18 | 4 | 0.76 |
How leaders support followers’ basic psychological need for relatedness in the workplace
Application examples: relatedness | Practical salience | Theoretic fit | Combined score |
---|---|---|---|
Implement team bonding activities | 16 | 4.7 | 1.08 |
Induct new members into the team | 20 | 4.3 | 1.06 |
Learn about workers outside of the work context | 20 | 4.3 | 1.06 |
Know your team members’ names, interests and skills | 12 | 4.7 | 0.85 |
Respect others’ background and experience | 10 | 4.7 | 0.74 |
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This work was supported in part by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC via a Project Grant titled “Improving the retention and engagement of volunteers in Emergency Service agencies” (2014–2017).
About the authors.
Vivien W. Forner (PhD, BPsych) is an Organizational Psychologist and Researcher in the Faculty of Business at the University of Wollongong. Her research focuses on leadership, motivation and workplace contexts that promote human well-being and thriving. Vivien has over 10 years’ experience designing, implementing and evaluating leadership and applied psychology interventions within mental health, emergency management, insurance, aged care, education and not-for-profit organizations. She has held a state committee role within Australian Psychological Society’s (APS) College of Organizational Psychology and is a member of the International Positive Psychology Association and International Leadership Association.
Michael Jones [BComm (hons), PhD] is an Associated Professor and has been teaching and researching in areas of organization, business and management for 18 years. Michael has developed research interests in organizational behaviour, group dynamics, doctoral studies, organizational culture and motivation and commitment. Michael also has research strengths in areas of qualitative analysis and has written several papers on various qualitative methodologies and methods. He is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management, the Australian Human Resources Institute and the Industrial Relations Society of Australia.
Yoke Berry (PhD) was Project Manager for a Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre grant in the Faculty of Business, University of Wollongong. In this function, she contributed to research into retention and engagement of volunteers in emergency service agencies. She has a PhD in Chemistry and has extensive experience in natural products, organic and protein chemistry. She is a qualified secondary school educator in science.
Joakim Eidenfalk (PhD) teaches and researches in the Faculty of Law Humanities and the Arts at the University of Wollongong. Joakim has been teaching and researching international relations, politics, history and security studies for 10 years. Joakim has an interest in foreign policy, security policy, political leadership, decision-making and international relations theory. He has a PhD in Politics, a master’s degree in International Relations and a master’s degree in Politics. Joakim is also interested in teaching improvement and innovation.
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1 Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Section 4, Keelung Road, Da’an District, Taipei City 106335, Taiwan; wt.ude.tsutn.liam@31880701d (T.T.D.V.); wt.ude.tsutn.liam@nehcwc (C.-W.C.)
2 Graduate Institute of Human Resource Management, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Road, Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan
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Work motivation plays a vital role in the development of organizations, as it increases employee productivity and effectiveness. To expand insights into individuals’ work motivation, the authors investigated the influence of individuals’ competence, autonomy, and social relatedness on their work motivation. Additionally, the country-level moderating factors of those individual-level associations were examined. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to analyze data from 32,614 individuals from 25 countries, obtained from the World Values Survey (WVS). Findings showed that autonomy and social relatedness positively impacted work motivation, while competence negatively influenced work motivation. Moreover, the individual-level associations were moderated by the country-level religious affiliation, political participation, humane orientation, and in-group collectivism. Contributions, practical implications, and directions for further research were then discussed.
Work motivation is considered an essential catalyst for the success of organizations, as it promotes employees’ effective performance. To achieve an organization’s objectives, the employer depends on the performance of their employees [ 1 ]. However, insufficiently motivated employees perform poorly despite being skillful [ 1 , 2 ]. Employers, therefore, need their employees to work with complete motivation rather than just showing up at their workplaces [ 3 ]. Work motivation remains a vital factor in organizational psychology, as it helps explain the causes of individual conduct in organizations [ 4 ]. Consequently, studies on the factors that encourage work motivation can contribute to the theoretical underpinnings on the roots of individual and practical social conditions that optimize individuals’ performance and wellness [ 5 ].
Several decades of research have endeavored to explain the dynamics that initiate work-related behavior. The primary factor examining this aspect is motivation, as it explains why individuals do what they do [ 6 ]. The basic psychological needs have represented a vital rationalization of individual differences in work motivation. Psychological needs are considered natural psychological nutrients and humans’ inner resources. They have a close relationship with individual conduct and have a strong explicit meaning for work performance [ 7 , 8 ]. Different needs are essential drivers of individual functioning due to the satisfaction derived from dealing with them [ 9 ]. In addition to individual-level antecedents, the social context has also been regarded to have implications for work motivation. Social exchange and interaction among individuals accentuate the importance of work motivation as something to be studied with consideration of contextual factors [ 10 ].
Significant contributions have been made to the socio-psychological perspective of work motivation ( Table 1 ). However, current literature shows three deficiencies. First, over 150 papers utilize the key approaches of psychological needs to justify motivational processes in the workplace [ 11 ], which justifies the vital role of psychological needs in interpreting individual work motivation. The association between psychological needs and work motivation has often been implicitly assumed; however, the influence of psychological needs on work motivation has been inadequately tested [ 8 ]. The verification of the extent and the direction of influence will provide a better understanding of, and offer distinct implications for, the facilitation of work motivation. In examining the influence of psychological needs on work motivation, this paper mainly focuses on the intrinsic aspect of motivation. The study of Alzahrani et al. (2018) [ 12 ] argued that although intrinsic motivation is more efficient than extrinsic motivation, researchers have mostly neglected it.
Several investigated predictors of work motivation in general and intrinsic motivation in particular.
Predictors of Work Motivation | Authors |
---|---|
Personal factors (age, gender, educational level, living setting, health status, and family support) | Lin, 2020 [ ] |
Emotional intelligence | Bechter et al., 2021 [ ] |
Interpersonal relationship quality | |
Social exchange | Hinsz, 2008 [ ] |
Interaction among individuals | |
Contextual factors | |
Cultures | Bhagat et al., 1995 [ ]; Erez, 1994/1997/2008 [ , , ] |
Social situations | Deci & Ryan, 2012 [ ] |
Psychological needs (but inadequacy) | Olafsen et al., 2018 [ ] |
Second, there is no study examining the country-level moderating effects of social conditions and national cultures on individual relationships between psychological needs and work motivation. Pinder (2014) [ 20 ] argued that contextual practices could influence variables at the individual level. Culture is a crucial factor influencing motivation [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Researchers (e.g., [ 19 ]) have further suggested that both the proximal social situations (e.g., workgroup) and the distal social situations (e.g., cultural values) in which humans operate influence their need for satisfaction and their motivation type. Intrinsic motivation interacts with prosocial motivation in judging work performance [ 21 ]. By including the social conditions in the framework, prosocial motivation is considered. Prosocial motivation refers to the desire to help and promote the welfare of others [ 22 , 23 ]. The study of Shao et al. (2019) [ 24 ] proposed that prosocial motivation promotes employee engagement in particular organizational tasks. Researchers often consider prosocial motivation as a pattern of intrinsic motivation [ 23 ]. This implies that when intrinsic motivation is investigated, prosocial motivation should be examined together to obtain a comprehensive understanding.
Third, there are few studies using a considerable number of cross-national samples to investigate factors influencing work motivation. A cross-cultural analysis makes the findings more objective by minimizing individual bias towards any particular culture. Therefore, the examination of the study is crucial to expanding insights on the influence of social situations on the individual associations between psychological needs and work motivation.
2.1. work motivation: a conceptual background.
Work motivation is considered “a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual’s being, to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form direction intensity and duration” [ 20 ]. Nicolescu and Verboncu (2008) [ 25 ] argued that work motivation contributes directly and indirectly to employees’ performance. Additionally, research (e.g., [ 26 ]) has postulated that work motivation could be seen as a source of positive energy that leads to employees’ self-recognition and self-fulfillment. Therefore, work motivation is an antecedent of the self-actualization of individuals and the achievement of organizations.
Literature has identified several models of work motivation. One of the primary models is Maslow’s (1954) [ 27 ] need hierarchy theory, which proposes that humans fulfill a set of needs, including physiological, safety and security, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Additionally, Herzberg’s (1966) [ 28 ] motivation-hygiene theory proposed that work motivation is mainly influenced by the job’s intrinsic challenge and provision of opportunities for recognition and reinforcement. More contemporary models also emerged. For instance, the study of Nicolescu and Verboncu (2008) [ 25 ] has categorized the types of motivation into four pairs, including positive-negative, intrinsic-extrinsic, cognitive-affective, and economic-moral spiritual. Additionally, Ryan and Deci [ 29 ] focused on intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
With the existence of numerous factors that relate to work motivation, this paper mainly focuses on intrinsic motivation. Previous research found that emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationship quality predict individuals’ intrinsic motivation [ 14 ]. Additionally, the study of Lin (2020) [ 13 ] argued that personal factors, including age, gender, educational level, living setting, health status, and family support, impact people’s intrinsic motivation. To understand more about intrinsic motivation, the authors examined individuals’ psychological needs. Fulfillment of the basic needs is related to wellness and effective performance [ 7 ]. Since intrinsic motivation results in high-quality creativity, recognizing the factors influencing intrinsic motivation is important [ 5 ].
Although a significant number of important contributions have been made regarding intrinsic motivation, self-determination theory is of particular significance for this study. Self-determination theory (SDT) postulates that all humans possess a variety of basic psychological needs. One of the primary crucial needs is the need for competence [ 30 , 31 ], which makes individuals feel confident and effective in their actions. Additionally, the need for autonomy [ 32 ] is one of the important psychological needs, which makes people satisfied with optimal wellness and good performance obtained as a result of their own decisions. Moreover, SDT proposed the crucial importance of interpersonal relationships and how social forces can influence thoughts, emotions, and behaviors [ 33 ]. This means that the psychological need for social relatedness [ 34 ] also plays a significant role in human’s psychological traits. Individuals need to be cared for by others and care for others to perceive belongingness. The need for relatedness can motivate people to behave more socially [ 35 ].
Prior research (e.g., [ 36 ]) has explored self-determination theory and related theories as approaches to work motivation and organizational behavior. The study of Van den Broeck et al. (2010) [ 37 ] emphasized grasping autonomy, competence, and relatedness at workplaces. This paper contributes to the exhaustive understanding of intrinsic work motivation influenced by further examining the impact of these three factors on work motivation as well as the moderating effects of social contexts.
2.2.1. individuals’ competence and work motivation.
Competence is “the collective learning in the organization, especially how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies” [ 38 ]. The study of Hernández-March et al. (2009) [ 39 ] argued that a stronger competence was commonly found in university graduates rather than those without higher education. Competence has been considered a significant factor of work motivation that enhances productivity and profits. Harter’s (1983) [ 40 ] model of motivation proposed that competence enhances motivation because competence promotes flexibility for individuals [ 41 ]. Likewise, Patall et al. (2014) [ 42 ] indirectly argued that competence positively affects work motivation. Individuals become more engaged in activities that demonstrate their competence [ 6 ]. When people perceive that they are competent enough to attain goals, they generally feel confident and concentrate their efforts on achieving their objectives as soon as possible for their self-fulfillment.
Individuals’ competence positively relates to their work motivation.
