Introduction
Buckworth, Lee, Regan, Schneider and DiClemente (2007) define “intrinsic motivation as that, which is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure or source” (P.45). On the other hand, Buckworth et.al., (2007) define extrinsic motivation as that, which occurs when a person is motivated to do something based on external factors, such as the expectation of reward or fear of punishment (Boxall & Macky, 2009). An individual or organization progresses by effectively managing the transition process from one state of existence to a more desirable state (Locke & Latham, 2002). Variables of intrinsic motivation are self-determination, enjoyment, excitement, spontaneous experiences, volitional, self-esteem etc.
The focus of this study is to discover what employees’ perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are in driving productivity in high performance work environments (Vallerand, 2007). The study was conducted in the background of the construction industry, and focused on three construction companies contracted to work in a multicultural environment in Hong Kong. The construction company workers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and has its own organizational culture. The purpose is to discover how employees’ perceptions on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can affect their drive to increase productivity in high performance work environments.
Different elements of the motivation process have been examined, which different authors regard as being critical factors, which organizations use as motivators. Motivators can either come from external or internal sources. In addition, it is possible to see that the reward systems, organizational culture, and the quality of perceptions play significant roles in influencing the performance of the employees in the organization.
The research examined the different types of reward systems, which include financial rewards, non- financial rewards and incentives as motivators, which are critical in defining employee internal drive to achieve higher levels of productivity (Fetters, Curry & Creswell, 2013). Typically, it is possible to note that there are tangible and intangible rewards, and when they are applied on workers, the results translate to the performance of the employees. A preliminary investigation shows that careful planning on the way to apply financial incentives yields positive attitudes in the employees and drives productivity (Sekaran, 2006).
In the study is has been established that the possibility of influencing the attitude or perceptions of employees depends on how the incentives have been implemented and implementing the right kind of incentives provides the best ground for influencing the perceptions of employees positively. In addition, it different authors agree that incentives have a strong influence on the way employees perceive heir responsibilities and perform their tasks. When incentives are applied appropriately, they are likely to increase the utility and value an employee has towards a task.
Another are to explore is job satisfaction. Different authors point to job satisfaction as a tool that most organizational employees use to motivate employees and influence their perceptions positively, which gradually translates to higher employee productivity (Stevens, 2003). The job satisfaction elements that form part of this study include appreciation, which has been explained in the goal theory, and has been shown to be ranked on top of financial incentives, interest in the activities employees do, achievements because they make employees to feel positive about the contributions they make to the progress of the organization, and recognition.
Recognition was studied because it underpins the satisfaction a person gets after performing a certain task, and the perception that the person develops because of the motivation that was applied. Here, the motivation influences the behavior of the person and the drive to work hard and increase productivity (Vallerand, 2007). Other variable include communication, organizational support, controls, and feedback among others (Stevens, 2003).
The variables of extrinsic motivation are rewards, punishments, fringe benefits, compensation, separable outcome, high quality learning etc. Variables of organization progress are effectively managing, transitioning, charge of the changes etc. (Choi & Lee, 2013). Dependable and independent variable of our topic are:
- Intrinsic Motivation – Independent Variable (Self-Determination, Enjoyment)
- Extrinsic Motivation – Independent Variable (Rewards, Punishments)
- Progress of Organization – Dependent Variable
Scope of the Study
The aim of this paper is to empirically explore the relationship between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation on organizational performance, particularly self-determination, enjoyment, rewards and punishment impacts on organizational performance.
Objective of the Study
The objective is to assess whether intrinsic motivation has more impact on organizational performance or extrinsic motivation.
Problem Statement
Does intrinsic motivation have more impact on organizational progress or extrinsic motivation?
Literature Review
This research is based on the perceptions of employees working in the construction industry about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance work environments. The study borrows from a typical example of employees working for a Korean construction company in Hong Kong (Lin, 2007). The working environment is multicultural, which places a lot of demands on employees to work hard to achieve the stated organizational goals and objectives. The performance of the employees depends on different factors, which include the organizational culture and motivation, among other elements (Lin, 2007).
Olsen (2012), Nicholas and Childs (2009), agree with Buckworth, Lee, Regan, Schneider and DiClemente (2007) that motivation is multidisciplinary and borrows from psychological processes, organizational behavior, and the organizational culture. Mao, Song and Han (2013) argue in the context of the Chinese background on motivation. In theory and practice, motivation and the organizational culture are interdependent in influencing the performance of the employees in the construction industry. According to Gagné and Deci (2005), motivation is categorised into intrinsic and extrinsic elements.
Here, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and organizational culture cannot be separated, but are critical components (Harrell & Bradley, 2009). Typically, Lin (2007) and Moynihan and Pandey (2007) employees in the construction industry feel agree intrinsically motivated because of the desire to work and achieve high productivity without the need for external rewards (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007) agree with the goal attainment theory that people perform their activities to their best because they want to show their level of competence and ability. According to Bye, Pushkar and Conway (2007), when the perceptions of an employee about a task is positive and differentiated, the person gets involved and performs the task to their utmost abilities.
Observations show that the perceptions about motivation drive behaviour and behaviour within the organization is influenced by the organizational culture. Here, Bye, Pushkar and Conway (2007) argue that employees work hard to satisfy their psychological needs (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007). According to Bye, Pushkar and Conway (2007), when the employees perceive that their psychological needs are met in a working environment, they are likely to increase their productivity (Fetters, Curry & Creswell, 2013).
Organizational culture and motivation
The organizational culture of the Hong Kong based Korean construction company influences the perceptions and the productivity of the employees depending on the different dimension of the culture (Milne, 2007). Here, the company organizational culture depends on managerial behavior and the motivational strategies used to create the required perceptions, which lead to higher employee productivity (Martins & Terblanche, 2003). The company culture is defined in the context of the values, the communication style, sets of beliefs, organizational structure, and sharing and learning processes. Here, the study whish that the mangers have used the concept of organizational culture to improve the decisions for doing construction activities.
Typically, managers use motivation as a tool to change the perceptions of the employees to ensure success in employee execution of the daily tasks, which are assigned (Kotter, 2008). The dedication, vision, integrity, and the management style are defined by the organizational culture, which influences the perceptions employees hold about the attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts of the employees in performing their duties. It also influences the type and level of inputs, management inputs, job context, the motivation process, and the desired outputs (Kotter, 2008). Here, the job context, individual inputs, motivational processes, and skills input enable the employees to remain focused to provide good quality work within the project time to higher levels of productivity (Kotter, 2008).
Rewards and motivation
Bye, Pushkar and Conway (2007) the management of the Korean company working in Hong Kong uses the reward system to provide extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for the employees. The company’s reward system depends on punishment and social pressure to achieve enhanced organizational performance. Here, Vallerand (2007) shows that intrinsic motivation provides employees with the ability to work on their own based on self-management methods and their perceptions about the motivation practises (Vallerand, 2007).
