Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on work engagement in the hospitality industry: Test of motivation crowding theory

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine extrinsic and intrinsic motivations as the antecedents of work engagement and to empirically test the motivation crowding theory using hospitality employees. The findings showed that intrinsic motivation played an important role in improving employees’ work engagement. The study also found that there was no indication that employees’ intrinsic motivation diminished when extrinsic motivation entered. It is also suggested that employers need to understand that creating a comfortable workplace environment and making jobs more interesting and meaningful will increase employees’ intrinsic motivation, which will help employees to engage more at work. Motivational antecedents of work engagement have been rarely studied and no studies have been conducted to research impacts of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators on employees’ work engagement in the hospitality industry, particularly in small restaurant businesses. In addition, empirical studies on motivation crowding theory are needed due to the inconclusive results.

Crowding‐out or crowding‐in? Direct voice, performance‐related pay, and organizational innovation in European firms

“…They are also extensively used in other contexts, including society at large when, for example, governments offer tax-deduction incentives to increase charitable donations or premiums for recycling behaviors that protect the environment, or again when criminal sentences are reduced for an informant's helpful information within the judicial system (Underhill, 2016). Within organizations, MCT has been adopted to investigate the effect of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation in relation to several employee outcomes such as, for example, work effort (Dickinson & Villeval, 2008;Irlenbusch & Sliwka, 2005;Kuvaas, Buch, Gagné, Dysvik, & Forest, 2016), commitment and engagement (Putra et al, 2017), burnout and turnover (Kuvaas et al, 2017), and the tendency to move from one sector to another (Georgellis, Iossa, & Tabvuma, 2010).…”

“…Along this direction, social psychology and behavioral economics literatures converge on the fact that providing employees with the opportunity to express their voice on organizational issues represents a form of intrinsic incentives that may be undermined by the presence of extrinsic incentives (Benabou & Tirole, 2003;Deci, Ryan, & Koestner, 1999;Gneezy, Meier, & Rey-Biel, 2011;Ryan & Deci, 2000). More specifically, the motivation crowding theory (MCT) suggests that, under particular conditions, when monetary rewards such as PRP are introduced to already intrinsically motivated employees, they will reduce the employees' motivation to fully engage in a particularly interesting activity (Deci, 1972;Frey, 1997;Frey & Jegen, 2001;Putra, Cho, & Liu, 2017). According to Curran and Walsworth (2014), "there is a substantial degree of research at the individual level suggesting that rewards often decrease performance on creative tasks" (p. 291, emphasis in original).…”

Effects of Selected Positive Resources on Hospitality Service Quality: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement

“…The factors that influence work engagement and the effects of work engagement are both considered critical in an organization. Since academia realized the importance of positive psychology [61], it has become clear that also the hospitality field should consider it [62][63][64]. Building positive qualities rather than repairing negative things in life is a main concern of positive psychology [65].…”

Exploring Users’ Self-Disclosure Intention on Social Networking Applying Novel Soft Computing Theories

“…Motivation is crucial in encouraging users toward intentional self-disclosure on SNSs [22]. Studies have classified motivation into extrinsic and intrinsic motivation [11]. Extrinsic motivation involves engaging in an activity leading to some separate consequence.…”