Work Motivation

-Studies of its Determinants and Outcomes

Christina Bjorklund

AKADEMISK AVHANDLING

Som for avlaggande av filosofie

doktorsexamen vid Handelshogskolan i
Stockholm
framlaggs for offentlig granskning
fredagen den 27 april 2001, kIlO.I5
i Aulan, Handelshogskolan, Sveavagen 65.
 Work Motivation
-Studies of its Determinants and Outcomes
tJl\ STOCKHOLM
ｾ ＬＭＧ
SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
EFI, THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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 Work Motivation
- Studies of its Determinants and Outcomes

Christina Bjorklund

t,!t\ STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

ｾｩＷ EFI, THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE
 ｦｾＢ Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D.
ｊＧｓ ｄｉｾ
". '6',11
ｾＬ
Stockholm School of Economics, 2001.

© EFI and the author

ISBNNR 91-7258-555-2

Keywords: work motivation

job performance
work interest
child care
insurance company

Printed by: Elanders Gotab, Stockholm 2001

Distributed by: EFI, The Economic Research Institute

Stockholm School of Economics
Box 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm, Sweden
To mymother
Acknowledgements

The years of working on my thesis at the Stockholm School of Economics have

been exciting, interesting, and filled with many discussions and stimulating
encounters with people.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisors. First of all, I would

like to thank my n1ain advisor professor Lennart Sjoberg, who aroused my
interest in the topic of work n10tivation. His advise, ideas and critical comments
have been of great value to me. I would like to thank my second advisor,
professor Erland Svensson, who has given me valuable comments on my thesis.
I also would like to express my gratitude to professor Bo Ekehammar for all
help and encouragement he has given me.

I have had the privilege of being surrounded by interesting and supportive

people of different academic backgrounds, which has increased my
understanding of different research traditions, and, moreover, inspired the
integration of different academic disciplines in my work. I would like to thank
the past and the present people of the Economic Psychology Unit and CFR:
Jana, Ylva, Arja, Jing Guan, Johan, Anders, Frederic, Pemilla, Asa, Helena,
Patric, Joakim, Hakan, Per Henrik, and Mattias.

In addition, special thanks to Caroline Nordlund for checking the language in

the thesis and Gudrun for all support during difficult times.

I am very grateful to all the people who kindly participated in my studies.

Thanks to the Swedish Council for Work Life Research, TIle Economic
Research Institute, and The School of Economics for financing my studies and
to Rune Castenas and Lisa Tilert who have been very helpful with all financial
matters.
For all support and encouragement, I would like to thank my wonderful father
and sister, Anna-Lena and her family. A special gratitude to my mother, who
showed me to never give up. Last but not least, I would like to thank Thierry for
always being there for me and for always believing me. I would not know if I
would have made it without you. Thank once again to you all, I would not have
had the courage and the strength to complete my thesis without you.

Bromma, March 15,2001

Christina Bjorklund
Table of content
1. Introduction 1
1.1. Purposes of the thesis............................................................ 2
1.2 Organization of the thesis............ 3
2. Theoretical framework. . .. ... .... ....... .... . .. . ... ... .... .... ........ .. .... 4
2.1 Definition of work motivation.................................................... 4
2.2 Trends in work motivation theorizing 5
2.3 Work motivation theories 9
2.3.1 Introduction....................................................................... 9
2.3.2 Work motivation defined as willingness to work........................... 11
2.3.2.1 Will/volitional variables as predictors ofbehaviors 11
2.3.2.2 Theconceptofwill 12
2.3.3 Beliefs and attitudes 14
2.3.3.1 Job satisfaction 17
2.3.3.2 Organizational commitment 21
2.3.4 Incentives and rewards theory (extrinsic motivation) 24
2.3.5 Intrinsic motivation 28
2.3.6 Goal and goal setting............................................................ 30
2.3.7 Perceived Control 34
2.3.8 Factors related to work motivation 36
2.3.8.1 Occupational and organizational stress 36
2.3.8.2 Work interest 39
2.3.8.3 Creativity '" 41
2.3.8.4 Work Environment 45
2.3.8.5 Perceivedrisks 47
2.3.8.6 Background/actors............................................................ 49
2.3.8.7 Management/leadership 51
2.3.9 Summary 53
2.4 Work related behavior............................................................ 54
2.4.1 Direction (withdrawal behaviors) 54
2.4.1.1 Absenteeism 55
2.4.1.2 Turnover (Intention to quit/leave) 56
2.4.2 Persistence (Number of hours worked) 58
2.4.3 Intensity (Job performance) 58
2.4.3.1 Ratings ofjob performance 62
2.4.4 Summary.... . . .. .. . . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. . . .. .. . . ... . . .. . .. ... .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . . . 63
3. Research approach 64
3.1 Introduction 64
3.2 Study 1 (pre-school employees) 66
3.2.1 Participal1ts........................................................................ 66
3.2.2 Procedure 66
3.2.3 Questionnaire 67
3.2.3.1 Scales include 68
3.2.3.1.1. Indices 72
3.3 Study 2 (employees of an insurance company). .... ..... . .. .. .... .. . ... .. .. 82
3.3.1 Participants........................................................................ 82
3.3.2 Procedure 82
3.3.3 Questionnaire 82
3.3.3.1 Scales include 83
3.3.3.1.1 Indices 84
3.3.3.1.2 Conclusion 91
3.4 Study 3 (salespeople) 92
3.4.1 Participants 92
3.4.2 Procedure 92
3.4.3 Questionnaire 92
3.4.4 Scales included. . .... . ... .. . ... .. .... . .. .. ... ... ..... . .. .. .. ... .... . ...... . 93
4. Results 95
4.1 Descriptive results 95
4.1.1 Introduction 95
4.1.2 Study 1: Descriptive results 96
4.1.3 Study 2: Descriptive results 98
4.1.4 Study 3: Descriptive results 99
4.2 Determinants of willingness to work 100
4.2.1 Introduction.. .. .. ... .. ... ..... . .. . .. .. . .. ..... . ..... ..... .. .. . .. ... ..... 100
4.2.1.1 Study 1.' Determinants of willingness to work 101
4.2.1.1.1 Conclusion 104
4.2.1.2 Study 2: Determinants ofwillingness to work 106
4.2.1.2.1 Conclusion 109
4.2.2 A structural model of willingness to work................. 111
4.2.2.1 Introduction.................................................................... 111
4.2.2.2 Study 1: Structural model ofwillingness to work 113
4.2.2.1.1 Model estimation and modification. . . .. ......... ... .......... .. .. .. ... ... 114
4.2.2.3 Study 2: Structural model ofwillingness to work 117
4.2.2.3.1 Model estimation 117
4.2.2.4 Conclusion 119
4.3 Results of construct validity studies 120
4.3.1 Introduction 120
4.3.1.1 The relationship between willingness to work and work-related
behaviors. . . . .. ... ... . ..... ......... .. ....... ........... ......... ... ........ .............. 121
4.3.1.1.1 Conclusion 124
4.3.1.2 Willingness to work and other work motivation measures 126
4.3.1.3.1 Conclusion 128

11
4.3.1.3 Is willingness to work a more efficient measure ofwork motivation
than the two traditional ones? . . .. ... . .... .. .. ... ... ... ... .. ... ... .. . ... .. .. . .. . ... 129
4.3.1.3.1 Conclusion 132
4.3.1.4 Does work motivation in general predict work-related behaviors? .. 133
4.3.1.4.1 Conclusion 134
5. General discussion 135
5.1 A summary of the findings 135
5.2 Limitations 138
5.3 Further researc11.......................................... 140
6. References 142
7. Appendix. .. .. . ... ... .. .. .. .... . .... .. .. .. . .. ...... ... ... . ...... . .. . .. .. 181
7.1 Appendix A (service industry). ........ ... ..... ... ... ...... .... . ... . .. ..... . . ... ... 181
7.2 Appendix B (scales) 0 • 0 • 0 0 • 0 0 •• 0 0 0 ••• 0 •• 194
7.3 Appendix C.... 0 ••••••••••••••••• 0 •• 0 ••••••••••••••••• 0 •••• 0 ••• 0" 0 •••• 0 •••• 0 ••••• 0 209

iii
1. Introduction
How to motivate employees has been one of the central concerns for many
researchers and practitioners for decades. During the years, many work
motivation theories have been presented in the literature. The theories have
provided different conceptualizations of the factors that drive the process by
which behavior is energized, directed, and sustained in organizational settings
(Leonard, Beauvais, & Scholl, 1999).

Increased interest in work motivation is due to higher global competition,

changes in work tasks, and the fact that today's growing industry is the service
industry where the employee is the main asset. The main assumption of the
concept of work motivation is that it predicts different work-related behaviors
such as absenteeism, turnover, and job performance. To have a high rate of
absence as well as turnover is very costly for organizations, and having
personnel that is highly motivated might prevent some of the withdrawal
behaviors. In addition, to have employees who are hard working and perform
well will have the opposite effect on the profitability of organizations.

Moreover, traditional employment arrangements have been replaced by

outsourcing, temporary work, and individual career paths (Hall, 1996). Further,
work activities have been reshaped by new technology and have shifted from
manual labor to knowledge and service work (Adler, 1992; Howard, 1995). This
has also been the case in Sweden, where the economy has gone through a
revolutionary change, where the population working in manufacturing industries
has been reduced and the expanding sector is that of services (Nelson, 1994).
Because working conditions and work forms are constantly changing, new
studies are called for in order to increase the understanding of factors and
processes that influence an enlployee's motivational level.
In the present thesis, work motivation was examined in different service
industries. Work motivation was defined as willingness to work, a measure
introduced by Sjoberg and Lind (1994). They found that factors explaining the
variance of willingness to work were work interest, creativity, perceived risks,
and organizational commitment.

1.1. Purposes of the thesis

Work motivation, its determinants, and work-related behaviors as a result of

motivation have been studied for decades. Many different theories trying to
explain work motivation as well as related factors have been developed over the
years. Although work motivation has bee11 studied for quite some time,
measures are still used that have not shown to be valid assessments. Two well-
established measures of work motivation are job satisfaction and organizational
commitment (Maehr & Braskamp, 1986). These measures are often used in
Sweden and internationally without scrutinizing their validity as measures of
work motivation. Ge11erally, these measures of work motivation have shown to
be quite weakly related to job performance (see for example, Iaffaldano &
Muchinsky, 1985; Leong, Randoll, & Cote, 1994; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990).
However, the validity of these measures of work motivation has been taken for
granted by many researchers and practitioners.

Consequently, Sjoberg and Lind (1994) suggested an alternative measure of

work motivation, defined as willingness to work. This measure has the purpose
of assessing how willing a person is to work. An argument for a volitional
approach of measuring work motivation is that previous studies have shown that
volitional approaches are the most efficient ones in predicting and explaining
action (Ajzen, 1991; Sjoberg, 1998). Moreover, how willing a person is to work
n1ay be reflected in voluntarily actions, how important the work is to the person
etc, and these types of questions were included in the present work motivation
measure.
The first objective of the present thesis was to explore the determinants of work
motivation, defined as willingness to work. The independent variables included
were selected on the basis of the previous findings of Sjoberg and Lind (1994)
as well as results presented in previous studies in the international literature.

2
Moreover, the factors that in the Sjoberg and Lind (1994) study were found to
explain work motivation were primarily work interest, perceived risks,
creativity, and organizational commitment. These independent variables
accounted for around 60% of the variance in work motivation.

The second objective was to investigate the relationship between work

motivation, defined as willingness to work, and different work-related
behaviors. The work-related behaviors included were absenteeism, intention to
quit, number of hours worked (per week), and job performance. This makes it
possible to evaluate the construct validity of work motivation. It was also
examined whether the new measure of work motivation could be considered as a
more valid assessment than two more established measures Gob satisfaction al1d
organizational commitment).

Three work groups were included in the studies. The groups were: employees of
pre-schools, employees of an insurance company, and insurance sales personnel.
The reasons for selecting those particular groups were, firstly, that they all
belong to the service industry 1, and secondly, that employees in these work
groups have experienced drastic changes over the years.

1.2 Organization of the thesis

In Chapter 2, a theoretical framework is presented. In this part, the definition of

work motivation, trends in work motivation theorizing, and different work
motivation theories including a presentation of the work motivation measure
used in the thesis are discussed. Further, different work-related behaviors are
introduced and some general information about the service industry is given. In
Chapter 3, the research approacll enlployed is presented. The results of the
studies are presented in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, a general discussion, including
linlitations of the studies, and suggestions of studies further in the subject are
shown. Finally, Chapters 6 and 7 include references and appendices.

I Read more about service industry in Appendix A.

3
2. Theoretical framework

2.1 Definition of work motivation

Motivation can be described as the need or drive that incites a person to some
action or behavior. The verb motivate means to provide reasons for action.
Motivation, then, provides a reason for exerting some sort of effort. This
motivation springs forth from individual needs, wants, and drives (Timm &
Peterson, 2000).

Motivation is not directly observable. Because it is 110t observable, motivational

processes can be inferred only from analysis of these continuing streams of
behavior that are determined both by environment and heredity and are observed
through their effects on personality, beliefs, knowledge, abilities, and skills
(Kanfer, 1990).

There is no generally accepted definition of work motivation, and there are

many reasons for the apparent difficulty to define motivation. Firstly, there are
many philosophical orientations toward the nature of hllman beings and about
what can be known about people (Pinder, 1998). Secondly, it is a fact that
historically motivatiol1 has been used to explain "too much with too little"
(Ferguson, 1976, p. 6). In the light of these difficulties in obtaining a
comprehensive yet more informative definition, it seems reasonable to focus on
the adequacy of those definitions offered in different approaches.
The definitions appear, however, generally to have three common denominators
which may be said to characterize the phenomenon of motivation. That is, when
we discuss motivation, we are primarily concerned with: (1) what energizes
human behaviors; (2) what directs or channels such behavior; (3) how this
behavior is maintained or sustained (Steers & Porter, 1983).

4
A definition that covers these denominators is presented by Pinder (1998) where
work motivation is defined as "a set of energetic forces that originate both
within as well as beyond an individual's being, to initiate work-related
behaviors, and to determine its form, direction, intensity, and duration" (p.11).

Further, Pinder (1998) described intensity as the momentary magnitude of actual

motivational arousal, regardless of potential available. Moreover, to fully
understand work motivation, one must allow for the specific goals toward which
motivated energy is directed (Katerberg & Blau, 1983).

2.2 Trends in work motivation theorizing

Theories of work motivation have passed through many stages, influencing and
being influenced by the prevailing management ideologies and philosophies of
each era. Although it is possible to trace a sequence to this development, it does
not mean that the old theories have died. There are employers and managers
today adhering vigorously to one or other of them, basing their beliefs not on
research or empirical evidence but on an almost ideological framework of values
and assumptions. These beliefs help then1 understand their own role and those of
others around them.

During the early part of this century, the predominant theory about management
was the classical or "scientific" management approach. This theory portrayed
working people as making rational economic calculations and following a
consequent logical pattern of behavior at work (for review, see Taylor, 1947).
Employers, who accepted this theory, believed that their workforce was driven
by the desire to earn the most money possible.

However, after testing the dominating theory the conclusion was that behavior at
work could not fully be explained by reference to the desire to earn as much
money as possible. A new theory was Pllt forward (see Mayo, 1949) proposing

5
that the reason why son1e workers slowed down their effort towards the end of
their day n1ust result from some factor which was preventing these workers from
keeping up their effort. The most likely factor was fatigue; workers were not
strong enough or sufficiently well nourished to keep their effort up all day.

This led to research studies by Elton Mayo and his team fro111 Harvard
University (see Mayo, 1949). The research tean1 set up a major series of studies
at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company which continued for
ten years. Their aim was to study the effects of a range of fatigue-inducing
factors such as levels of lighting, temperature, frequency of breaks, etc. in
combination with an incentive payment by results systems (Landberger, 1958).
Their findings were not expected. The variable that enhanced the productivity
among the employees was not the level of lightning, temperature etc but rather
the increased interest shown by the company in its employees, by regularly
asking questions about their health, morale, personal lives, etc. This
unintentional effect of observing people at work became known as "The
Hawthorne Effect", and the result had an almost revolutionary effect on
prevailing theories of motivation to work. Instead of focusing on money as the
motivator, attention turned to the importance of "human relations" as a mean of
motivating employees.

Motivation theories were then developed which under-pinned or built upon the
"human relations" findings. The new focus for motivation theory was on the
search for satisfaction of human needs. The new approach swept through
n1anagen1ent thinking in the 1950's.

Motivation theories emphasizing what it is that motivates people, and theories

included in this paradigm, were Maslow's need hierarchy and Hertzberg's two
factor theory. Moreover, Maslow (1970) offered his "need hierarchy" according
to which human beings have their needs arranged in a hierarchy such that they
are motivated to seek satisfaction of the lower levels of need first. Once that
level of need is satisfied it is no longer a motivator, and the person is motivated
by the next level up the hierarchy. Basic needs such as s11elter, food and warmth

6
are at the bottom level of Maslow's hierarchy, which then progresses through
physical well being, social acceptance, self-esteem, to "self-actualization"
(realizing one's own potential).

A second well-known theory in this category is Hertzberg's two-factor theory.

According to Hertzberg, work motivation is dependent on "hygiene" factors
(salary, prestige) and motivators (achievement, responsibility). A person is
motivated if both kinds of needs are satisfied. Herzberg declared that "real"
motivation is only reached when a person experiences self growth, which can
only be satisfied through work enrichment and teamwork (Herzberg, 1968,
1987).

There is a third need theory developed by Hackman and Oldham (1976), the Job
Characteristic Model (JCM). They claimed that job enrichn1ent is based on five
increasing core dimensions: skill variety (the extent to which a job entails
different activities and involves a range of different skills and talents); task
identity (the extent to which ajob involves completion ofa whole piece of work
with a visible outcome); task significance (the extent to which a job has
meaningful impact on other people, either inside or outside the organization);
autonomy (the extent to which a job provides freedom, independence and
discretion in planning the work and determing how to undertake it); feedback
(the extent to which work activities result in direct and clear information on the
effectiveness of job performance). These core characteristics, if presented in
work tasks, create three psychological states: experienced meaningfulness,
experienced responsibility, and knowledge of results. These factors, if present,
are assumed to produce satisfaction and motivation to promote high quality
work (Hackman & Oldham, 1976, 1980).

All the need theories have been tested empirically, but none of them has
received much scientific support. According to other researchers, Maslow's
theory is difficult to test and very few studies have demonstrated the validity of
the theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1977; Kanfer, 1990; Neher, 1991). Only a weak
relationship has been found between Herzberg's factors and work motivation

7
(Sjoberg & Lind, 1994). Hackman and Oldham's theory has been tested by
others and those studies have found a weak relationship, approximately 0.15,
between experienced task characteristics and performance. Thus, the Job
Characteristic model only explains around 2% of the variance in performance
(Fried & Ferris, 1987; Stone, 1986; Loher, Noe, Moeller, & Fitzgerald, 1985).
Although the core dimension does appear to influence, very weakly, personal
and work outcomes, there is some doubt about the validity of the causal
relationship (Wall, Clegg, & Jackson, 1978).

A major development in motivation theory in the 1970s was based on Vroom's

Expectancy Theory (Vroom, 1964). The theory argues that a person's
motivation to perform a given act will depend on valences, instrumentality, and
expectancy. According to the theory, the act with the highest motivational force
is the one the individual will choose to pursue (Locke & Henne, 1986). The
theory is founded on the idea that people prefer certain outcomes from their
behavior over others. They anticipate feelings of satisfaction, should the
preferred outcome be achieved (Vroom, 1964). However, Van Eerde and
Thierry (1996) reported a quite low correlation, around 0.20, between the
variables in Vroom's VIE theory and performance.

