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This paper recognizes self determination theory (SDT) as a model to successfully motivate an organization's workforce and recommends SDT as a more encompassing theory of motivation. Consequently, motivation assumes a different dimension and it therefore becomes necessary to consider issues associated with autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and motivation as a predictor of performance. This paper aims to address this issue.

The paper initially identifies the underlying assumptions of motivation that include: people having the capacity for responsible actions, a natural aspiration to learning and understanding things, and the desire to do good at work and play. The paper then proceeds to addresses several basic issues associated with SDT, namely, cognitive, affective and psycho‐motor development. Finally, it considers perception of the self, one's psychological and emotional needs, life goals and aspirations, individual dynamism, culture and the impact of social environments as key issues that determine one's ability to self‐actualize.

The study shows SDT's relevance to discussions in organizational behavior. The findings suggest that extrinsic motivation can be deleterious to intrinsic motivation. Work‐related happiness is acquired when individuals use their personality as a motivation determinant to fulfill a mission that is meaningful to themselves too. Individuals are most resourceful and innovative when they feel motivated largely as a result of their interest, their inner satisfaction, and challenges of the work itself and not by external pressures or incentives.

In this regard it is recommended that human resources professionals and/or managers need to consider issues associated with autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and motivation as a predictor of performance. Different attitudinal relationships towards work‐play necessitate distinct types of motivation. Should work and play become homogeneous, the defining role of human resources management in relation to motivation needs revisiting in particular SDT

This paper adds to the academic literature on motivation in a somewhat different vein by presenting autonomy, competence, and relatedness in SDT as vitally essential for psychological growth, optimal functioning, and well‐being in any fields of endeavor. The study identifies extrinsic rewards as undermining intrinsic motivation in most circumstances.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the pandemic affects the motivation and job satisfaction of university researchers as a whole and by their separate groups by gender, age, academic position (career stage) and degree.

The authors studied French universities for changes in motivation and job satisfaction among researchers under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, two hypotheses were tested, using the one-way ANOVA parametric test and the Kruskal–Wallis nonparametric statistical test with the data collected during the in-depth interviews and surveys with university researchers from the Paris Diderot University and Jean Moulin University of Lyon III in 2019 and 2021.

There were found significant differences between changes in motivation and job satisfaction of respondent groups by gender, career stage and scientific degrees. All these differences in changes confirm hypothesis about the significant impact of the pandemic on certain motivators and elements of job satisfaction of various groups of university researchers. The study showed that pandemic restrictions and fears positively affect the motivation and job satisfaction of the younger generation of researchers and males, and negatively on the older generation and female researchers. During the pandemic, early-stage researchers are mostly unhappy only with the salary and the lack of teaching skills. While experienced and senior researchers do not have time to fulfill all their duties due to overload by a combination of different forms of teaching, many teaching hours, administrative duties and mastering new communication tools.

The results capture the selective impact of pandemic restrictions, its physical and mental effects on academic staff. Although only two universities in a single country were considered, the findings show the heterogeneity of the perception of new (pandemic) working conditions by different groups of university workers. If such heterogeneity is revealed in the example of two universities, then it is very likely to be observable also in broader studies.

The results of this study can help university administrations, higher education regulators and national research agencies address the needs of all groups of researchers, alleviating the most acute restrictions and fears caused by the pandemic and providing the necessary incentives for relevant groups, e.g. higher salary, teaching school and awards for young researchers and a lower teaching loading for experienced and senior researchers.

This is the first study that define pandemic impact on motivation and job satisfaction of university researchers in France.

It is important to understand why some workers prolong their working life even though they are entitled to statutory pension benefits. This paper aims to investigate whether senior workers are motivated by external factors such as pay and social expectations (extrinsic motivation) or are primarily motivated by internal factors such as job satisfaction (intrinsic motivation). This is a central question for policymakers and social partners when it comes to the design of public pension systems and work organisation.

This study uses a combined longitudinal administrative data and an own-designed postal survey to ask individuals aged 65–76 years to describe their work motivation. Based on the answers, this study constructs an index of autonomous motivation (AM) where a value of zero implies only extrinsic motivation and a value of one implies only intrinsic motivation. The values between zero and one thus imply various grades of AM, where higher values signal motivation that is more autonomous and hence a higher degree of intrinsic work motivation.

The results of the statistical analysis show that the extent of intrinsic motivation is higher among senior workers who retired aged 65 years or older compared to those who retired at 65 years or younger. In addition, this study found that the degree of intrinsic work motivation among senior workers decreases when they face economic and financial constraints. It also found that intrinsic motivation is more prevalent among high-skilled workers.