Self management
Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser and Davis‐Kean (2007), Wigfield et al., (2007) shows that the perceptions employees develop towards the intrinsic motivational factors influences the amount of progress they makes towards achieving high performance goals. The underpinning element here is self-management. The company makes employees to feel motivated when their perceptions are analysed based on the theory of self-determination, which shows that employees psychological needs have to be met for them to be competent at their work place (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Deci and Ryan (2012) show that the perceptions about intrinsic motivation, which are the result of self-determination, lead to intrinsic goal achievement in a working environment (Wigfield et al., 2007).
Gagné and Deci (2005) show that construction companies use intrinsic motivation to achieve different categories of rewards and each category has a significant impact on the perceptions of employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Here, the topic evolves into a complex connection of the results on the effects of intrinsic motivation and work performance (Gagné & Deci, 2005).
Compliance
Intrinsic motivation leads to employee compliance with construction standards, adherence to ethical standards, which are laid down at the work place, adherence to procedural fairness, material fairness, and working in team spirit. Mangers use which verbal rewards, tangible and intangible rewards, positive feedback, and task fulfilment to make employees to feel recognised in terms of personal growth are able to develop strong behavioural attitudes, which enable them to improve their productivity.
According to Vansteenkiste, Lens, and Deci (2006), extrinsic motivation is defined by external rules, which are required to satisfy an external demand or a certain work condition (Vallerand, 2007). Researchers on management of organizations show that managers use extrinsic motivation to manage the performance of employee at the work place. Researchers argue that extrinsic motivation is suited to the current environment because of the current generation is reward oriented (Vallerand, 2007; Vansteenkiste, Lens &d Deci, 2006). The use of extrinsic motivation is likely to lead to behaviour change and is able to reinforce the behaviour that is required in the working environment. Employees develop perceptions that are mixed in this case. In theory, a reward is applied to reinforce certain behaviour or to bring about a certain behaviour change.
Effects of rewards
It has been demonstrated that rewards can either have a positive or a negative effect on the performance of an employee exposed to an intrinsic or extrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). However, the external sources of motivation include the use of reward systems, which have an impact on the innate psychological needs of the employee and influence the cognitive evaluation of the employee. It has been researched and shown by Ryan and Deci (2000) that the cognitive evaluation is the underpinning component that influences the perception of an employee or an employee towards their commitment to achieving certain tasks. Ryan and Deci (2000) agrees that the cognitive component, which is influenced by the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation components based on external events, which include rewards and the setting of deadlines to work on a task and complete it, and the delivery of evaluation are some of the elements. According to Eisenberger and Shanock (2003), the perceptions an employee develops towards intrinsic motivation have strong relationship between the performance of an employee, their competence and self determination (Guest, 1987).
Typically, Eisenberger and Shanock (2003) agree that when the events decrease or develop negative implications on the perceptions of an employee, they decrease self determination and eventually decrease the motivation to perform a task with the required competence. If the events increase self determination, the employee develops positive perceptions and is likely to improve in their competence to perform a task (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The results are an improvement of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Here, the underpinning component is extrinsic motivation (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 2000). Sansone and Harackiewicz (2000) agree with Vallerand (2007) and several other authors that rewards can have an effect on the perception of an employee at the workplace depending on whether it is informational or controlling (Adler & Gundersen, 2007).
Verbal rewards such as positive feedback comprise some of the extrinsic rewards, which have considerable impact on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the perceptions of an employee at the work environment. Evidential research by Vansteenkiste, Lens and Deci (2006) shows that verbal rewards are referred to as positive feedback and are based on explicit performance, which researchers agree that the reward provides the type of enhanced performance (Sansone & Harackiewicz 2000). Here, the perceived competence at the workplace is the direct result of intrinsic motivation. Research shows that the reward system, which includes verbal rewards, has the potential to undermine intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Sansone & Harackiewic, 2000).
Tella, Ayeni, and Popoola (2007) agree that the reward, which is similar to the one that has been used by companies operating in Nigeria, can be the controlling aspect of the results of the perceptions of the motivation of an employee. Another element of the aspect rewards is that the cause of an employee’s behavior lies outside of a person. Here, it has been shown that the results are a decrease in intrinsic motivation (Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 2001). On the other hand, when the information is negative, the motivation decreases because of the negative perceptions developed by the employee towards the type of motivation on an employee (Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 2001; Eisenberger & Shanock, 2003).
The language that is used to communicate the verbal positive feedback determines to a significant extent the perceptions about the motivation and the performance of an employee in the workplace. Here, the reward language is critical because it enables the management to maintain the logical relationship with the employees and the ability to evaluate the perceptions employees develop about the type of motivation they are exposed to. Here, the phenomenological experience that is related to the type of motivation used and the employee perceptions about the motivation are difficult to explain.
Analysis of the reward system
Different researchers have conducted research on the effects of rewards on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation using a significant number of empirical articles and presented different results (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2008). One of the studies has shown that it is not always that when employees are rewarded, their perception about the motivation that is provided is positive (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007). When related with the performance of the employees, the research shows that rewards as a form of motivation provides employees with the perceptions, which underline their intrinsic motivation and their performance a highly productive environment.
Berridge and Kringelbach (2008) shows that rewards can have a controlling effect on the perceptions of the employee on motivation (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007; (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007). However, Berridge and Kringelbach (2008) argues that the use rewards to intrinsically motivate employees has been shown by other researchers to be the reason for the positive perceptions and the need for employees to increase their energy in performing tasks, which have been assigned them (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007).
In the contingency-performance reward system, employees feel motivated and develop positive perceptions depending on the rewards they have been given. In that case, rewards, which are the direct cause of motivation, have been shown to make employees to perform better (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2008).
Job satisfaction
According to Tella, Ayeni, and Popoola (2007) and Huang and Van De Vliert (2003), the absence of intrinsic motivation, employees feel that they are working for someone and gradually are able to develop negative attitudes and perceptions towards an organization at its activities and lower their performance (Vansteenkiste, Lens & Deci, 2006). However, it has been shown that in the presence of intrinsic motivation, employees feel positive and are able to develop positive perceptions about the work environment, which has been shown to have a strong correlation with perceptions about their work environment and their commitment to the workplace tasks (Huang & Van De Vliert, 2003; Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007).
It is possible to argue here that employees prefer to be the source of their behavior when subject to the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. It has further been demonstrated that employees develop negative perceptions about their workplace when they are exposed to negative pressure and threats at the workplace (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007). Typically, pressure, which originates form without is based on intrinsic motivation. Here, a sharp contrast between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation and the attitude employee develop towards either of the motivational approaches is critical determining the performance of the employees (Bye, Pushkar & Conway, 2007).
Bye, Pushkar and Conway (2007) argue that one of the critical elements that have contributed to the success of the job performance is job satisfaction. Typically, job satisfaction has been shown to be one of the factors that provide employee with the satisfaction they need in the workplace. Nadiri and Tanova (2010) and Rich, Lepine and Crawford (2010) argue that job satisfaction is an emotional element that acts on the emotions of an employee to strive to achieve a certain goal in an organization (Nadiri & Tanova, 2010). Here, the management ensures that the perceptions of the employee are the driving force in working towards a certain goal in the organization.
