Org Psych + WAM for Comps

Why is motivation worth studying?

Understand why some employees

Go above and beyond

Procrastinate

Lose motivation over time

Motivation definition and key elements

Factors or events that energize, channel, and sustain human behavior over time

Direction: what people chose to do

Intensity: How hard they try

Persistence: How long they continue

*Motivation is not observable; it’s inferred from behavior

Content, context, and process based approaches to motivation

Content: What internal factors motivate people? Assumes motivation originates within the individual, via traits, motives, and orientations. (Intrinsic motivation, justice, need fulfillment, SDT, Equity, Maslow’s hierarchy)

Context: Focus on features of the environment (JCT, Job Crafting, Extrinsic rewards)

Process: The interaction between system governing goal selection and system regulating goal enactment determine motivation (Goal Setting, Expectancy theory, Theory of planned behavior, Self-regulation)

Need Based Theories

Maslow’s hierarchy (physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, self-actualization) *research doesn’t support

Need for achievement theory: A personality characteristic

SDT: Competence, autonomy, relatedness

Equity Theory

Competence, relatedness, autonomy

Competence: Feeling effective in dealing with environment/activities

Autonomy: Being able to control the course of one’s own life

Relatedness: Feeling connected to others

Equity Theory

Motivation is influenced by perceived fairness, comparing your outcomes/inputs compared to other’s outcome/inputs

More evidence exists supporting equity theory’s underpayment phenomena than overpayment

Regulatory Focus Theory

Promotion focused: Focus on growth

Prevention focused: Focus on security, avoiding losses

Learning vs performance goal orientation

LGO: Focus on developing competence and mastering new skills (set higher goals, show greater engagement and persistence)

PGO: Focus on favorable evaluation from others

JCT

STTAF

Skill variety, Task Identity, Task Significance, Autonomy, Feedback linked to experienced meaningfulness, responsibility, knowledge of results, which lead to outcomes like high internal work motivation, high growth satisfaction and work effectivess and job satisfaction

Growth need strength moderates relationship between dimensions and psychological states and then outcomes

Justice perceptions

Are subjective and context dependent

Injustice is more salient than justice

Can be self-serving

People tend to perceived that outcomes that benefit themselves are more fair

Organizational Justice: Distributive, Procedural, Interpersonal, Informational

Distributive: Outcomes

Procedural: Processes

Interpersonal: Quality of treatment/respect

Informational: Adequacy, transparency, and timeliness of explanations

Perceived justice outcomes

Outcomes: Higher task performance (Distributive/procedural), more OCB (interactional), less CWB, more org identification, more trust in management, less turnover intentions, higher engagement

Unfairness is linked to Burnout, stress, negative emotional states, mental health problems

Justice Antecedents

Address Root Cause of perceived Injustice (Leung et al., 2010)

Provide opportunities for employee voice (Barclay & Skarlicki, 2009)

Allow manegerial discretion (Scott et al., 2014)

Build fair org climate by establishing transparent communication practices, fostering respectful relationships amongst colleagues, encouraging fair treatment across teams

Justice is context/cultural dependent. More important in individualistic cultures.

Training can increase procedural justice perceptions

Work withdrawal vs job withdrawal

Two components of Org Withdrawal

Work Withdrawal: Lateness, absence

Job withdrawal: Turnover, early retirement

Why are withdrawal behaviors serious challenges to Orgs

Lost work time, lower productivity, replacement costs, overtime costs, lose org knowledge, withdrawal contagion

Independent forms, compensatory forms, alternate forms, spillover, progression of withdrawal (Lateness, absenteeism, and turnover’s relationship)

Independent: Lateness, absenteeism, turnover have no relationship

Compensatory: People pick 1, don’t engage in other (they’ve negative relationships)

Alternate forms: Negative attitudes produce different withdrawal behaviors, depending on constraints and opportunities (weak labor market, less turnover)

Spillover: All are related, but there’s no order

Progression: Lateness leads to absenteeism which leads to turnover.