Autonomy is viewed as “self-determination, self-rule, liberty of rights, freedom of will and being one’s own person” [ 43 ]. Reeve (2006) [ 44 ] argued that autonomy is a primary theoretical approach in the study of human motivation and emotion. Autonomy denotes that certain conduct is performed with a sense of willingness [ 30 ]. Several researchers (e.g., [ 45 ]) investigated the positive relationship between individuals’ autonomy and work motivation. When humans are involved in actions because of their interest, they fully perform those activities volitionally [ 36 ]. Dickinson (1995) [ 46 ] also proposed that autonomous individuals are more highly motivated, and autonomy breeds more effective outcomes. Moreover, when individuals have a right to make their own decisions, they tend to be more considerate and responsible for those decisions, as they need to take accountability for their actions. Bandura (1991) [ 47 ] has argued that humans’ ability to reflect, react, and direct their actions motivates them for future purposes. Therefore, autonomy motivates individuals to work harder and overcome difficulties to achieve their objectives.
Individuals’ autonomy positively relates to their work motivation.
The psychological need for social relatedness occurs when an individual has a sense of being secure, related to, or understood by others in the social environment [ 48 ]. The relatedness need is fulfilled when humans experience the feeling of close relationships with others [ 49 ]. Researchers (e.g., [ 34 ]) have postulated that the need for relatedness reflects humans’ natural tendency to feel associated with others, such as being a member of any social groups, or to love and care as well as be loved and cared for. Prior studies have shown that social relatedness strongly impacts motivation [ 50 , 51 , 52 ]. Social relatedness offers people many opportunities to communicate with others, making them more motivated at the workplace, aligning them with the group’s shared objectives. Marks (1974) [ 53 ] suggested that social relatedness encourages individuals to focus on community welfare as a reference for their behavior, resulting in enhanced work motivation. Moreover, when individuals feel that they relate to and are cared for by others, their motivation can be maximized since their relatedness need is fulfilled [ 54 ]. Therefore, establishing close relationships with others plays a vital role in promoting human motivation [ 55 ]. When people perceive that they are cared for and loved by others, they tend to create positive outcomes for common benefits to deserve the kindness received, thereby motivating them to work harder.
Individuals’ social relatedness positively relates to their work motivation.
Aside from exploring the influence of psychological needs on work motivation, this paper also considers country-level factors. Previous research (e.g., [ 56 ]) has examined the influence of social institutions and national cultures on work motivation. However, the moderating effects of country-level factors have to be investigated, given the contextual impacts on individual needs, attitudes, and behavior. Although social conditions provide the most common interpretation for nation-level variance in individual work behaviors [ 57 ], few cross-national studies examine social conditions and individual work behaviors [ 56 ]. Hence, this paper investigates the moderating effects, including religious affiliation, political participation, humane orientation, and in-group collectivism, on the psychological needs-work motivation association.
A notable theory to explain the importance of contextual factors in work motivation that is customarily linked with SDT is the concept of prosocial motivation. Prosocial motivation suggests that individuals have the desire to expend efforts in safeguarding and promoting others’ well-being [ 58 , 59 ]. It is proposed that prosocial motivation strengthens endurance, performance, and productivity, as well as generates creativity that encourages individuals to develop valuable and novel ideas [ 21 , 60 ]. Prosocial motivation is found to interact with intrinsic motivation in influencing positive work outcomes [ 21 , 61 ]. However, there are few studies examining the effects of prosocial motivation on work motivation [ 62 ].
Utilizing the concept of prosocial motivation and examining it on a country-level, this paper suggests that prosocial factors promote basic psychological needs satisfaction that reinforces motivational processes at work. Therefore, prosocial behaviors and values may enhance the positive impact of individuals’ basic psychological needs, including competence, autonomy, and social relatedness, on work motivation.
2.3.1. religious affiliation.
Religions manifest values that are usually employed as grounds to investigate what is right and wrong [ 63 ]. Religious affiliation is considered prosocial because it satisfies the need for belongingness and upholds collective well-being through gatherings to worship, seek assistance, and offer comfort within religious communities. Hence, religious affiliation promotes the satisfaction of individuals’ psychological needs, which directs motivation at work and life in general. Research (e.g., [ 64 ]) has argued that religious affiliation is an essential motivational component given its impact on psychological processes. The study of Simon and Primavera (1972) [ 65 ] investigated the relationship between religious affiliation and work motivation. To humans characterized by competence, autonomy, and social relatedness, attachment to religious principles increases their motivation to accomplish organizational goals. Religious membership will increase the influence of psychological needs on work motivation. The tendency of individuals affiliated with any religion to be demotivated is lower compared to those who are not. Individuals with religious affiliations also tend to work harder as the virtue of hard work is aligned with religious principles. Accordingly, religious affiliation may enhance the positive association between individuals’ psychological needs and work motivation.
Political participation, indicated by people’s voting habits, plays a crucial role in ensuring citizens’ well-being and security [ 66 ]. Political participation encourages shared beliefs and collective goals among individuals [ 67 ]. The communication and interaction among people help them grasp the government’s developmental strategies, motivating them to work harder. Political participation is a collective pursuit that makes societal members feel more confident, socially related, and motivated at work to achieve communal targets. Increased political participation reinforces effective public policy to enhance its members’ welfare, congruent with the perspectives of prosocial motivation. The prosocial values and behaviors derived from political participation satisfy human needs and interact positively with intrinsic motivation. Therefore, political participation may strengthen the positive influence of individuals’ competence, autonomy, and social relatedness on work motivation. Conversely, poor political participation is perceived as a separation from the society that may lead to demotivation. In a society with poor political participation, an individualistic mentality is encouraged, thereby decreasing the desire to pursue cooperative endeavors.
GLOBE characterizes humane orientation as “the degree to which an organization or society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others” [ 68 ]. Research (e.g., [ 69 , 70 ]) has argued that a high humane orientation encourages members to develop a strong sense of belonging, commit to fair treatment, and manifest benevolence. The desire to help others or enhance others’ well-being indicates prosocial values and behaviors [ 71 , 72 ]. Since humane orientation is correlated with philanthropy and promotes good relations, this cultural value may enhance work motivation. Fairness, which is derived from a humane-oriented society, is one of the most vital influences on work motivation [ 1 ]. Moreover, altruism, promoted by humane-oriented societies, encourages individuals to sacrifice individual interests for shared benefits. Altruism then encourages attachment to others’ welfare and increases resources needed for prosocial behaviors such as work [ 73 , 74 ]. Members of humane-oriented countries view work in a positive light—it is an opportunity for them to perform altruistic behaviors and engage in collective actions. Therefore, people are more likely to work harder for common interests in humane-oriented societies. In such conditions, individuals with competence, autonomy, and social relatedness will be more motivated to work. By contrast, a less humane-oriented society gives prominence to material wealth and personal enjoyment [ 75 ]. Although this may be perceived as a positive influence on the association between psychological needs and work motivation, such an individualistic mindset works against the prosocial factors that further motivate individuals.
House et al. (2004) [ 68 ] defined in-group collectivism as “the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families”. Collectivistic cultures indicate the need for individuals to rely on group membership for identification [ 76 ]. High collectivism enhances equity, solidarity, loyalty, and encouragement [ 77 , 78 ]. Humans living in a collectivist culture are interdependent and recognize their responsibilities towards each other [ 79 ]. In-group collectivism transfers the concepts of social engagement, interdependence with others, and care for the group over the self (e.g., [ 79 , 80 , 81 ], thereby motivating individuals to work harder for the common interests. Oyserman et al. (2002) [ 82 ] have further argued that individualistic values encourage an independent personality, whereas collectivistic values form an interdependent one. Therefore, in-group collectivism is a prosocial value that emphasizes the importance of reciprocal relationships and encourages people to work harder to benefit the group. By contrast, low collectivism promotes individual interests and personal well-being while neglecting the value of having strong relations with others [ 70 ]. Considering that in-group collectivism promotes individuals’ prosocial behaviors of individuals, people who are competent, autonomous, and socially related to collective societies are less likely to be demotivated at the workplace. Consequently, in-group collectivism may intensify the positive influence of individuals’ competence, autonomy, and social relatedness on their work motivation.
(a–d): The positive relationship between individuals’ competence and their work motivation is enhanced as religious affiliation (a), political participation (b), humane orientation (c), and in-group collectivism (d) increase.
(a–d): The positive relationship between individuals’ autonomy and their work motivation is enhanced as religious affiliation (a), political participation (b), humane orientation (c), and in-group collectivism (d) increase.
(a–d): The positive relationship between individuals’ social relatedness and their work motivation is enhanced as religious affiliation (a), political participation (b), humane orientation (c), and in-group collectivism (d) increase.
The data came from the seventh wave (2017–2021) of the World Values Survey (WVS) [ 83 ], which examines humans’ beliefs and values. This survey is performed every five years to explore changes in people’s values and perceptions. Face-to-face interviews, or phone interviews for remote areas, were conducted by local organizations. Almost 90 percent of the world’s population is represented in the WVS. At least 1000 individuals were selected as respondents to exhibit each nation’s population. Further information regarding the WVS can be reached at the WVS website ( http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org , accessed on 14 October 2021).
The samples of this study were based on the availability of national-level data for the moderators and individual-level data for the measures of independent and dependent variables. Respondents without answers on the individual measures and corresponding country-level data were excluded from the analysis. The final data included 32,614 respondents in 25 countries aged 18 and above. The 25 countries included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and the USA.
Consistent with previous researchers (e.g., [ 84 ]), the authors used four items to gauge individual work motivation, namely “Indicate how important work is in your life”, “People who do not work turn lazy”, “Work is a duty towards society”, and “Work should always come first, even if it means less spare”. The first item was measured on a scale from 1 to 4, in which lower scores indicate a higher level of work importance. The other three items were gauged on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 indicating strongly agree and 5 indicating strongly disagree). The scores for each item were reverse coded, and the mean scores were computed so that higher scores indicate greater work motivation.
The independent variables of this study include individuals’ competence, autonomy, and social relatedness. First, people’s competence was measured by the item “What is the highest educational level that you attained” on a scale from 0 to 8, in which higher scores indicate a higher level of educational attainment. The authors used the item to gauge individual competence, as a capacity for learning is highlighted in the examination of competence [ 39 ]. Second, a scale from 1 to 10 was utilized to measure the item “How much freedom of choice and control”, which represented individual autonomy (1 indicating no choice at all and 10 indicating a great deal of choice). The authors used the item to gauge people’s autonomy as this item indicates the degree to which individual can make their own decisions. Finally, the individual’s social relatedness was gauged by twelve items, representing twelve types of organizations where individuals are active/inactive members or do not belong. The twelve items were measured on a scale from 0 to 2 (0 indicating do not belong, 1 indicating inactive member, and 2 indicating active member). The mean score of the twelve items represents the individual’s social relatedness. The membership in organizations represents social relatedness, as this indicates the reciprocal relationship between the individual and the organization through their mutual rights, responsibilities, and obligations towards each other [ 85 ].
The four country-level moderators in this study were religious affiliation, political participation, humane orientation, and in-group collectivism. Similar to prior research (e.g., [ 86 ]), the authors used the percentage of the country’s population with religious affiliation obtained from Pew Research Center 2015 [ 87 ]. Secondly, the index of voter turnout collected from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance [ 88 ] was utilized to gauge political participation. Voting habits are an indicator of an individual’s presence in their country’s life, and a nation with a high index of voter turnout illustrates its substantial degree of political participation [ 89 ]. Finally, two cultural values, including humane orientation and in-group collectivism, were obtained from the GLOBE study [ 68 ]. The authors used scores on cultural practices as the moderators for this study because they indicate the actual behaviors as “the way things are done in this culture” [ 68 ].
