case study on staff motivation

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What keeps employees motivated

Psychologists are expanding their efforts to get research on what motivates people at work to employers at a time when the workplace is changing dramatically

Vol. 52 No. 7 Print version: page 52

• Personality
• Managing Human Capital

The upheaval of the working world since March 2020 has no precedent in living memory. Some people went home for what they thought would be weeks, only to still be working from home more than a year and a half later. Others were left to struggle through enormous stresses in front-line occupations. It was, in short, a tough year for workplace motivation.

Yet psychological research suggests that there are ways businesses can support their employees moving forward even as the pandemic slips into a new phase of uncertainty. Much of this work comes from decades of research on the impacts of stress in the workplace and how job pressures influence motivation, said James Diefendorff, PhD, an industrial and organizational (I/O) psychologist at the University of Akron.

“Those demands consume regulatory resources, lead to faster emotional exhaustion and depletion, and require more opportunities for replenishment,” Diefendorff said. “It’s just amped up in the context of working under the various additional stressors and demands that the pandemic has introduced.”

Motivation in a pandemic

One of the key findings from I/O psychology over the past several decades is that not all workplace stresses are created equal. Some stressors are hindrances, which are things outside of an employee’s control that feel like barriers to performance: red tape, lack of resources, conflicting goals. Others are challenges, which feel like tasks that a person can overcome while growing and improving. An example of a challenge stressor might be learning a new skill to take on a new job responsibility. A meta-analysis led by Jeffery LePine, PhD, a researcher in organizational behavior at Arizona State University, found that while hindrance stressors crush motivation, challenge stressors actually boost it ( Academy of Management Journal , Vol. 48, No. 5, 2005 ). Research further suggests that people find challenge stressors motivating because they expect that if they put the work in, they can achieve an outcome they value. Hindrance stressors, on the other hand, feel insurmountable—no matter how hard you work, a satisfactory result is out of reach.

Many of the stressors introduced by COVID-19 were hindrance stressors, said Thomas Britt, PhD, an I/O psychologist at Clemson University. This was particularly true in health care, where limited personal protective equipment early in the pandemic put workers at risk. Hindrance stressors also abounded in other professions, such as in education, where teachers had to try to teach in far-from-ideal remote-learning circumstances.

The impact of the pandemic on workers is also clear through the lens of self-determination theory , a framework for understanding motivation developed by psychologists Richard Ryan, PhD, a professor at Australian Catholic University, and Edward Deci, PhD, a professor emeritus at the University of Rochester. Research into self-determination theory finds that three main psychological needs support optimal motivation: autonomy, competence, and relatedness ( Annual Reviews of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior , Vol. 4, 2017 ). The pandemic has been a disaster for all three, said Susan Fowler, a San Diego–based motivation consultant who uses self-determination theory as the basis for her work. Suddenly, many workers were being told they had no choice but to stay home, Fowler said. They were being asked to do things that made them feel bumbling and helpless, such as interacting solely via Zoom. And the necessity of social distancing meant they were often isolated from their colleagues.

At the same time, working from home reduced hindrance stressors—such as commutes—for some workers. Researchers, clinicians, and coaches alike are now tapping into basic research to show people how to connect with their own motivation and goals, especially when external circumstances challenge them.

“Motivation researchers are active in workplaces, classrooms, sports . . . pretty much anywhere people would be engaged,” Ryan said. “We want to find out, what are the internal factors that facilitate that engagement?”

Building optimal motivation

Research has turned up several good answers to that question. One of the most motivating experiences employees can have is making progress on a meaningful task, said Teresa Amabile, PhD, a social and organizational psychologist at Harvard Business School. Amabile and her colleagues asked more than 200 employees at seven companies in the tech, chemical, and consumer products industries to write daily diary entries describing events at work and rate their own feelings of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, creativity, and collegiality, among other measures. They also collected periodic ratings of the workers’ creativity from colleagues ( Administrative Science Quarterly , Vol. 50, No. 3, 2005 ).

“We could look at how the events that were occurring impacted their intrinsic motivation and their creativity,” Amabile said.

When people reported more intrinsic motivation, their creativity simultaneously rose, she said. So did other desirable states such as productivity, collegiality, and commitment to work. And what spurred intrinsic motivation? Amabile and her team found that the most powerful precursor was the feeling of making progress at meaningful work.

“Here’s what’s interesting: It doesn’t have to be a huge breakthrough,” Amabile said. “It can be small, almost trivial, steps forward.”

This finding fit with previous I/O psychology research. For example, job characteristics theory, developed in 1975 by Greg Oldham, PhD, an I/O psychologist now at Tulane University, and J. Richard Hackman, PhD, a social psychologist now at Harvard University, holds that meaningfulness is one of the three factors leading to motivation, along with responsibility and knowledge of results.

Anecdotal reports during the pandemic suggest that the winnowing effect of work-from-home policies actually boosted feelings of progress for many employees, Amabile said. With time freed from long commutes, random coworker interruptions, and morning makeup and hair-care routines, workers often felt they got more meaningful work done each day.

However, there are caveats to the benefits of meaningful work, said Britt. He and his colleagues surveyed U.S. working adults in multiple industries using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website during the pandemic and found that mental health symptoms after hindrance stressors were more severe in those who felt a “calling” to their work ( Work & Stress , Vol. 35, No. 2, 2021 ). “Encountering these demands that you can’t control and that harm your performance is going to be particularly impactful for those who feel called to do the work and feel the work is highly important,” Britt said.