Another well established theory, Equity theory, has experienced its ups and
downs since Adams (1965) first proposed it as a way of understanding how
employees respond to situations in which they are treated more or less favorably
in conlparison to a referent "other". Equity theory focuses on people's feelings
of how fairly they have been treated in comparison with the treatment received
by others. The equity model (Adams, 1965) is based on the assumption that
humans want to be treated equally for their services. People are motivated by
their need for fair treatment. Equity exists when output (e.g., ability, seniority)
and input (e.g., money, promotion) ratios for the individual employee and the
reference source (e.g. co-worker, profession) are equal (Katzell & Thompsson,
1990). Job dissatisfaction is assumed to occur whenever a person perceives that
he or she is not being paid equally with others. Witt and Nye (1992) found in a
meta-analysis that perceived fairness of payor promotion and job satisfaction

8
had an average correlation of 0.28 and 0.43. In a study by McFarlin and
Sweeney (1992), the same conclusions were reached.

Theories of goals and targets have become popular in recent decades, for
instance Locke's argument that people are motivated by relatively difficult goals
that they have agreed to seek (Latham & Locke, 1979). This puts the source of
motivation not on some "need" of the employee, but on the achievement of a
goal with which he/she has been involved. Similar to goal theory are those
theories of behavior modification, such as guidance, prompting, feedback, and
reinforcement to bring about the desired changed (for review, see Guest, 1984).
Goal setth1g theory will be further discussed below.

Kanfer (1992) stated that the direction and focus of recent work motivation
theory and research correspond closely to new development in the broader field
of motivational psychology. During the past ten years, major integrative theories
of hun1an motivation have been proposed by clinical, instructional, social, and
personality researchers, including Bandura (1986, 1988), Carver and Scheier
(1981), Heckhausen and Kuhl (1985), and Weiner ( 1986). Many new research
directions in work motivation are built upon earlier theories and studies ,and as
Barbuto and School (1998, p.1 011) wrote, " an integrative taxonomy that may
better account for various motivations is necessary to advance our understanding
of individual behavior".

2.3 Work motivation theories

2.3.1 Introduction

If there is a cornerstone il1 the science of human behavior, it must be the field of
motivation. In fact, motivation has been described as "one of the most pivotal

9
concerns in organizational research (Baron, 1991, p. 1). Motivational theories
ask a fundamental question, namely: What moves a person? Thus, they are
concerned with the prime forces at work in human nature and human culture
(Ryan, 1998). The importance of motivation as an organizing psychological
concept is in one sense remarkable given its status as a hypothetical construct
that can be only indirectly inferred from observed behaviors. As such, it can take
on many forms, and this is reflected in the variety of theories and taxonomies of
motivation (Heckhausen, 1991). However, Locke (1991) claimed that the field
of work motivation has become increasingly confused over the past several
decades. The major cause of this confusion has been an overabundance of
theories and paucity of frameworks for integrating them (Locke & Latham,
1990a) and the fact that various theories involve different levels of analysis and
thus deal with different stages of the motivation process (Locke & Henne,
1986).

Kanfer (1992) as well as Locke and Henne (1986) have suggested that
motivation theories and their associated constructs can be organized in terms of
their conceptual proximity to action. Distal constructs or as Locke and Henne
named it, general constructs (e.g., needs, values, motives) have only an indirect
impact on behavior and performance. Most distal theories of motivation have
enjoyed their greatest success in predicting other distal constructs, such as pre-
decision and decision processes and intentions, rather than behavior or
performance.

Proximal constructs or specific constructs (e.g., intentions, goals, self-

regulation) on the other hand focus on motivational constructs at the level of
purposive action. Analyses of motivational processes in these theories tend to
begin with the individual's goals rather than with the factors that have shaped
the individual's objectives. Such theories concentrate on the processes and
variables that affect the goal-behavior/performance relation.

10
In conclusion, the distinction between distal and proximal constructs and
theories is based upon the call for differentiation of the motivational processes
underlying choice and volition (e.g., see Ajzen, 1985; Heckhausen & Kuhl,
1985; Gollwitzer, 1990). Moreover, work motivation in the present thesis is
defined as willingness to work and the assumption is that actions or behaviors
are directed, predicted and explained by volitional processes or will.

2.3.2 Work motivation defined as willingness to work

2.3.2.1 Will/volitional variables as predictors of behaviors

Different approaches to the study of work motivation have been suggested

during the years. A work motivation measure was introduced by Sjoberg and
Lind (1994), where work motivation was defined as willingness to work and the
assumption behind the measure was primarily that will is the process by which
behavior is energized, directed, and sustained in organizational setting. To
clarify, will is a collective term denoting processes involved in the regulation of
actions and regulation simply means controlling an action, that is, causing it to
follow the course required to achieve a certain goal (Binswanger, 1991).

In previous studies, volitional variables, for example, intentions, have been

shown to be more efficient predictors of actions compared to variables like, for
example, personality (e.g., Fumham, Jackson, & Miller, 1999; Tett, Jackson, &
Rothstein, 1991), and life style (e.g., Sjoberg, 1993), which according to Sjoberg
(1998) is a strong argument for a volitional approach to explain and predict
action. There is, however, a personality dimension, conscientiousness, that has
been shown to be quite strongly related to work-related behaviors, such as job
performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Mount, Barrick, & Strauss, 1999; Stewart
1999). This personality dimension is associated with a person's conscience, self-
control (Stewart, 1999), organization persistence and achievement orientation

11
(Goldberg, 1993). Moreover, this personality dimension is in conceptualization
quite close to the concept of will and volition, which may strengthen the notion
of a volitional approach to predict actions.

In earlier studies, behavioral intentions (e.g., willingness to work) have been

shown to be efficient predictors of behaviors. For example, in the domain of
health, intentions have been very effective at predicting a variety of health-
promoting actions, such as dieting (Schifter & Ajzen, 1985) and exercise
(Godin, Valois, & Lepage, 1993). Studies regarding participation in an union
have shown that willingness to participate is a strong determinant of actual
participation (Kuruvilla & Sverke, 1993; Kuruvilla & Fiorito, 1994). As
Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) expressed it: "Since much human behavior is under
volitional control, most behaviors can be accurately predicted from an
appropriate measure of the individual's intention to perform the behavior in
question" (p. 380). But what is will? This question will be discussed in the next
part more in depth.

2.3.2.2 The concept of will

Volition or will is an old psychological construct with strong ties to modem

philosophy and a range of colloquial meanings (Pervin, 1992). In everyday use,
the term denotes willfulness, or dogged perseverance in pursuit of difficult
goals. Psychologists have defined volition more precisely as the tendency to
maintain focus and effort toward goals despite potential distractions. Another
definition was suggested in Reber's (1985) dictionary of psychology: "the
voluntary selection of particular action or choice from many potential actions or
choices". This indicates that the definitions can differ somewhat but include a
conscious choice of action.

Will was a central notion in classical philosophy and psychology up to the early
20 th century. Then it almost disappeared from the late 1950s Psychological

12
Abstracts no longer carried a specific entry for 'will' or 'volition' (Nilsson,
1998).

The Greek divided the soul into three parts - knowing, feeling, and willing.
From the late Antiquity the concept of will became connected with free will,
which might be one of the reasons for the disappearance of will within empirical
psychology. Secondly, psychologists dissociated themselves from philosophy
and stressed the strictly experimental character of psychology.

There is now again some room for concepts similar to will and there is an
increasing willingness among psychologists to explore phenomena that belong
to will (Wameryd, 1998). There is also a growing realization that traditional
models of motivation do not explain the diversity of behavior found in
organizational settings. Instead, attention to the role of volitional processes in
models of motivation would be emphasized (Kanfer, 1990). In industrial and
organizational psychology, issues related to volition first appeared in the context
of goal-setting research. In 1968, Locke proposed that an individual's goals
served as the immediate regulator of action. Attempts to understand the
psychological processes underlying these phenomena, in turn, led to increasing
interest in self-regulation, social cognitive, and volitional concepts (Kanfer,
1992). In addition, in attitude research there is a special interest in an attitude
component called "intention". "Intentions are assumed to capture the
motivational factors that influence a behavior; they are indicators of how hard
people are willing to try, of how much of an effort they are planning to exert, in
order to perform the behavior.

As a general rule, the stronger the intention to engage in a behavior, the more
likely should be its performance" (Ajzen, 1991, p. 181).

So far it is assumed that individuals consciously and willfully regulate their own
behaviors. There are other scholars who have a different view that an individual
perceives him/herself to have far more control over his or her everyday behavior
than he/she actually has (e.g., Wegner & Wheatley, 1999). The source of

13
behavioral control is said to come not from active awareness but from subtle
cues in the environment and from thought processes and information not readily
accessible to consciousness (Park, 1999). Further, Bargh and Chartrand (1999)
stated that to consciously and willfully regulate one's own behavior, evaluations,
decisions, and emotional states require considerable effort and that it is slow.
Regulation of behavior appears to require a limited resource that is quickly used
up, so conscious self-regulatory acts can only occur sparingly and for a short
time. On the other hand, the non-conscious or automatic processes are
u11intended, effortless, very fast, and many of them can operate at any given
time.

To sum up, the definition of work motivation used here is willingness to work.
Previous studies have shown that volitional processes predict and explain action
well. The standpoint here is that behavior is primarily willfully regulated.

2.3.3 Beliefs and attitudes

People have attitudes and hold them toward many or n10st other people in their
life spaces. They also tend to form attitudes in relation to tangible as well as
intangible objects, causes, concepts, acts, and other phenomena with which they
are familiar. There are no limits to the attitudes people hold. Attitudes are
learned throughout life and are embodied within our socialization process. Some
attitudes may be central/stronger to us -a core construct- and may be highly
resistant to any change, whereas other, more peripheral attitudes may change
with new information or personal experiences (Mullins, 1996).

In recent literature on attitudes, Olson and Zanna (1993) claimed that there are a
varity of definitions of attitudes and no single commonly accepted definition.
Nevertheless, there appear to be three common themes or elements that run
through the most common definitions, according to Olson and Zanna (1993).
The first element is that attitudes generally involve an evaluative component. A
second common component of definitions of attitudes is that they are

14
"represented in memory". The third common element of definitions and
conceptualizations of attitudes is that they entail cognitive, affective, and
behavior components. A straightforward definition of attitude that is consistent
with the thoughts of Olson and Zanna (1993), has been offered by Eagly and
Chaiken (1993) "Attitude is a psychological tendency that is expressed by
evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or
disfavor...psychological tendency refers to a state that is internal to the person,
and evaluating refers to all classes of evaluating responding, whether overt or
covert, cognitive, affective, or behavioral" (p. 1).

The nature of the relationship between attitudes and behavior has been departing
over the years. It seems to make intuitive sense to many people that attitudes are
major causes of behavior. However, the connection between attitudes and
behavior has shown to be weak or unpredictable (for a review, see Andrich &
Styles, 1998).

A theory that has discussed the connection between attitudes and behavior is the
theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Fishbein and Ajzen have
suggested that one useful way to conceptualize the notion of job attitude is to
subdivide it into three related parts: (1) beliefs about one's job, (2) the attitude
itself, and (3) the behavioral intentions that result from the attitude. The process
is presented in Figure 1.

Beliefs about ones job Job attitudes Behavior intentions Actual behavior

1. Job is dull 1. Job dissatisfaction 1. Intention to leave 1. Absenteeism

2. Job is dirty 2.'Low commitment 2.Intention to 2. Turnover
3. Job provides little reduce effort 3. Poor perfonnance
autonomy,
responsibility,
etc

Figure 1. A conceptual model of attitudes (after Fishbein, 1967). Adapted from

Steers and Porter (1983, p. 330).

15
As shown in Figure 1. beliefs about one's job (e.g., this job is dull) lead to
negative job attitudes (e.g., job dissatisfaction) which, in tum, lead to the
behavioral intentions to leave or reduce effort on the job. These behavioral
intentions are then translated into actual behavior, assuming the individual is
able to carry out his or her intentions.

The distinction between beliefs and attitudes should be clarified. To begin with,
beliefs, which are concerned with what is known about the world; they center on
what 'is', on reality, as it is understood. As suggested earlier: "An attitude
represents a person's general feeling of favorableness or unfavorableness toward
some stimulus object... as a person forms beliefs about an object, he
automatically and simultaneously acquires an attitude toward that object. Each
belief links the object to some attribute; the person's attitude toward the object is
a function of his evaluations of these attributes" (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, p.
216). The general attitude a person has toward an object is seen as an
aggregation of all the beliefs that she holds about it, each weighted by the
positive or negative evaluation she places on the various beliefs. 'Therefore, two
employees may have the same set of beliefs about a job (e.g., it's of low status)
but hold different attitudes toward it because one of them prefers routine work
whereas the other desires more uncertainty (Pinder, 1998).

It is often discussed how stable attitudes are and the general view about the
stability of attitudes and beliefs is that they are stable over time, are resistant to
change, and exert strong influence on information processing, overt behavior
and formation (e.g., Prislin, 1996). As stated above, the strength of attitudes
varies and the features of strong attitudes are related to a number of attitudinal
qualities. Thus, the persistence of an attitude over time is positively associated
with the amount of experience with the attitude object (Doll & Ajzen, 1992), the
certainty with which the attitude is held (Pelham, 1991), the importance of the
attitude (Kronsnick, 1988), the internal consistency of the attitude (Norman,
1975), and the affective extremity of the attitude (Schuman & Presser, 1981).
Furthermore, it might be quite difficult to change existing work attitudes.
However, Pinder (1998) wrote that one way to influence a person's attitudes

16
might be to introduce new information about the job that links the job with
attributes that the employee evaluates as positive (such as its variety and status).
Alternatively, one could attempt to change the employee's assessment of the
desirability or undesirability of the attributes that the employee associates with a
job (Pinder, 1998). This requires the manager to be well informed about the
employee's preferences, because attitudes and beliefs differ among individuals.

Lastly, two of the most widely studied work attitudes are job satisfaction and
organizational commitment. These constructs are frequently used as measures of
work motivation (Maehr & Braskamp, 1986; Schou, 1991). These job-related
attitudes are discussed further in next section.

2.3.3.1 Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is, without any doubt, the job-related attitudinal construct that
has received most attention in modem times (Pinder, 1984; O'Conner, Peters, &
Gordon, 1978). A literature review by Locke (1976) estimated that over 3,300
projects had been conducted and reported on job satisfaction during the previous
25 years. Further, Cranny, Smith, and Stone (1992) suggested that more than
5,000 studies of job satisfaction had been published. Although a large body of
research on job satisfaction has been accumulated over the years, there are still
major shortcomings in job satisfaction research. One of them is the loose
coupling between its theories and its measurement. This is a paradoxical
situation. While job satisfaction is one of the n10st frequently studied areas in
industrial and organizational psychology, it is also one of the n10st theory-free
concepts in the field (Bussing, 1992).

As a result of many decades of effort by social scientists, there appears to be a

high level of agreement among them on the meaning of the construct of job
satisfaction. Most often, job satisfaction is conceptualized as a general attitude
toward an object, the job. For example, Porter, Lawler, and Hackman (1975, p.
53-54) as well as Locke and Henne (1986, p. 21) have defined job satisfaction

17
similarly and these definitions are consistent with the general construct stated
above. The definition given by these authors are similar to the one offered by
Locke (1976, p. 1300) who defined job satisfaction as "a pleasurable or positive
emotional state, resulting from the appraisal of one's job experience".

Several articles have discussed whether a single-iten1 measure is adequate or not

to measure overall job satisfaction. The conclusion which has been drawn that in
most studies is that a single-item measure of overall job satisfaction is
acceptable (e.g., see, Wanous, Reichers, & Hudy, 1997) but a single-iten1
measure tends to paint a rosier picture of job satisfaction than the impression
conveyed from the multiple-item measure would justify (e.g., see Oshagbemi,
1999). However, in more recent work on the concept job satisfaction,
multidimensionality is emphasized (Buckley, Carraher, & Cote, 1992).
Moreover, Taber, and Alliger (1995) found that task-level measurement
assessed different psychological processes than those assessed by traditional
global and facet measures. They suggested that by complementing traditional,
global measurement procedures, task-level assessment might facilitate new
research into the nature of job satisfaction. Empirical data indicate that global
measures of job satisfaction are not equivalent to the sum of multi-dimensional
job satisfaction (Scarpello & Campbell, 1983).

Job satisfaction has regularly been used as a measurement of work motivation,

but it has turned out to be a quite poor assessment of work motivation. Firstly,
job satisfaction is by definition not the same as motivation. Job satisfaction can
be described n10re as an attitude, al1 internal state, a measurement of how
satisfied or dissatisfied one is with one's job, if one likes it or dislikes it in
different aspects. It is possible to like a job because it makes low demands on
one's effort, or because one is able to work hard to complete a task 011e dislikes
(Mullins, 1996). Secondly, Locke and Latham (1990a) stated that motivation
and satisfaction are independent outcomes and different theories. Finally,
previous studies have only shown weak relationships to different work-related
behaviors. Iaffaldano and Muchinsky (1985) found in their meta-analysis that
the relationship between job performance and job satisfaction was weak.

18
Another work-related behavior that has been related to job satisfaction is, for
example, absenteeism, and only a weak correlation, approximately -0.2, between
job satisfaction and absenteeism has been reported (Hackett, 1989; Hackett &
Guion, 1985). Moreover, Tharenou (1993) found that non-legitimate
absenteeism was more strongly correlated to job satisfaction than legitimate
absenteeism. However, Haccoun and Desgent (1993) reported that most
absenteeism was legitimate and only 20% reported no legitimate reasons for
absenteeism. Intention to quit has shown to be more strongly related to job
satisfaction than the actual turnover behavior (e.g., Hellman, 1997; Tett &
Meyer, 1993).

Even though job satisfaction might not be considered the best measurement of
work n10tivation, it is still interesting to measure job satisfaction in order to shed
some light on its relations to different factors. Empirical research has
investigated numerous variables in an attempt to determine how job satisfaction
is created and how it affects other work outcomes.

It is not only external components that affect job satisfaction, it has been shown
that approximately 30% of the observed variance of job satisfaction was due to
genetic factors (Arvey, Abraham, Bouchard, & Segal, 1989). Further, research
findings have shown that job satisfaction is stable over time (Staw & Ross,
1985; Steel & Rentsch, 1997). Personality has also been shown to affect job
satisfaction. Staw, Bell, and Clausen (1986) discovered a link between
childhood personality and job satisfaction later in life, and there has been
considerable interest in the relationship between individual dispositions and job
satisfaction. Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) suggested that affective temperament
may influence the experience of emotionally significant events at work, which in
tum influence job satisfaction. Furthermore, in several studies it has been
demonstrated that an individual's core self-evaluation was linked to job
satisfaction (Judge, Locke, Durham, & Klunger 1998; Judge, Bono, & Locke,
2000). Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997) defined core self-evaluation as
fundamental assessments that individuals make about themselves and their self-

19
worth: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low
neuroticism.

Watson and Keltner Slack (1993) indicated that job satisfaction can be viewed in
the context of more general emotional lives of employees. A fairly high positive
relation between overall job satisfaction and life satisfaction was reported by
Adams, King, and King (1996). Judge and Watanabe (1993) found that the
relationship between job satisfaction and overall life satisfaction was fairly
strong in cross-sectional results, but longitudinal results suggested a weaker
relationship over a 5-year period, particularly with respect to the effect of job
satisfaction on life satisfaction.

There are additional aspects of job satisfaction that have been studied. Jabri
(1992) found a moderate correlation between job satisfaction and appropriate
task allocation. Melamed, Ben-Avi, Luz, and Green (1995) showed that job
satisfaction was mainly related to subjective monotony, whereas absence due to
sickness was equally related to work conditions and subjective monotony.
Communication with the manager was reported to be an important predictor of
job satisfaction (Callan, 1993; Miles, Patrick, & King, 1996). Miles, Patrick, and
King (1996) also found that supervisors reported a higher level of job
satisfaction than other employees.

Introduction of new technology can increase the stress level of employees,

which, in tum, can decrease job satisfaction (Aiello & Svec, 1993). Job content
and participation significantly influenced job satisfaction after the introduction
of new technology (Korunka, Weiss, Huemer, & Karetta, 1995). Kahn and
Robertson (1992) found that training and experience had no effect on job
satisfaction and work motivation when using computers. Blau (1999) reported
that task responsibilities and employee performance appraisal satisfaction
significantly affected overall job satisfaction. Further, Blau found that the
supervisor's role in affecting employee job satisfaction is important.