Several individual-level and country-level elements related to the dependent variable were considered control variables. The effects of gender, marital status, age, and income level were accounted for, as these four variables are basic personal factors that may impact individual’s motivation [ 90 ]. Gender (1 indicating male and 0 indicating female) and marital status (1 indicating married and 0 indicating other status) were dummy coded. Moreover, age was measured in years, while income level was gauged using a scale from 1 representing the lowest group to 10 representing the highest group. Along with the above individual-level controls, education and family strength were treated as country-level control variables. Education and family are primary institutions that shape individuals’ motivation [ 91 , 92 ]. Similar to prior researchers (e.g., [ 93 ]), education was computed as two-thirds of the adult literacy rate attained from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2020 [ 94 ] and one-third of the mean years of schooling obtained from the Human Development Report 2020 [ 95 ]. This score is commonly approved as representing access to education in a country [ 42 ]. Regarding family strength, the score was quantified by the ratio of divorces to marriages per 1000 members of the population consistent with previous researchers (e.g., [ 93 ]). The data was obtained from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook [ 96 ].
To perform the descriptive statistics, cross-level correlations, scale reliability, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, the authors utilized SPSS software.
The framework of this study considers independent variables, dependent variables, and moderators at different levels. Thus, the authors used a hierarchical linear model (HLM) [ 97 ] to test the hypotheses. HLM was defined as a “complex form of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression that is used to analyze variance in the outcome variables when the predictor variables are at varying hierarchical levels” [ 98 ]. This technique evaluates the impacts of higher-level outcomes on lower-level ones while preserving an appropriate degree of analysis [ 99 ]. HLM has been employed in several cross-level studies (e.g., [ 100 , 101 ]).
Table 2 presents a matrix of correlations and sample statistics from the individual-level to country-level variables. Table 3 and Table 4 report convergent and discriminant validity test results, respectively. Finally, Table 5 illustrates results for hypotheses testing using HLM. Three models are presented in the table: those of individual-level main effects and control variables (Model 1), those of country-level main effects (Model 2), and country-level moderating effects (Model 3).
Descriptive statistics, cross-level correlations and scale reliability a,b,c .
Mean | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3.52 | 0.66 | (0.6) | |||||||||||||
3.72 | 2.03 | −0.160 ** | |||||||||||||
7.12 | 2.20 | 0.014 ** | 0.067 ** | ||||||||||||
3.07 | 4.31 | 0.012 * | 0.024 ** | 0.059 ** | (0.9) | ||||||||||
83.55 | 18.49 | 0.186 ** | −0.165 ** | 0.043 ** | 0.076 ** | ||||||||||
66.01 | 18.29 | −0.077 ** | −0.076 ** | 0.081 ** | 0.064 ** | 0.215 ** | |||||||||
4.15 | 0.45 | 0.150 ** | −0.180 ** | −0.014 * | 0.173 ** | 0.258 ** | 0.097 ** | ||||||||
5.32 | 0.66 | 0.329 ** | −0.239 ** | −0.068 ** | −0.057 ** | 0.464 ** | −0.091 ** | 0.334 ** | |||||||
0.45 | 0.50 | 0.072 ** | 0.082 ** | −0.005 | −0.002 | −0.016 ** | −0.028 ** | −0.050 ** | −0.010 | ||||||
0.57 | 0.50 | 0.036 ** | −0.060 ** | −0.018 ** | 0.014 * | −0.055 ** | −0.008 | 0.092 ** | 0.021 ** | 0.020 ** | |||||
44.17 | 16.34 | −0.034 ** | −0.186 ** | −0.023 ** | −0.021 ** | −0.204 ** | 0.020 ** | −0.075 ** | −0.192 ** | 0.030 ** | 0.248 ** | ||||
4.79 | 2.07 | −0.046 ** | 0.299 ** | 0.136 ** | 0.056 ** | −0.001 | 0.029 ** | −0.034 ** | −0.102 ** | 0.036 ** | 0.043 ** | −0.109 ** | |||
65.40 | 7.31 | −0.035 ** | 0.005 | −0.043 ** | −0.051 ** | −0.111 ** | −0.069 ** | −0.226 ** | 0.087 ** | 0.013 * | 0.011 | 0.002 | −0.038 ** | ||
0.30 | 0.17 | −0.227 ** | 0.195 ** | 0.015 ** | −0.099 ** | −0.384 ** | 0.017 ** | −0.393 ** | −0.450 ** | 0.040 ** | −0.054 ** | 0.157 ** | 0.058 ** | 0.206 ** |
a n = 32,614 level 1; n = 25, level 2. b * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01. c The reliability found in the parentheses is expressed as Cronbach’s alpha for scales with ≥four items.
Convergent validity.
Composite Reliability (CR) | Average Variance Extracted (AVE) | |
---|---|---|
Work motivation | 0.744 | 0.431 |
Social relatedness | 0.889 | 0.404 |
Discriminant validity—Fornell and Larcker’s criterion.
Work Motivation | Social Relatedness | |
---|---|---|
Work motivation | 0.657 | |
Social relatedness | 0.012 * | 0.636 |
* p < 0.05.
HLM results: (The DV is work motivation) a,b .
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coefficient | SE | Coefficient | SE | Coefficient | SE | ||||
−0.063 | 0.006 | *** | −0.063 | 0.006 | *** | −0.063 | 0.006 | *** | |
0.036 | 0.005 | *** | 0.037 | 0.005 | *** | 0.036 | 0.005 | *** | |
0.042 | 0.006 | *** | 0.042 | 0.006 | *** | 0.042 | 0.006 | *** | |
0.010 | 0.061 | 0.007 | 0.062 | ||||||
−0.064 | 0.054 | −0.064 | 0.055 | ||||||
0.019 | 0.059 | 0.033 | 0.060 | ||||||
0.297 | 0.066 | *** | 0.288 | 0.067 | *** | ||||
−0.013 | 0.007 | † | |||||||
−0.000 | 0.006 | ||||||||
0.032 | 0.007 | *** | |||||||
0.042 | 0.007 | *** | |||||||
−0.009 | 0.007 | ||||||||
0.012 | 0.006 | * | |||||||
0.012 | 0.006 | † | |||||||
0.011 | 0.007 | ||||||||
−0.006 | 0.009 | ||||||||
−0.013 | 0.008 | ||||||||
0.019 | 0.007 | ** | |||||||
−0.020 | 0.008 | * | |||||||
0.067 | 0.005 | *** | 0.067 | 0.005 | *** | 0.068 | 0.005 | *** | |
0.011 | 0.006 | * | 0.011 | 0.005 | * | 0.013 | 0.006 | * | |
0.025 | 0.006 | *** | 0.026 | 0.006 | *** | 0.027 | 0.006 | *** | |
0.002 | 0.006 | 0.002 | 0.006 | 0.003 | 0.006 | ||||
−0.014 | 0.079 | −0.054 | 0.056 | −0.052 | 0.057 | ||||
−0.218 | 0.080 | * | −0.067 | 0.062 | −0.077 | 0.062 |
a , n = 32,614 level 1; n = 25, level 2. b , †, p < 0.10, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
For the confirmatory factor analysis, previous research (e.g., [ 102 , 103 , 104 ]) suggested that analysis of each variable requires at least three items. Factor analysis using statistical software will provide imprecise results if there are fewer than three items per variable [ 105 ]. Therefore, the authors only performed Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for social relatedness and work motivation.
To assess the measurement, convergent and discriminant validity were tested. Composite Reliability (CR) and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) were performed to illustrate convergent validity. The study of Hair et al. (2019) [ 106 ] suggested that CR is required to be above a threshold of 0.7. On the other hand, the AVE value should be higher than a threshold of 0.5 [ 107 ]. As shown in Table 3 , CR is acceptable while AVE is slightly lower than a threshold of 0.5. Despite the limitation of AVE, the acceptable result of the discriminant validity is achieved. The discriminant validity was tested using Fornell and Larcker (1981)’s criterion [ 107 ]. This proposes that the square root of the AVE of any latent variable should be higher than its correlation with any other construct. The result of the discriminant validity test indicates that all the two latent constructs have a square root of AVE higher than its correlation with the other construct, as presented in Table 4 .
The authors argued that individuals’ competence (H1), autonomy (H2), and social relatedness (H3) positively relate to their work motivation. However, the findings only supported H2 (β2 = 0.036, p < 0.001) and H3 (β3 = 0.042, p < 0.001). In contrast, the findings presented that H1 was also significant, but in the opposite direction compared with our original prediction. The result suggests that individuals’ competence negatively relates to their work motivation.
In Hypotheses 4a–d, we proposed that higher levels of religious affiliation (4a), political participation (4b), humane orientation (4c), and in-group collectivism (4d) strengthen the relationship described in H1. However, the results only demonstrated support for the two hypotheses, H4c (γ13 = 0.032, p < 0.001) and H4d (γ14 = 0.042, p < 0.001). In contrast, the findings presented that H4a was also significant, but opposite our initial prediction. This different result proposes that a higher level of religious affiliation weakens the association between individuals’ competence and work motivation.
In Hypotheses 5a–d, the authors argued that the higher levels of religious affiliation (5a), political participation (5b), humane orientation (5c), and in-group collectivism (5d) enhance the positive relationship between individuals’ autonomy and their work motivation. However, the results only supported the two hypotheses H5b (γ22 = 0.012, p < 0.05) and H5c (γ23 = 0.012, p < 0.1), while H5a and H5d were not significant.
In Hypotheses 6a–d, the authors argued that the higher levels of religious affiliation (6a), political participation (6b), humane orientation (6c), and in-group collectivism (6d) enhance the positive relationship between individuals’ social relatedness and their work motivation. However, the results only supported H6c (γ33 = 0.019, p < 0.01). In contrast, the findings indicated that H6d was also significant, but in the opposite direction compared to our initial hypothesis. The different result suggests that higher in-group collectivism weakens the positive association between individuals’ social relatedness and work motivation. Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 and Figure 5 represent the significant moderators of the associations examined.
The association between competence and work motivation at different levels of humane orientation.
The association between competence and work motivation at different levels of in-group collectivism.
The association between autonomy and work motivation at different levels of political participation.
The association between autonomy and work motivation at different levels of humane orientation.
The association between social relatedness and work motivation at different levels of humane orientation.
Regarding the statistical results of the control variables, gender, marital status, and age consistently indicated significant positive relationships with work motivation across three models. On the other hand, family strength indicated a significant negative association to work motivation only in Model 1.