Furthermore, in a study of emergency department physicians, Britt and his colleagues found that a sense of meaning in work did not buffer doctors from mental health strain early in the pandemic ( Applied Psychology , online first publication, 2020 ). That was a surprise, Britt said, but it may indicate that when hindrance stressors become too overwhelming, a sense of purpose isn’t enough to rescue one’s sense of well-being at work.

Leading to motivate

One lesson from these findings is that workplaces need to make sure their employees have the basic resources they need to perform their job duties, Britt said. In times of crisis, workers also need extra time to rest and recover from stress. Listening to employee feedback and responding to their needs can help administrators and managers reduce hindrance stressors among their workers.

There are also strategies that workers themselves can use to boost their own motivation, Diefendorff said. These range from motivation-control strategies, such as setting subgoals and rewards for meeting them, to attention-control strategies to minimize disruptions and interruptions. Emotion-regulation strategies such as minimizing anxiety and worry can also be helpful for goal-setting, he said. But workers might also need to recognize when they’re too tapped out to use these strategies effectively. “You have to have self-compassion, which basically means cutting yourself some slack as a way to give yourself the time and space you need to try to recover your depleted resources,” Diefendorff said.

In general, Amabile said, managers can help by encouraging employees to see ways in which their work is meaningful and by providing clear goals and benchmarks for progress. Step back, micromanagers: The most motivationally beneficial leadership style is one that encourages employees to manage their own workflows and solve their own problems.

This style is called leader autonomy support, and it’s characterized by a manager who encourages their employees to self-initiate tasks, to share their own perspectives, and to make their own choices, while still stepping in to support them when needed.

A meta-analysis led by Ryan found that leader autonomy support fosters employees’ sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness within the workplace, which boosts autonomous work motivation. This self-derived motivation, in turn, is linked to feelings of well-being and engagement as well as declines in distress and improvements in positive behaviors at work ( Motivation and Emotion , Vol. 42, No. 5, 2018 ). The meta-analysis included studies from multiple countries, including Iran, the Philippines, Korea, Bulgaria, Holland, China, New Zealand, and South Africa. Ryan said that this beneficial effect of leader autonomy support seemed to hold in workplaces worldwide and that autonomy improved productivity, commitment, and satisfaction with work in both collectivist and individualistic societies.

“Regardless of culture, if you don’t have a sense of freedom and choice in your work activities, your well-being is undermined,” Ryan said.

Putting research in action

With the onset of the pandemic, motivational experts, like many other workers, moved online. Ryan and his colleagues at his consulting business, motivationWorks , found themselves coaching business leaders dealing with vastly different circumstances. Managers suddenly working with largely remote teams had to find ways to support their employees’ sense of competence to help them tackle the challenges that remote work created, Ryan said. Managers overseeing essential workers, on the other hand, faced a different set of issues.

“Especially in the health care industry, where we are doing extensive work, job stressors were manifold,” Ryan said. “Here, again, autonomy-supportive leaders were better able to hear and respond to the needs of their employees, which was crucial during this challenging period.”

Motivation research applies to a broad range of workplaces, far beyond the stereotypical white-collar office setting. Ryan and his colleagues found, for example, that autonomy, feelings of competence, and feelings of relatedness or connection within the workplace all positively influence job satisfaction and general mental health in a factory setting ( Journal of Applied Social Psychology , Vol. 23, No. 21, 1993 ). A case study led by Philip Cheng-Fei Tsai, PhD, of Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages in Taiwan, that analyzed a Taiwanese manufacturing company undergoing a downsizing found that while managers thought factory workers were most motivated by the company’s salary and benefit structure and the opportunity for education and training, the factory workers were actually most driven by relationships with their colleagues and the extent to which their jobs allowed them to cultivate their relationships with their families ( Journal of World Business , Vol. 42, No. 2, 2007 ).

“In context where people can feel a sense of autonomy, where they can feel a sense of competence, and where they can feel connected and related to the people around them, that’s where they have the highest-quality motivation,” Ryan said.

Fowler saw a particularly emotional example of this in her work with a large construction firm during the pandemic. A supervisor she was working with noticed that one of his employees was frequently late and struggling at work. The supervisor made a stab at connection and asked the employee if he was homeschooling his kids, pointing out that remote learning was a struggle in his own home. The employee broke down. His wife was an emergency room nurse, he said. They had two kids in early elementary school and no family help. He was working around the clock to try to juggle it all.

The supervisor called together his team and explained the situation. Working together, the rest of the team shuffled their own schedules to make life easier for the struggling father. The result, the supervisor told Fowler, was that the entire staff felt like they were doing something good. Given choice and autonomy, they could support the family of a health care worker and feel a sense of connectedness rather than inconvenience.

“[The supervisor] said, ‘I learned that being empathetic and just having a casual conversation with someone may be one of the greatest gifts I can give my people as a leader,’” Fowler said.

Emotional connection can be powerful. In his work with business leaders, clinical and organizational psychologist and consultant George Kohlrieser, PhD, focuses on bonding. This can be a hard sell in some business cultures—he counts among his success stories a ­heavy-machinery dealership in South Carolina where he helped change the culture from one of aloof detachment to one where employees felt bonded to one another. Such connections foster employees’ sense of psychological safety, or the feeling that the workplace is a safe environment to take risks and be vulnerable.