Theory and practice shows that when employees feel intrinsically motivated because of the application of wages, salaries, and non-monetary benefits, they improve in productivity (Huang & Van De Vliert, 2003). Here, the organization pays the salaries and the wages in return for what the employees provide the organization with as input to the organization (Huang & Van De Vliert, 2003). An analysis by Huang and Van De Vliert (2003) of the effects of job satisfaction on the perceptions of employee in high performance environments has shown that the employees when satisfied develop positive attitudes towards the organization and the task they perform at the workplace. Here, Rich, Lepine and Crawford (2010) argue that positive perceptions have been shown through empirical evidence to lead to enhanced work performance, a high degree of job involvement.
The quality of perceptions
Studies by Deci and Ryan (2000) reveal that when one’s intrinsic need is to be competent at performing a goal orientated task in a high performance environment, the underlying motivation causes an employee to develop the mastery of the behaviors required to perform the task. Deci and Ryan (2000) argue that when the goal is based on self-determination, and the desire to succeed at a task, the perceptions make the worker or the employee to feel intrinsically motivated to perform to their best (Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 2001). On the other hand, of the goals is not on self determination, then it becomes possible for the goal attainment in a high performance work environment to be replaced with extrinsic motivation. However other studies, including Koestner and Ryan (2001) dispute the position and argue that it is a person’s perception, which matter when making decisions to work towards the attainment of a certain goal. It is important here to understand that motivation, whether intrinsic or extrinsic depends on the cognitive evaluation of an employee about a situation and their appraisal on the situation.
Benefits of intrinsic motivation
Researchers have agreed that motivation whether intrinsic or extrinsic underpin the performance expectations of organization in high performance environments. It has been established that rewards have an impact on psychological processes on the perceptions of the employees in a high productivity environment. Research shows different benefits associate with motivation, which organizational managers use to motivate employees. Those benefits include the positive perceptions, which cause employees to develop the element of persistence. Persistence enables employees to consistently work towards a given goal in an organization and increase the level of productivity of the employee.
The person trait paradigm
It has been researched and shown that intrinsic motivation provides a reflection of the traits of an employee, which are considered as deep rooted dispositions of the employee’s characteristics. The traits have been shown to be significant contributions to the performance of employees in their work environments. Here, it is critical to note that each person is deeply rooted in their dispositions and characters, which reside in the person. The disposition provides the underpinning drive, which makes a person develop a certain perception about the motivational elements being applied on the employee.
Theories of motivation
Goal Theory
The commitment to a task and the need to achieve the ultimate underpins the goal theory, which is based on the psychological process of creating the desired achievement behavior in an employee. Osterloh and Frey (2000) examined different studies and established that employee enter into the working environment with different reasons and different skills. The goal is about the end that one desires to achieve even though one may fail to achieve the goal (Pintrich, 2000; Sansone & Harackiewicz, 2000; Covington, 2000).
Here, when employee ace been subjected to intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, they are likely to develop a perception about the motivation because of the long term goal for which the motivation is intended to achieve in the employee (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Pintrich (2000) argues that the employee’s perception about failure or success is based on the fact that failure in task execution provides a measure of the employee’s competence to work (Takeuchi, Chen & Lepak, 2009). The theory shows that when the performance is the ultimate aim, the employee to perform their tasks by enhancing their involvement in certain tasks to ensure that they work towards goal achievement (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Pintrich, 2000; Potter, 2003).
The leaning goals stems from the perceptions of the employees which are based on the pure motive to succeed in performing a task (Deci & Ryan, 2008). The position taken by the employee is that they have to work had to achieve a critical goal by increasing their productivity in the working environment (Olsen, 2012). The position is however, in contrast with the learning goal, where the employee works hard to avoid failure (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Here the forces seem to be in conflict with each other because of different perceptions. Here, employees work hard to achieve the stated organizational goals and objectives to avoid failure (Pintrich, 2000).
Research Methodology
The study used a mixed research method to understand employees’ perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance environments in the construction industry.
Typically, the study used both the qualitative quantitative paradigms, with a sequential approach. The approach consisted of assessing each element of the study in steps based on individual-level data. A cross sectional survey was done by collecting data from 5 line managers and 60 employees of the company to explain how the perceptions of employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation by the company influences their drive to work and enhance productivity in high the performance construction environment. The quantitative paradigm was implemented by using structured interviews and questionnaires, which were administered on 60 workers and 2 line managers to discover their perceptions about intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in driving productivity in the high performance environment. The grounded theory was used to explain the qualitative paradigm based on data, which was collected from the management and the workers to understand the views of the participants who work for the Korean construction company based in Hong Kong (Venkatesh, Brown, & Bala, 2013).
Both qualitative and quantitative paradigms were explained by the use of triangulation, which consisted of combining both interview and questionnaire results to explain the results of the study (Venkatesh et al., 2013). According to the theory, the data, which was collected from the managers and the workers, was grouped according to the source together to allow for both deductive and inductive reasoning, based on the data, which is the empirical evidence provided by the management and the workers. The sequential research design was typified by the collection and analysis of quantitative data followed closely by the collection and analysis of qualitative data (Creswell, 2014; Zachariadis, Scott & Bareth, 2013). The rationale for the mixed research methods is based on the complexity and scope of the research question.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Selected Techniques
The rationale for using the sequential explanatory mixed research method design was based on the findings by Creswell (2014), evident in the study and include, (1) the researcher found it easy to conduct the research as an individual, which allowed the data to be collected sequentially by proceeding from the 3 line managers to the workers, (2) the method enabled a detailed exploration of the quantitative data, and (3) the method enabled the researcher to provide viable explanations on the occurrence of unexpected results from the interviews and questionnaires.
However, several disadvantages were observed with the use of the mixed research method. Among the weaknesses included the potential limitations of the researcher’s access to the required resources to collect and analyse both types of data, difficulties in administration, and time-related constraints (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). However, critics argue that it is still a vague research paradigm that requires validation to successfully direct mixed methods research (Zachariadis et al., 2013; (Fetters et al., 2013).
Sampling Procedure
The research used a purposeful sampling strategy, with the purpose in mind of wanting to understand the perceptions of employees on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on driving productivity in the Korean company. The strategy was to select 60 workers and 3 line managers, who included managers and workers fit for the study and rejected those who could not fit into the purpose of the study. In theory, a purposive sample was selected or ‘handpicked’ based on their expansive knowledge of the issues that interest the research. The approach made easier to administer, convenient and economical than other probability sampling techniques (Mason, 2002; Sekaran, 2006).
A convenient sampling technique was used to access the quantitative sample of employees to be surveyed, while purposive sampling technique were employed to access the qualitative sample of HR management personnel who were interviewed (Sekaran, 2006). The sample consisted of (1) employees working in one Hong Kong construction company that has already adopted HPWS in their departments/units, and (2) HR managers or their assistants working in these organizations. Specifically, 60 employees from the organization (20 employees per organization) were conveniently selected for responding to the questionnaire instrument, while six HR managers (two managers per organization) were purposively selected to respond to the semi-structured interview guide.