The study’s objective was to examine the influence of individuals’ competence, autonomy, and social relatedness on their work motivation, as well as the impact of country-level moderators, including religious affiliation, political participation, humane orientation, and in-group collectivism on their relationships. Seven primary findings are crucial in this research. First, people’s autonomy and social relatedness positively relate to their work motivation. This result is in line with the findings of prior researchers (e.g., [ 45 , 52 ]), postulating that humans’ autonomy and social relatedness breeds work motivation. The study of Theurer et al. (2018) [ 108 ] argued that, among motivational elements, autonomy had been found to greatly predict positive work motivation. When people feel they have enough control over their activities, they are more confident and motivated to work. Along with autonomy, humans’ social relatedness promotes communal benefits, thereby motivating people to work harder for their organization. Second, the association between individual competence and work motivation is moderated by cultural values, including humane orientation and in-group collectivism. The findings are consistent with the viewpoints of prior researchers (e.g., [ 69 , 70 , 77 , 78 ]), namely that a society with higher levels of humane orientation and in-group collectivism strengthens altruism, solidarity, loyalty, and the encouragement of individuals, which results in work motivation. Consequently, there will be an increase in the differences in individuals’ competence and work motivation if they live in a society with greater humane orientation and in-group collectivism. Third, political participation and humane orientation moderate the relationship between individual autonomy and work motivation. These results are in line with the investigations of prior researchers (e.g., [18,45), which found that social circumstances and cultural practices promote people’s motivation. Accordingly, the differences in individuals’ autonomy based on their work motivation will be enhanced if they belong to nations with higher political participation and humane orientation. Fourth, the association between social relatedness and work motivation is moderated by humane orientation. Accordingly, in a humane-oriented society, the differences in individuals’ social relatedness based on their work motivation will be strengthened.
The remaining findings were contrary to the original propositions. Pinder (2014) [ 20 ] argued that it is possible to find that contextual practices can influence variables at the individual level in the opposite prediction in motivation research. Fifth, individuals’ competence negatively influences their work motivation. This finding proposes that more competent individuals are less motivated at work. One possible interpretation of this opposite result is that, when the majority of the organization members recognize individuals’ competence, these individuals may perceive that it is not necessary to devote most of their time and energy to work anymore. These individuals may believe that no matter how unwillingly they perform, they are still competent enough because of their prior achievements. Additionally, competent individuals recognize that they have already sacrificed their enjoyment of life for their previous successes; therefore, they tend to offset this by investing their valuable time in other aspects. This is consistent with other researchers’ investigations (e.g., [ 109 ]), which found that low-skilled individuals are more often compelled to engage in regular work activities and are more easily motivated than others. By contrast, highly competent individuals tend to be motivated by challenging tasks and improving themselves through further education. Sixth, the relationship between competence and work motivation is negatively moderated by religious affiliation. This finding suggests that religious affiliation weakens the association between individuals’ competence and work motivation. One possible explanation for this finding is that strong religious beliefs are the foundation for virtuous living [ 110 ]. Individuals with religious affiliation usually employ religious principles to guide their behavior, regardless of their competence. In other words, both competent and incompetent individuals tend to be more motivated at the workplace if they are affiliated with any religion, thereby diminishing the influence of competence in work motivation. Seventh, the relationship between social relatedness and work motivation is negatively moderated by in-group collectivism. This result proposes that a higher degree of in-group collectivism weakens the association between individuals’ social relatedness and work motivation. One possible explanation for this is that, under an in-group collective society, people put more weight on mutual relationships and encourage acts that may build up the solidarity of groups. Since in-group collectivism is viewed as a social attachment in which people emphasize the group over the self (e.g., [ 79 , 80 , 81 ]), individuals are fairly conscious of their responsibility to the group regardless of their social relatedness. Both socially related and unrelated individuals belonging to in-group collective cultures tend to work harder for common goals. Accordingly, the influence of individuals’ social relatedness on their work motivation is reduced.
Despite its significant contributions, this study has its limitations. The use of secondary data represents the fact that the data collection process was beyond the authors’ control. However, the collection of cross-national data is time-consuming and costly. The authors used the available data but strove for the efficient use of multilevel data. The secondary data also limited the measurement of individual-level factors based on the available data. Moreover, it is quite complex to gauge an individual’s work motivation appropriately, since personal work motivation may not be one-dimensional. Nevertheless, the authors made efforts to employ the measurements utilized by prior research. Moreover, it is complicated to measure social factors such as political participation. There are challenges in investigating social contexts due to the absence of direct measurements [ 111 ]. This compels the authors to identify substitute measurements for this study. Finally, this study covered 25 samples from 25 countries with different characteristics. Despite the attempt of this study to include the most relevant social conditions in the framework, the influence of other national differences and cultural sensitivities were not considered.
This paper directs further research considering that several frameworks and approaches should be employed to better examine motivation [ 112 ]. First, as some of the results were opposite to the original propositions based on the theoretical foundations employed, combining different concepts and approaches is necessary to enhance perspectives of psychological needs and social issues. For instance, the relationship between competence and work motivation can be further investigated by employing other theories to understand their association better. Similarly, the moderating effects of social contexts such as religious affiliation and in-group collectivism should be further examined to obtain a more in-depth comprehension of the roles of contextual circumstances and cultural values in individual-level relationships. Additionally, self-determination theory and the concept of prosocial motivation may be used to explore motivation towards specific behavior in organizations, such as organizational citizenship and proactive behaviors. Organizational context, such as rewards, training, and culture, can be considered as part of the framework to enhance the conception of work motivation.
This study has utilized a multilevel framework to examine the influence of psychological needs and social context on work motivation. Through this research, a deeper understanding of the roles of competence, autonomy, and social relatedness, as well as social situations and cultural values on work motivation, is achieved. The contrary findings call for integrating other concepts and approaches towards a more comprehensive knowledge of work motivation.
Along with the theoretical contribution, the study’s findings offer practical implications. The satisfaction of psychological needs promotes self-motivation, which creates positive outcomes. Hence, organizations can provide programs and activities to promote employees’ autonomy and social relatedness as this will enhance their work motivation. Employee empowerment can be advocated by encouraging them to make their own decisions at the workplace, providing constructive criticisms rather than instilling the fear of failure. Additionally, managers should encourage solidarity, support, and mutual care among employees. Putting more weight on employees’ fulfillment of needs will further increase employees’ motivation, thereby diminishing costs related to stress or turnover [ 50 ]. To establish a novel mechanism towards promoting work motivation in the entire nation, the government should pay attention to the political structure and conditions that encourage citizens’ participation. Additionally, a culture of humane orientation should be promoted in the workplace and society so that solidarity, kind assistance, and altruism among communities as well as among individuals can be strengthened. For instance, teamwork should be encouraged for employees to help each other overcome difficulties at the workplace or share responsibilities with their colleagues. This will motivate people to work harder for collective goals, contributing to the development of organizations.
Conceptualization, T.T.D.V. and K.V.T.; data collection, T.T.D.V.; methodology, T.T.D.V. and K.V.T.; formal analysis, T.T.D.V. and K.V.T.; resources, K.V.T. and C.-W.C.; writing-original draft, T.T.D.V. and K.V.T.; writing-review, editing & proofreading, T.T.D.V., K.V.T. and C.-W.C.; visualization, K.V.T.; supervision, K.V.T. and C.-W.C.; project administration, K.V.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
This paper does not receive funding from any individuals or organizations.
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Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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The Case for Motivation: What's sapping it, what will bring it back
Head of CEO and Executive Assessment, NA
Senior Director of Research, Korn Ferry Institute
Vice President, Chief Content Officer
Senior Director, Korn Ferry Institute
This is an exciting moment in human history. For the first time, people have turned the uncontrollable forces of nature—famine, sickness, and extreme poverty—into manageable challenges. This hasn’t come through any magic pill, of course. These once-insurmountable issues have been slowly brought down to size by motivated people, both individuals and groups, armed with the flexibility and desire to generate innovative ideas. Indeed, motivation is a seed that produces innovation.
But in recent times, motivation has become one of the greater concerns—and mysteries—of today’s business world. Even though these should be idyllic times for workers, with the economy and the labor market at such favorable levels, study after study suggests something has gone terribly wrong with workforce motivation. People still have the drive to work hard, but much of this drive has become sapped inside corporate hallways and factory walls. One of the most comprehensive surveys of the American workplace finds that 70% of workers say they are not highly engaged in their jobs—a disappointing figure given the funds companies dedicate to engagement.
The Korn Ferry Institute believes this mystery in motivation can be unlocked. According to our research, the heart of the problem centers on several very topical factors, from rapid tech disruptions to antiquated corporate structures to a disturbing rise in employee stress. Indeed, our analysis of a major global employee survey covering nearly 50 countries reveals that employee stress has risen nearly 20% in three decades. But we also believe that companies and employees together can turn the power of motivation to their favor, by creating a greater sense of purpose in the workplace, improving individual and corporate agility, and evolving leadership practices and operating structures.
This paper provides a roadmap to these steps, reaffirming the value of human capital in general and human motivation in particular. With the pace of change only increasing, stress is not likely to recede, so individuals must learn to cope, or better yet thrive, under a new management paradigm, while prevailing leadership and organizational practices must be reimagined to unleash the true adaptive potential of today’s workforce. Some measures can come with relative ease; others may require a more demanding process. But the stakes behind today’s battle for motivation could not be greater, with the very momentum for the pervasive innovations we enjoy today—and expect for tomorrow—now hanging in the balance.
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August 6, 2024
Keeping employees motivated is essential to maintaining productivity. Your team will feel happier at work and have higher job satisfaction if you can boost motivation and morale. However, you have to know where to start. Not every motivational strategy works for every employee, so you’ll want to have options.
Luckily for you, we’ve gathered all of the best strategies for employee motivation in this article. You can use the works you believe your staff will respond to the most. Let’s begin!
One of the best ways to show your employees that you care about them is to offer them a rewards system. They’ll know what they need to do to receive the rewards, so they’ll try harder to achieve their goals.
You can use bonus plan software to create the system. It’s an efficient process that allows you to completely tailor the plan to your needs. You can offer several different kinds of rewards as well. For instance, you can offer monetary bonuses or paid vacation time to your employees.
Having a rewards plan in place is one of the best things you can do to increase motivation. Your team can see the rewards they want, keeping them inspired to receive them.
In short, develop a reward plan for your team. These systems work for all employees, so you can boost motivation throughout your entire business when you use them correctly because they are tangible rewards. Reliable software can help you get started.
Next, you need to reward and recognise every accomplishment, no matter how small. When your employee succeeds at something, you must praise them. This process is a form of positive feedback, which encourages them to repeat the behaviour.
It doesn’t take much to recognise an accomplishment. For example, you can praise them out loud at a meeting. You can also give them a card or hand-written note expressing how much you appreciate them.
Acknowledgement is one of the best ways to boost motivation. Your employees will know that you see their efforts and will feel inspired to continue working hard. They’ll keep up the good work because they want more recognition. It’s especially impactful when it comes from higher-ups, so encourage your managers to let their teams know when they’re doing well.
Lastly, your employees will feel more confident at work, allowing them to make better decisions and remain motivated. They won’t feel the need to guess whether or not they’re doing a good job, so they’ll feel more valuable to your business.
Having a positive workspace will keep your team motivated. Everyone should feel valued and respected at work. You can do this by encouraging diversity, inclusion, team-building activities, and open communication. Everyone should feel able to speak with you and the rest of management about anything they think is important.
You can also offer cultural competence training courses. These programs help employees understand the importance of diversity at work. It can help remove biases and make it easier for everyone to work together smoothly.
You can also encourage cross-department projects. Doing so allows your team to work with others from different parts of your company. Teaming up with other departments can make them feel a stronger sense of unity in your business. It also gives them more insight into how other aspects of the company run, helping them to better understand the entire business as a whole.
Lastly, employee resource groups, or ERGs, allow individual employees to meet up and support each other. It’s a great way to increase inclusion and foster a healthy work environment.
Next, you should offer your employees more chances for development within your company. They’ll feel more valued when they know you’re investing in their careers. Plus, they can see a clearer career path with you, which is sure to help keep everyone motivated at work.