Presenteeism

People working when ill/unable

Traditional turnover and contemporary turnover behavior

Low JS → intention to quit → turnover

Contemporary: Quiet quitting, reluctant stayer, sudden turnover, turnover contagion, collective turnover.

Unfolding model (Lee et al. 1999)

Shock: an event that causes employees to reconsider staying (conflict with supervisor, unfair treatment, spouse relocation - can be positive or negative)

Turnover Contagion

One employees departure can increase quitting among coworkers, as it causes employees to reassess their own situation (Turnover is both an individual and a social and an organizational phenomenon)

Job Embeddedness

3 key elements

Links: Connections with people and activities (relationship with manager, friendly neighbors)

Fit: Compatibility with the job and community (Meaningful day to day work, love sunshine)

Sacrifice: what would be lost by leaving (Lose ideal benefits, spouse must also turnover)

Can exist both on the job and off (community, family, etc.)

Challenges of Retention

Reasons for leaving and staying are both diverse: one intervention doesn’t fit all employees.

High performance work systems

HR practices designed to improve employee performance and org effectiveness (selective hiring, training, performance based rewards)

Interventions for retention

Validated selection procedures (org fit, values alignment)

Support onboarding

Use pulse surveys to detect withdrawal signals

Analyze reasons for leaving

Increase job embeddedness

offer flexible work arrangements when appropriate (hom et al 2017, heavey et al 2013, Moen et al. 2011)

Strengthen Links: Mentoring/team-building. Family events

Improve fit: Career Development. Relocation support

Increase sacrifice of leaving: Promotion opportunities, housing assistance.

Direct Cost vs Indirect Costs of turnover

DC: Money spent to replace employee

IC: Lost job knowledge, systems aren’t as efficient

Expectancy vs Self-Efficacy vs Self-Regulation

How people

Expectancy: Choose what to do

Self-efficacy: Believe they can do it

Self-regulation: Keep going

Expectancy

People choose actions based on

Expectancy: Can I do this?

Instrumentality: Will this lead to an outcome?

Valence: Do I value that outcome?

*Is better at predicting one person’s decisions rather than differences between people

Expectancy/instrumentality/valence interventions

Expectancy: Assign tasks that employees are capable of

Match job requirements with employee’s skills

Provide training and support

Instrumentality: Provide clear and consistent rewards

Ensure performance is actually linked to outcomes

Valence: Recognize that employees value different rewards

Tailor rewards to individual preferences

Provide meaningful and desirable outcomes

Temporal Motivation Theory

Waiting reduces the perceived value of a reward. Future rewards feel less certain and less valuable. Short delays feel more important than long delays

Self-Efficacy

Beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments

Inputs: Past experience, task requirements, resources.

Cognitive process: Evaluate task demands, assess one’s capabilities, form Self-Efficacy

Outcomes: Goal level, effort and persistence

Relationship with performance: r = .38 (Stajkovic & Luthans 1998)

How to build self-efficacy

Create mastery experiences

Provide role models (learn by observing)

Give constructive feedback and encouragement

Reduce unnecessary anxiety or barriers

Confidence doesn’t just grow from encouragement, it grows from success

Self-regulation

Processes involved in pursuing or adjusting goals over time

There are hierarchical levels (abstract and specific goals), and both can influence each other.

Control Theory

Sensor: Monitor current state

Standard: Desired state

Comparator/discriminator: compares current state and goal

Effector: Adjusts behavior based on comparison

Human version of control theory

Self-monitoring: Pay attention to behavior and feedback

Self-evaluation: Compare current state to goal

Self-reaction: emotional/motivation response to gap

Negative feedback loop vs positive feedback loop

Negative: reduce gap (practice test, fail, study more, improve)

Positive: Widen gap (Cook is behind on a dish, gets nervous, messes it up, has to restart)

Goal Setting Theory

Human behavior is motivated and regulated by goals, which

1 Direct attention and focus efforts

2 Facilitate persistence toward a specific task

3 Facilitate the development of task-related strategies for achievement

Attributes of good goals

SMART

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-related

Goal Unintended Effects

Narrow focus, ignore non-goal areas

Risk taking

Reduced helping behavior

Dishonesty/cheating

Short-term focus

Too many goals causes conflict, confusion.

