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Managers of one large corporation were expecting the generosity of their annual incentive award to build employee morale. Instead interviewees reported, for example, 'It has absolutely no effect on me.' [...]

Using data from a nationally representative panel study, I examine change and stability in job values across the young adult years. I find that on average, young people attach lessening importance to various job rewards during the transition to adulthood. In addition, job values become increasingly stable (individual differences are increasingly maintained) during young adulthood, though they continue to change as a function of the rewards received at work. l find no gender differences in the way job rewards shape values, although gender differences in job values exist.

This article reviews the literature on work motivation in the public sector, with careful attention to the underlying theoretical assumptions of this body of work and the empirical evidence it has generated. The topic of work motivation has received relatively little attention in the public sector; the research that does exist has been largely data driven, guided at best by theories that have not incorporated more contemporary research. In this article I will draw on current psychological research on work motivation, as well as the theory and empirical evidence regarding the unique characteristics of public organizations and employees, and develop a revised public-sector model of work motivation that emphasizes variables such as procedural constraints, goal content, and goal commitment., In a recent article, Behn (1995) urged scholars to focus their research on the big questions in public management. One of the most important of these questions, according to Behn, [...]

Byline: Michael Gasser (1), Nichole Flint (2), Rowena Tan (2) Abstract: Previous research on pay expectations has focused on gender differences and the reasons for those differences. In this study three types of reward expectations were measured. Pay expectations (starting salary and peak salary) were assessed, as well as another reward expectation, ease of promotion. The influences of gender, race, and type of job on reward expectations were investigated. The results indicated that Caucasians have higher peak pay expectations than African Americans for all job types. Interactions were discovered between race and type of job for starting salary, and between gender and type of job for ease of promotion. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, 50614-0505 (2) USA Article History: Registration Date: 06/10/2004

Byline: Flora F. Tien (1) Abstract: Based on the rationale of expectancy theory, this article examines to what degree the desire for promotion motivates faculty to do research. Using Taiwanese faculty survey data, it is found that faculty members who show higher motivation for promotion display better research performance than their colleagues who show lower motivation for promotion. This article also indicates that different kinds of rewards have different motivating effects on various types of faculty research performance. After controlling for the effects of demographic, educational, and institutional variables, the results of logistic regressions show that faculty who think promotion and the satisfaction of curiosity are important tend to publish articles faculty who want to demonstrate their mastery of their disciplines tend to publish books and faculty who care about personal income are more likely to seek and receive the National Science Council Research Outcome Grant. Author Affiliation: (1) Office of Survey Research, Academia Sinica, No.128, Second Section, Ying-Jiou-Yuan Road, Nankang District, 11529, Taipei City, Taiwan Article History: Registration Date: 16/10/2004

Byline: Robert C. Serow (1) Keywords: faculty; faculty rewards; research; research universities; teaching Abstract: This paper examines tensions between the research and teachingcomponents of the faculty role. It does so by reporting resultsfrom a case study of committed undergraduate teachers at aresearch university. Having agreed that research was the dominantelement in the university's academic reward system, samplemembers were cross-classified along two dimensions: First, theirown adaptation to the reward structure, as indicated by theirfive-year records of involvement in funded research second,individuals' stated attitudes and beliefs toward the teaching andresearch roles. Although the 11 active researchers (ARs) withinthe sample reported somewhat more positive attitudes towardsresearch than did the 18 less-active researchers (LAs), we foundconsiderable overlap across, and variation within, the twosubsamples. Particularly noteworthy were the presence of a strongallegiance to the historic teaching mission of publicuniversities among both groups and, among the LAs, anoppositional cadre of politically adept senior faculty who hadachieved some success in preserving or expanding the place ofundergraduate teaching in the reward systems of their departmentsand colleges. The paper concludes by considering the case studyfindings in light of both recent theoretical work on intrinsicmotivation and the future of the teaching role. Author Affiliation: (1) North Carolina State University, Box 7801, Raleigh, NC, USA, 27695-7801 Article History: Registration Date: 09/10/2004

Gainsharing is reported to greatly enhance organizational performance, but there is little empirical research that explains how gainsharing works and why companies adopt it. We employ a human resource control framework to examine the role gainsharing plays within the organization. Our analysis of 802 organizations suggests that gainsharing plans are used to enhance employee participation in organizations that employ market-based control methods. Organizations that use bureaucratic or clan controls are not likely to adopt gainsharing; they are more likely to use participation initiatives that do not involve a group bonus.

Relationships between motivation and transformational leadership were examined in this study. 56 leaders and 234 followers from a variety of organizations were sampled. Leaders were administered the Motivation Sources Inventory and the Job Choice Decision-making Exercise, while followers reported leaders' behaviors using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-rater version). Scores on the Motivation Sources Inventory subscales subsequently correlated with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire subscales of inspirational motivation, idealized influence (behavior), and individualized consideration (range, r = .13 to .23). There were no significant correlations among any of the Job Choice Decision-making Exercise subscales with any of the variables measured.