You can do this by offering professional training programs and workshops. You can even send interested employees to workshops and networking meet-ups. They can build new skills there and meet new employees who can help them build their careers.
Finally, regularly meet with your team and discuss their career goals. You can help them achieve their goals, showing that you care about their progress with your business. All of these factors can even help keep up retention and morale at work.
Having clear, easy-to-understand goals in place for all of your employees is essential. When they aren’t sure what they’re striving for, motivation is sure to drop. So, instead, focus on letting them know exactly what you’re expecting of them.
Your team will feel much more motivated and you can provide them with better constructive feedback this way. All of these aspects make it easier for your team to stay on track and they’ll know how they’re contributing to the business overall.
Finally, one of the best strategies for motivating your employees is to lead by example. You want to show them that you’re motivated and interested in your work, so they’ll feel more encouraged to do the same.
Leadership should model the behaviours they expect from their team. When you’re inspired, they’ll be more inspired too.
Supportive leadership will make the employees feel like they’re doing more meaningful work, keeping them motivated and satisfied as well.
You and your management team can lead by example by:
When you lead by example well, you’ll start noticing a ripple effect at the workplace.
When you keep your team motivated, you and your business are sure to succeed. Try recognising their achievements, develop a positive environment, and lead by example. Your team is sure to respond well and stay motivated.
© 2016 - 2024 Robin Waite. All rights reserved.
By tom fleischman, cornell chronicle.
When a company’s “big boss” pays a visit to observe and connect with workers on the front lines, heightened motivation – and not necessarily the idea that they’re being watched – can lead to increased productivity, a Cornell-led research team found.
In an experiment involving a Latin American bank, the researchers found that sales of credit cards, term deposits, insurance and other products increased significantly in the days immediately before and in the weeks after the division manager’s visit.
“I’ve been a consultant and have always done field visits, and people feeling important and feeling that they are heard – it‘s a very strong motivator,” said Asís Martínez-Jerez , professor in the Nolan School of Hotel Management, in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
Martínez-Jerez is corresponding author of “ Motivating From the Heights: A Field Experiment on Top Managers Visiting the Front-line ,” which published Aug. 3 in the Review of Accounting Studies.
Co-authors are Pablo Casas-Arce, associate professor at the Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and Joseph Moran, a doctoral student at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Their paper was dedicated to Leo Cesario, data analytics manager at the bank, who died of cancer during the study.
Martínez-Jerez’s research includes management and organizations, and how philosophies and strategies find their way from the board room to the factory floor.
“The big question we are asking is, I am a CEO, but I’m not the one in contact with the client,” he said. “How do I design my organization so the people on the front line react to the customer in the way that I would as a CEO?”
One of the ways to accomplish this, Martínez-Jerez said, is “managing by walking around” – visiting those in the trenches to observe, offer support and show that management cares about its employees.
To test their theory, Martínez-Jerez and his team conducted a field experiment in the retail division of a medium-size bank in Latin America. The bank was in the middle of a “tournament” in which nearly half of its 170 branches were vying for prizes based on hitting sales goals, but Martínez-Jerez didn’t think the tournament aspect skewed his results.
“Our feeling was, ‘Let’s do it at a moment when incentives are high already,’” he said. “And if we find any additional effect on productivity during this time, then we know the effect really exists.”
For their experiment, the researchers coordinated with a newly hired division manager, who scheduled a series of visits to 79 of the bank’s branches over a three-month period. He had been on the job less than six months and was using these visits to introduce himself and express his pride at being part of the team.
The researchers conducted mathematical modeling as a way to gauge the motivational effects of the branch visits. Based on their modeling, they developed two hypotheses: When a top manager visits the rank and file, the team members of the front-line location increase their effort; and the incentive effect of the top manager’s visits is higher for branches with good past performance than for branches with poor past performance.
The researchers obtained sales information for each branch from the data analytics department of the bank, and found that sales productivity – as measured by the percentage above sales goals for credit cards, insurance and other products – increased significantly in the days immediately before a visit, and for approximately a month afterward.
The team conducted field interviews and determined that increased motivation, including the anticipatory effects of the visit beforehand, was the reason for the improved performance. It also explained why branches that performed better prior to the visits saw a bigger increase in productivity than poorer-performing ones, which would have benefitted more from visits that included a teaching or monitoring component.
Martínez-Jerez thinks companies would generally benefit from “managing by walking around,” and doesn’t think the effect would dampen with repeated visits.
“We think that there is going to be an optimal cadence of visits,” he said. “You have to keep the flame alive; your workers cannot feel forgotten.”
Adam allington.
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Home > ETD > Doctoral > 5822
A phenomenological study of the teaching motivation for teachers of color in predominantly white schools.
Jennifer Lynn McConnell , Liberty University Follow
School of Education
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Denise Nixon
diversity in education, racial representation in teaching, culturally responsive pedagogy, minority teachers, teacher retention
Recommended citation.
McConnell, Jennifer Lynn, "A Phenomenological Study of the Teaching Motivation for Teachers of Color in Predominantly White Schools" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects . 5822. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5822
The phenomenological study explores how teachers of color describe their lived experiences and motivations to teach at predominantly White K–12 public schools in Pennsylvania. The theory guiding the study is Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation, which postulates that certain factors in the workplace, known as motivators, lead to job satisfaction. In contrast, others lead to dissatisfaction, known as hygiene factors. Herzberg's theory provides a valuable lens through which to examine the motivations of teachers of color to teach at predominantly White K–12 public schools in Pennsylvania. The qualitative research study explores the underlying factors influencing these teachers' commitments via interviews, document analysis, and journal prompt responses. The research methodology ensures thorough member-checking, systematic auditing, and transparent reporting to maintain credibility, dependability, and confirmability. The study also prioritizes ethical considerations, including obtaining informed consent from participants and ensuring the confidentiality of participant data. Ten research participants volunteered to participate, and the study's findings reveal intrinsic motivators such as the need for cultural representation and the desire to make a meaningful impact are crucial to their commitment to teaching in predominately White environments. The study's results also support Herzberg et al. (1993/2017) two-factor motivation-hygiene theory, showing that job satisfaction in this context stems from aspects related to the nature of the work itself and teachers' capacity to foster an inclusive and culturally diverse educational environment. The findings suggest that school and community leaders should go beyond recognizing diversity and inclusion and focus on creating supportive, adaptable, and equitable educational environments.
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Individual work-motive values: determinants and consequences for the appraisal of specific health-related work characteristics.
The objectives of the present study were to determine whether (I) work-motive values influence the appraisal of specific work characteristics of significance for health and function and (II) subject variables impact work-motive values. Two aspects of work-motive values were studied: values that assign importance to pursuing one’s personal goals and interests, internally based work-motive values (IntWMVs), and values that assign importance to external factors, externally based work-motive values (ExtWMVs). These aspects of motive values, age, gender, skill level, managerial role, and specific psychosocial work characteristics were analyzed in a cross-sectional sample of 12,994 employees in 101 private and public organizations. Two-year follow-up prospective data from 6,252 employees in 69 organizations elucidated whether associations were stable over time. The results showed that IntWMV influenced reports of levels of control of decisions, empowering leadership, innovative climate, quantitative demands, feedback from work, and self-leadership. ExtWMVs were most consistently associated with role clarity. Skill level and managerial role were associated with reporting higher levels of IntWMVs and lower ExtWMVs. In conclusion, the present data support the assumption that work-motive values influence the appraisal, reporting, and consequently measurements of work characteristics. Managers differ from subordinates in work-motive values and may face challenges in ascertaining and supporting subordinates’ needs.
Individuals differ in their styles of perception and appraisal; hence, individual-level factors influence the perception, appraisal, and reporting of work characteristics. Work-motive values is an individual-level factor that has received little attention, and there is a paucity of studies on its influence on the reporting of work characteristics. With reference to appraisal theory ( Moors et al., 2013 ) and person-environment fit (P-E fit; Edwards and Cable, 2009 ; Kristof-Brown and Guay, 2011 ), the present study aimed to determine whether (1) work-motive values differentially influence the reporting of specific work characteristics that are known to impact health and function and whether (2) the subject variables management position, skill level, gender, and age affect work-motive values. The present study adds to the knowledge base of organizational and occupational psychology by elucidating the role of individual motive values in employees’ appraisal of their jobs. This knowledge is of methodological significance for the assessment of work characteristics and of potentially practical impact for understanding sources of variance and differences between managers and followers.
Value is an “enduring belief that… specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable…” ( Rokeach, 1973 , p. 5). Beliefs pertaining to conduct were labeled instrumental values, while those pertaining to the end state of existence were labeled terminal values . Theories of personal values that aim to account for values in general organize values differently. Schwartz (1992) described two dimensions: (i) openness to change–conservation and (ii) self-enhancement–self-transcendence. Based on Schwartz’s theory, Arieli et al. (2020) provided a review of the impacts of personal values on behaviors, satisfaction, engagement, and wellbeing in organizations. Discussing the personal-value construct, they state that values differ from motives in that some motives are undesirable and that values represent conscious representations while people may be unaware of their motives ( McClelland, 1985 ; Arieli et al., 2020 ). Work motives may be defined as individual preferences for outcomes from work (e.g., Sagie et al., 1996 ; Kooji et al., 2011 ). Clearly, these constructs overlap and we use the term ‘motive values’ to inform that the present study pertains to work motives that are reported by survey questions, that is, available to consciousness.
Terminal values and motives relate to motivation and the constructs are sometimes confused. The American Psychological Association’s “APA Dictionary of Psychology” defines ‘motivation’ as “the impetus that gives purpose or direction to human or animal behavior and operates at a conscious or unconscious level” ( VandenBos, 2007 ). Motivation is an abstract concept used to explain directional and activational aspects of behavior. The directional aspect of motivation contributes to processes of choice and initiation of behaviors, while the activational aspect determines the invested effort and intensity of behaviors toward attaining a goal. “Work motivation” is a general concept that encompasses both needs, motives, values, general attitudes toward one’s job, and specific motivation for specific work tasks or aspects of work (i.e., motivational state).
Theories of motivation are based on assumptions of fundamental drives, needs, desires, motives, values, or central nervous system functions (e.g., optimal arousal, Hebb, 1955 ; reduction of prediction error, Kaplan and Oudeyer, 2007 ). Hence, theories differ in assumptions of which fundamental factors drive motives, values, and motivational states. Maslow’s (1943) “Theory of human motivation” posits that humans are motivated by basic needs in a five-stage structure of priorities: (i) physiological needs, (ii) need for safety and predictability, (iii) need for love, (iv) need for self-esteem, and (v) need for self-actualization. McClelland’s “Need theory,” which is commonly applied by I/O-psychology consultants, proposes that people are primarily motivated by (i) the need for achievement, (ii) the need for power, or (iii) the need for affiliation to varying degrees ( McClelland, 1961 ).
Several lines of experiments and observations confirm that both directional and activational aspects of motivation may be modified by external reinforcers. Motivation caused by extrinsic incentives and consequences of doing the task, that is, by a reinforcer, is commonly termed extrinsic motivation. External incentives are associated with work performance, particularly for quantitative-type tasks ( Jenkins et al., 1998 ; Cerasoli et al., 2014 ). Transactional leadership theories are based on the motivational effects of social exchange, equity, and rewards (i.e., reinforcements).
