Theories of Motivation, Organizational Support, and Applicability

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The seven schools of thought, their empirical support and applicability are briefly addressed in the following table. The following chart offers a quick glance and review of the various theories of motivation.

Summary and Evaluation of Work Motivation Theories**

Theory	Motivation	Support	Applicability
Needs Hierarchy Theory	Unconscious, innate needs	Weak; little support for proposed relationships among needs	Very limited. Theory lacks sufficient specificity to guide behavior.
Equity Theory	Drive to reduce feelings of tension caused by perceived inequities	Mixed. Good support for underpayment inequity; weak support for overpayment equity	Limited: Social comparisons are made, but feelings of inequity can be reduced through means other than increased motivation.
Expectancy Theory	Relationship among desired outcomes, performance-reward, and effort-performance variables	Moderate – strong: More strongly supported in within-subjects than across-subjects experiments.	Strong: Theory provides a rational basis for why people expend effort, although not all behavior is consciously determined as postulated.
Reinforcement Theory	Schedule of reinforcement used to reward people for their performance.	Moderate: Ratio reinforcement schedules evoke superior performance compared with interval schedules; little difference exists between various ratio schedules.	Moderate: Contingent payment for performance is possible in some jobs although ethical problems can occur in attempt to shape employee behavior.
Goal-setting Theory	Intention to direct behavior in pursuit of acceptable goals.	Moderate – strong: Performance under goal-setting conditions is usually superior to situations in which no goals are set.	Strong: Ability to set goals is not restricted to certain types of people or jobs.
Self-Regulation Theory	Self-monitoring of feedback designed to enhance goal attainment.	Moderate – strong: Feedback can provide direction for behavior if monitored and acted upon.	Strong: Organizations can provide directive feedback to individuals to facilitate goal attainment.
Job Characteristics Theory	Attributes of jobs that can facilitate motivation among people with a strong need to achieve.	Moderate – strong: Clear support for the validity of the job characteristics but less support for the critical psychological states.	Moderate: It is not clear whether job characteristics are objective properties of jobs that organizations can design or are subjectively perceived by individuals.

**Paul Muchinsky's Psychology Applied to Work, Seventh Edition. (2003), p. 404.

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