While the choice of the first sample is appropriate as the researcher is primarily concerned with collecting representative data and maintaining a low variation necessary to allow for the exhaustion of knowledge that could be learned from the population of employees working in high performance work contexts (Bartlett, Kotrlik & Higgins, 2001), the second sample is also appropriate as it meets the qualitative principles that require purposeful sampling and an articulate, reflective and good-informed participant who is willing to share with the interviewer (Mason, 2002).
Sampling Was Done as Follows
Potential participants were identified from the population of employees consisting of female and male employees as follows. For privacy reasons, the companies were labeled A, B, and C.
At the managerial level, one manager was selected from each company, based on a sequential selection method. After the section of the managers, the workers were selected next.
Sampling Procedure
To ensure equal representations, the sample was selected according to the percentage representation of the population.
The percentage representation of the employees of the companies is as follows
The population was stratified as shown above into group and sub-groups consisting of male and female to ensure equal representation. The sample selections were done according to the size of the population of each company to ensure fair representation of the participants. The representations were as follows, based on the fact that the required sample consisted of 60 people.
The sample selected for the survey was 60 workers (19.6%) of the total population, which were 305 workers. Of the sample that was selected to participate in the study, it was deemed necessary to ensure a fair representation of males and females among the different age groups (Gruman & Saks, 2011). The percentage of female and male were calculated using the proportion in which the gender was represented in the initial population. For instance, the proportion of male to female was 11: 5, which comes to 64% male and 36% female. The proportion makes 10 males and 7 females. In total, there were 10 females and 7 females for Company A, 19 males and 3 females for Company B, and 17 males and 3 females for company C.
The sample was selected according to the procedure discussed above to avoid the problem of sample selection and sample proportion bias. Proportional bias means that if the sample is selected without considering the percentages of male and female, an error could arise in, which there could be only male or the number of female may be bigger and not in proportion to the percentage proportion of the population. Such an error is crucial because the opinions of others could not be represented and the results could represent the bias opinion of others and not the entire population.
Pilot test
A pilot test was carried out on a smaller sample that was taken from the remaining population to verify the reliability of the methods used to conduct the study. The results were satisfactory, except for the interview questionnaire that were refined further to clarify them and make them shorter (Guest, 1997).
Pilot Test Procedure
A pilot test was conducted on the members of the population and left out the60 elements that were selected for the study to determine the validity, reliability, and feasibility of the research instruments. The research instruments, which were used in the study, included questionnaires and interviews. The limitations of the pilot study were taken into consideration when carrying out the study to ensure that the results are within acceptable limits. The limitations were:
- The size of the sample was small
- The participants who were selected for the study were not included in the main sample study.
- The information, which was obtained, was small in magnitude compared with the variations that could occur in the final study.
However, the following benefits were anticipated for the use of the pilot study and included:
- The instruments used were verified before the final and large study
- Valuable information about the study was obtained before the large study
- The success of the research was verified before the large study commenced.
- The study was able to identify the weak points in the study, which could be avoided when the large study commenced.
Cost and time considerations were taken into account in selecting the sample for the pilot study. Time was limited and the costs involved included printing and distributing questionnaires, the response time of the respondents, and the availability of time from the side of the respondents. Here, multiple random samples were selected from each company consisting of male and females. 2 males and 1 female from each company were selected and a total of 6 males and 3 female participants.
The tools, which were used in the study included interviews, videotaping. Each participant in the study was allowed to answer the questionnaires and they were collected on the same day to ensure the response rate was high. One line manager was interviewed for each company and the results were transcribed for analysis purposes.
To ensure that the line managers participated in the study, a request was made prior to the interview to ensure that the most appropriate time was determined for each manager from each company for the companies, A, B, and C.
One line manager for company A, agreed to be interviewed on the same day as the line manager for Company B. Company C manager was interviewed on the next day.
Questionnaire results
There were 9 participants who were given the questionnaires to fill and their responses were noted. The questionnaires were given to the respondents and they were collected later and each respondent was required to comment on the difficult they experienced in filling the questionnaire and t make any suggestions to improve the questionnaire.
The results were as follows:
Motivation
All the elements of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were put together because of time and resources and the study was conducted under motivation. The elements of motivation, which were evaluated in the study to show how the perceptions of employees towards extrinsic and intrinsic motivation could drive productivity in high performance work environments, were evaluated first. The following table shows the response of the employees in the pilot study.
From the results, it is easy to infer the following
The response rate was 100%, and the reason for that was that the pilot study involved a few people and the questionnaires were collected immediately after the respondents completed filling them, leaving no room for delays and failures to respond. The second explanation was that the questions were reframed and corrections were done before administering the questionnaires for the full pilot study. The responses were satisfactory, but there was need to be cautious because some of the issues, which could arise when the full administration of the questionnaires could not be addressed by the pilot, study. The issue of major concern was poor response rate that is if the response rate was below 50%, what could be done to address the situation.
Because the pilot study did not address the issue, it was crucial to put in place a mechanism to address the situation, it happened. The strategy included printing more questionnaires, calling and reminding the respondents on their obligations to respond and the benefits of the study, and liaising with the managements of the three companies to motivate the employees to respond to the questionnaires.
Analysis of the pilot study results were as follows
The majority of the respondents had a positive attitude towards the elements of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the greatest percentage (over 80%) regarded the motivational elements and key drivers of employee performance in high performance work environments. Job retention, work organization, health schemes, reward, teamwork, employee relationships, participation, communication, work standards, and training and development, were viewed by the employees of the three companies as being drivers of the employee perceptions about motivation in driving productivity in the high performance working environment. Other elements including organizational culture, performance appraisal systems, salaries, promotions, and review procedures were equally important influencing employee perceptions about driving productivity in high performance working environments.
Interviews
The interviews of the three line managers were done within 15 minutes each because the managers were too busy to provide more time for the interview and a transcript of one of the responses of the line managers is as follows.
Introduction: Greetings, I have come to interview you about the perceptions of employees on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance environments.
Manager: Welcome.
Interviewer: What do you understand by high performance work environment?
Manager: It is an environment defined by highly committed, focused, effective, workers and high work involvement practices, which results in high performance of the organization.
Interviewer: Thank you. Do you think there is a relationship between work practices and the performance of the workers?
Manager: Yes.
Interviewer: How do you make sure that the employees are able to achieve the work practices, which measure up to the requirement of a high performance working environment?
Manager: In our organization, we value intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as a tool to influence the workers to work towards achieving the performance goals of the organization.
Interviewer: How to you motivate employees?
Manager: Ensuring that expert employees are retained by promoting them, giving them financial incentives, raising salaries, using the appraisal systems in place, revising our organizational culture to reflect the objectives and goals of the organization, putting in place review systems, ensuing effective communication mechanisms, 360 degree feedback, ensuing good relationship exists between the management and employees and having in place an effective conflict resolution mechanisms.
Interviewer: What is your perception about those elements and high performance work outcomes?
Manager: Not all those elements have been effective and when we fail in one area, we review the element to determine the weaknesses to ensure that the goals and objectives are achieved.
Manager for the other companies conceded that the high performance work environment demands that motivation is a key component on driving productivity.