With vaccination widely available in the United States, employers are increasingly calling workers back into offices. They’ll need to feel safe there—not only from new outbreaks of COVID-19 but also from the new uncertainties introduced by a year or more of remote work. Many industries are turning to hybrid solutions for employees who can work from home and who have realized that they don’t want to go back to cubicles and commutes, Ryan said.

“People have been able to experience firsthand that they can self-regulate their work efforts and also balance work demands with the things that matter most outside of work,” Ryan said. “Their horizons have been expanded, and I think we will see increasing demands for empowering work conditions.”

The key detail to making this work, Fowler said, is ensuring that every employee gets equal consideration, even if the ultimate workplace arrangement isn’t the same across the entire company. Some jobs require face time more than others, she said, but those employees should still have their needs considered and be offered as much autonomy as possible. Certain types of job training or mentoring, for example, might need to be done in person, but employees could still get opportunities to autonomously decide when or how they fulfill these responsibilities.

“Not everyone is going to get the same deal, but everyone should have the same consideration and conversation,” Fowler said.

Life span motivation

Not all workplace­relevant research starts out in studies of employees. Carol S. Dweck, PhD, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, did much of her early research on how the types of goals people have influence their levels of motivation in school. She found that when students were motivated by the desire to learn and become better at something, they bounced back from failure much more readily than when they were motivated by external carrots and sticks, such as the desire to get outside approval or avoid negative judgment ( Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Vol. 54, No. 1, 1988 ). Out of this research, Dweck and her colleagues coined the well-known notion of a “growth mindset,” which views intelligence as malleable and failure as an opportunity to learn.

Expanding out of the educational system, Dweck and her colleagues have discovered that their growth mindset framework applies in workplaces. For example, they’ve found that the more that employees view their company leadership as cultivating a growth mindset—rather than a fixed mindset in which ability and intelligence are immutable—the greater trust and commitment they have in their organization ( Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings , 2018 ).

Researchers who study motivation in schools also provide perspective on how to teach motivation habits early, as well as how to avoid squelching kids’ intrinsic motivation before they even get their first job interview. These lessons may be particularly important as children return to the classroom after a year of disruptions and remote learning.

“There is pretty strong research that shows that the motivation in academic subjects during adolescence is an extremely strong predictor of people’s career trajectories later in life,” said Eric Anderman, PhD, a professor of educational psychology at The Ohio State University. Unfortunately, the traditional incentives of education don’t do much to kindle that motivation.

“As kids move up through the grades, the focus of school—the purpose of school—becomes more about getting grades and doing well and less about learning,” Anderman said.

Paralleling Dweck’s findings, Anderman and his colleagues have found that taking a mastery-based approach to education rather than a reward-based approach can improve motivation-related outcomes like task efficacy, knowledge, and behavioral intentions ( Journal of Educational Psychology , Vol. 112, No. 5, 2020 ). The hope is that instilling these habits early can immunize people against the motivation-killing norms they might face in the work world.

“In terms of preparing people for the real world, we do have to acknowledge that workplaces are competitive and there are going to be extrinsic outcomes,” Anderman said. “But it’s how we train people to cope with it. We don’t want to send them out of school with the message that they have to be number one at everything.” 

Further reading

Mindfulness and its association with varied types of motivation: A systematic review and meta-analysis using self-determination theory Donald, J. N., et al., Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 2020

Toward a new curriculum of leadership competencies: Advances in motivation science call for rethinking leadership development Fowler, S., Advances in Developing Human Resources , 2018

Student motivation and associated outcomes: A meta-analysis from self-determination theory Howard, J. L., et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science , 2021

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A Systems View Across Time and Space

• Open access
• Published: 01 November 2021

The effect of motivation on employee engagement in public sectors: in the case of North Wollo zone

• Abriham Ebabu Engidaw   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5081-5668 1  

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship volume  10 , Article number:  43 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on employee engagement in public sectors. To meet this purpose, a quantitative and qualitative study survey was conducted and the researcher used an explanatory survey research design. The study was used both primary and secondary sources of data. The target population for this study was selected four city administrative office employees including all kebeles office employees and as a sample size, 349 questionnaires were filled and collected from these employees. The study used proportionately stratified with simple random sampling because to collect the relevant data and to give equal chance for all employees. Later on, statistical package for social science (SPSS) was used to the required test of inferential statistics; including reliability analysis, bivariate correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, and multiple regression analysis. The finding of the study revealed that extrinsic motivation was considered more significant than intrinsic and there was a positive significant relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations with employee engagement. From the results, it was also concluded that the relationship and effect of extrinsic motivation were stronger on employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation. As a recommendation, the organizations should find which ways are able to motivate employees, what drives them, then making sure they utilize appropriate motivational techniques with each employee. Managers should also endeavor to communicate the organization’s purpose to employees. Finally, the organizations should take steps to incorporate the vision of employees for the organization with its own vision.

Introduction

An unmotivated employee is likely to put little effort into work tasks, produce work of lower quality, avoid the workplace, and even exit his or her job if given the opportunity to do so. On the other hand, motivated employees are likely to willingly take on tasks, produce work of high quality, and be creative, persistent, and productive. Employees motivation has two forms, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation arises from the intrinsic value of the work for the individual (for example, its interest value), whereas, extrinsic motivation arises from the desire to obtain some outcomes (for example, as rewards) that are apart from the work itself (Amabile, 1993 ). Each and every person in an organization is motivated in a different manner. Workers’ motivation depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors like interesting work, job appreciation, satisfaction, stress, job security, promotion and growth, rewards, work environment, punishment and recognition etcetera (Palaniammal, 2013 ).