Humans often immerse themselves in activities that are not reinforced by an external reward: The subject is motivated by the task per se and working on the task constitutes the motivation. Intrinsic motivation is inferred from engagement in a task for the inherent pleasure and satisfaction derived from the task itself. Pointing out shortcomings of drive-reduction theories, White (1959) proposed the concept of “competence,” defined as “… an organism’s capacity to interact effectively with its environment” (p 297) and “competence motivation” as an “intrinsic need to deal with the environment” (p 318). These concepts seem related to Maslow’s need for self-esteem and need for self-actualization and intrinsic motivation.
Self-determination theory (SDT, e.g., Deci et al., 2017 ) maintains that motivation is related to three innate psychological needs: (i) need for autonomy, (ii) need for competence, and (iii) need for relatedness. According to SDT, intrinsic motivation is the prototype impetus for self-determined behavior.
The role of reward and reinforcement is a pivotal issue for differentiating intrinsic from extrinsic motivation. The nature of reinforcement mechanisms may be elusive, however. Any sensory input signaling agency, novelty, or pleasure may act as reinforcers. For a baby watching his or her fingers move, both the visual and proprioceptive sensory input signals novelty and agency, which may be rewarding and hence reinforce play with fingers and hands. Play, hobbies, and work that are intrinsically motivating usually imply that the subject experiences tangible results of the effort and these outcomes can be intensely rewarding for her or him although other persons or the external surroundings do not ascribe any value to them. Furthermore, some seemingly intrinsically motivated activities may be escape from challenges or distressing environments (e.g., meditation activities and hobbies). A review by Morris et al. (2022) of “intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation” presents an overview of models and discusses the operationalization of ‘intrinsic motivation’.
Several studies have concluded that intrinsic task motivation is associated with performance, particularly for qualitative-type tasks ( Cerasoli et al., 2014 ; Deci et al., 2017 ). Transformational theories of leadership ( Bass, 1985 ) assume that leaders can inspire and strengthen intrinsic motivation, possibly by internalization of goals and objectives.
Motivation plays a major role in translating human capital into productivity, and there is a plethora of theories and studies of factors that determine workplace motivational state and behaviors. Few of these theories discuss motives or values. One exception is the job characteristic model of motivation (JCM, Hackman and Oldham, 1976 ) that proposes that specific job characteristics such as task variation, task identity, task importance (representing meaning of work), control of one’s work situation (representing autonomy), and feedback (representing knowledge of results of one’s work) determine motivation and job satisfaction. This model recognizes that a “high need for personal growth and development” (labeled “growth need strength,” p 258) moderates relationships between job characteristics (task variation, identity, importance; autonomy; feedback) and outcomes like satisfaction in high-skilled workers ( Hackman and Oldham, 1976 ; Loher et al., 1985 ). However, studies based on the JCM have not determined the direct effects of “growth need strength” on the reporting of work factors since the model treats job characteristics as independent variables ( Hackman and Oldham, 1976 ; Loher et al., 1985 ).
Even if definitions vary between theories, it seems reasonable to assume that intrinsic task motivation depends on some degree of alignment between individual values or interests and the nature of the task at hand (cf. P-E fit principles). The goals or interests of an individual are values or motives primarily determined by cultural norms, values, education, previous experience, and personality ( Salmela-Aro et al., 2012 ; Atherton et al., 2021 ). The general value of assigning importance to pursuing one’s personal goals and interests at work—where one’s motivation and satisfaction are generated by pursuing one’s personal goals and interests—seems related to the notion of motives for personal development (competence, White, 1959 ), personal ethical standards, need for self-actualization ( Maslow, 1943 ), and “growth need strength” ( Hackman and Oldham, 1976 ; Loher et al., 1985 ). For the purpose of the present study, we label this value internally based work-motive values (IntWMVs). Presumably, individuals with high levels of IntWMVs seek work that provides possibilities for intrinsic task motivation. The values that assign importance to safety, security, and income, that is, that motivation and satisfaction are generated by external factors, are labeled externally based work-motive values (ExtWMVs).
Perception and appraisal are fundamental factors in interpreting and responding to one’s environment (e.g., Lazarus, 1991 ). The individual cognitive style of perception and appraisal may possibly be influenced by values. The appraisal of tasks and events is a pivotal determinant of people’s sentiments, opinions, and attitudes toward their work. Processes of perception and appraisal play roles in causal pathways from exposures to outcomes since psychological and biological responses depend on what is perceived and how this information is processed. This perspective maintains the significance of subjective appraisal for behavior and health.
On the other hand, one may argue that objective knowledge of exposures and work characteristics is important for risk assessment and measures to improve organizations. Perception and appraisal processes may result in inaccurate information about the objective reality. A substantial portion of the knowledge base of psychology is based on reports by individuals of their perception and appraisal of the phenomena under study, that is, subjective reports ( Bodner, 2006 ) and surveys are the most prevalent data collection methods used by organizations ( Rivers et al., 2009 ). For both science and practical applications of assessment of work (or other life exposures), the role of appraisal processes for potential information bias is a major methodological issue. Method factors that influence the subject’s response introduce method variance and/or bias of estimates of the construct that is measured (method bias; see Podsakoff et al., 2012 ). One established method factor is the personality characteristics of the individual. Neuroticism predisposes individuals to report mental and somatic symptoms (e.g., Cuijpers et al., 2010 ; Vassend et al., 2018 ) and influences the appraisal of social support ( Swickert and Owens, 2010 ). Social desirability (self-deception; e.g., Nederhof, 1985 ) may influence perception and appraisal processes. Response styles ( Knowles and Condon, 1999 ; Baumgartner and Steenkamp, 2001 ), instrument-design effects ( Krosnick and Presser, 2010 ), and context factors at the time of responding that influence affective state ( Askim and Knardahl, 2021 ) may influence responding to survey instruments.
Some appraisal theories take “motivational relevance” ( Lazarus, 1991 ) or “consistency with motives” ( Roseman et al., 1996 ) into account as one of the factors in appraisal processes. Perceiving discrepancies between what one experiences at the workplace and one’s values can be a source of discontent or distress ( Arieli et al., 2020 ). George and Jones (1996) reported that a sum score of value attainment, job satisfaction, and positive mood interacts to determine turnover intentions. It seems plausible that motive values may play a fundamental role in the appraisal of work characteristics. Studies, primarily from one research group, have reported generally favorable effects of “predominant intrinsic work value orientations” on work-related outcomes such as job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion ( Vansteenkiste et al., 2007 ). Surprisingly, we have not found studies of the effects of motive values on the appraisal and reporting of specific work characteristics.
Occupational health studies of work factors that contribute to employees’ health, wellbeing, work ability, and absenteeism have consistently reported effects of the broad dimensions of job demands and control ( Karasek, 1979 ; Kivimäki et al., 2012 ; Knardahl et al., 2017 ), “effort and reward” ( Siegrist, 1996 ), and more specific factors such as social support from superior, role conflict, and fair leadership (e.g., Christensen and Knardahl, 2010 ; Elovainio et al., 2013 ; Finne et al., 2016 ). Studies generally take age, gender, and education into account in their analyses. Based on appraisal theories’ concepts of “motivational relevance” ( Lazarus, 1991 ) or “consistency with motives” ( Roseman et al., 1996 ), hypothetically, individual work-motive values may profoundly influence one’s perception, appraisal, and reporting of work characteristics, constituting both a theoretical and methodological challenge to studies.
The overarching aim of the present study was to determine whether work-motive values influence the perception and appraisal of some of the work characteristics that contribute to the wellbeing, function, and health of employees. We investigated an array of characteristics encompassing both psychological task-related factors (work content), social-interaction factors (with leader and co-workers), and self-leadership for the following reasons: (a) hypothetically, motive values may show distinct relations to specific work factors, (b) practitioners need information pertaining to specific and malleable factors to detect challenges and design measures for improvement, and (c) including the broader spectrum of factors in the same study enables determining which associations are robust and of practical significance. Finally, by selecting one or a very small number of variables from a larger set, one runs the risk of reporting statistically significant effects of limited practical impact (“cherry picking”). We assessed the effects of internally and externally based motive values and total motive intensity.
Work values may change with seniority and age, and work-motive values may contribute to aging employees’ motivation to stay or exit from work ( Kooji et al., 2011 ). Therefore, one aim of the present study was to determine the effects of age, managerial position, skill level, and gender on work-motive values.
Internally based work-motive values (IntWMVs) pertain to seeking personal development, attaining personal goals and interests, and adhering to personal ethical standards. It seems reasonable to expect that perceived barriers or facilitators of personal development may be particularly relevant for individuals who prioritize this value. Specifically, one objective of the present study was to determine whether IntWMVs influence the perception and appraisal of levels of control of decisions at work, empowering leadership, and innovative climate. Having decision latitude or autonomy (control of one’s work situation) should be relevant for pursuing one’s personal goals and interests. Leaders (managers) differ in behaviors related to promoting employees’ development, participation in decisions, and autonomy, that is, empowering leadership. An innovative climate is the shared perception of conditions for innovativeness. Individuals motivated by personal development and attaining personal goals and interests may want to work in an innovative climate. The perception of rigid rules and conventions with little possibility of change may be seen as barriers to personal development. Therefore, IntWMVs may possibly influence the perception and appraisal of innovative climate.
Self-leadership refers to the employee’s autonomous behaviors (see Stewart et al., 2011 , for review). Stronger IntWMVs may possibly motivate and promote autonomous behaviors resulting in more self-leadership. On the other hand, experiencing self-leadership may hypothetically influence work-motive values. Hence, we tested associations between the level of IntWMVs and self-leadership.
Since externally based motive values (ExtWMVs) may be related to instrumentally based motivation, one may assume that this value is related to input–outcome relationships ( Adams, 1963 ). Self-reported job demands represent the employee’s appraisal of quantitative or qualitative requirements that he or she must fulfill in the job. Hence, job demands constitute a major aspect of the input dimension of input–outcome (equity) models ( Adams, 1963 ).
To some degree, the evaluation of input–outcome relationships depends on receiving feedback or rewards for effort or performance, that is, the feedback that the employee receives at work. Hypothetically, having predominantly ExtWMVs may influence the subjective importance placed on receiving positive feedback and hence the perception and appraisal of feedback.
Externally based work-motive values are associated with needs and interests that are, in principle, unrelated to the work-task contents per se , such as status, security, and safety in addition to input–outcome relationships ( Adams, 1963 ). Being treated fairly is important to most people, but one may hypothesize that having predominantly ExtWMVs may influence the perception of fair leadership. Furthermore, employees with ExtWMVs may emphasize the importance of safe and supportive social interactions at work. Specifically, we predicted that the level of ExtWMVs is associated with reported levels of job demands, feedback from work, levels of fair leadership, and social support.
Conflicts by nature imply sustained challenge (until resolved) and constitute health risks even if the subject seems to exhibit optimal behavioral coping responses (e.g., Lawler et al., 1980 ). Role conflict (i.e., conflicting expectations, standards, and demands) is a common type of conflict in working life that is associated with negative consequences for health (e.g., Christensen and Knardahl, 2010 ) and exit from working life ( Emberland et al., 2017 ). Since role conflicts and ambiguity are significant predictors of health and wellbeing, we tested the hypothesis that levels of work-motive values are associated with reported levels of role expectations.
Individual response styles may influence responding. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that the general level of activational motive values (i.e., total motive-value score = IntWMV + ExtWMV) represents a general motivational pattern that influences the perception and appraisal of work. We investigated both the strength of the two work-motive values (levels; IntWMVs and ExtWMVs) and the relative contribution of the IntWMV (fraction of total, f-IntWMV = IntWMV/total motive value score).