20
Because job satisfaction is one of the most studied constructs, several factors
have been associated to it and only a few of them have been reported in the
review above. The second job attitude frequently examined is organizational
commitment. Like job satisfaction, organizational commitment is often used as a
work motivation measure. Organizational commitment is discussed more in
detail in the next section.

2.3.3.2 Organizational commitment

Like job satisfaction, organizational commitment has received substantial

attention in past research. Several organizational commitment definitions have
been offered over the years. They appear, however, to reflect at least three
general themes: affective attachment to the organization, perceived costs
associated with leaving the organization, and the obligation to remain with the
organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Organizational commitment is often employed as an assessment of work

motivation (Maehr & Braskan1p, 1986; Schou, 1991). However, it should be
notified that organizational commitment is not by definition the same as work
motivation, in fact, it is possible to be quite committed to an organization
without being highly motivated to work.

Also, the relationship between organizational comn1itment and different work-

related behaviors has been reported to be weak or inco11sistent. Baugh and
Roberts (1994), Mowday, Porter, and Dubin (1974), as well as Ward and Davis
(1995), concluded that organizational commitment and job performance are
positively correlated. Brett, Cron, and Slocum (1995) examined the relationship
between organizational commitment and performance using economic
dependency on work as a moderator. They reported that there were stronger
relationships between organizational commitment and performance for those
with low financial requirements than for those with high requirements.
Kalleberg and Marsden (1995) discovered a modest relationship between

21
organizational commitment and job performance, while Leong, Randell, and
Cote (1994), Mathieu and Zajac, (1990) and Tett and Meyer (1993) found only a
weak correlation between these two variables. On the other hand, Wright (1997)
found a negative association between measures of organizational commitment
and job performance. Recently, Benkhoff (1997) investigated the link between
employee commitment and organizational performance in terms of sales targets
met and changes in profits. The result indicated a link between commitment and
performance.

Generally, it is believed that employees who are more strongly committed to the
organization avoid withdrawal behaviors, such as being absent (Blau & Boal,
1989). However, little evidence shows that a meaningful and consistent attitude-
absenteeism relation does exist (Hackett, 1989; Hackett & Guion, 1985; Mayer
& Schoorman, 1992; Randell, 1990). Sagie (1998) divided absenteeism into
voluntary absence and involuntary absence and the result showed that
organizational commitn1ent was strongly related to voluntary absence, but not to
involuntary absence. Another withdrawal behavior is turnover, and a moderately
strong relationship has been found between commitment and tun10ver (Hulin,
1991).

A multidimensional scale to measure commitment has been suggested that

involves the din1ension of affective commitment (affective reaction to an
organization), continuance commitment (a commitment to continue one's task),
and finally a normative component (the employee's feelings of obligation to
remain with the organization) (Allen & Meyer, 1990). These three dimensions
have been supported in several studies (Cohen, 1996; Durman, Grube, &
Castaneda, 1994; Irving, Coleman, & Cooper, 1997; Ko, Price, & Mueller,
1997). Distinctions between different types of commitment have, however, only
given an insignificant improvement in the prediction of performance (Mayer &
Schoorman, 1992).

Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Goffin, and Jackson (1989) examined the

relationship of job performance with affective commitment and continuance

22
commitment and concluded that affective commitment, which refers to
identification with, involvement in, and emotional attachment to the
organization, is correlated positively and continuance, which refers to
commitment based on employees' recognition of the costs associated with
leaving the organization, is correlated negatively with all measures of
performance. The dimension of affective commitment was found to be the only
dimension of commitment that was related to turnover and to absenteeism
(Somers, 1995). The results of a longitudinal study found that the correlation
between job satisfaction and the dimension of organizational continual1ce
commitment was quite high (Cramer, 1996). Jaros (1997) found that affective
commitment had a significantly stronger correlation with turnover intentions
than normative and continuance commitment. Eby, Freeman, Rush, and Lance
(1999) reported that affective commitment was strongly related to turnover
behavior as well as absenteeism.

Organizational commitment is strongly affected by organizational factors

including leadership, culture, values, and norms (Cohen, 1992; Gellatly, 1995;
Markham & Mckee, 1995). Steers (1977) found that organizational commitment
was influenced by need for achievement, group attitudes toward the
organization, education (inversely), organizational dependability, perceived
personal importance to the organization, and task identity. Steers stated that a
common theme in these variables is the notion of exchange among individuals.
Further, individuals come to organizations with certain needs, desires, skills, and
so forth, and expect to find a work environment where they can utilize their
abilities and satisfy many of their basic needs. When the organization provides
such a vehicle, the likelihood of increasing commitment is apparently enhanced.
When the organization is not dependable, however, or when it fails to provide
employees which challenging and meaningful tasks, the commitment level tends
to diminish. In a study by Nyhan (1999) it was found that to increase
organizational commitment managers must be willil1g to build on their
investments in the people in their organizations, by letting the employees
participate in decision making, and allowing feedback from and to employees.
The perception that one is competent also affects the degree of attachment to an

23
organization. Benkoff (1997) found that regular training at work influenced
commitment to the organization and a person's perception of hislher
competence.

2.3.4 Incentives and rewards theory (extrinsic motivation)

Extrinsic motivators, such as incentives, have long been thought, both

theoretically and practically, to affect employee motivation and performance
(e.g., see Skinner, 1938; Hull, 1943; Taylor, 1947). Incentives are not only
thought to enhance motivation and performance but also to shape the
employment relationship. Simply, pay has been seen as the means for attracting,
retaining, and motivating employees primarily because of its near universal
appeal and the ease, directness, and certaintly with which it can be delivered
(Greller & Parsons, 1995). Pay systems or compensation systems, philosophies,
and practices act together with other elements of the organization environment
influencing employees' attitudes, behavior, and how they define their
relationship with the organization (Rousseau & Greller, 1994).

The relationship between employees and compensation plays different

interrelated roles. First, pay systems make a statement regarding what is
important. Some systems value technical work, other value customer service.
Some recognize individual performance, some value performance in terms of
group products (Murphy & Cleveland, 1991). Second, pay provides
reinforcement. People like receiving pay. They work in directions that produce
pay, if these directions are made clear to them (Lawler, 1971). Third, pay
provides feedback on performance (Herold & Parsons, 1985; Greller & Parsons,
1995).

It is quite clear in the literature that both financial and non-financial incentives
can increase performance (Lawner, 1990; Milkovich & Newman, 1993),
especially when the incentive system is properly designed (Guzzo, Jette, &
Katzell, 1985). Financial incentives also convey symbolic meaning (e.g.,

24
recognition, status) beyond their monetary value: They meet multiple human
needs and serve multiple functions (Steers, Porter, & Bigley, 1996). Financial
incentives supplement intrinsic rewards. People need money (Steers et aI, 1996).
Moreover, in general, financial incentives have a positive relationship to work
motivation (Locke, Feren, McCaleb, Shaw, & Denny, 1980).

However, a meta-analytic review presented by Jenkins, Mitra, Gupta, and Shaw

(1998) found that financial incentives were not related to performance quality
but had a correlation of .34 with performance quantity.

Five primary theoretical frameworks address the relationship between money

and performance. Expectancy theory suggests that tying financial incentives to
performance increases extrinsic motivation to extend effort and consequently
performance (Lawer, 1971, 1973; Vroom, 1964). Reinforcement theory,
although less cognitive in focus, argues that tying money to perfornlance will
reinforce performance (Komaki, Coombs, & Schepman, 1996). Goal setting
theory indicates that financial incentives increase acceptance of difficult
performance goals, and enhance performance (Locke, Latham, & Erez, 1988).
By contrast, cognitive evaluation theory proposes that performance-contingent
financial incentives erode intrinsic motivation and hereby diminish task
performance (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Equity theory (e.g., Adams, 1963) argues
that people are motivated to reduce inequity, but makes no specific predictions
regarding the relationship between financial incentives and performance per se,
although under certain conditions, deviations from fairness may erode the
association of financial incentives to perfornlance (e.g., Kanfer, 1990).

But money alone is not always enough to motivate high performance.

Consequently, all researchers do not accept the role of money as one of the most
salient motivational factors and overall, both theory and practice highlight the
ambiguity ill how financial incentives affect performance. Kohn (1993) has
published warnings in the popular literature about the harmful effects of rewards
on employee performance. He states that "rewards typically undermine the very
processes they are intended to enhance" (Kohn, 1993, p. 54). He claims that

25
rewards used in work organizations, such as stock options, pension plans, sale
commissions, bonuses, and vacations generally result only in "temporary
compliance".

Perhaps the most significant argument against financial incentives concerns the
detrimental effects of money on intrinsic motivation (Eisenberg & Cameron,
1996; Kohn, 1993). Opponents argue that financial incentives control employee
behavior externally, reducing self-determination and intrinsic motivation (Deci
& Ryan, 1985). They also jeopardize the relationship between supervisors and
subordinates (Meyer, 1975). Opponents argue further that money is not a
motivator (Kohn, 1993); financial incentives may reduce job dissatisfaction, but
they do not motivate (Hetzberg, 1968). Further, Cavanagh (1992) found that the
level of salary was not a significant factor to determine job satisfaction. Holzer
(1990) discovered that experience and knowledge had more influence on
productivity than earnings. Like Holzer, Guest (1990) could not find a strong
relationship between productivity and salary in an analysis of British
productivity in the 80's.

People's attitudes toward money may have significant impacts on their

perceptions of work-related tasks, the reward system, and their intrinsic
motivation to a task. This in tum may influence their work-related behavior,
task performance, job satisfaction and morale, and the effectiveness of the
organization (Tang, 1995). People's attitudes toward money are consistent with
their inner values, their frame- of reference, their culture, and their experience in
society. Tang (1995) reported that those people who value money do not
necessarily have a higher income than those who do not, and they therefore tend
to have a higher level of pay dissatisfaction.

Pay satisfaction has also shown to influence work related behaviors. One of the
most well-known models of pay satisfaction was proposed by Lawler (1981) and
later modified by Heneman (1985). Both of these models are based on the
concept that discrepancies in employee's perception of amount that should be
received and perception of amount that is received are major determinants of

26
pay satisfaction. One of the differences between the two models is that
Heneman's (1985) model conceptualizes pay satisfaction in multi-dimensional
terms. Heneman (1985) argued that individuals develop a general attitude to
their compensation, as well as more specific attitudes towards each of several
component parts of their compensation, including (a) salary level (external
competitiveness), (b) pay structure (internal consistency), (c) individual salary
(employee's contribution) and (d) the administration of the entire pay system.
The four dimensions have been supported (Judge, 1993; Judge & Welbourne,
1994). Heneman (1985) also stated that pay satisfaction can be expected to be
related to such behaviors as turnover, absenteeism, and union activity.

Lum, Kervin, Clark, Reid, and Sirola (1998) supported the finding that pay
satisfaction has an effect on turnover intention. In addition, Aryee (1999)
showed that the relationship between pay satisfaction and life satisfaction was
significant and positive.

How and if incentives will affect motivation and job performance among
employees might depend on, for example, cultures, position in the organization,
and other factors. According to Persson (1994), Swedish companies do not
consider payment as a motivational aspect, partly because the level of salary is
often decided outside the organization. An employee's level of payment is often
due to position only, not to performance. Pfeffer and Langton (1993) found that
the greater the degree of wage dispersion within academic departments, the
lower individual faculty members' satisfaction and research productivity are and
the less likely it is that faculty n1errlbers will collaborate on research. In a study
by Levine (1993) both employees in the USA and Japan were studied. The result
showed that workers receiving high wages (compared with an average worker)
were less likely to quit the job and are more satisfied with their pay.

To conclude, there are few systematic examinations of the relationship of

financial incentives to employee behaviors, and little effort is devoted to
assessing this relationship in the cumulative scientific knowledge base. This is
perhaps because studies of the impact of financial incentives are complex. They

27
must address the different meanings, literal and symbolic, of money, and other
outcomes (e.g., promotions, coworkers resentment, turnover) that might
deliberately or inadvertently be associated with financial incentives, differences
in utility of money, social comparison that financial incentives evoke, group
norms, organizational structure, and so on. An estimate of the overall association
of financial incentives with performance is necessarily affected by a multitude
of factors. Such factors are attitude toward money, cultural differences, and the
tax system.

2.3.5 Intrinsic motivation

A more current trend in work motivation views behavior as being intrinsically

motivated. Intrinsically motivated behavior can be defined, loosely, as behavior
that is performed for its own sake rather than for the purpose of acquiring any
material or social rewards. Intrinsic motivation, or engaging in a task for its
enjoyment value, is one of the most powerful forms of motivation according to
Deci and Ryan (1987). Further, it is associated with enhanced performance,
improved conceptual and creative thinking, superior memory recall, positive
affect, subsequent willingness to engage in other tasks, and better psychological
and physical health compared with other forms of motivation (Deci & Ryan,
1992).

One theoretical guide for much of that work has been self-determination theory.
A central point of self-determination theory is that people work, not only for
extrinsic rewards, but also to fulfill psychological needs such as autonomy,
competence, and relatedness. Moreover, if those three psychological needs are
fulfilled, for example in the workplace, this will lead to greater satisfaction,
enhanced performance, and general well-being according to the theory (e.g.,
Deci & Ryan, 1985; 1987; Ryan & Deci, 2000). These findings have been
supported in other studies as well (e.g., Ilardi, Leone, Kasser, & Ryan, 1993;
Lu, 1999). Further, although feelings of competence and interest in the task are
central to intrinsic motivation, a person must also feel free of pressure, for

28
example from rewards or potential punishment. The person must feel that her
"locus of causality" is internal, meaning that she is responsible for the choice of
the activity, that she is in command of how she is spending her time. Hence, the
notion of choice is central to the concept of self-determination. The person must
be in control of the alternatives for action and be able to choose among them
(Pinder, 1998).

One question extensively studied is the relation between intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation or more specifically, how extrinsic rewards affect intrinsic
motivation. According to Deci (1975) the detrimental effects of extrinsic events
on intrinsic motivation depend on the perceived salience of "controlling" versus
"informational" properties of the extrinsic event. According to Deci's theory,
events that are interpreted by the individual as informational should facilitate
intrinsic task interest, particularly when the information provided conveys a
sense of personal competence. Several studies testing this aspect of Deci's
theory provide further empirical evidence indicating that a variety of extrinsic
organizational events, such as rewards, goal-setting, feedback, and modeling
may also affect task interest, enjoyment, and behavior (Collar & Barrett, 1987;
Harackiewicz, Sansome, & Manderlink, 1985).

Moreover, Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999) found in their n1eta-analysis of 128
studies that engagement-contingent, completion-contingent, and performance-
contingent rewards significantly undermined free-choice intrinsic 1110tivation, as
did rewards, all tangible'rewards, and all expected rewards. Positive feedback on
the other hand enhanced both free-choice behavior and self-reported interest. To
further support this, Wild, Enzle, Nix, and Deci (1997) found that participants in
a study who read about an extrinsically motivated target expected that task
engagement would be less enjoyable and associated with less positive affect and
that there would be poorer quality of interpersonal relations, compared with
participants reading about intrinsically motivated targets. Participants in a
second study who were taught a skill by an extrinsically motivated (paid) target
reported lower interest in learning and lower task enjoyment than those taught

29
by intrinsically motivated (volunteer) target, despite receiving identical lessons
and learning to the same criterion level.

However, other meta-analyses have not reached the same conclusion. One n1eta-
analysis reported that, overall, a reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation.
When interaction effects are examined, findings show that verbal praise
produces an increase in intrinsic motivation. The only negative effect appears
when expected tangible rewards are given to individuals simply for doing a task
(Cameron & Pierce, 1994; Eisenberger, Pierce, & Cameron, 1999). According to
Wiersma (1991, 1992) the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards on
motivation are additive. In a study by Reeve and Deci (1996) they showed that
winning (relative to losing) increased intrinsic motivation by enhancing
perceived competence and a pressured (relative to non pressured) interpersonal
context decreased intrinsic motivation by diminishing perceived self-
determination.

To conclude, studies have shown that people who are intrinsically motivated,
enhance their performance and increase job satisfaction. The view presented
here is that opportunities for self-determination are regarded as a sign of the
psychological well-being of individuals. This view is not shared by all
researchers. Schwartz (2000) argues instead that freedom, autonomy, and self-
determination can become excessive, and when that happens, freedom can be
experienced as a kind of tyranny. Furthermore, in the literature it is argued either
for extrinsic motivation or intrinsic motivation. Frey (1997) suggested a more
balanced approach to understand the concept of work in firms. Frey stated that
both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation must be taken into account.

2.3.6 Goal and goal setting

Goals are widely recognized as being central to the understanding of motivated

behavior, with different research disciplines emphasizing different levels and
types of goals and their consequences. Personality research has focused on the

30
nature of goals or higher level personal striving (e.g., Carver & Scheier, 1981;
Emmons, 1989), whereas Locke and Latham (1990b) focused on middle-level
task goals; cognitive researchers have emphasized even lower level goals such
as script concepts (cf. Austin & Vancouver, 1996). Austin and Vancouver
(1996) stated that few researchers integrate multiple levels into a single
theoretical approach. Austin and Vancouver (1996) stated after reviewing goal
constructs in psychology that "the use of goals to understand behaviors, ranging
from the movement of a hand to life tasks to the way one sees the world, may
leave some a bit queasy. Yet, in all cases, the goals serve as a standard with
which perception of current or anticipated states are compared, which in tum
affects son1e processes (p. 361). A definition of goal presented by Austin and
Vancouver (1996, p. 338 ) said that a goal can be described "as internal
representations of desired states, where states are broadly construed as
outcomes, events, or processes. Internally represented desired states range from
biological set points for internal processes (e.g., body temperatllre) to complex
cognitive depictions of desired outcome (e.g., career success)".

Goal setting processes have come to occupy a central role in current theories of
applied motivation (Kanfer, 1990; Locke & Latham, 1984, 1990b. Goal
attributes, such as specificity and difficulty, have consistently been linked to the
effectiveness of goal setting based primarily on social cognitive theory

r
(Bandura, 1986).

Goal difficulty 1
I Values I Emotions
and
desires
Responses or
actions
Work behavior
and performance

_ _ Levelof
commitment

Figure 2. An illustration of Locke's theory of goal-setting (adapted from

Mullins, 1996, p. 511).

31
The most fundamental belief of Locke and Latham's (1984, 1990b) goal setting
theory is that goals are responsible for human behavior. Locke and Latham
accept the importance of perceived value, and suggest that these values create
the experience of emotions and desires. People strive to achieve goals to satisfy
their emotions and desires. Goals guide people's responses and actions. Goals
direct work behavior and performance, and lead to certain consequences or
feedback (Locke & Latham, 1984; 1990b). Locke and Latham's theory of goal
setting is illustrated in Figure 2.

Furthermore, a goal is something that a person tries to attain, achieve, or

accomplish. In work settings, goals may take the form of constructs such as a
level of job performance, a quota, a work norm, a deadline, or even a budgetary
spending limit (Locke, Shaw, Saari, & Latham, 1981). Multiple reviews and
meta-analyses of goal-setting literature have concluded that there is substantial
support for the basic principle of goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990a,
1990b; Wofford, Goodwin, & Premack, 1992). First, specific and difficult goals
consistently lead to better performance than specific and easy goals, general
goals such as "do your best", or no goals (Brown & Latham, 2000; Locke, 1996;
Tubbs, 1986; Vance & Colella, 1990). The effectiveness of difficult goals is
predicted on the assumption that commitment to such a goal is high (Locke,
Latham, & Erez, 1988). As stated by Locke, Latham, and Erez (1988), "It is
virtually axiomatic that if there is no commitment to goals, then goal setting
does not work" (p. 23). Goal commitment is proposed to be a moderator of the
relationship between performance and task performance. Higher levels of goal
commitment lead to a stronger relationship between perfom1ance goals and
subsequent performance. However, a meta-analytic review by Donovan and
Radosevich (1998) found that the moderating effect of goal commitment on
goal-performance accounted for only 3% of the variance in performance.