The main purpose of these motivating factors is to create an environment where people are willing to work with zeal, initiative, interest, and enthusiasm, with a high personal and group satisfaction, with the sense of responsibility, loyalty, and confidence to achieve their personal as well as organizational goals (Palaniammal, 2013 ). Research has shown that there is a difference in strength between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on their relationship and impact on employee engagement. Khan ( 2011 ) concluded that the relationship and impact of extrinsic motivation were stronger on employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation.

According to Shuck ( 2010 ) employee engagement is an individual employee’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state directed toward desired organizational outcomes. Recently, Rice ( 2012 ) defined engagement as full employee engagement represents an alignment of maximum satisfaction for the individual with a maximum contribution for the organization’s success. The focus of all definitions was on two things, employee satisfaction and contribution to organizational success.

According to different researchers’ study results, employee motivation can be used to engage employees in their work in the organization. Beyond motivation, to achieve success in today’s highly competitive environment many organizations have identified the need to engage their workforce. Habte ( 2016 ) concluded that managers perceive intrinsic motivation have a larger influence on the psychological aspects of employee engagement than extrinsic motivation. This supports the idea stated by Berl and Williamson ( 1987 ) but still contradict with the finding of Iqbal and Khan. When we see the above research findings: the study conducted by Khan ( 2013 ) is contradicted with the findings of Habte ( 2016 ), Thomas ( 2009 ) and Khan ( 2011 ).

This study was carried out in four selected city administration office employees in order to know and explain the effect of motivation on employee engagement. Basically, the researcher is initiated to conduct this study because based on his observation and preliminary investigation there is a problem of employees being motivated and engaged in public sectors and the other reasons are first there is the inconsistency of previous findings relating to this topic, second as the researcher’s knowledge there are few studies conducted directly related to this topic specifically in our country Ethiopia. So this study can try to fill these gaps. Based on the above research problems the researcher developed the following research questions:

Objectives of the study

General objective.

The main objective of this study was to identify the effect of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) on employee engagement in public sectors in the case of selected zones.

Specific objectives

To explain the effect of intrinsic motivation on employee engagement in selected city administration employees.

To describe the effect of extrinsic motivation on employee engagement in selected city administration office employees.

To identify which motivation factor (intrinsic or extrinsic) more significantly affects employee engagement in the organization.

To examine the effect of overall motivation on employee engagement.

Literature reviews

• Employee engagement

Employee engagement is defined as “harnessing of organizational members selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally during role performance”, In other words, “individual involvement and satisfaction as well as enthusiasm for work” Andrew ( 2012 ).

According to Kahn ( 1990 , 1992 , cited in Saks, 2006 ) job engagement means worker should be psychologically available during the performance of the organizational role.

The organization is totally dependent on their employees; therefore, they need to be engaged in their jobs. Engagement in the organization’s jobs enables employees to make operations successful, as it runs with the mutual commitment of organizations and employees. When organization employees will engage, they will use their potential to drive high performance (provide better services and attract maximum customers). Engage employees are more dedicated and helping to maximize the organization’s productivity. They are more likely to consider themselves as an employer. Therefore, organizations should pay attention to the employee engagement concept. Otherwise, it can be the biggest threat to the organization’s success. If the organization’s management is not interested in engaging employees, consequently it would lead to unsatisfactory beneficiaries and lose their customers (Andrew & Sofian, 2012 ).

From the theories and literature discussed above the researcher identified two broad motivation factors called intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and these motivation factors are also identified as an independent variable because they have an effect on the dependent variable, employee engagement, in one way or another.

• Intrinsic motivation

According to Berl and Williamson ( 1987 ) intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some benefits. Intrinsic motivation can be defined as the motivation to perform an activity in order to experience the pleasure and satisfaction inherent in the activity. They also further stated intrinsic motivation focuses on factors inside the individual which are based on personal needs. Employees get intrinsic reward directly from the job they perform, job satisfaction, interesting work, job appreciation, or the sense they help a client, Intrinsic motivated workers employ in a job because of their own interest in it and enjoy the job due to search for new solutions for business challenges and are more likely to burn up energy to identify problems and find innovative solutions.

From the Khan ( 2013 ) findings, they concluded that managers perceive intrinsic motivation as generally having a larger influence on the psychological aspects of employee engagement. They found that extrinsic motivation is of importance to employee engagement, though to a lesser extent psychologically but rather as a part of the total package that is offered to the employee by the organization and the manager. Habte ( 2016 ) concluded that managers perceive intrinsic motivation have a larger influence on the psychological aspects of employee engagement than extrinsic motivation. This conclusion leads to the next research hypothesis development on this research:

Hypothesis 1

Intrinsic motivation has a positive significant effect on employee engagement.

• Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is defined as a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome and refers to doing an activity simply for the enjoyment of the activity itself, rather than its instrumental value (Deci & Ryan, 2008 ). Or it can be the rewards offered to employees as an encouragement to engage in a behavior/task in which they cannot employ or “an employee is inner-directed, is interested or fascinated with a task and engages in it for the sake of task itself” (Zhang, 2010 ). When organizations wanted to fulfill a task from employees, they deal with monetary rewards and other tangible benefits. It referred to extrinsic rewards in motivational language. Management should know what motivates their workers and manipulate motivational techniques based on employees ’s desires. This would help organizations to recognize, educate and retain creative and productive employees for their engagement. For organizations to be better products and to have efficient performance, both extrinsic and intrinsic reward systems should be introduced. The purpose of explaining motivation (extrinsic, intrinsic) is to identify which motivation affects and has a relation with job engagement. Employees consider both important factors for their job motivation but some employees consider it more in line with extrinsic than intrinsic and vice versa (Zhang, 2010 ).