This study shows that individuals who continue to work after 65 are mostly motivated by the satisfaction they derive from their job. Job satisfaction is strongly related to skill level, job quality, job content and job autonomy. Results indicate that job quality and commitment to work are essential elements for motivating seniors to postpone retirement.

This study contributes to this literature by applying a multidisciplinary approach from organisational psychology and labour economics that considers the potential importance of intrinsic motivation to work after standard retirement age. The authors think that this approach enhances the understanding of the mechanisms behind the lengthening of working life. Finally, this study suggests a simple, but efficient way of empirically measuring the extent of intrinsic motivation among workers.

The current study aims to propose a novel three-way interaction of work motivation (intrinsic/extrinsic) and work environment (organizational justice), in a Romanian context. Moreover, as managers and employees do not have the same needs, workloads and performance assessments, so the research model is tested in four groups: employees, office managers, department managers and executives. Additionally, a minor goal is to replicate known relationships in the literature in a non-Western country.

To this end, a total sample of N = 3,287 Romanian participants was obtained, using established, valid and known measures. Statistical analyses included common-method bias analysis, zero-order Pearson correlations and linear regressions with bootstrapping.

Results support the hypothesized three-way interaction, such that only when both motivations are high does the work environment have a profound effect on organizational outcomes, but when both are low, the employee becomes indifferent to the work.

Workplace fairness and work motivation are topics concerning employees and managers alike. While their roles in contributing to reduce work misbehaviors and increase extra role behaviors have been outlined in the past as, they may interact in surprising ways, and differently in every managerial level. On one hand, the current article replicates established associations but, on the other hand, it does so from a non-Western perspective and with the not-yet-researched addition of a three-way interaction between work environment (i.e. perceptions of organizational justice) and the individual's motivational dispositions (i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic work motivations).

The aging workforce is becoming an increasingly important topic in today’s labor market. However, most scientific research and organizational policies focus on chronological age as the main determinant of successful aging. Based on life span developmental theories – primarily socioemotional selectivity theory and motivational theory of life span development – the purpose of this paper is to test the added value of using subjective age – in terms of remaining opportunities and remaining time – over and above chronological age in their associations with motivation at work and motivation to work.

Workers from five different divisions throughout the Netherlands (n=186) from a taxi company participated in the survey study.

The results from the regression analyses and structural equation modeling analyses support the hypotheses: when subjective age was included in the models, chronological age was virtually unrelated to workers’ intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and motivation to continue to work for one’s organization. Moreover, subjective age was strongly related to work motivation. Specifically, workers who perceived many remaining opportunities were more intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, and those who perceived a lot of remaining time were more motivated across the board.

The findings indicate that subjective age is an important concept to include in studies focussing on successful aging, thereby contributing to life span developmental theories. Further implications for research and practice are discussed.

The literature of human motivation in a work setting is reviewed. The main theories are those of individual needs, equity and expectancy/value. This is followed by an examination of the relationship between motivation and methods of job and work design. Particular emphasis is placed on the practical value of strategies resulting from these theories. The area of application for these principles is academic libraries, the main characteristics of which are identified. These include the influence of environmental factors, such as technological innovation and economic recession, the nature of the higher education system and the user community. This is followed by an analysis of library staff attitudes and the nature of library work. The division between professional and non‐professional staff is seen as particularly important in this context. The theories of motivation and work design are then applied to academic libraries and some gaps in the literature identified. The emphasis on higher order needs and lack of theory on motivation and the social aspects of work are noted. An outline of the most useful theories is offered and the importance of library managers remaining responsive to local needs is stressed.

Employees need a sustainable career to prolong their working lives. The ability, motivation and opportunity to work form an important basis for sustainable careers across the lifespan. However, over the lifespan of their careers employees are likely to experience several career shocks (e.g. becoming chronically ill or being fired) which might result in unsustainable trajectories. This study aims to contribute to the literature on sustainable careers by unraveling the process through which careers shocks relate to career (un)sustainability and what role perceptions of human resource practices play in the process.

Thirty-three in-depth retrospective interviews with participants of 50 years and older were conducted and analyzed using a template analysis.

Results showed that career shocks influence career sustainability through a process of changes in demands or changes in resources, which in turn, relate to changes in person–job fit. When person-job–fit diminished, the ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working decreased, whereas when person–job fit improved, the ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working improved as well. Organizations appear to be able to diminish the negative consequences of career shocks by offering job resources such as HR practices in response to career shocks.

A limitation of this study is the retrospective nature of the interviews, which could have resulted in recollection bias.