Twenty years of research on the effects of goal-setting on performance have led

several reviewers (Locke, et aI., 1981; Mento, Steel, & Karren, 1987; Tubbs,
1986) to conclude that the effects of goals on performance are an10ng the most
robust of any theory to be found in the motivation literature. Pinder (1984)

32
observed in his own review of all the major motivation theories that "goal
setting theory has demonstrated more scientific validity to date than any other
theory or approach to work motivation ....." (p. 169). Goal setting increases
performance motivationally through its effect on one's intentions regarding
effort and persistence; it increases performance cognitively by directing
attention/intention to discover strategies that will lead to goal attainment
(Earley, Conolly, & Ekegren, 1989; Latham, Winters, & Locke, 1994).
However, Kanfer and Akerman (1989) concluded that goal setting is an effective
motivational technique only when the first two of three stages of learning have
taken place: declarative and knowledge compilation. It has been found that
setting specific goals on tasks where the person has yet to acquire the requisite
ability to perform well has a negative effect on performance.

There are different ways goals can be set. The goals may be self-set or set by
others. However, concerning assigned goals, Wright, Hollenbeck, Wolf, and
McMahan (1995) reported that how assigned goals are derived and how they are
communicated to subjects affects goal setting outcomes. Additionally,
Gollwitzer (1999) suggests that goals and resolutions stal1d a better chance of
being realized when they are furnished with implementation intentions that link
anticipated suitable opportunities to intended goal directed behavior.
Implen1entation intentions delegate the control of goal-directed behaviors to
specified anticipated environmental stimuli. People are frequently confronted
with situations where they cannot rely on their habits and automatically
activated goals. This is when action control through the formation of
implementation intentions is most valuable (Gollwitzer, 1999). Sheldon a11d
Elliot (1998) showed that autonomous goals, which are undertaken with a sense
of full willingness and choice, are better attained than controlling goals, which
are felt to be con1pelled by internal or external forces or pressure.

In conclusion, although goal setting theory is known as valid and useful, there
are some criticisms to it. Deci (1992) stated that goal setting theory is relatively
mute on the issue of human nature. Deci claimed that the idea of goals, as
efficient causes of behavior, represents a type of explanation that has a machine

33
metaphor flavor, and goal mechanisms are still mechanisms regardless of
whether they are cognitions or associations. He argued that a comprehensive
theory of motivation requires more than the concept of goals.

2.3.7 Perceived control

The concept of employee control has had a long tradition in organizational

behavior theory and research (Ganster & Fusilier, 1989), being central to both
participation in decision making literature (Locke & Schweiger, 1979) and job
design literature (Hackman & Oldham, 1976). More recently, the construct has
been the focus of research in the occupational stress area (Karasek, 1979;
Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Moreover, personal control over one's work
environment is an important theme in many branches of social science.

Personal control can be defined as an individual's belief ill his or her ability to
effect a change in a desired direction (Greenberger & Strasser, 1986), which in
the work context reflects the extent to which employees perceive that they have
the opportunity to adopt behavioral efforts to control the quality, occurrence,
and duration of significant work-related events (Jimmieson & Terry, 1998).
Typically, control at work is made available by providing employees with a
range of different control options, including choice of work tasks, methods of
work, work pacing, work scheduling, control over resources, and control over
the physical environment (see Ganster, 1988).

Baltes and Baltes (1992) claimed that, in work situations, personal control
beliefs have consequences for job performance, largely because of their positive
or negative effects on work motivation. Specifically, Baltes and Baltes argued
that, because the attainment of work goals usually requires events to be changed
to suit the goal seeker to some extent, low personal control situations at work
upset and distract highly motivated employees much more than poorly
motivated employees. Employees who are not highly motivated are more willing
to accept the consequences of not being able to control events to their liking

34
because they are less concerned about reaching their work goals. Because being
distracted and upset impairs performance in most jobs (Weiner, 1979), personal
control should moderate the relations between work motivation and job
performance. Orpen (1994) found that personal control moderated the effects of
work motivation on job satisfaction and performance, with highly motivated
employees being more adversely affected by low personal control. Dwyer and
Ganster (1991) found that perceived workload and control interacted
significantly to explain variance in satisfaction with work itself. Control over
one's work, including job autonomy and non-routine work, is positively
associated with job satisfaction (Ross & Reskin, 1992). The results presented by
Jimmiesson and Terry (1998) indicated that a high level of both objective and
subjective work control has a positive impact on level of task satisfaction.
Similar findings were presented by Sargent and Terry (1998) who presented a
positive relationship between perceived control and job satisfaction as well as
psychological well-being (Daniels & G-uppy, 1992). Finally, Ashforth and Saks
(2000) found that there were two distinct responses to perceived personal
control. The first implied a proactive orientation where control begets control
and the second implied a reactive orientation where unmet expectation prompts
a sense of futility and withdrawal.

To conclude, it has been shown that it is important for employees, or for all
people for that matter, to perceive themselves to have control over a situation. In
fact, perceived control and generalized expectancies of control may be important
cognitive mediators of actual control (Frese, 1989). Indeed, laboratory research
suggests that a belief in control may be more important than actual control
(Ganster & Fusilier, 1989).

35
2.3.8 Factors related to work motivation

2.3.8.1 Occupational and organizational stress (work stress)

Stress has become one of the most serious health issues of the twentieth century-
a problem not just for individuals in terms of physical and mental disabilities,
but also for employers and governments who have started to assess its financial
damage. Matteson and Ivancevich (1987) estimate that stress causes half of
absenteeism, 49% of turnover, and 5% of total lost productivity due to
preventable occupational stress. Occupational stress has serious consequences
for both individuals, employees and organizations.

The term stress, meaning hardship or adversity, can be found - though without a
programmatic focus - at least as early as in the 14 th century, (for further
historical outlooks of stress see Khan & Byosier, 1992; Lazarus, 1993).
Organizational stress or job stress has many definitions, but research under that
label is usually concerned with the negative effects of the workplace'
environment, sometimes in conjunction with the employee's own characteristics,
on an employee's health and well-being (Beehr, 1995).

Much of the impetus for this interest in occupational stress has grown from the
early work of Karasek and his colleagues (e.g., Karasek, 1979; Karasek, Marxer,
Ahlborn & Theorell, 1981; Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Karasek (1979)
hypothesized that job demand (e.g. high workload) was not in itself harmful, but
when combined with low employee control, demand could lead to the
development of cardiovascular diseases. When both job demands and control are
high, Karasek describes the job as 'active', that is, one in which the demands act
as sources of challenge, rather than sources of mental and physical stress, which
can also lead to the individual experiencing an increased motivation to perform.
The model has been supported to some extent by some studies (Daniels &
Guppy, 1992; Ross & Reskin, 1992), whereas others have shown no support for
it (Fletcher & Jones, 1993). A prediction ofKaresek's Job-demand model is that

36
motivation and job satisfaction will occur in situations where both job demands
and worker's control are high, which was supported by Jonge, Breukelen,
Landeweerd, and Nijhuis (1999). In a Swedish study, it was found that both
women and men having no control over their work situation, together with
having monotonous work tasks, had a higher stress level. The highest perceived
stress level, both in women and men, was found in female dominated
professions (Knutsson & Nilsson, 1994).

Many other theories explaining work stress have been suggested and
contemporary approaches to occupational stress use a psychological model
which views work stress as part of a dynamic il1teraction between the worker
and the work environment. Two related theories can be found in this approach:
interactional theories and transactional theories.

Interactional theories emphasize the importance of the "fit" between a person

and their work. According to French, Caplan, and Van Harrison (1982), work
stress results primarily from an incompatible person-environment fit, producil1g
psychological strain and stress-related physical disorders. Stress can best be
looked at as a particular relationship between an individual and a specific
environment, as a process taking place in a context. The other approach,
transactional theories, focus on the cognitive processes and emotional reactions
that underpil1 the interactions. A transactional approach to stress was suggested
by Lazarus (1991), who argued that traditional approaches to work stress are not
useful at the individual and group level.

Stress can best be looked at as a particular relationship between an individual

and a specific environment, and as a process taking place in a context. Stress
also depends on how an individual appraises what is happening.

However, stress has many effects. Generally, stress has been shown to lower job
satisfaction (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992). Chaplain (1995) found a negative relation
between job satisfaction and stress in a study of English primary school
teachers. Further, high occupational stress reports were related to low level of

37
job satisfaction. Lu (1999) found in a study of employees in Taiwall that work
n10tivation, especially intrinsic motivation, was positively associated with well-
being. Fogarty Machin, Albion, Sutherland, Lalor, and Revitt (1999) examined
the relationship between stress, strain and job satisfaction in two studies and
found that stress and strain accounted for 29% of the variance in the first study
and 35% in the second study. Begley and Czajka (1993), fOUIld, however, that
stress increased job displeasure only when commitment was low.

Spielberger and Reheiser (1994) suggested a work stress nleasurement called the
Job Stress Survey (JSS), which was designed to assess the perceived intensity
and frequency of occurrence of working conditions that are likely to adversely
affect the psychological well-being of the employees. In a study of white-collar
employees of a large n1anufacturing firm, the results showed that they
considered lack of organizational support more stressful than experienced job
pressure (Turnage & Spielberger, 1991). Results from a sample of MBA
students and a sample of practicing managers showed that employees in high-
stress jobs were rated as more effective, committed, and burned out than
employees in low-stress jobs when performance was measured by using
subjective descriptive anchors (Rotondo Fernandez & Perrewe, 1995).

Stressful situations may lead, not only to dissatisfaction, but also to somatic
problems (coronary heart disease, hypertension, migraine headaches, insomnia),
psychological difficulties (anxiety, depression, fear, etc.) and adverse behavioral
reactions (for example drinking, smoking). While stress can thus manifest itself
in many ways, one of the more significant symptoms from an organizational
perspective is employee burnout. Burnout is characterized by deteriorating job
performance and decreasing energy levels caused by the cumulative effect of
continuing daily pressure (Etzion, 1988). One question that could be asked is if
job satisfaction is an antecedent or a consequence of psychological burnout
(Wolpin, Burke, & Greenglass, 1991).

38
To conclude, some researchers have pointed out the need of understanding stress
not only from an individual perspective but also as an organizational
phenomenon (Burk, 1993; Jaffe, 1995; James & Arroba, 1999). Further, James
(1999) stated that a strategic initiative on stress can only be achieved by
understanding stress as part of the fabric of organizational life.

2.3.8.2. Work interest

Interest is described as a pleasant emotional state that directs and sustains

activity (Izard, 1977), and the presence or absence of interest in work tasks, and
generally in life, colors the experience of existence and of what is worth our
attention (Wiener, 1986). Izard (1977) classifies interest as an emotion others
classify interest in attributional terms (Weiner, 1986).

Interest is manifested behaviorally through voluntary participation in particular

activities, sustained attention to and enjoyment of the activities, and subsequent
persistence in them (Dawis, 1991). Bingham (1937) defined interest as "a
tendency to become absorbed in an experience and to continue in it ... not only
in terms of the objects and activities which get attention and yield satisfaction,
but also in terms of the strength of the tendencies to give attention to and seek
satisfaction in these competing objects of interest" (p. 62). Dawis (1991) stated
that Bingham's definition consists of several elements which are the following:
An interest (a) is a dispositional variable (tendency), (b) has cognitive
(attention), behavioral (experience), and affective (satisfaction) compol1ents, and
(c) has dimensions of intensity (strength of tendency) and duration (continuance
in experience).
Moreover, Sjoberg (1997) claimed that interest is characterized by several states.
Firstly, interest is a psychological condition (process) that is characterized by
concentration and enjoyment. Secondly, it is easier for us to learn if we are
interested. Thirdly, interest is strongly dependent on possibility of autonomy,
like intrinsic motivation; we tend to lose interest if we perceive external control.
Thus, it is possible that rewards associated with control might decrease work

39
interest. It is also possible that the way job tasks are construed has some
influence on work interest. For example, optimal level of challenge is possibly
one factor of importance, frequent feedback another. Finally, interest is a
function of challenge and ability, which determines what is a moderately
difficult challe11ge. It is important that a challenge can stimulate an activity
where an individual has a good chance of succeeding. Similar findings as those
of Sjoberg have been reported by Csikszentmihalyi (1992). Csikszentmihalyi
has mainly studied expert performers' experience of interest and fOllnd that
interest is a psychological state characterized by strong concentration and sense
of enjoyn1ent, which is described as "flow". The subjects described it as being
strongly concentrated and that they felt joy and satisfaction.

Some researchers argue that certain conditions must be fulfilled in order to

develop interest: (a) the individual must have a certain specific ability and
sensitivity, (b) there must be environmental possibilities and (c) social support
(Deci, 1992; Lykke, Bouchard, McGue, & Tellegen, 1993). In addition, Cury,
Biddle, Famose, Goudas, Sarrazin, and Durand (1996) found that perceived
competence influenced interest positively, which was also found in the study of
Harackiewicz, Barron, and Elliot (1997).

Lykke, Bouchard, McGue, and Tellegen (1993) reported that about 50% of
interest variance was associated with genetic variation. Further, in longitudinal
studies, some stability over time was found for vocational interest (Austin &
Hanisch, 1990; Dawis, 1991, Lubinski, Benbow, & Ryan, 1995; Swanson &
Hansen, 1988). In fact, people often give interest as a reason for their vocational
choice (Sjoberg, 1983).
In prior studies, it has been reported that work interest has been associated with
a host of positive consequences, such as greater perceived competence, freedom,
and positive emotions (Deci, 1992) as well as a positive relation both to job
satisfaction and commitment (Winer & Gati, 1986). A previous study showed
that work interest is one of the most influential factors in explaining work
motivation (Sjoberg & Lind, 1994). Furthermore, in a meta-analysis of
predictors ofjob performance for salespeople, interest was a promising predictor

40
both of performance ratings (.50) and a sales criterion (.50) (Vinchur, Shippman,
Switzer, & Roth, 1998).

In conclusion, most people have fewer problems performing interesting

activities at work than boring ones because they perceive interesting work tasks
to be more enjoyable (Green-Demers, Pelletier, Stewart, & Gushue, 1998). That
interesting work tasks was one of the most important factors when it comes to
their job has been found in several studies (e.g., Giorgi, & Marsch, 1990;
Kovach, 1995; Tollgerdt-Andersson, 1993; Quintanilla, 1990). Work interest has
also been associated with meaningful work tasks, possibilities to make choices,
self-determination, competence and producing results (Thomas & Velthouse,
1990).

2.3.8.3 Creativity

Creativity, which refers to employees' generation of novel and useful ideas

(Amabile, 1983) is a topic that is important at both the individual and societal
level. Individuals, organizations, and societies must adapt existing resources to
changing task demands in order to remain competitive. Therefore, creativity is
important for organizations (Sternberg & Lubart, 1996). Moreover,
organizations today operate in an increasingly uncertain world. Organizations
constantly search for new marketing strategies, new products, services, new
manufacturing processes, and new managerial practices to adapt to the rapidly
changing environment. Almost all of these new ways of doing business start
with new ideas. Thus, more than ever before, organizations strive for creativity
and innovation in order to survive and grow (Kanter, 1983; Van Gundy, 1987).

Numerous commentators have argued that enhancing the creative perfoffi1ance

of employees is a necessary step if organizations are to achieve competitive
advantage (Amabile, 1988; Shalley, 1995). When employees perform creatively,
they suggest novel and useful products, ideas, or procedures that provide an
orgal1ization with important raw material for subsequent development and

41
possible implementation (Amabile, 1988; Staw, 1990; Woodman, Sawyer, &
Griffin, 1993).

Scott (1996) has formulated a recently suggested definition of creativity. Scott

stated that if creativity is defined as "the process of using imagination and skill
to invent a unique product or thought, the employee is allowed more creative
latitude" (p. 66). Scott claims that this proposal differs from standard definitions
of creativity, because it incorporates artistic emphasis and the 'bottom-line
concerns' of management.

Amabile (1985) suggested that the more skilled a person is in a specific area, the
higher ability that person has to, for example, generate new ideas. Creative
behavior is likely to be determined by a complex interaction between the
attributes of the individual and the attributes of the environment (Mumford &
Gustafson, 1988). A large body of literature has focused on determining a set of
personal characteristics and attributes associated with creative achievement
(Barron & Harrigton, 1981; Davis, 1989). This research has examined personal
characteristics ranging from biological factors to measures of cognitive styles
and intelligence (Amabile, 1983; Barron & Harrigton, 1981; Davis, 1989). In
general, these studies have demonstrated that a stable set of core personal
characteristics, including broad interest, attraction to complexity, intuition,
aesthetic sensitivity, tolerance of ambiguity, and self-confidence, relate
positively and consistently to measures of creative performance across a variety
of domains (Barron & Harrigton, 1981; Martindale, 1989). Although the search
for personal characteristics predictive of creative performance dominated
creative research for several decades, recent research has begun to examine the
effects of such contextual factors as goals, deadlines, and expected evaluations
on the individual's creative performance (Amabile, 1982; Amabile, Goldfarb, &
Blackfield, 1990; Shalley, 1995). Most of this research, however, has been
conducted in behavioral laboratories and has followed an "intrinsic motivation"
perspective.

42
According to this perspective, the context in which an individual performs a task
influences his or her intrinsic motivation, which in tum affects creative
achievement (Amabile, 1988). Individuals are expected to be most creative
when they experience a high level of intrinsic motivation, that is, when they are
excited about their work activity and interested in engaging in it for the sake of
the activity itself (Amabile, 1983; Shalley, 1991). Under these conditions,
individuals are free of extraneous concerns and are likely to take risks, to
explore new cognitive pathways, and to be playful with ideas and materials
(Amabile, Goldfarb, & Brackfield, 1990) They are also likely to stay focused on
the internal nature of the task and work longer on the idea or problem. Situations
that encourage this exploration and persistence should increase the likelihood of
creative performance. An intrinsically motivated individual tends to be
cognitively more flexible (McGraw & Fiala, 1982), to prefer complexity and
novelty (Pittman, Emergy, & Boggiano, 1982). Therefore, he or she is more
likely to find many alternatives to solve a problem, to use nontraditional
approaches, and to be persistent. All of these arguments suggest that an
intrinsically motivated individual is more likely to exhibit high creativity. A
number of studies have supported the arguments that intrinsic motivation leads
to creativity (Amabile, 1985; Amabile, 1997; Koestner, Ryan, Bernieri, & Holt,
1984).

Several organizational conditions or work environments have been suggested in

order to enhance creativity. Ekvall (1996) identified ten organizational
conditions that stimulate creativity and innovation: challenge, freedon1, idea
support, trust/openness, dynamism/liveliness, playfulness/humor, debates, low
conflicts, high risk taking, and idea time. Zhou (1998) reported that individuals
who received positive feedback delivered in an informational style, and those
who worked in a high task autonomy work environment, generated the most
creative ideas. Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, and Herron (1996) stated that
five work environment dimensions differed between high and low creative
projects, and thus these dimensions may play an important role in influencing
creative behavior in organizations: challenge, organizational encouragement,
work group support, supervisory encouragement, and organizational

43
impediments. Recent theory and research on organizational creatIvIty has
emphasized the importance of creating favorable work environments to release
employees' creative energy (e.g., Amabile, 1988; Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin,
1993).

In addition, Oldham and Cummings (1996) reported that participants (171

employees from two manufacturing facilities) produced the most creative work
when they had appropriate creativity-relevant characteristics, worked on
complex, challenging jobs, and were supervised in a supportive, non controlling
fashion.

Creativity has been argued to be positively related to work motivation

(Tollgerdt-Andersson & Sjoberg, 1992). Tollgerdt-Andersson and Sjoberg
(1992) argued that creativity is a motivational factor in both general and specific
work situations. Tierney, Farmer and Graen (1999) found that when employees
enjoy creative-related tasks, their level of creative output is high. Kaufmann and
Vosburg (1997) found that mood affects performance of creative problem-
solving tasks and the worst performance was obtained in a positive mood
condition.

Furthermore, Amabile (1998, 1997) claimed that within every individual,

creativity is a function of three components: expertise (knowledge-technical,
procedural, and intellectual.), creative-thinking skills (determine how flexibly
and imaginatively people approach problems) and intrinsic motivation (an inner
passion to solve the problem at hand leads to solutions far more creative than do
external rewards, such as money). Monetary rewards given for performance of
an assignment over which the individual has no choice, can enhance creativity,
but when the individual is offered a reward for consenting to perform the task,
creativity n1ay be llndermined (Amabile, 1983). In addition, Amabile (1988)
found that extrinsic rewards decrease creativity and the quality of what is
produced. If a person is doing a work task for his or her own sake and not only
because of external rewards the result is a higher creative level.