Justification for research techniques
In theory, the mixed research paradigm is based on the positivist philosophy (belief that social observations should be treated in much the same manner that physical scientists treat physical phenomena) with qualitative paradigms (e.g., constructivists and interpretivist), which advocate for the dominance of “constructivism, idealism, relativism, humanism, hermeneutics, and, sometimes, postmodern” (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004 p. 14). Here, the researcher used the paradigm to blend the two research approaches based on the research paradigm known as pragmatism, which essentially states that “the current meaning or instrumental or provisional truth value of an expression is to be determined by the experiences or practical consequences of belief in or use of the expression in the world” (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004 p. 16).
The pragmatic maxim, according to the authors, is essentially a technique of settling metaphysical disagreements that otherwise might be interminable, implying that the paradigm can be successfully used in the proposed study to interpret each action by tracing its respective consequences. Typically, the explanation included understanding the effects of the perceptions of the employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in driving productivity in the high performance working environment.
Consequently, the justification for employing pragmatism is firmly grounded on the fact that the paradigm offers an immediate and useful middle position philosophically and methodologically; that is, it provides a practical and results-oriented technique of inquiry that is grounded on action and leads, iteratively, to additional action and the eradication of uncertainties, not mentioning that it provides an avenue for deciding on methodological mixes that assist the researcher to holistically respond to the research question (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004).
Video/Audio Taping
Video/Audio taping was done in an exclusively quiet environment for each manager included in the qualitative interview to ensure that no verbal information could be missed during the interview. Nonverbal information was captured by observing the body language by maintaining flexibility in the collection of views and perceptions of the research participants. The error that could occur in the process was reduced by colleting the data carefully (Gregory, 2003).
The findings of the video/Audio taping were done according done based on the elements of motivation in high performance working environments. The video was listened to carefully and the draft prepared on the results, which are discussed below.
The results showed that organizations use motivational tools such as rewards and compensation to attract and retain new and skilled employees, performance appraisal system to try and positively influence the attitude of employees working in high performance environments. Other elements identified in the transcript include the 360 degree feedback, health schemes, and management by objectives, communication, job retention, promotions, salaries, appraisal systems, and training and development to influence the perceptions of employees and endeavour to achieve high performance.
Ethical Considerations
Here, the research was conducted in compliance with the rules of the college and the institutions and individuals who participate in the research. Ethical practises that were observed and the major areas of dishonesty, which include plagiarism, poor data retention and storage, non-publication of data, fabrication and falsification, and faulty gathering procedures were avoided to ensure the integrity of research findings. In addition, the research ensured that the role and responsibilities of the participants were clearly assigned, research confidence was maintained, and the ethical principles of communicating and maintaining the confidentiality of data were observed (Sekaran, 2006 p. 178; (Polonsky & Waller, 2010 p. 69).
Voluntary Participation
This ethical issue concerns the fact that any participation in the research process should be voluntary, implying that participants should participate in the research process without any form of coercion or deception whatsoever (Gregory, 2003). To address this issue, the researcher used the management of participating organizations to dispatch clearly written letters (in a language that participants understood) suggesting that participation in the research was voluntary and that failure to take part in the process or withdrawal of consent at a later date was not met with any action against the participants.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was used by this research to request the participants to get involved in the research out of their own free will. Each participant was notified of the purpose of the study in their voluntary participation into the study (Gregory, 2003).
Confidentiality and Anonymity
Confidentiality and anonymity was addressed by liaising with the respective organizations and employees to distribute the questionnaires to the participants on behalf of the researcher and then having employees return the duly-filled questionnaires confidentially/anonymously to the researcher through mail or email. Confidentiality for the participating HR managers was guaranteed by the identifications and responses were revealed in ways to ensure the report was accurate (Polonsky & Waller, 2010).
Seeking for Permission from Participating Entities
Polonsky and Waller (2010) note that “when getting written permission, it is also important that the person you talk with has the authority to give that permission and that your activities are organised well in advance” (p. 80).
Results
The following table provides detailed responses of the respondents from the three companies named A, B, and C. The companies were labelled A, B, and C because of confidentiality and privacy.
The following table consists of responses from 60 employees, which consists of male and female from the three companies A, B, and C. The questionnaires were administered to each respondent and because the sample size was small, it was possible to administer the questionnaires to each respondent directly.
To increase the response rate, the following measures were put in place:
- Involving the management of the three companies in administering the questionnaires
- Handing over the questionnaires directly to the respondents
- Making a follow-up after two days of administering the questionnaires to ensure a higher response rate.
- Issuing new questionnaires to those who lost or misplace their questionnaires.
- 60 questionnaires were issued to the 60 respondents
Data cleaning
The data obtained from the survey were cleaned first and coded after the errors were removed. The major error, which were discovered and corrected included the respondents choosing two options of the same variable, for instance a respondent may select strongly agree and agree for the variable job satisfaction, which made it difficult to determine the right choice of the respondent. To avoid the problem of too many questionnaires getting spoilt, the respondents were take through the questionnaires before they were allowed to complete final copy and more copies were made available on request.
This study was conducted to understand the employees’ perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations in driving productivity in high performance work environments. Here, the area of specialised focus was the construction company contracted to work in Hong Kong, which has employees from different cultural backgrounds working in a multicultural environment in Hong Kong. The study used qualitative and quantitative questionnaire interviews to determine the responses of the participants towards the variables of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which include organizational behavior, organizational culture, external rewards, and other variables. The responses were deemed as critical for analysing the results.
The final responses were tabulated as shown below.
Data analysis
According to the results shown above for the three companies, the different elements of motivation, which were evaluated and the percentage responses are shown in the table above. According to the results, above 80% of the respondents agreed that work organization, health schemes, responsibilities, teamwork, rewards, employee relationships, management style, and employee involvement in decision making were elements, which were identified to influence the perceptions of employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in high performance environments. The results are in agreement for the three companies and the elements of motivation across the three companies are in agreement.
The correlation results are shown below.
On the other hand, it is possible to predict job satisfaction and the perceptions of employees using extrinsic motivation.
As mentioned above, the relationship between intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction has a Beta value of Beta = 0.629, and the t value from the test is 12.3, which results in a p value, which is less than 0.05 (p<0.05). On the other hand, the test shows that the relationship between job satisfaction and extrinsic motivation is strong and has a Beta value of 0.251 and a t value of 4.30. The combined results show that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are variables, which can be used to predict the level of job satisfaction. Because the results of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on job satisfaction are positive, the variables can also be used to understand the perceptions of employees in driving the productivity of employees in a high performance multicultural environment.
The results show that the variance (R2-the variations of the response data) of the test results has a value of 0.62 and the value of F is 160 and the P value is less than 5 (P<5). It clearly indicates that extrinsic and intrinsic motivation were variables, which could explain the variation in job satisfaction and performance up to 61%. That explains the position that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation provides explanations on job satisfaction and a critical element that influence the positive perceptions of the employees in high performance working environments. In addition, it becomes clear that job satisfaction can be used to explain the ability of the employees to improve productivity in high performance multicultural environments.