Since one primary objective was to determine the effects of (conscious) motive values on the perception and appraisal of work characteristics, we primarily based conclusions on responses given in the same survey, that is, on cross-sectional data. However, we also analyzed 2-year follow-up prospective data to elucidate whether associations were robust and stable over time.
The study was part of the project “The new workplace: work factors, sickness absence, and exit from working life” with a full-panel prospective design (all factors measured at all survey waves; Christensen and Knardahl, 2010 ; Nielsen et al., 2016 ). Organizations were recruited from 2004 to 2019; hence, the first measurement survey took place within this extended period. Private and public organizations participated (municipalities, government ministries, federal agencies, healthcare, finance, insurance, education, and non-profit organizations). All current employees of each organization were invited to participate (organizational-level convenience sampling). For those organizations that took part in two survey waves, the interval between waves ranged from 17 to 36 months (an average of 24 months, the second survey took place between 2006 and 2019). The surveys were primarily web-based (approximately 15% responded on a paper version). The information to participants contained no information on hypotheses or research questions.
The study was approved by the Norwegian Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics and the Norwegian Data Inspectorate and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Two samples were defined for the current analyses: a cross-sectional sample for which all employees in companies that participated at least once were eligible and a prospective sample comprising employees from companies that participated at least twice ( Table 1 ). The cross-sectional sampling frame consisted of 26,841 invited employees of 1,482 work units in 101 companies. Of these, 14,679 individuals (54.7%) completed all items about motivational attitudes, and 10,971 (40.9% of all invited) also completed all items pertaining to at least one work factor as well as sex, age, skill level, and management position.
Table 1 . Descriptive statistics: subject characteristics of cross-sectional analyses ( N = 10,971).
The prospective sampling frame comprised 15,580 invited employees of 986 work units in 69 companies. Of these, 6,997 (44.9%) individuals provided information about motivational attitudes at both time points, and 5,437 (34.9%) also provided information about at least one work factor as well as skill level, age, sex, and management position.
Work-motive values were measured with seven questions from The General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work ( QPSNordic ; Dallner et al., 2000 ): “How important are the following considerations in relation to your ideal job?”
Three items measured internally based work-motive values (IntWMVs): (1) to develop my own personality, (2) to get a sense of accomplishing something worthwhile, and (3) to be able to put my imagination and creativity to good use at work. To eliminate the possibility that high levels of IntWMVs were caused by the general strength of work-motive values or a general tendency for reporting higher levels (response styles), we also tested the effects of internal motive values as the fraction of total motive values.
Four items measured externally based work-motive values (ExtWMVs): (1) to have good pay and material benefits, (2) to have a peaceful and orderly job, (3) that the work is secure and provides regular income, and (4) to have a safe and healthy physical work environment. Response categories were (1) unimportant, (2) not so important, (3) rather important, (4) very important, and (5) absolutely necessary. Cronbach’s alpha for IntWMV was 0.66. Cronbach’s alpha for ExtWMV was 0.65. The original QPS Nordic excluded the question “good pay and material benefits” from its external motive scale since it exhibited a moderate correlation with the scale ( r = 0.34; Dallner et al., 2000 ). The values of Cronbach’s alpha were below a conventional cutoff of 0.7. However, the present measures consisted of relatively few items (alpha increases with a higher number of items). Moreover, the extent to which a high alpha is important, and how it should be interpreted, has been debated ( Taber, 2018 ). Alpha may be seen as the extent to which the factor reflects a common, general construct, as opposed to the unique content of each item. Hence, when using few items to cover a relatively broad domain that comprises aspects that differ in meaning (e.g., good pay may differ from secure and safe), a lower alpha may be seen as acceptable and even expected.
To elucidate the potential effects of the general strength of motive values or a general tendency for reporting higher levels (response styles, Baumgartner and Steenkamp, 2001 ), we tested the effects of the sum of all seven motive-value items (total work-motive value score).
The QPSNordic has been extensively validated, has shown good psychometric properties ( Dallner et al., 2000 ; Wännström et al., 2009 ), and provides a comprehensive assessment of key work factors. The following factors were assessed in the present study: control of decisions (5 items), empowering leadership (3 items), innovative climate (3 Items), quantitative demands (time pressure, amount of work; 4 items), learning demands (3 items), feedback from work (2 items), fair leadership (3 items), social support from immediate superior (3 items), support from co-workers (2 items), role clarity (3 items), role conflict (3 items). Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.71 for role conflict to 0.87 for empowering leadership. The two support-from-co-workers items exhibited Pearson’s r = 0.66.
Since most work factors may vary over time, response categories of the QPSNordic are frequency of occurrence (five levels, “very seldom or never”–“very often or always”) for all scales except feedback from work and innovative climate (five categories, “very little or not at all”–“very much”).
Self-leadership was measured with five items from studies by Houghton and Neck (2002) with five response categories: “very little or not at all”–“very much.”
Gender and age were determined from Norwegian official social identity codes . Skill levels were determined based on occupations, according to a Norwegian adaptation of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88), by Statistics Norway. This classification expresses educational levels or equivalent levels of work experience typically required for different occupations ( Christensen and Knardahl, 2010 ). Skill level also serves as a proxy for socioeconomic status. Managerial role was determined from one survey question. These factors were included as covariates in all analyses of associations between motivational attitudes and reported work factor levels.
Subject variables : In the random intercept linear regression models, subject characteristics were independent factors, and IntWMVs, ExtWMVs, and total motive-value scores were dependent factors, respectively. Prospective regressions were adjusted for baseline level of motive values.
Work characteristics : In the random intercept linear regression models, IntWMVs, internally based motive values as fraction of total motive-value score (f-IntWMV), and ExtWMV motive values, were independent factors, while work characteristics were dependent factors. All regressions were adjusted for skill levels, age, and gender. Prospective regressions are adjusted for baseline level of the respective outcome.
Due to the large number of analyses, we chose a p -value of <0.01 as the criterion for statistical significance (tables also present 95% confidence intervals). Recent years have seen criticism of basing conclusions solely on statistical analyses showing p -values lower than a standard criterion ( Wasserstein et al., 2019 ). Therefore, we based conclusions on combined evaluations of p -values and estimates.
Age was modestly associated with motive values. Female employees reported higher levels of both IntWMVs and particularly ExtWMVs, that is, they reported higher total motive value scores ( Table 2 ). Skill levels >13 years were positively associated with IntWMVs and negatively associated with ExtMWV but only weakly associated with total motive scores ( Table 2 ). Being a manager was associated with work-motive values: top managers exhibited a strong positive association with IntWMVs and a strong negative association with ExtWMVs ( Table 2 ).
Table 2 . Associations between age, gender, skill level, and manager roles with internally based work-motive values (IntWMVs), externally based work-motive values (ExtWMVs), and total work-motive value score (cross-sectional analyses).
IntWMVs score strongly influenced reported levels of control of decisions, empowering leadership, and innovative climate, both cross-sectionally and prospectively ( Tables 3 , 4 ). Hence, our hypotheses regarding positive associations between IntWMVs and these specific work factors were supported. However, IntWMVs were also positively associated with quantitative demands, learning demands, feedback from work, role conflicts, fair leadership, social support from both superiors and co-workers, and role conflicts.
Table 3 . Associations between work-motive values and reports of work characteristics (cross-sectional analyses).
Table 4 . Prospective analyses: associations between work-motive values and reports of work characteristics.
IntWMV score was strongly associated with self-leadership both cross-sectionally and prospectively ( Tables 3 , 4 ).
Effects of the relative contribution of internally based work-motive values : We found that f-IntWMV (fraction of total motive value score) was strongly associated with reporting all work factors except fair leadership and social support (cross-sectional analyses) and role conflict (prospective analysis; Tables 3 , 4 ). All associations were in a positive direction with the exception of that of role clarity.
ExtWMV score did not influence reported levels of job demands or feedback from work. ExtWMV score was weakly associated with reported levels of fair leadership, but there was no prospective association ( Tables 3 , 4 ). Hence, our hypotheses pertaining to ExtWMVs were not supported by the results.
ExtWMV score was positively associated with reported levels of role clarity (both cross-sectionally and prospectively; Tables 3 , 4 ) and weakly associated with both aspects of social support (cross-sectionally). ExtWMV score was negatively associated with decision control, role conflict, and self-leadership (only cross-sectional analyses).
The total work-motive value score was positively associated with all work factors measured, except role conflict ( Table 5 ). However, only role clarity, innovative climate, and self-leadership were prospectively influenced by the total motive-value score ( Table 5 ).
Table 5 . Associations between total work-motive value score and reported work characteristics.
The present study found that managerial role, skill level, gender, and age are associated with internally based work-motive values (IntWMV, Table 2 ). These motive values in turn influenced the perception and appraisal of several specific work characteristics ( Tables 3 , 4 ). The total work-motive value score was cross-sectionally associated with all work factors except role conflicts, but only role clarity, innovative climate, and self-leadership showed significant prospective effects ( Table 5 ).
Skill level and holding a managerial role were strongly associated with reporting a higher level of IntWMVs. Skill level corresponding to education/experience >13 years and being a top manager were also negatively associated with ExtWMV ( Table 2 ). Effects on the total motive-value score were negligible. Motives and values pertaining to work may be bidirectionally associated with the level of education and acquiring managerial responsibilities. The very values and attitudes to develop one’s personality, use one’s imagination and creativity, and accomplish something worthwhile may motivate completing higher education and taking up managerial roles. On the other hand, higher levels of education and taking on leadership roles may possibly promote values related to personal development.
The present data showed that managers may differ from their subordinates in work-motive values and, consequently, differ in terms of goals and interests pertaining to work. This raises the question of whether leaders and managers face challenges in ascertaining and supporting the needs and interests of subordinates. Communicating and working with people with different work-motive values may require high levels of empathy and humility.
Female employees reported stronger total motive-value scores primarily due to relatively stronger ExtWMVs ( Table 2 ). This finding may result from gender differences in values prioritizing family or gender differences in general attitudes toward safety and security. A third explanation is that females prioritize economic security and safety due to their perceptions of gender discrimination in the job market. It should be noted that we did not take seniority or weekly work hours into account, based on the assumption that these factors may be related to skill level.
Age was related to ExtWMVs and total motive-value scores ( Table 2 ). However, the associations were weak, and there were no prospective associations.
The present study found that employees with internally based work-motive values (IntWMV, f-IntWMV) reported higher levels of several psychological work factors: control of decisions, empowering leadership, innovative climate, quantitative demands, feedback from work, and role conflicts, while there were negative associations with role clarity ( Tables 3 , 4 ). Prospective effects on learning demands, feedback, and role expectations were inconsistent. Therefore, motive values can influence survey measurements of several work characteristics of consequence for both research and practical assessments of risk. Motive values were weakly related to the perception of fair leadership and social interactions.
The hypothesis that internally based motive values (IntWMVs) are related to the perception of facilitators or barriers to personal development or accomplishing something worthwhile was confirmed by the finding that both IntWMV score and f-IntWMV (fraction of total motive value score) were associated with control of decisions, empowering leadership, and innovative climate. These consistent positive associations suggest that the employees with higher levels of IntWMVs are concerned with these particular work factors and/or that their values shape the appraisal of these factors. Alternatively, the finding that associations were positive may suggest that individuals in jobs with higher levels of these job characteristics also exhibit higher levels of IntWMVs, that is, that internally based motive values are a mediator between socioeconomic status and the appraisal and reporting of one’s work situation. However, we adjusted all analyses for skill level. Finally, reporting higher levels of IntWMVs and control, empowering leadership, and innovative climate may be a result of a third factor, for example, personality traits.