A multiple intervention level hierarchy was evaluated with systematic implementation of successive interventions over a period of two years. Successive applications of written prompts, goal-setting, goal-setting plus feedback, and promise-card commitment interventions did not significantly impact the safety-belt use of 556 employees at a manufacturing plant in southwest Virginia. A modest increase in safety-belt use (from 59% to 68%) occurred only when a promise-card commitment strategy was combined with an incentive/reward strategy. These data support a multiple intervention level hierarchy which suggests that repeated attempts to change behavior with interventions at the same level of intrusiveness will not affect behavior uninfluenced by the first attempt at that level. A flow of behavior change model (Geller, 1999) is used to explain the impact of interventions on people at different stages of readiness for behavior change and to extend the multiple intervention level model. Suggestions are given for selecting the most appropriate behavior change strategy for large-scale applications. KEYWORDS: Safety, safety belt use, written prompts, safety slogans and celebration, assigned goal, goal plus feedback, promise card, promise card plus incentive/reward

Goals are central to current treatments of work motivation, and goal commitment is a critical construct in understanding the relationship between goals and task performance. Despite this importance, there is confusion about the role of goal commitment and only recently has this key construct received the empirical attention it warrants. This meta-analysis, based on 83 independent samples, updates the goal commitment literature by summarizing the accumulated evidence on the antecedents and consequences of goal commitment. Using this aggregate empirical evidence, the role of goal commitment in the goal-setting process is clarified and key areas for future research are identified.

Leadership experts define organizational vision as an individual's positive vivid cognitive image of an organization, e.g., success, size, employees, strategic direction, in the future. This concept infers that different people may have varying ability to create this image. This paper describes the preliminary validation of a scale designed to measure an individual's visioning ability. Factor analysis and tests of reliability and of content, construct, and concurrent validity suggest that this visioning ability scale is a valid and reliable measure of an individual's visioning ability.

Investigations into the motivations effected on salesperson performance of various compensation scheme showed the indirect but important interaction between personality factors and the structural characteristics of the job. The salary scheme worked best for intrinsically reward oriented salesperson while the commission scheme worked best for extrinsically reward oriented salesperson. But the commission scheme also works for the intrinsically reward oriented salesperson when the commission is used as a gauge of performance effectiveness.

A study was conducted to examine participation in management development programs of managers from Central and Eastern Europe. Specifically, it sought to determine the link between reasons for selection and motivations for their decision to attend. Respondents completed a questionnaire at the start and the middle of a six-week development program held in Canada. They reported greater value from the program when the participants were chosen due to usefulness of the material and contacts to their employer. Findings also revealed relationships between four motivations for attendance and self-reported program value. The two most common motivations were to gain a deeper understanding of market economies and to achieve greater managerial effectiveness. The other two were to secure a certificate and to learn skills in starting own business.

Results of this field study of 597 employees demonstrate the importance of extra-role behavior in explaining employee performance over a six-month period. Supervisors, peers, and employees differentiated in-role from extra-role behavior. They also differentiated two related forms of promotive extra-role behavior: helping and voice. We cross-validate our results and conclude by discussing future research implications. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Studies indicate that individuals working in the public sector are consistently motivated by reward schemes. The attitudes of public sector employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic rewards have been assessed using secondary data sources including the 1979 Federal Employee Attitude Survey. Private sector employees, like their organisations, are driven by different rewards.

The relationship between employees' commitment and job performance continues to interest those studying organizational behavior and management. The present study yielded a significant negative correlation between measures of organizational commitment and job performance for a sample of 41 employees with significant organizational work experience. Limitations and further directions for research are discussed.

While traditional approaches to maximizing employee creativity have focused on hiring creative people, more recent perspectives suggest that employees' work environments influence the creativity of their contributions. This article discusses the benefits of integrating these approaches. To ensure the most creative work from employees, managers need to assess the creative potential of each person and then place those with high potential into work contexts that stimulate and nurture it. When firms place people with high creative potential in contexts that offer complex job assignments, supportive and non-controlling supervision, and competitive co-workers, they reap the benefits of maximum employee creativity. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

We examined relations between job characteristics, empowerment, and intrinsic motivation among technical and telemarketing workers. Empowerment was conceptualized as a gestalt of 4 psychological dimensions: autonomy, competence, meaningfulness, and impact. It was hypothesized that the various dimensions of empowerment would mediate the relationship between job characteristics, such as feedback and autonomy support, and intrinsic motivation at work. A path analysis supported the hypothesis, revealing that different job characteristics were predictive of different aspects of empowerment, and that aspects of empowerment differentially affected intrinsic motivation. The results point to the value of considering empowerment as a multidimensional construct.

This study assessed Chinese women's motivation to manage and its relationship to managerial success in Chinese state-owned enterprises. It was found that overall managerial motivation of Chinese women in this study was as high as that of Chinese men. In addition, overall managerial motivation was positively related to the hierarchical job level. Of the various component motives, the desires to exercise power and to stand out from the group were the significant predictors. Research and practical implications of the study are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)