Goals can hurt performance on complex tasks.

Feedback seeking behavior (what is it and what increases it)

Value learning and performance improvement

Cost: Ego threat and image risk

Vale > cost: seek feedback

Antecedents to FSB:

Learning goal orientation, self-efficacy, feedback orientation, Positive feedback climate, good relationship with supervisor, trustworthy feedback source, transformational leader, age, tenure, uncertainty. Decrease: Age, tenure, uncertainty

Improves performance (small .07)

Stretch goals

Seemingly impossible

No clear path

Beyond current capabilities

They break routines and force innovation

(think/feel/act differently)

Are high risk, and only strong orgs can absorb such risk, because they have the “slack”

Non-monetary incentives

Vacation days, recognition programs, Flex time, Updated equipment/tech, Career development, office setting

Incentives signal what matters

Incentives can distort behavior if poorly designed

Sales bonus based on quantity can lead to lower quality interactions

Less information sharing/teamwork in individual performance pay

PFP

Generally improves performance and could reduce intrinsic motivation (depending on design)

Customization can avoid stress/injury/risk-taking/turnover spillover.

Cerasoli et al (2014)

Intrinsic motivation is better for quality performance

Extrinsic motivation is better for quantity performance

Extrinsic motivation does not reduce intrinsic motivation if it is indirect and has less salient incentives (but direct and salient incentives do undermine)

Core components of motivation

Goals, feedback processes, org design, incentives, individual differences

Motivation-hygiene model (Herzberg, 1968)

Not supported by research (assumes everyone’s the same), but highlights importance of job content

Hygiene factors: Pay, fringe benefits, relations with coworkers, work conditions (if poor, dissatisfaction occurs, if good, motivation doesn’t increase)

Motivators: Level of challenge, autonomy, intrinsic interest, creativity opportunities

JCT - Hackman and Oldham (1976)

STTAF

Facilitate experienced meaningfulness, responsibility, knowledge of results, which facilitates internal motivation, JS, OCB

Moderated by growth need strength

Strong relationship with attitudes (motivation, satisfaction)

Weaker relationship with behaviors (performance, absenteeism)

Growth need strength

The extent to which employees see their job as a mechanism for satisfying personal achievement or self-actualization

Vertical Loading

Add higher level responsibilities and decision making to a job *enhances autonomy

Pitfalls to implementing JCT changes

Underestimating complexity: changes can impact org, and roles can become unclear causing confusion/stress

Failing to involve all stakeholders

Humanistic Job Design

Job rotation (cross training)

Job enrichment (vertical loading)

Campions’s Motivational, mechanistic, biological, perceptual motor

1: Increase internal motivation

2 Increase efficiency

3 Maximize physical comfort

4 Cut down on errors

Job Crafting

A type of proactive motivation

Changes can be in

1 The frequence/nature of tasks

2 work relationships

3 How employees think about work

Remote Work

Organizational outcomes

Lower office costs, bigger talent pool

Task characteristics, collaborations needs, ICT

Employee trades off

Less commuting, more satisfaction

More working hours, blurred boundaries, isolation

Moderators:

Self-management, personality, trust, culture, ICT, demands/resources, geographic dispersion, interdependence

Comprehensive Job Design Measure

Work Design Questionnaire (morgeson & humphrey 2006)

Diversity

Differences among individuals in a group or organization

Surface level: Gender, age, race

Deep-level: Values, personality, psychological differences

Doesn’t always lead to to positive outcomes

Inclusion (core elements and effects)

Who can participate and who can be themselves

Core elements: Psychological safety, Participation, Feeling respected and valued, influence on decision making, Authenticity, recognizing and valuing differences. Typically climate and leadership dimensions

Outcomes: Trust, engagement, creativity, psychological safety, and performance increases, and conflict decreases