The study of Khan ( 2013 ) also concluded that the relationship and impact of extrinsic motivation were stronger on employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation. Thomas ( 2009 ) saying about intrinsic motivation at work stated that intrinsic rewards become more important and more prevalent in the workplace today. The above review leads to the following research hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2

There is a positive significant effect relationship between extrinsic motivation and employee engagement.

Overall motivation and employee engagement

Khan ( 2013 ) conducted research on the relationship between work motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and employee engagement on Allied Bank of Pakistan. The finding of the study revealed that there is a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and employee engagement, and extrinsic motivation and employee engagement. Four intrinsic factors namely interesting work, job appreciation, satisfaction, and stress, and four extrinsic factors namely job security, good wages, promotion and growth, and recognition were identified as important factors for engagement. The study concluded that there is a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and employee engagement, and extrinsic motivation and employee engagement. Furthermore, it is also concluded both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has a strong positive impact on employee engagement.

Aworemi ( 2011 ) conducted research on the motivational factors of employees and their influence on employee engagement Nigeria and Marginson ( 1991 ) conducted research on academic salaries: will award restructuring make a difference in employees’ engagement? And many researchers raised many issues and get different findings of motivational factors for employee engagement. By considering these reviews the researcher developed the next hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3

There is a positive significant effect relationship between overall motivation and employee engagement.

Empirical literature review

Khan and Iqbal ( 2013 ) study concluded that there is positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and employee engagement, and extrinsic motivation and employee engagement. Furthermore, it is also concluded both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has strong positive impact on employee engagement. The study also concluded that the relationship and impact of extrinsic motivation was stronger on employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation.

Bergstrom and García ( 2016 ) studied the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on employee engagement in private and public organizations. However the study focused on the perceptions of managers “not employees”. From the findings study they concluded that managers perceive intrinsic motivation as generally having a larger influence on the psychological aspects of employee engagement. They found that extrinsic motivation is of importance to employee engagement, though to a lesser extent psychologically but rather as a part of the total package that is offered to the employee by the organization and the manager. Thomas ( 2009 ) saying about intrinsic motivation at work, stated that intrinsic rewards become more important and more prevalent in the workplace today.

Habte ( 2016 ) concluded that managers perceive intrinsic motivation have a larger influence on the psychological aspects of employee engagement than extrinsic motivation. This supports the idea stated by Bergstrom and García ( 2016 ) but still contradict with the finding of Iqbal and Khan.

Michael ( 2008 ) conducted study on using motivational strategy as solution for employee retention and turnover in both public and private sector organizations in South Africa and the researchers used training and development, recognition, reward, a competitive salary package and job security as motivational factors. Kassa ( 2015 ) in his research on motivation and its effect on employee retention in Ambo Mineral Water Factory, stated that employees are highly motivated with reward motivational factors and are less motivated with interesting work and training and development and working environment motivational factors.

Owusu ( 2012 ) conducted research on the effects of motivation on employee performance of commercial bank in Ghana and the researcher used salary, fringed benefits, promotion, and loans as motivational factors. Pessaran and Tavakoli ( 2011 ) conducted research on identifying the employees’ motivation of Parsian hotels in Tehran and the study used salary, security, working condition, status, achievement, recognition, growth and advancement, work itself and responsibility as motivational factors.

Conceptual framework

After reviewing the relevant concepts and theories of motivation (intrinsic, extrinsic) and employee engagement mentioned in this chapter, the conceptual framework of the study has been developed as shown in the following figure (Fig. 1 ).

Research methodology

To achieve this study’s purpose, the researcher has used an explanatory survey research design, and also quantitative and qualitative study survey was employed. Standard close-ended questionnaires were used as a survey tool. The study was used both primary and secondary sources of data. The target population for this research was four city administrative office employees including all kebeles office employees and 349 questionnaires were collected from employees. The study used proportionate stratified with simple random sampling because to collect the relevant data and to give equal chance for all employees.

Since the organization under the study has four city administrations in different area. The sample was drawn from all city administrative offices proportionally as follows (Table 1 ).

After the proper data collection, coding, and organization, the study data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Under the descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation are used and bivariate correlation was used to see whether the independent variables (intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation) have a relationship with the dependent variable (employee engagement). To determine the effect of independent variables (intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation) on the dependent variable (employee engagement) multiple linear regression analyses were used.

Measurements of variables

The independent variables for this study are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation whereas the dependent variable was employee engagement. The researcher used standardized close-ended and some open-ended questionnaire instruments for collecting the primary sources of data. Questionnaires concerning employee engagement used are adapted from Gallup’s 12 standard questionnaires on the other hand questionnaires regarding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is adopted from Khan ( 2013 ) Five-point Likert-Style rating scale was deployed in order to know the employees level of agreement on the effect of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and employee engagement. The questionnaire has three parts; the first part is about demographic variables, the second part was about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and the last part also about employee engagement. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have 8 items each and employee engagement had 12 items and both are used five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).