IntWMVs were also positively associated with quantitative demands and feedback from work suggesting that either IntWMVs are related to placing emphasis on input–outcome relationships, or that employees with higher IntWMVs tend to have jobs characterized by higher demands and more frequent feedback. These analyses were adjusted for skill level, but it is possible that internally based motive values mediate associations between socioeconomic status and appraisal of work characteristics as mentioned above.
Studies of the job characteristics model (JCM) reported that “growth need strength” moderated relationships between job characteristics and satisfaction in high-skilled workers ( Hackman and Oldham, 1976 ; Loher et al., 1985 ). IntWMVs seem related to “growth need strength” of these studies, and the present study found that IntWMVs were positively associated with control and feedback, both of which are related to JCM factors.
IntWMVs and f-IntWMVs were strong predictors of self-leadership, that is, of employees’ autonomous behaviors ( Stewart et al., 2011 ). ExtWMVs exhibited a weak statistically significant negative association. These associations were significant in both cross-sectional and prospective analyses taking baseline level of self-leadership into account, suggesting that IntWMVs is reflected in the employee’s behaviors or in his or her perceptions of own behaviors. It seems possible that IntWMVs and self-leadership are overlapping concepts or that IntWMV is a precondition for self-leadership to develop. A potential reverse effect was not ruled out.
ExtWMVs were positively associated with role clarity and showed weak–moderate positive associations with innovative climate, fair leadership, and social support, while the association with control of decisions was negative ( Tables 3 , 4 ). We hypothesized that ExtWMV, that is, instrumentally based motive values, is related to the appraisal of factors related to input–outcome relationships according to equity theory ( Adams, 1963 ). We did not find significant associations with factors related to input (quantitative demands) or outcome (feedback, fair leadership, Table 4 ) and the proposed hypothesis did not receive support. An alternative hypothesis suggesting that employees reporting externally based motive values place less emphasis on work content in general, seems to receive support from these findings.
There are alternative general explanations for the present findings. Work-motive values may influence the perception and appraisal of work tasks, social interactions, and leader behaviors by four hypothetical general mechanisms. (I) Work-motive values, that is, terminal values, influence the interest, involvement, and commitment to a job and the significance the person assigns to certain value-relevant factors at work. Consequently, motive values may direct an employee’s attention to those aspects of the job that are relevant for satisfying motives (according to appraisal theory) and those work characteristics that are considered relevant to values are monitored closely. Having IntWMV may be associated with paying more attention to the contents of work tasks and work characteristics in order to appraise alignment with personal goals and interests ( Tables 3 , 4 ). On the other hand, ExtWMV may pertain to needs or priorities that are unrelated to the contents of work tasks, such as salary, security, and safety. Hence, job-task content may be of lower importance for employees with primarily externally based work-motive values. (II) IntWMV may be associated with a response style of lower tendency for midpoint responding, in turn increasing variance. Response styles may be defined as “tendencies to respond systematically to questionnaire items on some basis other than what the items were specifically designed to measure” ( Baumgartner and Steenkamp, 2001 ) and may serve as a heuristic to minimize cognitive effort. Consequently, values may influence the effort put into evaluating one’s work situation and responding to surveys. Skill level and managerial role were associated with IntWMV, but there are conflicting findings on the relationships between the level of education and an extreme response style ( Van Vaerenbergh and Thomas, 2013 ). Nevertheless, this explanation does not account for the direction of associations. (III) Work-motive values may influence self-selection into jobs that are congruent with one’s values and priorities. Finding positive associations between motive values and appraisals of work characteristics indicates that self-selection into the present job had successfully met motive values. (IV) Exhibiting IntWMVs may be associated with a positive attitude toward work in general. Consequently, these persons tend to report more positive appraisals of work characteristics.
The present study was based on validated measures of work characteristics ( Dallner et al., 2000 ; Wännström et al., 2009 ). The work-characteristic questions and response alternatives were worded to avoid negative or positive connotations and influence of affect on responding ( Askim and Knardahl, 2021 ). The study encompassed a rather large number of employees (cross-sectional analyses: N = 12,994; prospective analyses: N = 6,252). Response rates (defined as employees who provided response to all relevant factors as a percentage of all employees invited) were 48.1% in cross-sectional and 40.1% in prospective analyses. Respondents worked in a rather large number of organizations/businesses (cross-sectional analyses: 101; prospective analyses: 69) from both private and public sectors, with several types of jobs. Therefore, we are not aware of sources of selection bias. However, for evaluating external validity, one should consider the fact that the study was conducted in Norway, a country known for its strong emphasis on welfare, during a period of solid economy, and within a Scandinavian culture context.
The ExtWMV scale consisted of four items (“peaceful and orderly job,” “secure and provide regular income,” “safe and healthy physical work environment,” and “good salary and material goods”). One of these items, “good salary and material goods,” was not included in the “extrinsic motivation to work” factor of the QPS Nordic ( Dallner et al., 2000 ). There is a theoretical possibility that ExtWMV consists of two (or more) components: (i) safety/security and (ii) salary/remuneration/material goods. We did not pursue investigating these aspects.
Both motive values (independent variables) and work characteristics (dependent variables) were measured with surveys, that is, subjective reports. Since one objective of this study was to evaluate whether motive values influence the perception and appraisal and reporting of one’s work, subjective reports were essential for addressing the research questions. The present study did not attempt to assess an objective reality; hence, method bias due to subjective reporting ( Podsakoff et al., 2012 ) should be of minor relevance. However, response styles such as acquiescence responding, extreme response style, or midpoint responding may produce response bias and common-method bias, thereby inflating associations. As discussed previously, we have not found evidence that gender or skill level should influence response styles ( Van Vaerenbergh and Thomas, 2013 ). The affective state at the time of responding does not seem to influence subjective reports of these work factors to a significant degree ( Askim and Knardahl, 2021 ). Separating the survey items that measure independent and dependent in space (different sections in the questionnaire) and time are recommendations for attenuating common-method bias ( Podsakoff et al., 2012 ). Most of the associations for IntWMVs were also found with prospective analyses; hence, response biases if existing seem related to the individual’s values rather than to contextual or questionnaire issues.
The present results show that individual motive values influence the appraisal and reporting of several aspects of psychosocial work characteristics. In particular, internally based work-motive values (IntWMVs) influence reports of control, empowering leadership, innovative climate, quantitative demands, and feedback from work, in addition to self-leadership. Therefore, measurements of work characteristics for research or for practical risk assessment should consider taking motive values into account.
Since gender, skill level, and managerial role influence motive values, it seems possible that motive values partially mediate associations between job roles and the experience of work characteristics. Managers may thus differ from their respective subordinates in work-motive values, and there may be differences in goals and interests. Leaders and managers may face the challenge of empathy in ascertaining and supporting the needs and interests of subordinates.
The data analyzed in this study is subject to the following licenses/restrictions: data are not publicly available due to the terms of participation. Analysis code and research materials may be made available upon request. Data were analyzed using R version 4.2.2 ( R Core Team, 2022 ) and the package “lme4” ( Bates et al., 2015 ). Requests to access these datasets should be directed to SK, [email protected] .
The studies involving humans were approved by Norwegian Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics, Norwegian Data Inspectorate. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.
SK: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. JC: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation.
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The present study was part of a project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (grant 23778) and by the National institute of occupational health, Norway. The funding body had no influence on the study hypotheses, results, or conclusions.
The authors thank Anne Lene Andersen, Shahrooz Elka, Margrethe Schøning, and Elisabeth Petersen, for their assistance in the survey administration.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Table A1 . Descriptive statistics: means and standard deviations (range for all variables: 1 – 5).
Keywords: work-motive values, skill level, managerial role, work characteristics, self-leadership
Citation: Knardahl S and Christensen JO (2024) Individual work-motive values: determinants and consequences for the appraisal of specific health-related work characteristics. Front. Psychol . 15:1332687. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1332687
Received: 03 November 2023; Accepted: 09 July 2024; Published: 07 August 2024.
Reviewed by:
Copyright © 2024 Knardahl and Christensen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Stein Knardahl, [email protected]
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by Cornell University
When a company's "big boss" pays a visit to observe and connect with workers on the front lines, heightened motivation—and not necessarily the idea that they're being watched—can lead to increased productivity, a Cornell-led research team found.
In an experiment involving a Latin American bank, the researchers found that sales of credit cards, term deposits, insurance and other products increased significantly in the days immediately before and in the weeks after the division manager's visit.
"I've been a consultant and have always done field visits, and people feeling important and feeling that they are heard—it's a very strong motivator," said Asís Martínez-Jerez, professor in the Nolan School of Hotel Management, in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
Martínez-Jerez is corresponding author of " Motivating From the Heights: A Field Experiment on Top Managers Visiting the Front-line ," which published Aug 3 in the Review of Accounting Studies .
Co-authors are Pablo Casas-Arce, associate professor at the Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and Joseph Moran, a doctoral student at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Their paper was dedicated to Leo Cesario, data analytics manager at the bank, who died of cancer during the study.
Martínez-Jerez's research includes management and organizations, and how philosophies and strategies find their way from the board room to the factory floor.
"The big question we are asking is, I am a CEO, but I'm not the one in contact with the client," he said. "How do I design my organization so the people on the front line react to the customer in the way that I would as a CEO?"
One of the ways to accomplish this, Martínez-Jerez said, is "managing by walking around"—visiting those in the trenches to observe, offer support and show that management cares about its employees.
To test their theory, Martínez-Jerez and his team conducted a field experiment in the retail division of a medium-size bank in Latin America. The bank was in the middle of a "tournament" in which nearly half of its 170 branches were vying for prizes based on hitting sales goals, but Martínez-Jerez didn't think the tournament aspect skewed his results.
"Our feeling was, 'Let's do it at a moment when incentives are high already,'" he said. "And if we find any additional effect on productivity during this time, then we know the effect really exists."
For their experiment, the researchers coordinated with a newly hired division manager, who scheduled a series of visits to 79 of the bank's branches over a three-month period. He had been on the job less than six months and was using these visits to introduce himself and express his pride at being part of the team.
The researchers conducted mathematical modeling as a way to gauge the motivational effects of the branch visits. Based on their modeling, they developed two hypotheses: When a top manager visits the rank and file, the team members of the front-line location increase their effort; and the incentive effect of the top manager's visits is higher for branches with good past performance than for branches with poor past performance.
The researchers obtained sales information for each branch from the data analytics department of the bank, and found that sales productivity—as measured by the percentage above sales goals for credit cards, insurance and other products—increased significantly in the days immediately before a visit, and for approximately a month afterward.
The team conducted field interviews and determined that increased motivation, including the anticipatory effects of the visit beforehand, was the reason for the improved performance. It also explained why branches that performed better prior to the visits saw a bigger increase in productivity than poorer-performing ones, which would have benefitted more from visits that included a teaching or monitoring component.
Martínez-Jerez thinks companies would generally benefit from "managing by walking around," and doesn't think the effect would dampen with repeated visits.
"We think that there is going to be an optimal cadence of visits," he said. "You have to keep the flame alive; your workers cannot feel forgotten."
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