Micro-inequities vs Micro-aggressions

MI: Small subtle forms of unequal treatment, typicall unintentional (not being acknowledged or remembered)

MA: Everyday comments or behaviors that convey bias, stereotypes, or disrespect (assumptions based on gender)

Org Culture

A pattern of shared basic assumptions

Learned by unit members

Pass it on to new members through a variety of socialization and communication processes

Schein’s model of Culture and Definitions

Artifacts: Visible Environment of firm (difficult to interpret): Office layout, dress

Espoused Values: What the org says it values: Mission statement

Underlying assumptions: Unconscious beliefs that determine how group members perceive, think, and feel.

Climate vs Culture

Climate: Perception of formal and informal practices, policies, and routines. Short term, changeable, Surface level. Measurable via surveys. Shapes attitudes and behaviors.

Culture: Deeply embedded assumptions and values, difficult to change. Shapes climate.

Culture: Competing values framework

Flexibility vs Stability

Internal vs external focus

Clan: Concern, commitment, openness, teamwork (Fleible and internal)

Adhocracy: Insight, innovative, adaptable (Flexible and External)

Market: Productivity, profit (Stability and external)

Hierarchy: Measurement, continuity, predictability (Stability and Internal)

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Power distance: The extent to which less powerful members of orgs accept and expect that power is distributed unequally

Individualism vs collectivism: Degree to which people are integrated into groups

Uncertainty Avoidance: Society’s tolerance for ambiguity Low: Diversity of thought

Masculinity vs Feminity

Long term vs short term orientation

Indulgence vs restraint

Statistical issues, cannot predict individuals behavior

High Context vs Low Context

HC: Lots of implicit communication

LC: Explicit

Tight vs Loose Cultures

Tight: Adherence to social norms

Loose: Deviation from social norms

Criticisms of dimensional approaches to culture

Over reliance on values, assumption of homogeneity, static view of culture.

Organizational Culture

Set of shared mental assumptions that

guide interpretation and actions in organizations

by defining appropriate behavior for various

situations

Underlying beliefs or values

A bit like personality for people

O’Reilly et al 2025 showed CEOs personality have a large impact on an Org Culture

Often is difficult to change, unless part of the culture is continuous change.

Organizational Climate

Attitudes and

perceptions about the organization or team

Like mood for people: transient, can

change over time

Difference between Culture and Climate

Culture is like the soil that climate grows out of.

Culture is values and beliefs. It’s often difficult to change.

It’s difficult to measure, though Schein outlines 3 components: Artifacts, Espoused Values, and Basic Beliefs.

Climate is a shared perception, or the feelings and attitudes employees share. It’s more susceptible to evolve and change than culture. It’s measured via surveys.

Schein’s 1990 Components of Culture

Artifacts: Clothes, technology, rituals (very visible)

Espoused Values: Mission statement, Innovation, Customer service, etc (visible, “About Us” page)

Basic Beliefs: Norms & Underlying Assumptions (ie breaks, answering the phone after hours)

Colquitt et al 2001: Dimensions of Org Justice

Distributive Justice: Perceived fairness of outcomes/decisions

Procedural Justice: Perceived fairness of processes

Informative Justice: Perceived Sufficient information is provided to justify/explain processes or outcomes

Interactional Justice: Extent to which people are treated with respect by those who make & communicate decisions.

Components of Motivation

DIP

Direction: what/where

Intensity: how much effort

Persistence: how long

Job Characteristics Model: Hackman and Oldham 1976

STTAF

Skill variety: Using a variety of skills or talents

Task identity: Are you owning a complete aspect of work

Task significance: Can you see the impact your work is having on others in/outside the org

Autonomy: Freedom and control over your work

Feedback: Clear information about performance

Outcomes: Increased job satisfaction, reduced turnover, increased performance, and increased intrinsic motivation.

3 critical psychological states: experienced meaning, responsibility, knowledge of results.

Conservation of Resources Model

Proposed by Hobfol 1989

Frames motivation around resource gain and loss.

