Interrelation of Controls for Autonomous Motivation: A Field Study of Productivity Gains Through Pressure-Induced Process Innovation

2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A. Pfister ◽  
Kari Lukka

ABSTRACT This field study investigates an empirical setting where the introduction of new formal results controls—stretch targets for productivity that are seemingly unachievable with current process efficiencies—is associated with high productivity gains over extended periods of time. Contrary to findings from the prior management accounting research, employees meet the targets by being creative and risk-taking in continuously innovating processes, despite the pressure induced by high target-level difficulty. Mobilizing self-determination theory, we argue that a specific interrelation of personnel and cultural control with results control supports internalization of the latter by employees. In this situation, employees perceive the high performance required by the results control assimilated into their own values, which facilitates the autonomous motivation necessary for their creativity. Our findings contribute to the literature by identifying the conditions, and discovering the mechanisms, that enhance the efficacy of stretch targets.

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (05) ◽  
pp. 19-45
Author(s):  
María Camila Cabargas Fernández

En este estudio se pretende describir el bienestar psicológico y la motivación de hockystas amateurs que estudian/trabajan y deben cumplir con una rutina de alto rendimiento para representar a Chile en el hockey césped. Para ello se indagó en el bienestar psicológico desde la perspectiva de Ryff, y en la motivación desde la Teoría de la Autodeterminación (TAD) de Deci y Ryan. Tras la compleja realidad a la que se enfrentan diariamente los deportistas de la muestra, es que surge el interés por conocer las variables psicológicas mencionadas anteriormente. Teniendo en cuenta que pudieran estar relacionadas a través de las diferentes dimensiones que las componen. Por lo tanto, al potenciar algunas de estas dimensiones se estaría influyendo tanto en el bienestar psicológico como en la motivación de los deportistas, lo que nos ayudaría a describir como es el bienestar psicológico y la motivación de estos. This study aims to describe psychological wellbeing and motivation in amateur hockey players who study/work and must obey to a high performance routine to represent Chile in field hockey. Wellbeing approaches made by Ryff were considered for this research, as well as self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan) to investigate motivation. After the complex reality this amateur hockey players face every day, it becomes interesting to study the psychological variables mentioned above. Believing that they could be related through different dimensions that compose them. Therefore, when you maximize the dimensions of both theories, it would be directly influencing the psychological well-being and motivation of athletes, this could help us to describe psychological well-being and motivation of them.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Wei-Tsong Wang ◽  
Wei-Ming Ou ◽  
Wei-Chi Chiu

Studies that specifically discuss the formation of autonomous motivations of users of social networking services (SNSs) and how such motivation influences SNS user intention to disclose personal location-related information (PLRI) are absent from the literature. Consequently, this study, based on the self-determination theory and the information system success (ISS) model, investigates the relationships among key system-related quality factors, SNS users’ autonomous motivations and user satisfaction regarding an SNS, and their intentions to disclose PLRI. Survey data collected from 514 students at six universities were analyzed to validate our research model. Research results show that three system-related quality factors have different influences on user satisfaction and autonomous motivation, while both autonomous motivation and user satisfaction are significant antecedents of user intention to disclose PLRI. The research results have extended the application and advanced the understanding of ISS model and self-determination theory in the context of SNS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
R. Cameron Cockrell ◽  
Dan N. Stone ◽  
Benson Wier

ABSTRACT Investigating how and why accounting professionals share useless and harmful knowledge challenges designers of accounting systems and organizational leaders. In this paper, we extend self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate the influence of financial incentives on (1) harmful, and (2) masked, i.e., organizationally useless, knowledge sharing (KS) among accounting professionals (n = 428) by adapting measures from SDT to the professional accounting context. Although self-disclosed dysfunctional KS is infrequent in our sample, the results indicate that, consistent with the predictions of our extension of SDT, accountants with higher controlled (higher autonomous) motivation are more (less) influenced by financial incentives and engage in more (less) dysfunctional KS. Data Availability: Contact the authors.


Author(s):  
Edward L. Deci ◽  
Richard M. Ryan

Self-determination theory maintains and has provided empirical support for the proposition that all human beings have fundamental psychological needs to be competent, autonomous, and related to others. Satisfaction of these basic needs facilitates people's autonomous motivation (i.e., acting with a sense of full endorsement and volition), whereas thwarting the needs promotes controlled motivation (i.e., feeling pressured to behave in particular ways) or being amotivated (i.e., lacking intentionality). Satisfying these basic needs and acting autonomously have been consistently shown to be associated with psychological health and effective performance. Social contexts within which people operate, however proximal (e.g., a family or workgroup) or distal (e.g., a cultural value or economic system), affect their need satisfaction and type of motivation, thus affecting their wellness and effectiveness. Social contexts also affect whether people's life goals or aspirations tend to be more intrinsic or more extrinsic, and that in turn affects important life outcomes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haya Kaplan ◽  
Nir Madjar

AbstractPromoting pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) among students is a major concern for educators. The present article presents an educational program based on a self-determination theory framework (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) and a study demonstrating that working according to the theoretical principles presented in the program leads to the desired outcomes. The primary aim of the study was to test whether a hypothesised model in which autonomy support by students’ parents and moderators in a large-scale intervention program would be associated with autonomous motivation, which would in turn lead to PEBs, over and above the contributions of the students’ self-perceived competence and relatedness. The participants were 102 Bedouin high-school students (Grades 8 to 10) sampled from a cultural background characterised by a collectivist-hierarchical society in Israel. The results, based on structural equation modelling, indicated that moderators and parental autonomy support, as well as self-perceived relatedness and competence, were associated with students’ autonomous motivation, which in turn was associated with pro-environmental behaviours (including cleaning behaviours, activism, and preserving behaviours). The study supported the hypothesised model and demonstrated that SDT can be utilised as a theoretical framework for educational programs aimed at improving students’ self-determined PEBs.


2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Tsalavoutas ◽  
Greg Reid

Self-determination theory (SDT) guided comparison of competence satisfaction in a ball striking activity of elementary school students with (n =16) and without (n = 18) physical disabilities under mastery and performance climates. Consistent with SDT competence satisfaction was measured by risk taking (RT) and achievement (ACH). Performance climate increased RT, undermined ACH accomplishments for individuals with physical disabilities, and encouraged ACH for peers without disabilities. Nevertheless, no competence satisfaction difference between the groups was found in either achievement climate, suggesting competence was satisfied in different ways for the two participant groups. ACH (performance change) was important for all students, but RT was particularly important for those without disabilities. Performance climates should be used cautiously to challenge students with physical disabilities.


2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valery I. Chirkov

In this article I highlight recent (published after 2000) cross-cultural studies on the role of autonomous academic motivation and autonomy support in students' cognitive and psychological development. The self-determination theory (SDT) thesis of a universal beneficial role of autonomous motivation is supported by numerous empirical results from educational researchers from diverse educational settings around the world. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of recognizing students' basic needs for autonomy in learning environments, and the cultural deterministic models of socio-cultural differences that have obscured that need. Studies within the SDT provide strong psychological evidence to support a more interactive, multidimensional picture of human nature in various sociocultural contexts.


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