44
To encourage creativity, managers may consider giving positive feedback in an
informal style. If feedback is going to be delivered, it is advisable to do so in an
informal manner. In addition, when designing the work environment to facilitate
creativity, managers need to consider multiple aspects of the organizational
context, including social and task dimensions. The study suggests that by
simultaneously giving positive feedback in an informal style, and allowing high
autonomy at work, managers may substantially facilitate employees' creativity
(Zhou, 1998).

2.3.8.4 Work environment

The physical work environment includes everything from the design of the
building to the location of public transportation or parking facilities.
Characteristics of the physical work environment, such as the lightning, noise
levels, temperature, air quality (Baron, 1994), and the availability of equipment
needed to perform the job, may limit the degree to which employees can convert
all of their well-intended efforts.

Recognition that the work environment can significantly affect job satisfaction
has stimulated research in all areas of work environment. For example, the
general layout of working spaces in a building has been shown to affect such
things as conununication (Nemcek & Grandjean, 1973). Lighting can be linked
not only to feelings of fatigue but can also give impressions of clarity,
spaciousness, and relaxation (Flynn, 1977).

Altering the length or pattern of the work shift can frequently lead not only to
happier but also to more productive workers as both boredom and fatigue are
enemies of happiness and productivity (Evans, 1975). Four-day work weeks are
becoming more and more popular. Management has found that the four-day
week can facilitate recruitment, raise morale, lower absenteeism, and even
increase production (Poor, 1973). In a study of nurses, varying shift work gave
less job satisfaction than permanent shift work (lawaI & Baba, 1992).

45
Because noise can directly alter arousal levels, it can improve or retard
performance depending on other task characteristics (Kryter, 1970). A number
of offices allow music or play music to their employees. In general, most of
these studies suggested that music has a small positive effect on performance
(Sundstrom, 1986). Oldham, Cummings, Mischel, Schmidtke, and Zhou (1995)
found that employees that used headset or could listen to music at work
exhibited significant improvements in performance, turnover intentions,
organizational satisfaction, mood states, and other responses. The mood state of
relaxation explained the relation between stereo use and performance best.

There is a second aspect of work environment which is the psychological one.

G·umn1er (1998) emphasized tl1e enormous importance of the role played by
social psychological factors in how people acted in organizations. Higgins
(2000) reported that the more good relationships an individual has to colleagues
the greater will his or her work satisfaction be. A study has shown that social
support received from coworkers is an important factor for job satisfaction
(Ducharme & Martin, 2000). Organizational support increases employees'
expectation and innovation behavior (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro,
1990; Meyer & Allen, 1987). Eisenberger, Fasolo and Davis-LaMastro (1990)
found that perceived organizational support and involvement in the employees'
work was quite strongly related to performance and absenteeism.

Furthermore, a positive atmosphere and "good chemistry" between people at the

workplace increases people's productivity and well-being (Sjoberg & Tollgerdt-
Andersson, 1985). Experimental studies of small groups have shown that there
is a relationship between what people think about each other and performance
(Lott & Lott, 1985). Furthermore, Giorgi and Marsch (1990) found that nice
colleagues was one of the most important factors at work. Ravlin and Meglino
(1987) showed that people valued that "one care about each other" at work.
Eisenberger and his associates (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa,
1986; Shore & Tetrick, 1991) proposed that employees in the workplace form a

46
general perception of the extent to which their organization values their
contributions and cares about their well-being.

In conclusion, most managers would certainly like to create a working

environment in which people like working and in which people work well, a
working environment which helps to enrich the life of those who work there. As
shown here, the working environment is not only the physical one, like lightning
and location, but also the coworkers' support and social relationship in general
at work is important for creating this kind of working environment.

2.3.8.5 Perceived risks

Risks and negative incidents can be perceived differently and have different
effects depending on, for example, a person's earlier experience. McLain (1995)
claimed that different risks are associated with multifaceted subjective
interpretations. The explorations of the ways in which individuals interpret
societal, individual, and organizational risks suggest that different kinds of risks
are associated with differing cognitive interpretations (March & Shapira, 1987;
Slovic, 1987; Sitkin & Pablo, 1992). The aims of risk perception research are to
understand what factors and what processes are involved in subjective judgment
of risk (Drottz-Sjoberg, 1995).

Risk is a common word in many languages, and its various ll1eanings were
summarized by Drottz Sjoberg (1995): "risks cal1 be construed as either the mere
possibility of an adverse event, the cause of an event, the magnitude of the
consequence, as someone or something judged as a hazard and as the
conceptualization of a procedure for the estimation of a quantity" (p. 123). This
illustrates the variety of concepts included in the construct of risk. All those
together constitute the risk concept (Drottz-Sjoberg, 1995).

Perceived risks have been studied in relation to, for example, job satisfaction,
where Leigh (1991) as well as Roberts (1993) found that dangerous working

47
conditions decrease job satisfaction. Moreover, Zaccaro a11d Stone (1988)
reported that the perceived risk level and intellectual challenges are important
aspects of job characteristics. Risk interpretation, such as an individual's
concerns about risk, the fairness of risk exposure, and the economic meaning of
risk, has been found to be related to job satisfaction, just as concen1 with
perceived work environment conditions, compensation fairness, and rewards for
performance influence job satisfaction (Cook, Hepworth, Wall, & WaIT, 1981).
McLain (1995) found that lower perceived risk and stronger belief that risk
exposure was evenly distributed were positively related to satisfaction with both
workplace conditions and with work in general. Hall and Spector (1991)
reported that individuals working at the same job, and who experie11ced less
satisfaction, perceived greater workload, dangerousness, and role conflict.

Perceived risks have in a previous study by Sjoberg and Lind (1994) been
related to work motivation. They found two kinds of perceived risks; one that is
positively related to, and one negatively related to, work motivation. It is
possible that some kind of risks and incidents decrease the motivation level,
while others are accepted and do not affect motivation. Taking on a difficult task
always involves a risk, and risk seems to have a dual effect on motivation.

It gives rise to fear, of course, but in studies of fighter pilots flying difficult and
somewhat risky missions under very high stress (Svensson Angelborg-Thanderz,
Sjoberg 1993) a clear tendency was found that perceived risks gave challenge
and a positive will to achieve (Svensson, Angelborg-Thanderz, Sjoberg, &
Gillberg, 1988).

People perceive risks or negative incidents differently, which makes it difficult

to predict which factors are considered the most negative ones. Therefore, it is
important to be aware of the influence that differently perceived risks have on
people. It might be difficult to completely avoid some of the risks at work, but to
be aware of them a11d maybe discuss them with the employees might help
decreasing the negative influence of perceived risk on work motivation. A risk
at a workplace could be dependent on the actual environment. It is important

48
that people feel safe at work and that it should be experienced as comfortable
and that right facilities should be provided in order to do a good job.

2.3.8.6 Background factors

The age of the person, how long a person has worked in an organization or in a
profession, marital status, and whether the employee is a man or a woman are
only some of the background factors that have shown to affect an individual at
work. Previous studies have shown that background data are among the best
predictors of job performance (Hunter & Hunter, 1984; Mumford & Stokes,
1992).

Several studies have examined the relationship between age and job satisfaction.
In fact, observed age differences in overall job satisfaction are greater than those
associated with gender, education, ethical background or income (Weaver,
1980). The relationship has shown to be inconsistent. Firstly, in an extensive
review of the literature on age, Rhodes (1983) concluded that overall job
satisfaction was positively associated with age with older employees tending to
report higher satisfaction than younger ones (Doering, Rhodes, & Schuster,
1983; Warr, 1992). Secondly, the relationship between age and job satisfaction
has also been shown to be u-shaped. Kacmar and Ferri (1989), as well as
Oswald and Warr (1996), reported a U-shaped relationship between age and job
satisfaction. Thirdly, Geyer and Daly (1998) examined the age-job satisfaction
relationship in facility relocation settings and found a modest but significant
negative correlation, which was not in line with the presented studies above.
Finally, Rhodes (1983) found approximately equal support for each of four
possible age-job satisfaction relations: negative, positive, curvilinear (inverted
U), and non-significa11t.

After reviewing 96 independent studies, McEvoy and Cascio (1989) concluded

that age and job performance generally were unrelated across different
occupations. However, for young employees the relationship between age and

49
performance was consistent and n10derately positive. In a meta analysis, Cohen
(1993) reported that the relationship between age and organizational
commitment as well as the relationship between tenure and organizational
commitment was weak.

The results of Wahn's (1998) study showed a positive relationship between

tenure and continuance commitment and a negative relationship between
educational level and continuance commitment. Holtzer (1990) found that
previous experience and tenure in the current job have significant positive
effects on wages and productivity. Quinones, Ford, and Teachout (1995) found
in their meta-analytic review a quite strong positive relationship between work
experience and job performance. This was also the finding of Kolz, McFarland,
and Silverman (1998).

Meaningful work was more likely to be ranked as first preference by women,

whereas promotion opportunities and security were more often ranked first by
men (Tolbert & Moen, 1998). Such findings are consistent with a number of
prior studies that have suggested that men are more oriented toward extrinsic
rewards, whereas women set a higher value on intrinsic rewards (Beutel, 1995;
Lueptow, 1996). Firebaugh and Harley (1995) found that 85% of U.S. workers
were happy with their jobs and that men and women were equal in that regard.
Aven, Parker, and McEvoy (1993) found in their meta-analysis no differences
between men and women concerning affective commitment. Loscocco (1990)
claimed that women may be less committed than men to employers because
women's first focus of loyalty is the home whereas career is second. Marsden,
Kalleberg, and Cook (1993) reported that men tend to have slightly higher
overall levels of general organizational commitment than women. Mathieu and
Zajac (1990) found the opposite, that is, that women in general are more
organizationally committed, although the difference was small. Wahn (1998)
claimed that women reported a higher level of continuance commitment than
men, but the sex difference was small.

50
2.3.8.7 Management/leadership

"Managers spend too much time in denial by insisting that they build a
n10tivating workplace when they often sabotage it. A motivating work
environn1ent is the responsibility of everyone" (En1ffierich, 1998, p. 20).

Management is the process of getting productive work done through the efforts
of other individuals; thus, understanding human motivation is essential for
managerial success. To do this effectively, the manager must answer this
question: "What will motivate people to willingly work toward organizational
goals?" The manager n1ust predict, with reasonable accuracy, the kinds of
behavior that result when different motivators are present. To make these
predictions, the manager needs to understal1d what motives or needs are n10st
likely to evoke productive behaviors in individuals at a particular time (Tin1m &
Peterson, 2000). While understanding the nature of motivation and son1e of its
effects on people is very useful, even more important is knOWil1g how to create
situations where motivation can work for managers and for their organization
(Timm & Peterson, 2000).

Managers can influence motivation by doing the following: (1) Having realistic
expectations, (2) Communicating about wants, needs, and goals, (3)
Understanding the differences between motivators and maintenance factors, (4)
creating a motivational climate (openness between managers and subordinates),
and (5) using the reward system (Tin1m & Peterson, 2000).

Supervisors and leaders have shown to have impact on subordinates' motivation.

Matching managers with teams that are not their natural fit will produce
excessive stress and friction between both parties (Allender & Allender, 1998).
Moreover, Lu (1999) stated that having a supportive supervisor at work could
make all the difference in the world. Indeed, supervisors can supply necessary
information and practical guidance, provide appreciation and recognition, decide
promotion and increase in payment etc. Lu (1999) found that social support
(from supervision) demonstrated consistent protective effects on well- being.

51
Tharenou (1993) investigated support received from supervisors, and found in a
longitudinal study that such support reduced the level of uncertified absence.
Supervisors' consideration towards their subordinates was also shown by
Zaccaro, Craig, and Quinn (1991) to be negatively associated with absenteeism
in the previous six months.

Miles, Patricks and King (1996) reported that communication (positive- relation
communication, upward-openness communication and job-relevant
communication) with one's superior was a significant predictor of job
satisfaction.

Furthermore, a leader's behavior or leadership style has in several studies shown

to be an important factor when it con1es to subordinates' motivation as well as
job satisfaction. Many different leadership/management styles have in the
literature been suggested as successful. Holdnak, Harsh, and Bushardt (1993)
found two correlations between a leader's behavior or style and job satisfaction,
suggesting that a leader who uses consideration in leadership has a positive
impact on his or her subordinates' job satisfaction. Holdnak et al. (1993) also
found a negative relationship between initiating structure behavior (involves
behaviors with which the leader organizes and defines the relationship in the
group) and job satisfaction, suggesting that leaders who use an initiating-
structure style will see a decrease in job satisfaction and a negative relationship
between initiating-structure leadership behavior and job satisfaction.

Moreover, Bryman (1992) found that transformational leadership (by

developing, inspiring and challenging the intellects of followers in order to go
beyond their self-interest in the service of a higher collective purpose, mission
or vision) behaviors were positively related to a number of important
organizational outcomes, including perceived extra effort and job satisfaction.

52
2.3.9 Summary

To sum up, there are many ways of defining work motivation depending on how
the human being is perceived. However, work motivation may be defined as the
process by which behavior is energized, directed, and sustained in work settings.
The definition of work motivation that was presented in this thesis is willingness
to work, which is built on the assumption that it is the will of an individual that
affects the work behavior. Moreover, many different factors and work
n10tivation theories have been introduced in the literature over the years. The
factors that were included in this thesis have in previous studies been shown to
either enhance or decrease motivation. Some of the factors have traditionally
been related to work motivation whereas others have more recently been
presented. In addition, the presented predictors of work motivation emphasize
different aspects. Some of the factors, such as payment, goal setting, work
environment, leadership, and perceived risks are factors that can be found
outside the individual, whereas intrinsic motivation, work interest, creativity,
and perceived control are factors that are to a higher extent related to factors
inside an individual. This shows the variety of factors that have been related to
work motivation.

53
2.4 Work related behavior

Motivation is not directly observable. What we observe is a multidimensional

stream of behavior and the products of those behaviors (Atkinson & Birch,
1970). There are three groups of behaviors or behavior outcomes associated with
work motivation: directional, intensity and persistence behaviors (Kanfer, 1990).
One way of looking at directional measures of work behavior is through
withdrawal behaviors, for example, absenteeisn1 and turnover, which are most
often used when investigating choice decisions between mutually exclusive
courses of actions. In the category of intensity measures, job performance and
task effort are common ways of measuring this. Nun1ber of hours worked is one
way of assessing persistence. Sin1ilar criterion variables were used in a meta-
analysis to evaluate the validity of Vroom's Expectancy work motivation theory
(Va11 Eerde & Thierry, 1996).

Withdrawal, as well as job performance and nun1ber of hours worked, are

presented in more detail below. A valid and useful measure of work motivation
should be closely related to these behaviors, as work motivation is reflected in
these work related behaviors. Sjoberg and Lind (1994) found that work
motivation defined as willingness to work was strongly related to absenteeism as
well as number of hours worked.

2.4.1 Direction (withdrawal behaviors)

Absenteeism and turnover are two of the most commonly acknowledged forms
of withdrawal (Pinder, 1998). The voluntary turnover of desirable employees is
in general considered detrimental to the organization, both in replacement costs
and work disruption. Generally, withdrawal behaviors might not only mirror
dissatisfaction but also low motivation level among employees.

54
2.4.1.1 Absenteeism

It is clear that absenteeism presents problems to both human resource

practitioners and researchers. Discontinuous attendance at work can
immediately lead to reduction in output, as a needed employee is not available.
It has proven difficult to determine the factors influencing attendance or on non-
attendance. One study has shown that absenteeism increased with age and
won1en in general were more absent than men (WaIT & Yearta, 1995). Other
studies have found that those employees who perceived social support at work
as high reported fewer sickness absences (Cutrona & Russel, 1990; Dnden,
1994).

Wooden (1995) listed organizational commitment as one of the most important

factors that has impact on absence. He commented that higher levels of
organizational commitment positively related to attendance, which suggested
that increased organizational commitment could lead to substantially reduced
levels of absenteeisn1. Significant, but weak negative relationships have
previously been found to exist between organizational con1mitment and
absenteeism in some studies (Blau, 1986; Mayer & Schoorman, 1992; Steers,
1977) but not in others (Ivancevich, 1985; Jamal, 1984). In fact, Ivancevich
(1985) found that an individual's past absenteeisn1 was a better predictor of
subsequent absenteeism than the individual's level of organizational
commitment. Savery, Travaglione and Fims (1997) reported only a weak
negative association between organizational commitment and absenteeism, and
other researchers have cast doubt on the existence of a negative relation between
organizational commitment and absenteeism (Angle & Perry, 1981; Mowday,
Porter, & Steers, 1982).

En1ployee absenteeism is a costly personnel problem attracting the attention of

theoreticians and practitioners alike (Hackett, 1989). Considerable research on
this topic has concerned the links between absence from work and work-related
attitudes, such as job satisfaction. Hanisch and Hulin (1991) theorized that
absenteeism reflects "invisible" attitudes, such as job dissatisfaction. However,

55
results have shown that no meaningful relationship between job satisfaction and
absenteeism exists (Hackett, 1989; Hackett & Guion, 1985; Mayer &
Schoorman, 1992).

Two basic types of absences have been distinguished: involuntary (e.g., certified
sickness) and voluntary (e.g., vacation, uncertified sickness). Voluntary
absences are under the direct control of the employee and are frequently utilized
for personal aims such as testing the market for alternative employment
prospects. Conversely, involuntary absences are beyond the employee's
immediate control. Hence, voluntary rather than involuntary absence from work
may reflect job dissatisfaction and lack of commitment to the organization.
Consequently, one may expect that work attitudes will be more negatively
related to voluntary absence than to involuntary absence (Sagie, 1998).
Moreover, Sagie (1998) found that job satisfaction and organizational
commitment were strongly related to aggregated duration of voluntary absence,
but not of involuntary absence.

2.4.1.2 Turnover (Intention to quit/leave)

Employee turnover may result in dramatic financial costs to organizations.

TUTI10ver not only has economic impact but also adversely affects training,
organizational development, and other human resource-development
interventions (Hatcher, 1999). Voluntary turnover has been the subject of
extensive theorizing and research because of its potential costs to organizations
in terms of loss of valuable human reSOtlrCes and disruption of ongoing activities
(Cascio, 1991a). Over time, organizations invest substantial resources in their
employees. The corresponding costs to the firm regarding employees quitting
the organization and the subsequent hiring of replacement employees can be
significant in terms of personal, work-unit, and organizational readjustments
(Cascio, 1991b; Mobley, 1982).

56
In many models, turnover intention is the immediate precursor to actual turnover
(e.g., Hom, Caranikas-Walker, Prussia, & Griffeth, 1992; Mobley, 1981;
Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, & Meglino, 1979; Steers & Mowday, 1977; Sager,
Griffeth, & Hom, 1998), and the relationship between intentions to quit and
actual turnover has been well-documented in the literature (e.g., Hom, Griffeth,
& Sellaro, 1984; Steel & Ovalle, 1984). Fishbein and his colleagues (Fishbein,
1967; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) argued that behavioral il1tention is antecedent to
actual behavior.

Although the relationship between job satisfaction and intention to leave is

generally thought to be negative (Carsten & Spector, 1987; Tett & Meyer,
1993), the magnitude of this relationship varies in the available literature.
Spector and Jex (1991) found that the relationship was strong (r = -.59 for a
sample of 322 U.S state civil-service employees. Hellman (1997) reported that
the relationship between job satisfaction and intention to leave was negative
(r =-.47). A moderate relationship (r = -.23, N = 190) was reported by Keller
(1984). Similarly, Newman (1974) used aspects of Fishbein's behavioral
intentions model to examine the turnover process among 108 U.S. nursing-home
employees and found a quite weak relationship (r = -.10). Furthermore,
employees from a large U.S. federal agency were less likely than employees
within the private sector to leave the organization.