Posits a resource is anything that is perceived as facilitating goal attainment. (time, energy, money)

Stress occurs when resources are threatened, lost, or demands exceed resources.

Crucially, the loss and accrual of resources motivates behavior

Important notes

Resource loss is disproportionally more powerful than resource gain

Desperation comes into play when resources are severely threatened, and people engage in risky defensive behavior to protect what resources remain.

Job Demands-Resources Model

BAKKER ET AL., 2023; DEMEROUTI ET

AL., 2001

Proposes that every job has demands (aspects

requiring sustained effort, e.g., workload, role

conflict) and resources (aspects that help

achieve goals, e.g., autonomy, support).

Dual processes:

• Health Impairment: High demands → strain and

burnout.

• Motivational: Abundant resources → motivation

and engagement.

Buffering effect: Resources can lessen the

negative impact of high demands.

• Flexible, integrative model: applies across jobs

and industries, adaptable to new

demands/resources.

• THE dominant framework in work motivation and

well-being research since the 2000s.

Basic Needs Theory

Posits people have three basic needs

Autonomy: Self-direction, volition, Endorsement

Competence: Mastery, learning, accomplishment

Relatedness: Connection, care, love

Dysvik et al 2013 determined relatedness can buffer against feelings of incompetence

Also intrinsic motivation can only occur when both needs for competence and autonomy are satisfied

Self-Determination Theory

A meta theory that includes Extrinsic-Intrinsic motivation alongside Basic Needs Theory

Extrinsic motivation: motivation is tied to external forces: outcomes that are associated with but external to the act itself (pay, punishment)

Intrinsic Motivation: completing the task is inherently rewarding.

(recall Cerasoli et al 2014! Quality vs Quantity related tasks)

SDT: External

On the far left of the SDT spectrum. External rewards/punishments drive behavior: it’s about compliance and reacting to external forces

SDT: Introjected

Second from left on SDT spectrum. Ego is involved and there’s a focus on approval from others.

SDT: Identified

Consciously value activity, the work has personal importance.

SDT: Integrated

“this is who I am” congruence

Cerasoli et al 2014

Intrinsic motivation predicted Quality task performance (complex tasks that demand full focus)

Extrensic motivation predicted quantity task performance (volume/output related tasks, don’t require full focus)

Intrinsic motivation still made an impact, when extrinsic rewards were present, in sustaining high-level performance

Define Job Satisfaction

The overall evaluative judgement one has about one’s job (Weiss 2002)

Global vs Facet Approach

Facet approach breaks down Job Satisfaction into many subcomponents. The Job Descriptive Index and the JSS (Spector 1985) established some of those criteria: namely pay, promotion, supervision, coworkers, nature of work, communication, etc)

The Global Approach is a composite assessment. It asks Overall, are you satisfied with your job? The MOAQ (Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire) is a good example of the global approach.

Outcomes associated with Job Satisfaction

Mood: +.49, -.33

Health: .37

CWB I & O: -.33

Job Performance: .30

OCB: .24

Pay: .15

Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

.30 is the correlation between performance and JS. .24 is the correlation between OCB and JS.

It also buffers against CWB: -.33 is the correlation between CWBI & CWBO and Job Satisfaction

Judge et al proposed the framework in which Job Performance and Job Interaction influence each other, and there are several mediating and moderating variables that influence each relationship.

Performance to Satisfaction Mediator: Success, Achievement, Goal Progression

Performance to Satisfaction Moderator: Performance/Reward contingency, job characteristics

Satisfaction to Performance Mediator: Positive mood, low-performance as withdrawal

Satisfaction to performance Moderator: Norms, personality

Differences between Job Satisfaction and Organizational Identification and Org Commitment

Job Satisfaction: The overall evaluative judgement one has about one’s job (Weiss 2002)

Org ID: A perception of oneness with or belongingness to an organization.

Employees define themselves partly in terms of their membership with an organization. The organization is integrated into one’s self concept. “When the organization succeeds, I succeed.”

