Moderating Effects of the Timing of Reward Determination and Performance Standards between Rewards and Self-Efficacy for Sustainable Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the moderating effects of the timing of reward determination and performance standards on the relationship between pay-for-performance and self-efficacy. It is an experimental study; the sample included 352 participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk, and an online experiment was conducted on an external website. The model was tested for mediation and moderation processes using regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed a mediating effect of self-efficacy between pay-for-performance and intrinsic motivation. A moderating effect of performance standards (absolute, relative, ambiguous) on the relationship between pay-for-performance and self-efficacy was also found. Moreover, performance standards were found to be more important moderators than the timing of reward determination. The theoretical contribution of this paper was to observe the concept of timing of reward determination and empirically validate self-determination theory. The results also infer that people measure their own efficacy or competence by comparing themselves with others more than with other performance standards. The use of absolute performance standards is recommended for sustainable self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation of employees. This study introduced the concept of the timing of reward determination (i.e., before or after completion of a performance-related task) and verified the moderating effect of performance standards.

Effects of a successful mathematics classroom framework on students’ mathematics self-efficacy, motivation, and achievement: a case study with freshmen students at a university foundation programme in Kuwait

“…In regards to rewarding the students using bonus marks, this study confirmed the positive impact found by other studies regarding promoting self-efficacy (e.g., Park & Yang, 2019;Zhang, Zhang, Liu, & Du, 2019) and motivation (Miendlarzewska, Bavelier, & Schwartz, 2016).…”

“…Working hard to gain bonus marks is considered an important extrinsic motivational approach for the students as it helps to improve the students' learning skills (Miendlarzewska, Bavelier, and Schwartz, 2016). Using bonus marks improves students' motivation and selfefficacy (Stirin Tzur, Ganzach, & Pazy, 2016;Park & Yang, 2019;Zhang, Zhang, Liu, & Du, 2019).…”

Pay for Individual Performance: Aiding or Harming Sustainable Intrinsic Motivation?

“…These arguments are consistent with empirical evidence that points out that when employees perceive a strong link to the performance reward system, they perceive themselves to have more autonomy [7,13]. In particular, rewards that effectively recognize effort and performance may increase the sense of competence and self-efficacy, which are both directly related to intrinsic motivation [7,26]. In addition, rewards that give rise to volitional behavior, avoiding imposing performance standards and putting pressure on them to meet those expectations, may increase autonomy and, thus, intrinsic motivation [5,23].…”

When Is the Negative Effect of Abusive Supervision on Task Performance Mitigated? An Empirical Study of Public Service Officers in Korea

“…Seen in Model 2 of Table 2, the coefficient of this moderation effect is significant (β = 0.15, p < 0.01). Figure 2a depicts the interaction plot [45]. A simple slope test indicates that when coworker support is low, abusive supervision is negatively related to the subordinate's task performance (−1 SD; b = −0.24, t = −2.96, p < 0.01), but when coworker support is high it is not significantly related to task performance (+1 SD; b = −0.01, t = 0.10, p = 0.92).…”

“…Wood and Bandura [44] suggested that self-efficacy influences one's perception of the current condition and the selection, implementation, and persistence of action. Likewise, many scholars have asserted that self-efficacy incites the desire to accomplish, reduces stress, lowers negative emotions such as depression, and improves individual accomplishment and well-being [45][46][47][48][49]. Self-efficacy is a specific cognitive resource that could decrease the effects of abusive supervision.…”