Mathieu and Zajac (1990) as well as Randell (1990) have reported a weak
relationship between organizational commitment and turnover. Werbel and
Gould (1984) revealed an inverse relationship between organizational
commitment and turnover for nurses employed more than one year. Previous
work by Cohen (1991) has indicated that this relationship was stronger for
employees in their early career stages (i.e., up to 30 years old) than for those in
later career stages.

57
2.4.2 Persistence (Number of hours worked)

Behaviors that are referred to as persistence are behaviors related to, for
example, how long a person works (Kanfer, 1990). It is important here to
distinguish between voluntary and unvolutary hours worked, because a person
who is forced to work overtime might not be motivated to do so, whereas a
person who by free will stays at work might be motivated to do so. This
behavior is rarely related to work motivation, because there might be other
factors that affect the number of worked hours more than motivation itself.
However, Wallence (1997) found that work motivation was positively
associated with number of hours worked.

Individuals who view their work as salient are highly committed to their work
and/or career and therefore typically devote considerable time to their work role
(Aryee, 1992; Frone & Rice, 1987; Greenhaus & Kopelman, 1981; Greenhaus,
Parasuraman, Granrose, Rabinowitz, & Beutell, 1989; Wiley, 1987). Research
that compares number of worked hours with gender of workers found that
women work on an average fewer hours per week than men (Voydanoff, 1988).
Wallence (1997) reported that internal factors Gob commitment) and external
factors that reflect both work-related (work overload) and domestic (preschool
children for won1en) pressures are related to number of hours worked.

2.4.3 Intensity (Job performance)

It is common to evaluate and compare theories of work motivation by the extent

to which they successfully predict job performance (for a review, see Kanfer,
1992). Motivation and job perforrpance is not the same thing (Kanfer, 1990,
1992; Pinder, 1998). Kanfer (1990) stated that the construct of motivation
subsumes the determinants and processes underlying the development of
intentions, choice behaviors, and volitional activities.

58
The product of these motivational processes is the individual's overt and/or
covert behaviors. In contrast, performance typically refers to an evaluation of
the individual's behaviors.

It is assumed that the performance occurs in the context of a job, position, or

role in an orgal1ization, even if the organization consists of only two people. The
organization is assumed to exist for accomplishing certain goals, even if they
cannot be articulated. A full understanding of job performance depends on
having son1e understanding of the organizational goals to which individual
performance is supposed to contribute. Performance is something that people do
and is reflected in the actions that people take. It includes only those actions or
behaviors relevant to the organizatiol1al goals. Performance is not the
consequence(s) or result(s) of action, it is the action itself. Admittedly, this
distinction is troublesome in at least one major respect. That is, behavior is not
always observable and can be known only by its effects (Campbell, 1991).

Performance is to be distinguished from effectiveness and productivity.

Effectiveness refers to the evaluation of the results of performance. By
definition, the variance of a measure of effectiveness is controlled by more than
the actions of the individual plus error (Campbell & Campbell, 1988). The
definition of productivity, usually agreed upon, is the ratio of effectiveness to
the cost of achieving that level of effectiveness (Mahoney, 1988).

It is axiomatic that job performance is not one thing. A job is a very complex
activity and there are a number of major performance con1ponents
distinguishable in terms of their determinants and co-variation patterns with
other variables (Campbell, 1991).

Campbell (1991) suggested a performance model including three major

determinants. The first is declarative knowledge, which refers to knowledge
about the facts and things. Specifically, it represents an understanding of a given
task's requirements (e.g., general principles for equipment operation; Anderson,
1985; Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989). Examples of declarative knowledge include

59
knowledge of labels, facts, principles, goals, and self. The second determinant is
procedural knowledge and skill, which is attained when declarative knowledge,
or knowing what to do, has been successfully combined with knowing how to do
it. Examples of procedural knowledge and skill include cognitive, psychon10tor,
physical, perceptual, interpersonal, and self-management skills. The third
determinant, motivation, could be seen as a direct detem1inant of performance.

Often job performance can be divided into task performance and c011ceptual
performance. Task performance consists of job-specific behaviors including
core job responsibilities, for which the prin1ary antecedents are likely to be
ability and experience. Conceptual performance consists of non-job-specific
behaviors, such as cooperating with coworkers and showing dedication, for
which the primary antecedents are likely to be volition a11d personality (Borman
& Motowidlo, 1993). The concept of conceptual performance has recently
attracted considerable research attention, most likely due to changes in the
nature of organizations, such as team-based work (Borman & Motowidlo,
1997b).

Motowidlo, Borman, and Schmit (1997) claimed that job performance is

behavioral, episodic, evaluative, and multidimensional. Further, they suggested
a definition of job performance as "the aggregated value to the organization of
the discrete behavioral episodes that an individual performs over a standard
interval of time". (p. 71). The theory that Motowidlo, Borman, and Schmit
(1997) presented predicted that individual differences in personality and
cognitive ability variables, in combination with learning experiences, lead to
variability in knowledge, skills, and work habits that mediate effects of
personality and cognitive ability on job perfoffi1ance. Moreover, the kinds of
knowledge, skills, work habits, and traits that were associated with task
performance are different from the kinds that were associated with conceptual
performance.

60
As Campbell (1991) suggested, two of the major determinants of performance
refer to different kinds of knowledge. It is important to let people in their own
time acquire skills through practice (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Romer, 1993)
to be able to perform well. To be ready to practice, the learner must, however,
possess some initial competence. Exercising the initial competence by
repeatedly attempting to perform a novel task engenders increased competence
and, eventually, mastery, even in the absence of instruction. Kolz, McFarland,
and Silverman (1998) found that both ability and experience were important
predictors of work performance. The traditional view, supported by considerable
empirical evidence, is that cognitive ability is the most important determinant of
work motivation (Hunter & Hunter, 1984; Ree, Earles, & Teachout, 1994).

The assumption is that motivated employees perform better, and that can depend
on, for example, that they have a greater need for success, which can be met
only by good performance (Staw, 1984). They are also more goal-oriented and
compelled by their commitment to exert great effort in their work (Steers, 1977).
It should, however, be noted that poor job performance is not always a result of
low motivation (Pinder, 1998). In many cases it might be better attributed to
external factors, such as characteristics of the work environment (Baron, 1994),
and the availability of materials needed to perform ajob.

Other factors than motivation and competence have been suggested to effect job
performance. In pervious research it was found that autonomy (freedom to work
independently) and discretion (participation in decision-making) enhance both
motivation and job performance (Darden, Hampton, & Howell, 1989).
Employees are also assumed to work better if their jobs are well defined and if
they are recognized when they do their work well (Cheng & Kalleberg, 1996).
Length of service with the current employer appears to enhance performance.
Respondents who felt that they are noticed when they work well were more
likely to report better performance. Workers who report that hard work leads to
pay rises tend to report poorer quality performance, which is surprising because
pay rises are presumably used by employers to stimulate better performance
(Cheng & Kalleberg, 1996). Ree, Earles, and Teachout (1994) found that

61
general cognitive ability is the best predictor of all criteria and that specific
abilities or knowledge added only a small amount to predict job performance
(Ree, Earles & Teachout, 1994).

2.4.3.1 Ratings of job performance

Arvey and Murphy (1998) stated that the notion that job performance is more
than just the execution of specific tasks and that it involves a wide variety of
organizational activities has important implications for the understanding and
measurement of job performance. Different approaches have been suggested in
order to rate performance. One way of measuring performance is through
subjective n1easurement and another is to use an objective measurement. In a
study comparing self-reported job performance ratings and ratings given by their
superiors, for example, Heneman (1974) found that self-report measures had less
halo error, restriction of range, and leniency than the more objective measures,
such as sales, a finding supported by Arvey and Murphy (1998) who stated that
subjectivity does not automatically translate into rater error or bias and that self-
ratings are most likely valid reflections of true performance. Further, Jourden
and Heath (1996) reported that after completing a task, most individuals
typically rank their performance below the median (a negative performance
illusion) and most group members rank their group performance above the
median (a positive performance illusion). Group n1embers consistently assign
their group a higher rank than individuals assign themselves. Moreover,
Heneman concluded that self-reported measures are more appropriate for
research purposes than for organizational evaluations. In addition, more
objectives measures are useful only in specific settings and cannot be applied to
the whole labor force (Steers, 1977; Judge & Ferris, 1993).

62
A number of recent studies have examined the relative value and
interchangeability of different types of performance measures. Bommer,
Johnson, Rich, Podsakoff, and MacKenzie (1995) assessed the relationships
between relatively objective and subjective measures of employee performance.
Using meta-analytic techniques to summarize the relationships for over 50
independent samples, the overall corrected mean correlation between the two
types of measures was .39, suggesting that the two measures were significantly
and moderately related but not totally substitutable. Heneman (1986) examined
the relationship between supervisory ratings of performance and result-oriented
measures of performance - essentially a comparison of subjective versus
objective criterion measures. He reported a mean correlation of .27 between
subjective and objective performance measures.

2.4.4 Summary

Work motivation itself is hard observe, instead it is reflected in different

behaviors. Behaviors that often are studied to understand work motivation are
absenteeism, turnover, number of hours worked, and job performance. For a
work motivation measure to be valid and useful it should be able to predict
differe11t work-related behaviors. Commonly used measures of work motivation
(e.g., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) have not shown strong
relationships to work-related behaviors, for example, job performance.
However, Sjoberg and Lind (1994) found that work motivation defined as
willingness to work was strongly related to both absenteeism and number of
hours worked.

63
3. Research approach

This section of the thesis presents the research approach of the three empirical
studies. The participants of the studies were, in Study 1, pre-school employees,
in Study 2, employees of an insurance company and in Study 3, salespeople in
an insurance company. In the introduction section, advantages and dis-
advantages using a qualitative approach is discussed. Further in this part of the
thesis, the three work groups are presented with background data. The scales
used in the studies are presented with descriptive statistics including reliability
measures.

3.1 Introduction

The purposes of the thesis were to first explore the factors that explain the
variance in willingness to work (work motivation) and secondly to investigate
the relations between willingness to work and work-related variables. Three
studies were included in the thesis, and two of these, Study 1 and 2, were very
similar in research design and had the same research purpose. In fact, the
questionnaires used were similar with only a few differences and included
factors that were hypothesized to affect work motivation as well as self-rated
work-related behaviors. In the third study, the purpose was to investigate the
relationship between willingness to work and job performance, and in this study
a somewhat different questionnaire was used.

There are both advantages and disadvantages using questionnaires (a

quantitative approach). First of all, using a questionnaire is a simple and
effective method to collect data from a large sample. The researcher's influence
on the participants is minimized, and the respondents are able to choose whether
they want to fill it in. Secondly, Chadwick, Bahr, and Albrecht (1984) argued
that the questionnaire survey is a useful way to obtain information about
sensitive topics. It is suggested that to report how often one exhibits deviant or

64
disapproved behavior it is easier for the respondent completing a questionnaire
than it would be in face-to-face interaction with an interviewer. Finally, if the
respondent is convinced that the questionnaire is anonymous, he or she can
freely report attitudes and behaviors without embarrassment or fear of reprisal.

Chadwick, Bahr, and Albrecht (1984) also brought up some disadvantages of

using this kind of method. First, they indicated that valuable information might
be lost if the researcher cannot follow up interesting leads. However, to
minimize this problem, interviews were done prior to the survey in order to
increase knowledge about the studied groups and to be certain that valuable
information would be included in the final questionnaire. The interviews were
done with 16 persons for Study 1 (employees in pre-schools) and 16 for Study 2
(employees in an inStlrance company) and 6 for Study 3 (insurance sales
personnel).

Second, another limitation might be that a questionnaire must be relatively brief,

otherwise most respondents will not take the time to complete it (see Aaker &
Day, 1990). Although the questionnaire in the samples was very long, the
response rate in the three studies were quite high, 72% for the pre-school
employees, 82% for employees in an insurance company, and 73% for
salespeople in an insurance company. Although the response rates were quite
high, there were employees who did not respond. The respondents' average time
for answering the questions was approximately 60 minutes in Study 1 and 2.
Some of the respondents stated that the questionnaire included too many
questions and that it took long time to answer and that might be one of the
reasons for the non-responses. There might be other reasons as well. Rogelberg
and Luong (1998) presented four classes of non-response, the individual (a)
never actually received the survey, (b) is unable to complete it (e.g., ill, cannot
read), (c) misplaced or forgot the survey out of carelessness, or (d) has made a
conscious decision not to respond to the survey (i.e., noncompliance).

Finally, one should also be aware of problems that could be related to using self-
reports of, for example, behaviors and attitudes, because they are influenced by

65
features of the research instrument, including question wording, format, and
context (Schwarz, 1999). In the next section, all of the studied groups are
presented and the questionnaires used are shown in detail.

3.2 Study 1 Ｈｰｲ･ｾｳ｣ｨｯｬ employees)

3.2.1 Participants

Twenty-three pre-schools in the county of Stockholm, including the city of

Stockholm, participated in the study. The sample consisted of 179 employees.
The number of women who participated was 165 while 14 respondel1ts were
men. The age range of the participants was 25 to 64 years with an average age of
44 years. The number of years worked in the organization ranged from 1 year up
to 37 years, with an average of 11.5 years. The group with the highest
representation in this study was pre-school teachers, 48% of the sample, with a
training of two-and-a-half years of post-secondary studies. The rest of the
participants had a variety of other types of educations.

3.2.2 Procedure

The selection of pre-schools was based on the criterion of a sufficiently large,

heterogeneous sample. There were 23 pre-schools randomly selected.

The questionnaires and an envelope were distributed to each participant and also
collected by the author. Instructions were both written and oral.

The total number of distributed questionnaires was 250 of which 179 responded
(response rate of approximately 72%).

66
3.2.3 Questionnaire

The questionnaire included 16 scales and background questions. The questions

were to be rated on 5-, 6- or 7-point Likert-type scales. The midpoints were
labeled "neither-nor". The extreme positive and negative anchors of the scales
usually had the verbal labeling of "very" together with the positive or negative
keyword. Regarding some background questions the respondents simply
answered "yes" or "no", and supplied further information by using an open-
ended format.

Many of the questions included in the questionnaire were developed and used in
the study of Sjoberg and Lind (1994). Other scales were either adapted from
previous research or developed by the author. The instruments developed for the
present study were based on 16 interviews with employees working at different
pre-schools. The purpose of the interviews was to increase the knowledge of the
studied group, mainly in the areas of work tasks, work environment, attitudes
towards the job, different job risks and of stressful situations. In order to be
certain that the questionnaire was relevant for the group, 16 employees other
than the ones who were interviewed, were invited to participate in a focus group,
where the questionnaire, with an emphasis on the developed questions for this
particular study, was discussed and the face validity of the questionnaire was
confirmed. The scales included in the study are presented in next section.

67
3.2.3.1 Scales included

The scales that were included in the study were either developed by Sjoberg and
Lind (1994), developed by others or developed for this particular study.

Work motivation**2 was the main variable in the study. Work motivation
defined as willingness to work was measured using Sjoberg and Lind's (1994)
12-iten1 scale. This scale has been used among people working in the service
sectors as well as in the manufacturing industry (Sjoberg & Lind, 1994). The
scale measured how willing a person was to work by, for example, asking
questions about his or her general motivation, how often the respondent felt
strong will to work, eto. The respondent was presented items with a response
scale ranging from 5 (Positive) to 1 (Negative).

Overall job satisfaction was measured by one single item. The questions asked
how satisfied he or she was with the job. The 7-point scale was anchored by 7
(Very satisfied) and 1 (Not satisfied at all). Several studies have shown that a
global rating of job satisfaction is an inclusive measure of overall job
satisfaction (e.g., Scarpello & Campbell, 1983; Wanous, Reichers, & Hudy,
1997).

Organizational commitment was measured by a 24-item scale developed by

Allen and Meyer (1990). The scale assessed an individual's degree of
commitment to an organization. The respondent indicated how she or he felt
about each iten1, using a 6-point scale ranging from 6 (Strongly agree) to 1
(Strongly disagree).

2 The scales that are presented in Appendix B are marked with **. The scales that are not
presented can be obtained from the author.

68
General work attitudes** was measured with 18 questions regarding an
employee's attitude towards his or her job. This scale was developed by Sjoberg
and Lind (1994) for this particular study. The respondent indicated how she or
he felt about each item, using a 6-point scale ranging from 6 (Strongly agree) to
1 (Strongly disagree).

Opinions of one's job** was measured by 24-item scale. This measure was
developed for this particular study. The respondent indicated how she or 11e felt
about each item, using a 6-point scale ranging from 6 (Strongly agree) to 1
(Strongly disagree). Questions included brought up questions concerning
general beliefs/opinions about one's job.

Social relations was measured with 2 questions regarding relations to other

colleagues. This scale was developed by Sjoberg and Lind (1994). The 5-point
scale was anchored by 5 (Very good) and 1 (Very bad).

Work environment included 15 questions about different aspect in the physical

environment. This scale was developed for this study. The 5-point scale was
anchored by 5 (Very satisfying) and 1 (Very dissatisfying).

Work interest** was measllred by a scale that included 35 specific work tasks
for this particular group. The respondent rated how interesting he or she found
different work tasks. The 7-point scale was anchored by 7 (Extremely
interesting) and 1 (Completely uninteresting).

Leadership consisted of 4 question concerning the mangers knowledge and

interest of one's job. This scale was developed by Sjoberg and Lind (1994). The
respondent indicated how she or he felt about each item, using a 5-point scale
ral1ging from 5 (Yes, absolutely) to 1 (Absolutely not).

69
Creativity was measured by 17-item scale developed by Sjoberg and Lind
(1994). The scale assessed the degree to which an employee use their creativity.
The respondent indicated how she or he felt about each iten1, using as-point
scale ranging from 5 (Strongly agree) to 1 (Strongly disagree).

Perceived risks** was originally developed by Sjoberg and Lind (1994). In this
study risks that were related specifically to pre-schools were added. The scale
contained 27 different risks related to professional life (physical, personal or
social). The respondent indicated the frequency of encountering different risks
described by each item using a scale anchored by 4 (Never) and 0 (Very often).

Intrinsic motivation was measllred by 21 questions and the scale was

developed by Ryan (personal communication, 1994). The instrument assessed
an individual's perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The
respondent indicated how she or he felt about each item using a 6-point scale
anchored by 6 (Strongly agree) and 1 (Strongly disagree).

General intrinsic and extrinsic motivation was measured by Amabile, Hill,

and Hennessey's (1994) Work Preference Inventory including 15 questions
about intrinsic motivation (e.g., the degree to which a person is motivated by
activities that are spontaneously initiated and experienced as enjoyable) and 15
questions about extrinsic motivation (e.g., the degree to which a person is
motivated by external h1ducements). The respondent indicated how she or he felt
about each item using a 6-point scale anchored by 6 (Strongly agree) and 1
(Strongly disagree).

Occupational and work stress was assessed with Job Stress Survey (JSS) a 19-
item scale developed by Turnage and Spielberger (1991). The respondent rated
how often he or she experience stress in different situations. The 7-point scale
was anchored by 7 (Never) and 1 (Very often).

70
Pay satisfaction was measured with a 25-item scale. The instrument was
developed by Carraher (1991). The questions asked how satisfied he or she was
with different aspects of payment. The 5-point scale was anchored by 5 (Very
satisfied) and 1 (Not satisfied at alI).

Perceived control was assessed with a scale developed by Dwyer and Ganster
(1991). Questions about how an employee perceives hin1- or herself having
control at work were asked. The respondent indicated how she or he felt about
each item using a 5-point scale anchored by 6 (To a very high degree) and 1 (To
a very low degree).

Reported number of hours worked per week (effective time) was measured
using one question. The participant was asked how many hours he/she spent
each week at work. The response alternatives were 1 (Much less than 40 hours),
2 (Less than 40 hours), 3 (Approximately 40 hours), 4 (More than 40 hours), 5
(Much more than 40 hours). In Sweden, a full-time week is 40 hours.

Absenteeism was measured by only one question: how many days the
respondent had been absent from work during a period of twelve months. The
response alternatives were 1 (More than 20 days), 2 (16-20 days), 3 (11-15
days), 4 (6-10 days), and 5 (0-5 days).