The study was aimed at analyzing the effect of motivation on employee engagement at selected city administration offices. The dependent variable employee engagement and independent variables extrinsic and intrinsic motivation mean score was comparatively moderate. This points out that the greater part of respondents has a minor agreement on all measures. And also it shows that there was not a problem of multi co linearity, normality, and linearity in the study variables.

Based on the Table 2 result, the Pearson product-moment correlation analysis result showed that there is a moderate positive and significant relationship between intrinsic motivation and employee engagement at .329 and sig .000. This implied if the intrinsic motivation for the employees is increased it will also increase their engagement level. Lower employee intrinsic motivation will also lower their engagement level. The results of bivariate correlation confirmed that there is a moderate positive significant relationship between extrinsic motivation and employee engagement at .444 and sig level of .000. This implied if the extrinsic motivation for the employees is increased it will make significant positive changes in employee engagement. By lowering employee extrinsic motivation, employee engagement will also be lower. The study result showed that there was a moderate positive relationship between overall motivation and employee engagement. Also, extrinsic motivation had a more moderate positive relation with employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation.

Table 3 multiple regression analysis results portray that R square is .252 and adjusted R square is .248. This implied that 24.8% variation in employee engagement is explained by motivation in selected city administrations. In addition, the significance value of F statistics indicates a value .000 and it was less than p  < .05 so that it means the model was significant enough.

Also based on Table 4 result, multiple linear regression analysis results also confirmed that intrinsic motivation has a positive significant effect on employee engagement with the unstandardized Beta value of (.249, sig. level .000). As a result, the regression coefficient clarifies the average amount of change in employee engagement was affected by a unit of change in intrinsic motivation.

Regression analysis results also confirmed that extrinsic motivation had also a moderate positive significant effect on employee engagement. Since the beta value is .389 with a significance level of .000. Also, the result of extrinsic motivation showed it had a more moderate positive significant effect on employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation.

Furthermore, regression analysis was used to find out the effect of motivation on employee engagement. The result of the model summary from regression analysis indicated that overall motivation has a moderately positive effect on employee engagement. As a result, the regression coefficient clarifies the average amount of change in employee engagement was affected by a unit of change in motivation. The finding of the study indicated that intrinsic motivation has a highly significant effect on employee engagement compared to extrinsic motivation.

Based on open-ended questions feedback in the mentioned offices promotion and other related benefits are based on the strength of relationship with administers, there is a high shortage of working materials, there is no clear authority and responsibility delegation, no attractive work environment, no clear plan is prepared, fairness problem, high workload with unsatisfactory incentive and salary, there is the unnecessary intervention of managers at work, even superiors are not punctual and their incompetency/low problem-solving ability, some employees are hired on the unrelated job with their profession. Additionally, payments are not delivered on time, availability of hostile attitude, no motivational packages are available in those offices, customers’ poor discipline and others are things leading to be demotivated at their work and other related problems are available on those offices.

Comparison of the result of this study with the result of previous researches

As mentioned in the literature reviewed, the study of Christian et al. ( 2011 ) and Chalofsky and Krishna ( 2009 ) suggested that there was link between work engagement and motivational factors. Kahn ( 1990 ) and May et al. ( 2004 ) also relate employee engagement to motivation. Fairlie ( 2011 ) and Macey and Schneider ( 2008 ) pointed out that an investigation is required to find the link between work motivation and employee engagement. Thomas ( 2009 ) saying about intrinsic motivation at work, stated that intrinsic rewards become more important and more prevalent in the workplace today. Habte ( 2016 ) concluded that managers perceive intrinsic motivation have a larger influence on the psychological aspects of employee engagement than extrinsic motivation. Hence the finding of this study also supports these previous findings and also it contradicted with Habte ( 2016 ) finding.

Conclusions of the study

The study also examined the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on employee engagement. Four hypothesis questions were tested to answer the research question and fulfilled the research purpose. To achieve this objective, a quantitative and qualitative study survey was conducted and the researcher used an explanatory survey research design. A Standard close-ended questionnaire was used as a survey tool. The study was used both primary and secondary sources of data. The target population for this study was selected four city administrative office employees including all kebeles office employees) and as a sample size, 349 questionnaires were filled and collected from these employees. The study used proportionately stratified with simple random sampling because to collect the relevant data and to give equal chance for all employees. Later on, statistical package for social science (SPSS) software was used for the required test of inferential statistics; including reliability analysis, bivariate correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, and multiple regression analysis. From the findings of the research, it is concluded by answering the research questions and there is a significant positive relationship between intrinsic motivation at .329 and sig .000 and employee engagement and there is a positive significant relationship between extrinsic motivation and employee engagement at .444 and sig level of .000.

Findings of multiple regressions analysis portray that that intrinsic motivation has a positive significant effect on employee engagement with the unstandardized Beta value of (.249, sig. level .000). As a result, the regression coefficient clarifies the average amount of change in employee engagement was affected by a unit of change in intrinsic motivation. So that the decision rule in this research’s first hypothesis is to accept the alternative hypothesis.

Intrinsic motivation has a positive and statically significant effect on employee engagement at (Beta value of .249, sig. level .000). So the decision is to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject null hypothesis.

And also the regression analysis results confirmed that extrinsic motivation had also a moderate positive significant effect on employee engagement. Since the beta value is .331 with a significance level of .000. Also, the result of extrinsic motivation showed it had a more moderate positive significant effect on employee engagement as compared to intrinsic motivation. Based on the above study result the decision is to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis of hypothesis two.