It is clear from the results that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have a positive impact on organizational culture, which can explain the perceptions of employees in driving productivity in high performance environments. The r value of the organizational culture is .761 for intrinsic motivation and that of extrinsic motivation is .598, which shows that both types of motivation can explain why organizational culture can explain the perceptions of employees in improving the productivity in high performance environments.
The perceptions of employees working in high performance environments on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and their productivity provides were tested based on the data that was collected from the participants and the results are shown below.
From the above results, the perceptions about the two types of motivation explain the relationship between productivity and the perceptions of employees towards types of motivation. It can be seen that a paired test was conducted to test of a t-sample was done to determine the different perceptions about both types of motivation and it was shown that the perceptions about both types are different and the drive to be productive in the high performance environment depends on the type of motivation applied. The results for extrinsic motivation are shown to be (M-mode=4.46, SD=0.40) and the results for extrinsic motivation were shown to be (M=4.36, SD-standard-deviation=0.44, N=population).
The test result shows that the differences in the perceptions of the employees about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation show a difference of a t value of -2.57. The p value is 0.10 and the difference of 95, which showed that intrinsic motivation, did not have the same impact as extrinsic motivation on the perceptions of employees towards increasing the productivity in a high performance environment. The perceptions explain the impact intrinsic and extrinsic motivations could have on productivity in a high performance environment.
However, it is clear from the results that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have a positive impact on the performance of employees in a high performance environment.
Qualitative Findings
The qualitative findings were based on content analysis of the literature review and interviews, which were conducted with the management and employees of the high performance construction company based in Hong Kong, which works in a multicultural environment. This analysis starts with the responses of the managers of the construction companies and proceeds with the content analysis of the literature on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and the effects on the perceptions of the employees and how that drives productivity in the high performance environment.
Interviews
Interviews were conducted on three line managers of each company, A, B, and C. The line managers were given phone calls requesting them to spare at least fifteen minutes for the interviews and the time was fixed for each line manager to be interviewed. The transcripts of the interviews are in the appendix.
Three managers and four employees were interviewed on their perceptions about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the effects of their productivity. The managers seemed to agree on certain common points and singled out the organizational culture, the effects of rewards, which includes task contingence rewards, tangible and intangible rewards, engagement contingence rewards, positive feedback, and performance contingence rewards and some of the factors, which have a positive impact on the perceptions of the employees on intrinsic motivation and the drive for high productivity. The position taken by the managers was the same as that taken by the employees, except that the employees added that the type of rewards and the manner in which rewards were administered differentiated their perceptions towards intrinsic motivation and their drive to increase productivity in the high performance environment.
On the other hand, it was agreed among the management and the employees that external rewards such as money contributed significantly to extrinsic motivation and created a positive effect on the perceptions of employees. In addition, that category of extrinsic motivation provided employees with the drive to increase productivity. It implies that external rewards, based on the reward system when used as an extrinsic motivation factor could explain the drive to increase the productivity of employees in the high performance environment. The managers agreed that extrinsic motivation can be reinforced either negatively or positively and both have positive impact on their performance and the productivity of the company in the construction environment.
Literature review
The literature review showed different categories of the variables, which affect intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the relationship with productivity in the high performance environment. The authors agree that job satisfaction, the rewards system, and the organizational culture to be the critical elements, which influence extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. A self confidence evaluation of the text written by different authors on the perceptions of employees on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how the perceptions drive productivity in the high performance working environment showed a high rating for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
However, intrinsic motivation does not measure up to extrinsic motivation in shaping the perceptions of the employees and motivating them to drive productivity to higher levels. In this study 20 authors connect intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation as the elements, which are shaped by the organizational culture of the organizations. Of the 20 authors, 15 agree that the perceptions of employees towards the different elements, which define both types of motivation, influence their commitments to their works and their performance in the working environment. The study shows that 10 authors agree that both type of motivation, even though they do not cause the same impact on the perceptions of employees are critical in influencing their task involvement.
Discussion
This study was conducted to understand what employees’ perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are in driving productivity in high performance work environments. According to the findings, it is critical to note that the perceptions employees develop towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have strong influences on how employees participate in driving productivity in the high performance environment. Here, different theories explain the cognitive processes that occur in the minds of people and how they respond to the different motivators in executing the tasks they have been assigned.
It is possible to note that the goal theory underscores the explanations on the psychological commitments employees develop towards the motivators and their perceptions in working in high performance environments. It is possible to see that the most important elements include goal attainment, and the need to be productive and efficient. In theory, motivation is a psychological process, which can be influenced by the application of either intrinsic or extrinsic motivators.
It was established from the study that motivational behavior, which is positive tends to increase the positive perceptions of employees towards their work related tasks and that increases the performance of the employees. Typically, the higher the intrinsic motivation the more positive the employees’ perceptions become about the tasks they are involved in performing in the working environment.
Self determination
Employees regard the increase in intrinsic motivation as being based on self determination to achieve the execution of a task and such self determination can be achieved and increased by the use of the factors of intrinsic motivation. “Employees agree that the motivation which comes from the inside of a person is likely to be because of the pleasure one gets from performing a task” better (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2008). If the pleasure gained from the doing a task increases because of the motivation on the individual doing the task, the productivity of the individual is likely to increase. The perception is driven by the pleasure the person gains from performing the task and not the reward the person gains, which may include money, promotions, prizes, and other different other forms of payments.
The perception by employees that that they do not work solely to gain pleasure from the tasks they perform, but it is necessary to be paid for the tasks they do to ensure higher productivity. However, besides the payment the employees get from the tasks they do, intrinsic motivation adds to the effort exerted on a task and the outcome in terms of the performance of the employee.
The study shows that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are necessary to increase the performance of employees. The employees agree that they need to be motivated to motivate others, therefore underscoring the need for both types of motivations. In addition, the employees have the perceptions that motivation has to be repeated and requires a lot of recognition. An organization has to establish a goal to be achieved by the employees as one approach to motivating the employees and influencing their perceptions. In the context of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, employees perceive motivation as a concept that requires the participation of both the management and the people involved in executing tasks.
It is critical to argue here that performance increases when people feel motivated and see themselves progressing towards achieving a certain goal. In addition, employees see both types of motivation as being driven by certain elements, which influence their productivity in high performance working environments.
Basic elements of motivation
Job satisfaction
The employees’ perceptions about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were seen to be strongly influenced by those factors, which increase job satisfaction, which are referred to as motivators. Employees see the motivators, which include the working environment, which in this case is the high performance environment, a high sense of achievements, the recognition of the employees’ efforts, and the internal drive for responsibility as influencing their commitments to the tasks they performs and their efficiency at task execution.
Job satisfaction has been observed to have a behavioral component in it because it introduces the emotional feelings, which are necessary to influence the perceptions of employees in task involvement. Here, the application of both types of motivations, which consists of the elements, which include personal growth, the nature of the organization, job conditions, coworkers, appreciation, benefits, recognition, job security, and communication are the perceived factors of both types of motivations, which contribute to the perceptions of employees and in turn their performance.