Intention to quit was measured by two items, which brought up the questions
about whether the respondent had thought about quitting his or her job and how
often the participant had been looking for a new working position. The response
alternatives ranged from 1 (Often) to 5 (Never).

Background factors included questions about age, income, sex, number of

years working in the organization, and education.

71
3.2.3.1.1. Indices

A large number of measurements or questions were used. One way to reduce the
multiplicity of test and' measures to greater simplicity is to perform a factor
analysis. The purpose of using factor analysis is to summarize the
interrelationships among the variables in a concise but accurate manner as an aid
in conceptualization (Gorsuch, 1983). Furthermore, most factor analytic
methods initially produce results in a form that is difficult or impossible to
interpret. A principal factor matrix and its loadings account for the common
factor variance of the test scores, but they do not in general provide scientifically
meaningful structures. It is the configurations of tests or variables in factor space
that are of fundamental concern. In order to discover these configurations
adequately, the arbitrary reference axes must be rotated (Kerlinger, 1986). The
rotation that was used in the reduction process in the thesis was varimax
rotation.

Organizational commitment
Organizational comn1itment was measured with Allen and Meyer's (1990) scale.
Allen and Meyer (1990) suggested that organizational commitment should be
divided into three dimensions, affective, normative, and continuance
organizational commitment. Questions related to the dimension affective
organizational commitment deal with affective reactions to the organization,
normative organizational commitment with the employee's feelings of
obligations to the organization, and continuance organizational conunitment
with questions about commitment to continue one's work tasks. In the factor
analysis a number of factors were a prior determined due to earlier findings (c.f.
Cohen, 1996; Irving, Coleman, & Cooper, 1997).

A KMO 3 measure (.811) and Bartlett's test (p < .000) indicated that the data
were suitable for factor analysis (cf. Hair, Andersson, Tatham, & Black, 1998).

3 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy is an index used to examine the

appropriateness of factor analysis. High values (between .5 and 1.0) indicate that factor analy-
sis is appropriate (Malhotra, 1999).

72
In Table 1, the result of a principal component analysis is presented with a
varimax rotation.

The result confirmed the three factors affective, continuance, and normative
organizational commitment. There were no overlaps between the factors.
However, two of the items had a factor loading smaller than .40, and therefore
those two were excluded. Otherwise the factor loadings within the factors were
rather high.

73
Table 1
Three-factor solution obtained in an analysis of Allen and Meyer's
organizational commitment scale (Study 1).
Factor loadings

Affec- Continu- Norm-

tive ance ative
DC DC DC

I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization .66
I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it .49
I really feel as if this organization's problems are my own .60
I think that I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am .44
to this one
I do not feel like' a part of the fanlily' at my organization (R) .79
I do not feel 'emotionally attached' to this organization (R) .59
This organization has a great deal of personal meaning to me .72
I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization (R) .42
It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now, even if I .61
wanted to
Too nluch in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my .62
organization now
It wouldn't be too costly for me to leave my organization now (R) .40
Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as .48
desire
I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization .79
One of the few serious consequences of leaving this organization would be .75
the scarcity of available alternatives
One of the major reasons why I continue to work for this organization is that .41
leaving would require considerable personal sacrifice - another
organization may not match the overall benefits I have here
I think that people these days move from conlpany to company too often .58
I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her organization .41
(R)
Jumping from organization to organization does not seem unethical at all to .70
me (R)
One of the major reasons why I continue to work for this organization is that .62
I believe that loyalty is important and therefore feel a sense of moral
obligation to stay
If I got another offer of a better job elsewhere I would not feel it was right to .55
leave my organization
I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one organization .51
Things were better in the days when people stayed with one organization for .65
most of their careers
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table. OC= organizational commitment. (R)=
items with reversed coding.

74
General attitudes
General attitudes towards one's job was measured with Sjoberg and Lind's
(1994) scale. In their study, two factors were found: positive evaluation of one's
job and negative evaluation of one's job. A prior determined factor analysis
with a two- factor solution was performed. The KMO (.885) measure as well as
Bartlett's test (p < .000) showed that a factor analysis was suitable for the data.
The two factors were confirmed also in this study. The result is shown in Table
2. Furthermore, two of the items from the original scale were deleted because
the factor loadings were under .40. Otherwise the factor loadings were high.

Table 2
Two-factor solution obtained in an analysis ofa general attitude scale (Study 1)
Positive evaluation Negative evaluation
of one's job of one's job
My job is nice .59
My job is ideal for me .72
My job is good .62
My job is valuable .51,
My job is fantastic .88
My job is better than most jobs .76
I am satisfied with my job .86
My job is excellent .88
I am comfortable with my job .70
My job is bad .62
My job is a waste of time .76
My job is not suited for me .70
My job is worse than most jobs .55
My job is not acceptable to me .60
My job is very bad .70
My job is worthless .63
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

75
Work interest
Work interest for specific work tasks was measured with a scale that was
developed for this specific work group. In order to n1inimize the number of
questions a principal component analysis was performed. The KMO n1easure
(.751) and Bartlett's test (p < .000) indicated that a factor analysis was
appropriate for the data. The number of factors chosen was based on the
cumulative percentage of explained variance. Accordingly, three factors were
selected due to the total variance explained (58%). Varimax rotation was then
used to get a more interpretable solution. A satisfactory interpretation of the
three-factor solution was found. The first factor was called interest in
pedagogical work tasks (e.g., reading to the children), the second one interest in
practical work tasks (e.g., preparing meals), and the third one interest in
administrative work tasks (e.g., marketing the pre-school). Two of the items
from the original scale were excluded because the factor loadings were smaller
than .40. The result is illustrated in Table 3.

76
Table 3
Afactor analysis with a varimax rotation ofwork interest among pre-school
employees (Study 1)
Factor loadings

Pedagogical Practical Administrative

work task work work tasks
tasks
To meet with colleagues .61
To read to the children .63
To lead creative playing (Le., painting) .55
To play theatre with children .43
To make excursions with children .48
To work with a mixed age group of children .67
Get further advance training .46
To read literature about pedagogy .60
To lead sports .58
To tell the children about society .48
To teach the children reading, counting and writing .66
To let the children take initiative .73
To meet with children .58
To be outside playing with children .60
To work with the oldest children .53
To help the children to get dressed .74
Parental n1eetings .51
To supervise trainees .62
To prepare meals .53
To solve conflicts between the children .55
To work with the youngest children .48
To eat with the children .52
To shop for the pre-school .47
To cooperate with other pre-schools .58
To clean .53
To meet with parents .66
To have contact with authorities .82
Accounting .79
Management .71
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation was measured with Ryan's (personal communication) scale.
The developer of the instrument suggested that the scale contained three
dimensions and therefore three factors were a priori determined in the factor
analysis. The KMO measure (.816) and Bartlett's test (p < .000) showed that a
factor analysis was appropriate to use for the data. The suggested dimensions
were perceived competence (e.g., the degree to which an employee perceives
him/herself as competent), perceived relatedness (e.g., the degree to which an

77
employee feels related to the organization and colleagues), and perceived
autonomy (e.g., the degree to which a person is not controlled). The three
factors were confirmed. There were several items that were deleted, because the
factor loadings were smaller than .40. The result is presented in Table 4.

Table 4
Three-factor analysis ofRyan's intrinsic motivation scale (Study 1)
Factor loadings

Autonomy Relatedness Competence

I feel like I can make a lot of input to deciding how my .78

job gets done
I am free to express my ideas and opinions on the job .73
My feelings are taken into consideration at work .47
I feel like I can pretty much be .myself at work .71
I really like the people I work with .85
I get along with people at work .79
I pretty much keep to myself when I am at work (R) .56
I consider the people I work with to be my friends .80
People at work care about me .78
The people I work with do not seem to like me much .40
People at work are pretty friendly towards me .78
I do not feel very competent when I am at work (R) .70
People at work tell me I am good at what I do .40
I have been able to learn interesting new skills on my job .71
Most days I feel a sense of accomplishment from working .63
On my job I do not get much of a chance to show how .70
capable I am (R)
When I am working I often do not feel very capable (R) .63
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

Occupational stress
The developers of the Job Stress Survey (ISS; Turnage & Spielberger, 1991)
suggested the scale to be divided into two factors, one measuring lack of support
(e.g., degree to which lack of support affects an employee) and the other job
pressure (e.g., the degree to which job pressure affects an employee). The KMO
measure (.772) as well as Bartlett's test (p < .000) showed that a factor analysis
was suitable. A factor analysis with two factors was performed and the prior
finding was confirmed. The result is shown in Table 5.

78
Table 5
Two-factor analysis ofjob stress (Study 1)
Factor loadings

Lack of support Job pressure

Lack of opportunity for advancement .53

Poor or inadequate supervision .77
Inadequate support by supervisor .74
Personal insult from customer/consumer/colleague .40
Fellow workers not doing their job .59
Difficulty getting along with supervisor .76
Inadequate salary .48
Negative attitudes towards organization .56
Lack of participation in policy-making decisions .42
Poorly motivated co-workers .51
Making critical on-the-spot decisions .54
Inadequate or poor quality equipment .57
Insufficient personnel to handle assignment .58
Dealing with crisis situations .41
Frequent interruptions .60
Meeting deadlines .59
Excessive paperwork .43
Competition for advancement .59
Noisy work area .52
Assignment of new or unfamiliar duties .51
Assignment of increased responsibility .57
Covering work for another enlployee .59
Frequent changes from boring to demanding activities .47
Working overtime .63
Performing tasks not in job description .54
Insufficient personal time .68
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

79
General intrinsic and extrinsic nl0tivation
Amabile et al. (1994) developed a scale called Work Preference Inventory
which assesses individual differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivational
orientation. The KMO measure (.683) and Bartlett's test (p < .000) showed that
a factor analysis was appropriate for the data. The two suggested factors were
confirmed in this study. The result of a two-factor analysis is shown in Table 6.
There were, however, 4 items in the intrinsic scale and 6 in the extrinsic scale
with factor loadings smaller than .40. The result is illustrated in Table 6.

Table 6
Two- factor analysis intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Study 1)
Factor loadings

Intrinsic Extrinsic
motivation n10tivation
I enjoy tackling problems that are completely new to me .84
I enjoy trying to solve complex problems .81
The n10re difficult the problem is, the more I enjoy trying to .80
solve it
I want my work to provide me with opportunities for .52
increasing my knowledge and skills
Curiosity is the driving force ｢ｾｨｩｮ､ much of what I do .76
I enjoy relatively simple, straightforward tasks .41
I enjoy doing work that is so absorbing that I forget about .40
everything else
What matters most to me is enjoying what I do .30
It is important for me to have an outlet for self-expression .44
I prefer work I know I can do well over work that stretches .55
my abilities
No matter what the outcome of a project is, I am satisfied if I .48
feel I gained a new experience
I want to find out how good I really can be at my work .60
I am keenly aware of the (promotion) goal I have for n1yself .40
I am strongly motivated by the (grades) (money) I can earn .46
I am strongly motivated by the recognition I can earn from .44
other people
I want other people to find out how good I really can be at my .60
work
I seldom think about (grades and awards) (salary and .59
promotion) .
To me, success means doing better than other people .58
I have to feel that I'm earning something for what I do .57
I prefer working on projects with clearly specified procedures .62
I prefer having someone set clear goals for me .40
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

80
Perceived risks
Two dimensions of risks were suggested by the developers (Sjoberg & Lind,
1994). The risks that were positively related to work motivation were denoted
accepted risks and the others that were negatively related to work motivation
were denoted risk burden.

The risks that were positively related to willingness to work were, for example,
"That I could catch a less serious infection", "That I perceive myself as
incapable of demands the job requires". Risks that instead were negatively
related to willingness to work were, for example, "That I have to give l1egative
information to others", "That a parent is critical about me".

Creativity
Creativity could according to the developers Sjoberg and Lind (1994) be divided
into two indices, the degree to which an employee uses his or her creativity,
spontaneous creativity, and the degree to which an employee does not use his or
her creativity, creativity inhibition. The questions included in spontaneous
creativity were, for example, "I often find solutions to problems when I least
expect it" and "Intuition is most important in my job". Questions related to
creativity inhibition were instead, for example, "My work tasks can best be
solved with well-known routines" and "The most important thing in problem
solving is not to make any mistakes".

One dinlensional scales

Pay satisfaction, perceived control, work environment, leadership, and opinion
of one's job were analyzed as a one-dimensional scale. Heneman and Schwab
(1985) suggested, however, that the pay satisfaction scale could be divided into
five dimensions which are: satisfaction with pay level, benefits, raises,
structures, and administration. Although this might have had an impact on the
result, the decision was made to treat the scale as one-dimensional. A reliability
al1alysis was performed all of the indices and it is presented il1 the next chapter.

81
3.3 Study 2 (employees of an insurance company)

3.3.1 Participants

A total of 160 employees of an insurance company in Sweden participated in the

study. The age range was from 25 to 64 years with a mean age of 44 years.
There were 79 men and 81 women. The mean educational level of the
respondents was 3-4 years of high school in the technical field. The length of
employment in the organization was from 1 to 37 years with a mean of 11.5
years. The number of years working within the occupational area varied from 1
to 41 with 18.1 years as the mean length of experience.

3.3.2 Procedure

The questionnaires were distributed to each participant and also collected by the
author. The participants were given a questionnaire together with an envelope,
in order to ensure anonyn1ity. Instructions were written on the questionnaire.
The author collected the questionnaires after about four weeks. The total
response rate was 82% (160 out of 195).

3.3.3.Questionnaire

The majority of the of the instruments were similar to those used in Study 1
with a few exceptions. The scales that were included in Study 1, but not in this
particular study, was general work attitudes (positive and negative evaluation of
one's job). The reason for not including this scale in this study was mainly the
similarity of this scale to that of opinion about one's job. Instead of the two
excluded scales, two other instruments were added measuring goal setting and
general work interest.

82
3.3.3.1 Scales included
A similar questionnaire was used in Study 1 and 2. Therefore, the only scales
presented here are the ones not present ill Study 1.

Work interest** was measured by a scale that included 40 specific work tasks
for this particular group. The respondent indicated how interesting he or she
found different work tasks. The scale ranged from 7 (Extremely interesting) to
1 (Completely uninteresting).

Perceived risks** were measured by 14 risk items concerning professional life

(physical, personal, and social). The respondent indicated the frequency of
encountering different risks described by each item using a scale anchored by 4
(Never) to 0 (Very often).

Goal setting was assessed with 53-item scale developed by Locke and Latham
(1984). The questions included were related to goals and how they affect an
individual's job. The scale ranged from 5 (Strongly agree) to 1 (Strongly
disagree).

General work interest was assessed with 1 item. This question was developed
by Sjoberg and Lind (1994) and the respondent was asked how their work
interest developed over the years. The scale range from 5 (Increased very much)
to 1 (Decreased very much).

83
3.3.3.1.1 Indices

A principal component analysis was used also in this study to obtain a more
manageable number of variables. In several of the scales, factors were already
suggested by the developer of the instrument. Principal component analyses
were also in this case perfom1ed in order to confirm the factors found in Study 1.

Organizational commitment
The results of a principal components analysis using a varimax rotation showed
that the three factors su:ggested by Allen and Meyer (1990) were formed. The
KMO measure (.839) and Bartlett's test (p < .000) indicated that the data were
suitable for factor analysis. Two of the items were deleted due to factor loadings
smaller than .40. The factors that were obtained in Study 1 were confirmed also
in Study 2, which validates that the instrument contain three factors. The factor
loadings were quite high, and no overlaps between the factors were found. In
Table 7 the result is presented.

84
Table 7
Three-factor solution obtained in an analysis of Allen and Meyer's organiza-
tional commitment scale (Study 2)

Factor loadings
Affective Continu- Normative
OC ance OC DC

I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this .71
organization
I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it .73
I really feel as if this organization's problems are my own .73
I think that I could easily become as attached to another .53
organization as I am to this one
I do not feel like 'a part of the family' at my organization (R) .87
I do not feel 'emotionally attached' to this organization (R) .87
This organization has a great deal of personal meaning to me .83
I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization (R) .90
It would be very hard for me to leave nlY organization right .81
now, even if I wanted to
Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to .82
leave my organization now
It wouldn't be too costly for me to leave my organization now .70
(R)
Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity .69
as much as desire
I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this
organization .68
One of the few serious consequences of leaving this .51
organization would be the scarcity of available alternatives
One of the major reasons why I continue to work for this .57
organization is that leaving would require considerable personal
sacrifice - another organization may not match the overall
benefits I have here
I think that people these days move from company to company .41
too often
I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her .53
organization (R)
Jumping from organization to organization does not seem at all .67
unethical to me (R)
One of the major reasons why I continue to work for this .77
organization is that I believe that loyalty is important and
therefore feel a sense of moral obligation to stay
If I got another offer of a better job elsewhere I would not feel it .69
was right to leave my organization
I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one .64
organization
Things were better in the days when people stayed with one .65
organization for most of their careers
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table

85
Work interest
Work interest for specific work tasks was measured with a scale that was
developed for this specific work group. A similar work interest scale was
developed for Study 1 with different work tasks. The KMO measure (.812) and
Bartlett's test (p < .000) indicated that a factor analysis was appropriate for the
data. The unrotated principal components analysis showed that a three-factor
solution accounted for 61 % of total explained variance, and therefore also in
this study three factors were selected. A varimax rotation was performed to get a
more interpretable solution. The result is shown in Table 8. Moreover, the first
factor formed was called interest in administrative work tasks, the second one
interest in client-related work tasks and the third one interest in business-related
work tasks.

86
Table 8
A/actor analysis with a varimax rotation o/work interest among employees
(Study 2)
Factor loadings

Administrative Client Business

work tasks related related
work work tasks
tasks
To report .83
To write letters, reports etc .76
Accounting .79
Administrative work tasks .68
Management .66
To solve conflicts .65
To introduce new colleagues .64
To collect information .63
To work with changes within the organization .62
To update handbooks and other materials .55
To educate others .51
To be responsible for payments to clients .51
To market one's company .49
To give service and support within one's department .47
To solve problems in groups .47
Meetings .42
To teach others about products .72
To be responsible for different work tasks .70
To develop new ideas and products .69
Further training .66
To cooperate with others outside my own department .63
Telephone contact with clients .60
To use new techniques (e.g., computers) .52
To travel for business purposes .51
To present new ideas and products .50
To participate in development projects .50
To solve problems related to clients .49
International contacts and cooperation .43
To give service to clients .42
To do business .85
To negotiate .80
To work with numbers .75
To make money .74
To create and increase networks .69
To close a deal .68
To make decisions .64
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table

87
Intrinsic motivation
The result of a three-factor analysis of Ryan's intrinsic motivation scale with the
dimensions autonomy, relatedness, and competence is shown in Table 9. The
KMO measure (.792) and Bartlett's test (p < .000) showed that a factor analysis
was appropriate to use. As in Study 1, several of the items were deleted, because
the factor loadings were smaller than .40. However, the items deleted were the
same as in Study 1, except for one item. This makes the scale quite stable over
two different work groups.

Table 9
Three-factor analysis ofRyan's intrinsic motivation scale (Study 2)
Factor loadings

Autonomy Related- Competence

ness

I feel like I can make a lot of input to deciding how my job .55
gets done
I an1 free to express my ideas and opinions 011 the job .56
My feelings are taken into consideration at work .40
There is not much opportunity for me to decide for myself .45
how to go about my work (R)
I really like the people I work with .67
I get along with people at work .50
I consider the people I work with to be my friends .63
People at work care about me 57
The people I work with do not seem to like me much .40
There are not many people at work that I am close to (R) .41
I do not feel very competent when I am at work (R) .61
People at work tell me I am good at what I do .58
I have been able to learn interesting new skills on n1Y job .63
Most days I feel a sense of accomplishment from working .69
On my job I do not get much of a chance to show how .65
capable I am (R)
When I am working I often do not feel very capable (R) .65
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

88
Occupational stress
Two factors were suggested by the developers of the Job stress survey (JSS;
Turnage & Spielberger, 1991). The factors were confirmed in Study 1, which
was also the case il1 this study. The KMO measure (.764) as well as Bartlett's
test (p < .000) were calculated and the result showed that a factor analysis was
suitable for the data. The result is reported in Table 10.