Org Commitment: Is Attachment, not self-concept. Allen’s tipartate model is key. Affective (emotional), Continuance (calculated), Normative (moral).

Allen & Meyer 1990

Affective: Employees stay because they want to. They have emotional attachment to, involvement in, and identification with an org. Strongest predictor of Performance, OCBs, reduced turnover. “Their values align with mine”

Continuance: Employees stay because they feel they have to. Calculated, rather than emotional or moral. It’s based on the costs of leaving. “I’d have to pay back my signing bonus”

Normative: Employees stay because they feel they ought to. It’s rooted in a moral obligation. Often rooted in training investments and reinforced by culture “They paid for my MBA”

CWB Definition

Action taken by a member of an organization that’s intended to harm another member of the organization, the organization itself, or stakeholders.

OCB Definition

Action that supports the social or psychological environment that task performance is conducted

CWB I vs CWB O

Individual vs Organizational, established by Bennett & Robinson 2001.

Spector’s CWB Taxonomy

Abuse: Action intended to physically or psychologically harm an individual at an organization or prevent them from doing their work. Antecedent is anger

Personal Deviance: Intentionally not completing tasks

Sabotage: defacing or destroying company property, antecedent is anger.

Theft: Stealing from the org (intellectual property, wages, physical items). Antecedent is instrumental.

Withdrawal: late, not showing up at all to work. Antecedant is boredom, depression.

Measuring CWB & OCB

Carpenter et al 2014 showed that OCB self reports didn’t have meaningful differences than peer reports. Self-report survey is often used for OCB.

CWB: manager reports: impression management might incentivize underreporting, and they might not be aware.

Peer reports: might not want to (or want to) tarnish a peer reputation

Self reports: because its socially frowned upon, people are naturally inclined to not admit to it.

Likert scale in terms of agreement or importance doesn’t gather useful data, frequency scales are how people assess the prevelance of CWB and OCB. Ideally, more specific the better.

Why do people engage in CWB?

Krishcher & Shoos showed it also can help maintain emotional stability in settings of low distributive justice.

Hughes et al 2023 showed that people who engage in OCB earlier in the week are more likely to engage in CWB later in the week; suggesting a moral licensing phenomenon that people self-justify with.

Additionally, Yam 2017 showed that people that engage in more OCB don’t see CWB as problematic - moral credentials.

Studies show personality plays a factor: Neurotic people are more likely to engage in CWB

Why do people engage in OCB?

Organ 2017 found

Job satisfaction was a key predictor of OCB. ​

Personality traits, particularly agreeableness and conscientiousness, also play a significant role in predicting OCB. ​

Meta-analyses have found that emotional stability, extraversion, and openness contribute to OCB beyond job satisfaction.

Research indicates that beliefs about distributive and procedural justice significantly relate to OCB. ​

Citizenship Pressure is also a reason people engage in citizenship behavior (CCB)

Workplace Incivility Definition & Example & Impacts (on victims, on future incivility, in general)

Low intensity deviant behavior that is meant to harm others. It’s typically ambiguous in it’s form, and so is easily deniable, and leads to victims ruminating on the behavior. It’s the most common form of workplace mistreatment and the biggest precursor is situational factors. Anderson and Pearson outlined the spiraling effect. Leads to greater interpersonal conflict, organizational frustration, burnout, and less job satisfaction.

Define Social Support

Any material or psychological resource that is available or given to a focal individual as a part of any relationship

SS: Emotional vs Instrumental

Providing emotional support, like caring and attentive listening, vs practical problem solving support

SS: Received vs Perceived

Perceived outweighs Received in terms of outcomes. Beehr disproved the stress buffering hypothesis

SS: Helpful vs Unhelpful

Helpful vs Gray’s taxonomy:

Critical

Conflicting

Undelivered
Uncomforting

Partial

Imposing

Short shighted

Critical support and uncomforting support are strongest predictors of negative mood

Partial support and undependable support are strongest predictors of burnout
All contribute to:

Interpersonal Conflict

Organizational Frustration

Physical Symptoms

Burnout

Reduced Self-Esteem