There is a positive significant effect relationship between extrinsic motivation and employee engagement at the beta value of .331 with a significance level of .000. So the decision is to accept the alternative hypothesis and to reject the null hypothesis.

When we test hypothesis three, the study revealed that there exists a positive significant relationship between both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and employee engagement. There was also sufficient evidence to conclude that in addition to these relationships successful motivational factors (intrinsic and extrinsic) had positive effects on employee engagement in selected city administration office employees. Hence, for the management to stimulate employees' motivation and also to improve the level of staff works engagement, greater efforts must be placed on the two perceived motivating factors. In addition, as the open-ended question result, there is a low motivation with weak employees’ engagement at work in those offices. So the decision is to accept the alternative hypothesis.

There is a positive significant effect relationship between overall motivation and employee engagement. The decision is to accept the alternative hypothesis and to reject the null hypothesis.

Limitation of the study

In this study, the independent variables, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were explained only 24.8% of the variation in employee engagement, but the other 75.2% were explained by other factors that were not included in this study. So, future studies could examine the rest variables which can explain the variation in employee engagement.

The study was only focused on four city administration office employees. Therefore, future researchers relating to this topic should assess in a wider and larger scope to include other private organizations and increase the generalizability of the study.

Besides this study, a comparative study could be done to know what the difference is available in different sectors relating to this topic. And another limitation is the research variable taken is subject to the understanding and knowledge of the researcher.

Recommendations

Recommendations for policy and practice.

The study result shows that employees of selected city administrations were motivated by both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations but they were more motivated by intrinsic motivation factors than extrinsic ones. So the management of those offices should give relevant attention to these factors to stimulate the employee’s engagement while developing and or revising strategies and policies for their organization.

The management and policymakers of selected city administrations should use rigorous efforts in encouraging employees intrinsic and intrinsic motivation for better work engagement by creating an attractive work atmosphere and satisfaction, provide appreciation for good performers, moreover the management should also increase employees extrinsic motivation by creating job security, provided promotion and growth, benefits, and good salary, give appropriate reward and recognition for employees, provide opportunities to some form of ownership, as well as increased responsibility and authority.

The organization should find which ways are able to motivate employees, what drives them, then making sure they utilize appropriate motivational techniques with each employee. Managers should also endeavor to communicate the organization's purpose to employees. Finally, the organizations should take steps to incorporate the vision of employees for the organization with his or hers own vision. This will motivate employees to engage and contribute to the organization’s goals.

These offices should give a fair promotion and other related benefits, solve the shortage of working material problems, should set clear authority and responsibility delegation, create an attractive work environment, clear work plan to be prepared, minimize workload and make satisfactory incentive and reward based on their performance, avoid the unnecessary intervention of managers at work, solve unpunctuality problem and could improve managers skill by developmental programs to make them more experienced, some employees are hired on the unrelated job with their profession so review and correct this issue are better. Additionally, payments should to deliver on time, motivational packages should present in those offices, and also to increase employees engagement the office should facilitate short term and long term work-related training, perform periodic performance appraisal, make supervision and control at work, reduce time management problems and unpunctuality, prepare benefit package and equal reward systems, better to make decision makings more participative and open to motivate employees or to create a sense of ownership, should give induction pieces of training when new entrants have joined the office, minimize the availability of corruption and unethical activities, work to keep rule and regulations, try to solve the shortage of office facilities, better to make a fast decision, and other related problems should be solved on those offices.

Generally, selected city administrations should communicate with employees regarding how looks like their motivation and engagement, which things should be fulfilled and the organizations management could assess more factors that are most important to increase employees engagement at work and it should make important corrective actions, it will make employees more engaged, strengthen their relationship with the university as well as it will make employees more motivated and loyal to the organization.

Implications of the study

Theoretical implications.

This study can contribute to the existing literature in employees motivation, their engagement at work and effective human resource management and identifies the ways to satisfy/motivate these employees’ to increase organizational performance. Basically my findings are aligned with those of other scholar’s works relating to this topic and are important to show/provide interesting and recent perhaps promising areas to work on under the recent world.

Practical implications

The actual result of the paper also provide recommendations for public organizations on how to be more competitive through managing their employees, motivating them and also through resilience and renewal different human resource management strategies, and the researcher has also gave relevant recommendations for policymakers and other concerned bodies as shown in above.

Suggestion for future study

The research was conducted from employees’ perspective only by using employees’ engagement. It should be interesting to consider from the perspective of managers by using managers engagement.

The researcher conducted more of quantitative study; deep qualitative study could also be adopted to validate the results of this study. Employees of government organizations and none government organizations may motivate indifferent way, hence it should also be interesting to study from perspective of employees of government organizations.

From the findings of the study it is concluded that the model which included intrinsic motivation (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) explained only 25.2% of the variance of employee engagement the rest 74.8% may be due to the other variables which were not included in this study and left for further study.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

Statistical package for social science

Analysis of variance

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Engidaw, A.E. The effect of motivation on employee engagement in public sectors: in the case of North Wollo zone. J Innov Entrep 10 , 43 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-021-00185-1

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Work Motivation: The Roles of Individual Needs and Social Conditions

Thuy thi diem vo.

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.)