Quality of perceptions
The findings show that the quality of perceptions developed by an individual have significant impact on the response of a person towards any type of motivation and their perceptions on the effects of the performance of the individual in the high performance environment. The cognitive evaluation of an individual of the motivators makes significant contributions in influencing the perceptions of the employees towards the applied motivators.
Reward system
By exploring the reward system, it is observable that organizations use the reward system as one of the critical tools to motivate employees. The ultimate goal of using the reward system is to stimulate the required response from the employees, which is ultimately concerned with making them work towards a given goal. The reward system enables managers to alter the behavior of the employees and to ultimately influence their perceptions towards the execution of their tasks. Typically, the reward system is one of the critical components of extrinsic motivation, which are used to increase the desire and willingness of the people to continue working towards a certain goal.
Typically, the reward system consists of different mechanisms of applying the rewards and different responses to the rewards. In addition, it is possible to use the reward system to evaluate the performance of the employees and to define the performance of the employees. The reward system may consist of the merit systems which can be used to motivate employees by increasing their pay or bonuses at the end of a given period. Here the importance of either financial or non financial incentives cannot be underestimated as one of the strategic tools managers use to motivate employees to increase their performance in their working environment.
The study provides a strong base of understanding that the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are critical elements in influencing the perceptions of employees towards their contributions in increasing productivity in high performance environments. The research has shown that both types of motivations are important and depend on the psychological processes, which influence the kind of perceptions employees develop towards the motivations. The reward systems, organizational culture, job satisfaction and the underlying variables, and the quality perceptions of the employees underpin the influence the perceptions of employees develop and their contributions to their productivity.
Other Motivational elements
It has been established that other motivational elements, which organizations use to drive productivity include management practises, obligation and skills development, teamwork and employee, organizational culture, work practises, and health schemes. Companies use the motivational elements by integrating them into the structure of the firm and performance systems to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Those elements of motivation are made effective in high performance work environments by the use performance reviews for improving the performance of employees, rewards reviews to ensure employee self-fulfilment such as rewards, and potential reviews for evaluating past and present performance of employees.
Conclusion & Recommendations
Empirical evidence shows that organizations use intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as tools to increase the performance of workers in high performance working environments. The typical elements that characterise high performance environments include employee development programs, internal promotions, skills enhancement, compensation systems, information sharing, and effective communication. From the study, it is clear that the perceptions of employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were critical in driving their productivity in high performance working environments.
The motivators can be used to achieve positive perceptions and higher productivity, which leads to improved performance if the key elements of intensity, direction, and persistence are present. It was established from the study that motivation is a psychological process, which can achieved by applying an internal or external stimuli or both to make employees exert more effort in performing their tasks and work hard to achieve both personal and organizational goals. It is possible to see a connection between the organizational culture and employee perceptions about the different forms of motivations and the effect on the performance of employees. Here, the organizational culture determines employee behavior and their drive to work efficiently. It is also clear from the study that behavior is driven by the perceptions employees develop towards the motivations that are applied on them.
Typically, culture is the way people think in the organization, the way people communicate with each other, how decisions are made, the set of beliefs, and the learning processes within the organization. Organizational culture determines the approaches mangers use to motivate employees, which also affects their perceptions towards the motivations the managers use, which in turn influences their performance. Here, organizational culture and the perceptions employees develop towards the motivations used by the managers have been determined to be important factors, which determine the productivity of employees in high performance environments.
Another element that has been identified as a tool that employees use to achieve motivation is the reward system. Rewards can be in different forms, which include money, incentives, appraisal, and promotions among others and when applied on employees, they positively influence their perceptions, which stimulates in them the desire to work hard towards the achievements of organizational goals and objectives. It was established from the study that the reward system can be used to make employees comply with the ethical standard requirements in the construction industry and to work as a team for the company to benefit from the synergy experienced in teamwork. In addition, it is possible to connect perceptions and performance with self determination. Self determination can also be stimulated because of the application of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation.
Job satisfaction is the most commonly used motivator to influence the perceptions of the employees towards achieving certain performance goals. The study shows that job satisfaction is driven by the intrinsic feelings of individuals. The feelings influence the perceptions of employees towards the motivators and the ultimate productivity of the employees. The employees regard corker relationships, the importance of the tasks, the challenges, supervision, work content, autonomy, recognition, work flexibility, prestige, job security, learning, skills, salary, prestige, and benefits are some of the motivational factors, which when applied to stimulate motivation positively influence the perceptions of the employees in high productivity environments, and he resulting performance in the high performance working environment.
The results from the study led to the recommendation, which are discussed in this section. The first recommendation is that organizational managers should integrate both types of motivations, which include intrinsic and extrinsic motivations into the motivation strategy of the organization to positively influence the perceptions of employees towards the tasks and to improve their commitments to the tasks and improve their productivity.
In addition, there is need to focus on the best ways to identify the best motivation strategies, which have empirically been proved to provide positive influence on the perceptions of employees towards the motivating agents. It is critical for the managers to consider empowerment as a process, which enables employees to set their own goals in the high performance working environment to enable the employees to acquire autonomy in decision making and problems solving. In addition, it is recommended that the decision making process should be made an inclusive affair within an organization with the employees and the management about the work tasks employees get involved in.
In addition, the work arrangements, the reward systems which include merits, incentives (monetary and non-monetary), and managerial actions should form the core components of the motivations organizations use to achieve higher employee involvements on their work tasks. Motivated employees have been shown to be active in executing their tasks and achieve higher levels of productivity.
References
Adler, N. J., & Gundersen, A. (2007). International dimensions of organizational behavior. Cengage Learning.
Bartlett, J.E., Kotrlik, J.W., & Higgins, C.C. (2001). ‘Organizational research: Determining appropriate sample size in survey research.’ Information Technology, Learning, and Performance, 19(1), 43-50.
Berridge, K. C., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2008). ‘Affective neuroscience of pleasure: reward in humans and animals.’ Psychopharmacology,199(3), 457-480.
Boxall, P., & Macky, K. (2009). ‘Research and theory on high-performance work systems: Progressing the high-involvement stream.’ Human Resource Management Journal, 19(1), 3-23.
Buckworth, J., Lee, R. E., Regan, G., Schneider, L. K., & DiClemente, C. C. (2007). ‘Decomposing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for exercise: Application to stages of motivational readiness.’ Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8(4), 441-461.
Bye, D., Pushkar, D., & Conway, M. (2007). ‘Motivation, interest, and positive affect in traditional and nontraditional undergraduate students.’ Adult education quarterly, 57(2), 141-158.
Choi, J.H., & Lee, K.P. (2013). ‘Effects of employees’ perceptions on the relationship between HR practices and firm performance for Korean firms.’ Personnel Review, 42(5), 573-594.
Creswell, J.W. (2002). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative approaches to research. New Jersey: Merrill/Pearson Education.
Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Covington, M. V. (2000). ‘Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: An integrative review.’ Annual review of psychology, 51(1), 171-200.
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (2001). ‘Extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation in education: Reconsidered once again.’ Review of Educational Research, 71(1), 1-27.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). ‘Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health.’ Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 49(3), 182.
Eisenberger, R., & Shanock, L. (2003).’ Rewards, intrinsic motivation, and creativity: A case study of conceptual and methodological isolation.’ Creativity Research Journal, 15(2-3), 121-130.