This study gives HRM practitioners insight into the HR practices that are effective in overcoming career shocks.

This study extends existing literature by including career shocks as possible predictors of sustainable careers.

High-quality employee motivation can contribute to an organization’s long-term success by supporting employees’ well-being and performance. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of research concerning how organizations motivate workers in non-traditional work contexts. In the algocratic context of the gig-economy, the purpose of this paper is to understand the role that technology can play in motivating workers.

Drawing on the self-determination theory, job-characteristic theory and enterprise social media research, this conceptual paper explores how the architecture of the digital labor platforms underlying the gig-economy (and the characteristics of jobs mediated through these IT artifacts) can impact key antecedents of self-motivation.

Combining theory and empirical evidence, this paper develops a mid-range theory demonstrating how organizations can support the self-motivation of gig-workers through the thoughtful design of their digital labor platforms and the integration of two social media tools (namely, social networking and social badging).

This paper answers calls for psychologically-based research exploring the consequences of gig-work as well as research studying the impacts of advanced technologies in interaction with work contexts on motivation. In theorizing around a large set of social-contextual variables operating at different levels of analysis, this paper demonstrates that individual-level motivation can be influenced by both task-based and organizational-level factors, in addition to individual-level factors.

The proposed theory provides novel insight into how gig-organizations can leverage widely accessible social media technology to motivate platform workers in the absence of human supervision and support. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Motivation is a widely explored topic and numerous studies have been done to determine motivation importance and implementation. However, no studies have been identified that investigate what motivators are most important to physicians and if physician leaders agree with the importance physicians place on specific motivational aspects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this missed management learning opportunity.

A fully inclusive sampling of all (n=2,547) public-practice physicians and physician leaders (clinic and hospital employed, non-private practice) in Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota was conducted in the summer and fall of 2013. The surveys were sent in a link via a web survey software program by the study researchers. The surveys were anonymous and minimally intrusive, asking only for perspectives regarding the most important motivational elements by physicians and physician leaders.

Generally, the responses were surprisingly similar between physicians and physician leaders. The two statistically different motivators – interesting work and job security – were ranked as more important by physicians than the physician leaders. This suggests that leaders should be more attentive to ensuring variety, challenge, and engagement is an active part of the physicians’ work. This also suggests that managers should emphasize and reinforce the fact that – if it is the case – jobs are secure and that staffing stability is a key goal for management. As Kovach (1987) suggests, as employees’ income increases, money becomes less of a motivator and as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

Conclusions and generalizations can be made about the population sampled.

The two statistically different motivators – interesting work and job security – were ranked as more important by physicians than the physician leaders. This suggests that leaders should be more attentive to ensuring variety, challenge, and engagement is an active part of the physicians’ work. This also suggests that managers should emphasize and reinforce the fact that – if it is the case – jobs are secure and that staffing stability is a key goal for management.

As this study reveals, physicians have clear preferences when it comes to workplace motivation. It is not unreasonable then to determine that the more satisfied the employee, the better he or she will perform. Accordingly, the environment that managers create for their employees must be one that is constructive to positive energy. If employees feel happy when they are working, then they will be naturally encouraged to work, thus producing improved quality healthcare for patients.

What are the most important motivators for physicians and do physician leaders understand what motivators are to enhance physician productivity, well-being, and morale? Answers to this question may be beneficial to designing leadership education that enhances the understanding of the impact effectively identified and effectively applied motivation techniques may have on employee behavior and attitudes. Insights will also benefit the design of motivational structures and methods in the healthcare workplace.

While prior research provides interesting insights into the effect of social media use in enterprises, there is limited research on how use of different social media platforms affects employee job satisfaction and work efficiency. This study developed a research model to investigate how public and private social media platforms used for different motivations affect employee job satisfaction and work efficiency.

Online surveys were conducted in China, generating 453 valid responses for analysis. Structural equation modeling is performed to test the research model and hypotheses.

The results suggest that (1) public social media used for both work- and social-related motivations positively affects employee job satisfaction, while private social media only used for social-related motivations can contribute to employee job satisfaction. (2) Public and private social media used for work-related motivations can contribute to employee work efficiency, while social-related motivations for use of public and private social media and employee work efficiency are not significant. (3) In the process of social media usage influencing employee job satisfaction and work efficiency, employees of different genders show significant differences.

First, this paper contributes to information systems social media research by examining the joint effects of different motivations for public and private social media usage on employee job satisfaction and work efficiency in organizations. Second, it contributes to uses and gratification theory by clarifying the relationship between different motivations for enterprise social media use and its needs.