Kristine Velasquez Tuliao

2 Graduate Institute of Human Resource Management, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Road, Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan

Chung-Wen Chen

Associated data.

The data that support this study are publicly available.

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.

1. Introduction

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.

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. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

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. Main Effect

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.

2.2.2. Individuals’ Autonomy and 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.

2.2.3. Individuals’ Social Relatedness and 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. Moderating Effects

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.

2.3.2. Political Participation

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.

2.3.3. Humane Orientation

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.

2.3.4. In-Group Collectivism

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.

3.1. Sample

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.

3.2. Dependent Variable

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.

3.3. Independent Variables

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 ].

3.4. Moderators

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 ].

3.5. Control Variables

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 ].

3.6. Measurement and Analysis

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 .

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.

Discriminant validity—Fornell and Larcker’s criterion.

* p < 0.05.

HLM results: (The DV is work motivation) a,b .

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.

5. Discussion

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.

6. Limitations and Future Research

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.

7. Conclusions

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.

Author Contributions

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.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Factors Influencing Staff Motivation among Employees: A Case Study of Equator Bottlers (Coca Cola) Kenya

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MOTIVATION AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN ORGANISATIONS A CASE STUDY: BISHOP STUART UNIVERSITY,

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Journal of Resources Development and Management: 30-41

NWOKWU, P . M., PhD

Motivation has been variously seen overtime as the most vital tool, yet overlooked means of turning on the workers to give their best to attain organizational goals as well as achieve job satisfaction at the workplace. This paper examines the effect of workplace motivation on employee performance in the Nigerian public organizations with special attention on the South Eastern Federal Radio Corporation. To achieve the above objective, content analytical technique was adopted to carefully review works of renowned authors on the subject matter. The result of the study revealed that there exists a positive relationship between motivation and enhanced employee productivity. The study recommends that appropriate motivational techniques that could satisfy peculiar needs of the workforce should be provided. Introduction In the past few years, there has been great deal of studies carried out by eminent scholars in the area of the linking cord between employee motivation and organizational productivity. Organizations the world over are set up to attain specific objectivities and the achievement of such mandates to a large extent requires effective deployment and utilization of factors of production such as capital, land, materials, finance, labour, time, etc. Among the factors of production, labour (employee) has been generally recognized as the highly prized asset of any organization because it is the human component which plans, organizes, coordinates and puts other factors of production into effective use for attainment of organizational set goals. The obvious strategic position of employees in organization makes it imperative that they should be effectively and efficiently compensated for their labour (Ude and Coker, 2012). This is true because the realization of organizational goals could be effort in futility without committed efforts of employees in the workplace. It is along this sense that Drucker (1974) believes that the work of management should be to make people productive in order to attain optimum performance and compete favourably in the global stage through proper incentive schemes. Thus, labour as a factor of production deserves wages and other incentives as morale boosters for efficient performance which translates to organizational productivity. The strategy for boosting workers' morale is technically termed motivation. Motivation has been conceived as a vital tool for turning on the workers to give their utmost best willingly and enthusiastically towards actualization of organizational goals while at the same time achieving job satisfaction. In other words, strengthening of workplace motivation is a powerful force for employees to achieve set goals. It elicits worker's full participation and commitment to ensure that success is attained in the workplace. Motivation in the words of Rainey (1993:20) is "the degree to which a person is moved or aroused to act." It is therefore, a set of psychological processes that trigger the arousal, direction and persistence of individual's behaviour towards attainment of set targets (Greenberg and Baron, 2003; Robbins and Judge, 2008). Simply put, motivation can be seen as the state or condition of being induced to act in certain profitable ways to actualize predetermined set goals or objectives. Overtime, workplace motivation has been extended to employees in several forms viz: good training (capacity building) policies, promotion, pay rise, personnel recognition, favourable work conditions, incentives such as bonuses, leave allowances, etc geared towards addressing the varied needs of the workforce for enhanced productivity (Adi, 2000). Thus, any manager that intends to succeed in attainment of organizational set goals must be able to incorporate the individual needs of workers into the overall organizational goals. This to a large extent elicits workers' commitment and resolve to ensure success of the organization. It is noteworthy that individual worker's needs always change and differ considerably from others and the ability of the management to apply appropriate motivational schemes to meet each worker's needs will certainly go a long way to enhance organizational performance. An employee can be sufficiently satisfied with his job when his problems, needs and aspirations are identified and possible solutions given by the management to satisfy them. These needs arise as a result of numerous responsibilities that an employee shoulders in the society which urge him to act in a certain manner geared towards satisfying them.

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A Exploring the Nexus of Financial Incentives and Employee Motivation in Financial Sector: A study of Pakistan

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The main objective of this study is to find out the financial incentive factors behind employee motivation, especially in financial institutions in, Pakistan. Salary, housing allowance, and medical insurance were independent variables, and employee motivation was dependent. The sample size was 300, only collected from 190 financial institutions in Pakistan. Questionnaires collect primary data via Google Forms. We used a random sampling method for sample selection. Correlation analysis suggests that all variables have a strong positive correlation (r>0.70)—regression analysis is used to check the effect of financial incentives on employee motivation. The findings suggested that salary, housing allowance, and medical insurance have positive statistical significance (p<0.05) on employee motivation. This research supports that all organizations should focus on financial rewards to employees' motivations for better organizational performance.

      Keywords : financial incentives, financial sector, employee motivation.

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• DOI: 10.1108/dts-03-2024-0040
• Corpus ID: 272057826

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