Work motivation is mostly categorized into two types, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation showing that different incentives have a distinct impact on employee motivation. Whereas intrinsic motivation is concerned with rewards as the activity itself, the source of extrinsic motivation are external controlling variables as explicit rewards (e.g. money, threat) (Herzberg, 2003; Cameron & Pierce, 2002).
McCullagh (2005) defines intrinsic motivation as an individual’s need to feel competency and pride in something while extrinsic motivation is defined as the performance of an activity in order to attain some separate outcome and noted that people can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated.
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation captures the aspects of doing work for its own sake (Osterloh, Frost & Frey, 2002; Ryan & Deci, 2000), provides psychological benefits of well-being (Ryan & Deci, 2000), accomplishment (Dermer, 1975), increasing responsibility (Kohn, 1993; Herzberg, 2003), self-actualization (Kunz & Pfaff, 2002), and is self-sustaining (Osterloh et al., 2002). A number of authors argue that money is a poor motivator and can actually impede intrinsic motivation, such as reducing creativity and innovation (Osterloh et al., 2002; Herzberg, 2003). Contrary to that, Bishop (1987) suggested that pay is directly related to productivity and the reward system depends upon the size of an organization.
Extrinsic motivation
The specific focus on extrinsic motivation may distract attention from the task which has been termed as hidden cost of rewards. This view has been incorporated in the crowding theory (Osterloh et al., 2002). When an activity is intrinsically appealing (say, challenging), the positive effects can be undermined if extrinsic rewards are also linked to the activity (Osterloh et al., 2002) and crowd out intrinsic motivation. This crowding out has been further elaborated under the cognitive evaluation theory, which proposes that extrinsic motivation can erode intrinsic motivation (Kunz & Pfaff, 2002). Reio and Callahon (2004) further concluded that both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards motivate the employee resulting in higher productivity.
References:
- Cameron, J., & Pierce, W.D. (2002). Rewards and intrinsic motivation: Resolving the controversy. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
- Dermer, J.D. (1975). The interrelationship of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Academy of Management Journal, 18(1), 9-125
- Herzberg, F. (2003). One more time: how do motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, 81, 86-96.
- Kohn, A. (1993). Why incentive plans cannot work. Harvard Business Review, 71(5), 54-63.
- McCullagh, P. (2005). Sport and Exercise Psychology Lecture. Cal State University East Bay. 10/27.
- Osterloh, M., Frost, J., & Frey, B.S. (2002). The dynamics of motivation in new organizational forms. International Journal of the Economics of Business, 9(1), 61-77.
- Reio, G.T., & Callahon, J.L. (2004). Affect, Curiosity, and Socialization-related Learning; A path analysis of antecedents to job performance. Journal of Business and Psychology, 19, 3-22.
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Agree on the content Manomi, I would like to add further to you points that, there is a direct relationship between Empowering people & psychological empowerment. As per Zhang and Bartol (2010), Psychological empowerment will have a significant positive impact on intrinsic motivation and creative engagement of an employee.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input Layanjalie, and I agree with your point on Psychological empowerment will have a significant positive impact on the intrinsic motivation and creative engagement of an employee.
DeleteFurthermore Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is a type of motivation in which an individual is motivated by desires outside of themselves (Jain, et al., 2019) Instead of being motivated by the desire to look better and feel better, imagine Bob was under pressure from his significant other to slim down and improve his physical appearance so that she would be more drawn to him (Jain, et al., 2019) Extrinsic motivation is demonstrated by the fact that this weight originates (Jain, et al., 2019)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Extrinsic motivators are sometimes thought to be helpful to promote action for behaviors that are not intrinsically interesting (e.g. recycling, doing homework, obeying traffic laws). In other words, the desire to entice or compel people to comply with standards of socially desirable behavior is sometimes at odds with the preservation and promotion of individual autonomy and intrinsic motivation. (Kohn1999)
DeleteGood article Manomi. Furthermore, if an employee is rewarded through the organization their behaviour is not affected when it comes to knowledge sharing among employees. However, if an employee is motivated intrinsically they are more likely to share their knowledge, attitudes, and intentions to a better work place environment (Lin, 2007).
ReplyDeleteThank you Miyuru. Adding these points as well, Equity theory principles would build on this, but would also include a judgment of effort and rewards in comparison to others. In other words, a system with motivating principles should include predictable rewards as a result of an effort that is considered fair when compared to others who invest the same effort. Social exchange principles would explain that enhanced effort would be spent in systems that are appreciated
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