Fetters, M.D., & Curry, L.A., & Creswell, J.W. (2013). ‘Achieving integration in mixed methods designs – principles and practices.’ Health Services Research, 48(6), 2134-2156.
Gagné, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). ‘Self‐determination theory and work motivation.’ Journal of Organizational behavior, 26(4), 331-362.
Gregory, I. (2003). Ethics in research. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Guest, D. E. (1987). Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations [1]. Journal of management Studies, 24(5), 503-521.
Guest, D. E. (1997). Human resource management and performance: a review and research agenda. International journal of human resource management, 8(3), 263-276.
Harrell, M.C., & Bradley, M.A. (2009). Data collection methods: Semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Web.
Huang, X., & Van De Vliert, E. (2003). ‘Where intrinsic job satisfaction fails to work: National moderators of intrinsic motivation.’ Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(2), 159-179.
Johnson, R.B., & Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (2004).’ Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come.’ Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.
Kotter, J. P. (2008). Corporate culture and performance. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Lin, H. F. (2007). ‘Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee knowledge sharing intentions.’ Journal of information science, 33(2), 135-149.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). ‘Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey.’ American psychologist, 57(9), 705.
Mao, N., Song, H., & Han, Y. (2013). ‘High-performance work systems and influence processes on employees’ attitudes: Perspectives from China.’ International Journal of Manpower, 34(7), 736-75.
Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative researching. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing, Inc.
Martins, E. C., & Terblanche, F. (2003). ‘Building organizational culture that stimulates creativity and innovation.’ European journal of innovation management, 6(1), 64-74.
Milne, P. (2007). ‘Motivation, incentives and organizational culture.’ Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(6), 28-38.
Moynihan, D. P., & Pandey, S. K. (2007). ‘The role of organizations in fostering public service motivation.’ Public administration review, 67(1), 40-53.
Nadiri, H., & Tanova, C. (2010).’ An investigation of the role of justice in turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior in hospitality industry.’ International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(1), 33-41.
Nicholas, E., & Childs, J.H. (2009).’ Respondent debriefings conducted by experts: A technique for questionnaire evaluation.’ Field Methods, 21(2), 115-132.
Osterloh, M., & Frey, B. S. (2000). ‘Motivation, knowledge transfer, and organizational forms.’ Organization science, 11(5), 538-550.
Olsen, W. (2012). Data collection: Key debates and methods in social research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
Pintrich, P. R. (2000).’ An achievement goal theory perspective on issues in motivation terminology, theory, and research.’ Contemporary educational psychology, 25(1), 92-104.
Polonsky, M.J., & Waller, D.S. (2010). Designing and managing a research project: A business student’s guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Potter, J. (2003). ‘Studying the standardized survey as interaction.’ Qualitative Research, 3(2), 269-278.
Rich, B. L., Lepine, J. A., & Crawford, E. R. (2010). ‘Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance.’ Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 617-635.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). ‘Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.’ American psychologist, 55(1), 68.
Sansone, C., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance. New York: Academic Press.
Sekaran, U. (2006). Research methods for business: A skill building approach, New Delhi: Wiley-India.
Stevens, M. (2003). Selected qualitative methods. In M.M. Stevens (Eds.), Interactive textbook on clinical symptoms research (pp. 138-151). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Takeuchi, R., Chen, G., & Lepak, D.P. (2009). ‘Through the looking glass of a social system: Cross-level effects of high-performance work systems on employees’ attitudes.’ Personnel Psychology, 62(1), 1-29.
Tella, A., Ayeni, C. O., & Popoola, S. O. (2007).’ Work motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of library personnel in academic and research libraries in Oyo State, Nigeria’.Library Philosophy and Practice, 62(118), 1-29118.
Vallerand, R. J. (2007). A hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for sport and physical activity. New York: Wiley & Sons.
Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W., & Deci, E. L. (2006). ‘Intrinsic versus extrinsic goal contents in self-determination theory: Another look at the quality of academic motivation.’ Educational psychologist, 41(1), 19-31.
Venkatesh, V., Brown, S.A., & Bala, H. (2013).’ Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide: Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems.’ MIS Quarterly, 37(1), 21-54.
Wigfield, A., Eccles, J. S., Schiefele, U., Roeser, R. W., & Davis‐Kean, P. (2007). ‘Development of achievement motivation.’ New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Zachariadis, M., Scott, S., & Bareth, M. (2013).’ Methodological implications of critical realism for mixed-methods research.’ MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 855-879.
Appendix I
Sample Questionnaire
This is a questionnaire that was deemed important for the research because it allows the researcher to collect information from the participants on the perception of the employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance environments. The name of the respondent or the information provided by the respondent will not be disclosed and the information will be used for the research only.
- What is your age?
- What is your gender?
- Which company are you working for?
Proposed Measurement Items for factors
Please answer the following questions using the 3 point scale shown below
Table of statistical results
On average, it is clear from the mean and the standard deviation that the perceptions of employees on the variables of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation tabulated above have a strong influence on employees in driving productivity in high performance work environments.
This is a one way ANOVAs test of the responses according to the age of the employees working in the three organizations (N=Number of responses)
The variance analysis report shows that employee perceptions about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation drive productivity in high performance environments. The results show that the mean for each of the participants of the different companies are slightly different and the standard deviations are almost the same except for employee who belong to company C in the first instance.
However, in all other instances, the employee responses are the same. According to the statistical summary, the perceptions of employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are the same in during productivity in high performance environments.
Appendix II
This is a Video/Audio Taping process that was deemed important for the research because it allows the researcher to collect information from the participants on the perception of the employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance environments. The name of the respondent or the information provided by the respondent will not be disclosed and the information will be used for the research only.
The video/Audio tapes will be transcribed by the researcher and after the results have been recorded and checked for accuracy, the researcher will delete the tapes and video.
By signing this document, the participant will have accepted to participate in providing information, which will be saved in audio tapes and the process videotaped.
Participant signature
Appendix III
This is a questionnaire for collecting employee perceptions about their perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance working construction industry environments. The information provided by the respondent will be treated with confidentiality and the results will not be disclosed to any third party, but shall be used solely for the study.
Please read each question carefully before proving your answers.
This is a questionnaire that was deemed important for the research because it allows the researcher to collect information from the participants on the perception of the employees towards intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in driving productivity in high performance environments. The name of the respondent or the information provided by the respondent will not be disclosed and the information will be used for the research only.
- What is your age?
- What is your gender?
- Which company are you working for?
The interview questions were administered on the line managers from each of the three companies and interview questionnaire is shown below. What are the employees’ perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in high performance work environments?
- Job retention
- Organizational culture
- Performance appraisal system
- Salaries
- Promotions
- Ease of use of machines
- Procedures
- Review procedures
- Work standards
- Training and development
- Appeal procedures
- 360 degree feedback
- Co-operate values
- Co-operate beliefs
- Employee involvement in decision making
- Participation
- Management style
- Employee relationships
- Rewards
- Teamwork
- Responsibilities
- Health schemes
- Work organization