Table 10
Two-factor analysis ofJob Stress Survey (Study 2)
Factor loadings

Lack of Support Job pressure

Lack of opportunity for advancement .62

Poor or inadequate supervision .64
Inadequate support by supervisor .66
Personal insult from customer/consumer/colleague .54
Fellow workers not doing their job .60
Difficulty getting along with supervisor .44
Inadequate salary .59
Negative attitudes towards organization .62
Lack of participation in policy-making decisions .53
Poorly motivated co-workers .54
Performing tasks not in job description .40
Inadequate or poor quality equipment .72
Insufficient personnel to handle assignment .46
Dealing with crisis situations .48
Frequent interruptions .51
Meeting deadlines .56
Excessive paperwork .51
Assignment of new or unfamiliar duties .57
Assignment of increased responsibility .70
Covering work for another employee .52
Working overtime .66
Frequent changes from boring to demanding activities .72
Making critical on-the-spot decisions .58
Insufficient personal time .42
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table.

89
General intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were measured with Amabile et aI's. (1994)
Work Preference Inventory. In Study 1, the two factors were confirmed. In this
study, the two factors were once again confirmed with some of the items deleted
due to factor loadings smaller than .40. A KMO measure (.792) and Bartlett's
test (p < .000) were also performed, which showed that the data were suitable
for a factor analysis. The result is presented in Table 11.

Table 11
Two-factor analysis of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Study2)
Factor loadings
Intrinsic Extrinsic
motivation motivation
I enjoy tackling problems that are completely new to me .81
I enjoy trying to solve complex problems .74
The more difficult the problems, the more I enjoy trying to solve it 73
I want my work to provide me with opportunities for increasing my .68
knowledge and skills
Curiosity is the driving force behind much of what I do .73
I enjoy relatively simple, straightforward tasks .44
I enjoy doing work that is so absorbing that I forget about .48
everything else
What matters most to me is enjoying what I do .46
It is important for me to have an outlet for self-expression .54
I prefer work I know I can do well over work that stretches my .45
abilities
It is important for me to be able to do what I most enjoy .50
No matter what the outcome of a project is, I am satisfied if I feel I .42
gained a new experience
I want to find out how good I really can be at my work .47
I'm more comfortable when I can set my own goals .41
I prefer to figure things out for myself .42
I am strongly motivated by the (grades) (money) I can earn .50
I am keenly aware of the goals I have for myself .62
I am strongly motivated by the recognition I can earn from other .67
people
I want other people to find out how good I really can be at my work .67
I seldom think about (grades and awards) (salary and promotion). .59
I am keenly aware of the (goals I have for getting a good grade.) .47
(income goals I have for myself.)
To me, success means doing better than other peopIe .68
I have to feel that I'm earning something for what I do .55
I am not that concerned about what other people think of my work .61
I prefer having someone set clear goals for me in my work .48
Note. Loadings below .40 are not shown in the table

90
Perceived risks and creativity
Perceived risks as well as creativity were divided, as in Study 1, into two
indices. The indices that were forn1ed were accepted risks and risk burden.
Creativity was divided into spontaneous creativity and creativity inhibition.

One dimensional scale

Pay satisfaction, perceived control, work environment, leadership, and opinion
about one's job were analyzed as one-dimensional as in Study 1. A factor not
included in Study 1 was goal setting. In a study by Lee, Bobko, Earley, and
Locke (1991), 10 factors were formed. However, in tl1is study goal setting is
analyzed as if it was one-dimensional. A reliability analysis was performed for
all the indices and is presented in the next chapter.

3.3.3.1.2 Conclusion

The KMO measure and Bartlett's test showed that using a factor analysis was an
appropriate way of reducing questions in all of the scales. Furthermore, the three
dimensions of organizational commitment suggested by the developers were
confirmed in both studies (Study 1 and 2). Work interest was measured with
scales that were developed for the studies, and which measured the level of
interest for different work tasks. Three factors were formed in Study 1 as well as
in Study 2. Three dimensions of intrinsic motivation were suggested by the
developer and also these dimensions were confirmed in both of the studies. The
two-factor solution of organizational stress was found in Study 1 as well as in
Study 2. Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation could, as in previous
studies, be separated and the results that were obtained here showed the same
division. The findings in Study 1 and Study 2 confirmed the stability and
validity of the instrument.

91
3.4 Study 3 (salespeople in an insurance
company)

3.4.1 Participants

Data were collected in an insurance company's sales department. The total

number of salespeople working there was 62. The number of employees who
participated in the study was 45, 12 women and 33 men, whose age ranged from
25 to 51 years (mean age = 38 years). The range of work experience within the
profession was 1-26 years (average length of job experience = 11 years). The
participants' level of education ranged from high school to a university degree
(modal educational level = three or four years of upper secondary high school).

3.4.2 Procedure

The questionnaires were distributed to each participant by the author, who also
collected tl1em. Participation in the study was voluntary, and the respondents
were informed of their rights to confidentiality and anonymity. There was no
time limit on the participant's con1pletion of the questionnaire. The total
response rate was 73%.

3.4.3 Questionnaire

In this study, work motivation defined as willingness to work, job satisfaction

and organizational commitment were also included in this study. However,
organizational commitment was not divided into three dimension as in Study 1
and 2. The scales that were neither included in Study 1 nor 2 are presented
further below.

92
3.4.4 Scales included

Job performance** was measured by two different scales. Objective job

performance was measured by the total sales volume (January 1 to May 31)4.
Subjective job performance was measured by letting the respondents rate their
performance in different work tasks on a scale developed by the author. The
scale ranged from 5 (Very good) to 1 (Very poorly).

The scales included in the study were all one-dimensional. Reliability analysis
was performed for all for the indices and presented in Chapter 4.

4 The variable objective job performance was transformed into a logarithmic scale to obtain a
less skewed variables.

93
 DETERMINANTS

Overall job satisfaction

Organizational commitment
General work attitudes
Opinions about one's job
Social relations
Work environment WORK-RELATED
Leadership WORK MOTIVATION BEHAVIORS
Background factors lao.
IJII'"
(Willingness to work) ..
--,...
Absenteeism
Work interest Job performance
\0
ｾ
Creativity Intention to quit
Perceived risks Number of hours worked
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Occupational and work stress
Pay satisfaction
Perceived control

Figure 3. An overview of the included factors in the thesis.

4. Results

In this section, results from all of the analyses performed are shown. The
presentation of the analyses and results will follow the research questions in
section 1.4. The first question was to explore the variables that contribute to
explain the variance in work motivation defined as willingness to work. This
was studied in Study 1 and 2. The second question was to investigate the
validity of the measure willingness to work by examining the relationship
between willingness to work and work-related behaviors. This was studied in
Study 1, 2, and 3. In Figure 3, all of the indices included in the analyses are
presented.

4.1 Descriptive results

4.1.1 Introduction

For all of the indices, the reliability test was estimated. Reliability refers to the
consistency of examinees' relative performances over repeated administrations
of the same test or parallel fOffi1s of the test. One common way of estimating
reliability is by calculating a Cronbach's alpha (a), which is a function of
internal consistency, that is, the interrelatedness of iten1s (Cortina, 1993). The
level of Cronbach's alpha has often been discussed and the most common level
to be accepted is an alpha equal to or above .70 (Cortina, 1993; Peterson, 1994).

It is often discussed in the literature how the number of items in a scale affect
the reliability. The principle of aggregation holds that the use of multiple
observations cancels out random error around an individual's true score, thereby
providing a n10re reliable measurement. Despite the well-known attenuating
effects of low reliability on correlation size, researchers often use single-item
measures so as to minimize questionnaire length (e.g., Tett & Meyer, 1993).

95
This practice has the obvious consequence of underestimating a relation of
interest, and could lead to serious misjudgements in the relative contributions of
two variables whose measures differ markedly in length (Cooper & Richardson,
1986). However, in an article by Embretson (1996) "the new rules of
measurements" were presented and it was stated that short tests could be more
reliable than longer tests. For a further discussion of reliability, see for example
Crocker and Algina (1986).

4.1.2 Study 1: Descriptive results

111 Table 12, descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, and
reliability of index are reported. The majority of the indices showed a
satisfactory reliability value (a) equal to or over .70. In two of the indices, risk
burden and intention to quit, the magnitude of reliability (a) was lower than .70.
However, Schmitt (1996) stated that there is no sacred level of acceptance level
of alpha. In some cases, measures with (by conventional standards) low levels of
alpha may still be quite useful. Thus, all of the indices were used in further
analysis.

96
 Table 12
Descriptive statistics and reliability ofindices (Study 1)
Variables M SD Cronbach alpha (a)

Work motivation 3.50 .49 .79

Job satisfaction 5.48 .81 N/A a
Affective commitment 3.46 .99 .85
Normative commitment 3.48 .87 .73
Continuance commitment 2.96 .96 .72
Social relation 4.37 .69 .82
Work environment 3.53 .53 .82
Work interest (pedagogical) 5.48 .81 .90
Work interest (practical) 4.91 .83 .85
Work interest 4.42 1.39 .84
(administrative)
Management/leadership 3.89 .79 .75
Evaluation of one's job 4.54 .95 .83
(positive)
Evaluation of one's job 1.67 .67 .89
(negative)
Spontaneous creativity 3.63 .45 .71
Creativity inhibition 2.71 .56 .75
Accepted risks 2.78 .43 .85
Risk burden 3,19 .48 .65
Job pressure 4.78 .97 .86
Lack of support 5.37 .65 .83
Intrinsic n10tivation 4.05 .59 .82
Extrinsic motivation 3.61 .60 .71
Pay satisfaction 2.38 .73 .95
Opinion about one's job 4.65 .66 .73
Perceived competence 4.53 .80 .70
Perceived autonomy 4.52 .85 .74
Perceived relatedness 4.51 1.2 .79
Perceived control 3.52 .42 .88
Number of hours worked 3.87 1.4 N/A a
Absenteeism 2.50 .58 N/A a
Intention to quit 2.70 .92 .68

a Alpha cannot be assessed for single-item.

97
 4.1.3 Study 2: Descriptive results

In Table 13, descriptive statistics are shown for the indices included in Study 2.
All of the indices except risks burden had an a value equal to or large than .70.
Risk burden was, despite the value of a, included in further analysis.

Table 13
Descriptive statistics and reliability ofindices (Study 2)
Variables/ Indices M SD Cronbach alpha (a)

Work motivation 3.26 .64 .80

Job satisfaction 5.03 1.14 N/Aa
Affective commitment 3.04 1.01 .91
Normative commitment 2.64 .77 .73
Continuance commitment 3.48 .85 .72
Social relation 4.20 .76 .70
Work environment 3.83 .64 .86
Work interest (Business) 5.13 .90 .84
Work interest (Clients) 5.20 .77 .85
Work interest (Administrative) 4.67 .81 .90
General work interest 3.26 1.13 N/A a
Management/leadership 3.90 .87 .78
Goal setting 3.00 .42 .87
Spontaneous creativity 3.40 .49 .74
Creativity inhibition 2.80 .79 .58
Accepted risks d 2.90 .45 .79
Risk burdene 2.75 .62 .50
Job pressure 5.15 .81 .88
Lack of support 5.27 .62 .83
Intrinsic motivation 4.18 .56 .83
Extrinsic motivation 3.47 .74 .72
Pay satisfaction 3.12 .80 .97
Opinion about one's job 4.17 .86 .92
Perceived competence 4.33 .72 .71
Perceived autonomy 4.13 .75 .71
Perceived relatedness 4.66 .68 .83
Perceived control 3.50 .47 .88
Absenteeism 4.41 1.1 N/A a
Number of hours worked 2.69 .94 N/A a
Intention to quit 2.96 1.2 .71

a Alpha cannot be assessed for single-item..

98
4.1.4 Study 3: Descriptive results

In Study 3, the a values of all the included indices were satisfactory. The result
is presented in Table 14.

Table 14
Descriptive statistics and reliability ofindices (Study 3).
Variable M SD Cronbach alpha (a)
Willingness to work 3.95 .47 .77
Job satisfaction 5.67 .60 N/A a
Organizational commitment 2.90 .59 .83
Work interest 5.30 .72 .85
Subjective job performance 4.04 .45 .90
Objective job performance 15.87 1.2

a Alpha cannot be assessed for a single item

99
4.2 Determinants of willingness to work

4.2.1 Introduction

In Chapter 2, an overview of factors that in prior studies have shown to be

related to work motivation was presented. Willingness to work was introduced
by Sjoberg and Lind (1994) and in their study, the factors that explained the
variance in willingness to work were work interest, perceived risks, creativity,
and organizational commitment. Therefore, these factors were expected to
contribute to explain the variance in willingness to work.

In the present studies, a large nun1ber of indices were included. In order to

explore which of the independent variables that accounted for explaining the
variance in willingness to work, a stepwise multiple regression was performed.
The specific procedure employed was backward elimination or a decremental
approach of stepwise regression, as Bobko (1990) named it. The backward
solution starts with calculating the total multiple regression equation, then drops
variables from the equation if the variables do not contribute significantly to the
prediction of the criterion, here willingness to work, based on the significance
tests of their beta weights. In this procedure, the multiple correlation coefficient
is reduced as each variable is removed. When enough variables are removed, a
significant drop occurs in the magnitude of R2 . At this point, the stepwise
procedure - dropping a variable at each step and recomputing R2 - is terminated.
Only variables that are theoretically meaningful and significant at the 10%-level
or lower were included in the final model. The results are presented below.

It should be mentioned that in order to use a multiple regression analysis several

assumptions have to be met. Therefore, the present data (in Study 1 and 2) were
tested for outliers, n1ulti-collinearity, normality and heteroscedasticity (Berry,
1993). No severe problem was found in either of the studies 5 •

5 The result can be obtained from the author.

100
4.2.1.1 Study 1: Determinants of willingness to work

In this study, 179 pre-school employees participated. The factors or indices

included from the start were job satisfaction, organizational commitment
(affective, normative, and continuance), general work attitudes (positive and
negative evaluation of one's job), opinion about one's job, social relations,
physical work environment, work interest (pedagogical, practical, and
administrative work tasks), leadership, creativity (spontaneous creativity and
creativity inhibition), perceived risks (accepted risks and risk burden), intrinsic
motivation (perceived competence, perceived relatedness, and perceived
autonomy), general intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, work stress Gob
pressure and lack of support), pay satisfaction, and perceived control. The
intercorrelations among these variables are shown in Table 15.

101
 Table 15. Correlation matrix of all included variables (Study 1)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1.Willingness to work
2.Job satisfaction 048
3.Education .06 .09
4.Age -.08 .03 .03
5.Tenure .09 -.03 .05 .27
6.Accepted risks 042 046 .09 -.02 -.04
7.Risk burden -.09 .03 -.12 .18 .27 .35
8.Spontaneous creativity .25 .11 -.18 -.11 -.25 -.12 -.28
9.Creativity inhibition -.19 -.16 -.04 .19 .09 -.14 .13 -.18
10.Social relations .30 Al -.05 -.06 -.02 043 .16 .08 -.08
II.Perceived control 042 040 .09 .03 -.18 .52 .04 .07 -.25 .23
12.Work environment .34 046 -.02 .04 -.04 042 -.02 -.05 -.18 .22 042
13.Pay satisfaction .22 .27 .07 .10 .04 .36 .06 -.18 -.11 .10 .29 .32
........ 14.Affective OC .60 046 .05 .06 -.07 .38 .01 .11 -.06 .28 Al .29 .31
o
tv 15.Continuance OC .15 .06 -.11 .03 -.13 .03 -.03 -.06 .22 -.13 .06 .03 .06 Al
16.NormativeOC .36 .23 .02 .16 .07 .19 .09 .10 .19 .10 .13 .13 .13 .57 .51
17.Perceivedautonomy 043 .38 .05 -.12 -.07 040 .03 .18 -.23 .38 049 .15 .15 AS .04 .16
18.Perceived relatedness Al .36 .09 -.16 .02 Al .08 .08 -.27 .59 .29 .19 .15 .34 -.09 -.01 .59
19.Perceived competence .52 AS .13 -.14 -.04 AS -.05 .16 -.33 .30 .39 .29 .20 .35 -.05 .01 AS .57
20.Jobperssure .22 Al .16 .09 .03 .56 .20 -.14 -.07 .18 .35 047 .34 .23 -.07 .07 .10 .12 .25
21.Lack of support .23 048 .12 .00 .02 .62 .21 -.16 -.05 046 .33 .38 042 .34 -.05 .07 .28 .30 .32 .73
22.Interest in pedagogical tasks 046 .20 -.16 -.25 -.08 .17 .06 .35 -.23 .13 .19 .13 -.06 .21 -.07 .08 .32 .27 .31 -.04 .00
23.Interest in practical tasks .58 Al -.11 -.09 -.21 Al .00 .33 -.21 .22 Al 040 .13 Al .08 .24 040 .26 043 .25 .21 .59
24.Interest in administrative tasks .22 -.02 .04 -.19 -.15 .05 -.18 .32 -.16 .03 .16 .03 .03 .06 -.04 .13 .08 .04 .09 -.01 -.01 .37 .39
25.Negative evaluation -043 -.33 -.09 .06 .04 -.33 -.03 -.06 .26 -.19 -.28 -.22 -.18 -.22 .08 -.04 -.31 -049 -046 -.13 -.20 -.37 -.35 -.07
26.Beliefs about one's job .56 048 .08 -.06 -.10 045 .02 .19 -.26 .21 049 .38 .2 .54 .11 .29 .50 .39 .58 .25 .30 042 049 .16 -043
27.Extrinsicmotivation .02 .17 -.01 -.05 .05 .22 .11 -.05 -.34 .15 .05 -.10 .14 .07 -.28 -.30 .09 .22 .16 .16 .27 .01 .02 -.17 -.18 .09
28.Positive evaluation .61 .51 .01 -.02 -.03 043 .10 .16 -.12 .28 045 .37 .22 048 .04 .31 .57 Al 047 .27 .29 047 .57 .14 -044 .60 .00
29.Intrinsic motivation Al .12 .04 .31 .16 -.02 -.23 .49 -.31 .13 .21 -.09 -.20 .20 -.12 .09 .39 .21 .28 -.08 -.09 .46 .34 .39 -.17 .30 .18 .34
30.Management/leadership .49 .28 -.17 -.08 -.14 .22 -.06 .32 -.13 -.15 -.30 .19 .03 .34 .11 .20 040 .27 .40 -.03 .03 .65 .80 .23 -.39 .43 .02 .51 -.36
Note. DC = organizational commitment
After perfoffi1ing a backward elimination procedure 6 the variance in willingness
to work was explained to 59%. The factors that to the highest extent contributed
to explaining the variance in willingness to work were, affective organizational
commitment, positive evaluation of one's job, interest in pedagogical work
tasks, accepted risks, risk burden, al1d perceived competence. General intrinsic
motivation and normative organizational commitment were also factors
contributing to explain the variance in willingness to work. The result is
presented in Table 16.

Table 16
The multiple regression model with willingness to work as the dependent
variable and its explanatory variables. N== 179
Explanatory variables b 13

Affective organizational commitment .15 .26**

Positive evaluation of the job .17 .20**
Interest in pedagogical work tasks .14 .18**
Accepted risks .23 .17**
Risk burden -.19 -.16**
Perceived competence .12 .16**
General intrinsic motivation .12 .12*
Normative organizational commitment .01 .11 *

2
R ad.f 0.59

* p ::; .05. **p ｾ .01.

6 Other stepwise procedures were performed and similar results were obtained.

103
4.2.1.1.1 Conclusion

The main point of this study was to explore the explanatory factors of work
motivation, defined as willingness to work, for pre-school employees. The
variance in willingness to work was explained to 59%, which is a quite high
percentage of explained variance. In fact, there is only limited room for further
improvement here, because the dependent variable is also affected by reliability
deficiencies. The explanatory factors were the following: Affective
commitment, positive evaluation of one's job, interest in pedagogical work
tasks, risk burden, accepted risk, perceived competence, general intrinsic
motivation, and normative organizational commitment. Sjoberg and Lind
(1994), who introduced the work motivation measure used, found that similar
factors explained willingness to work.

An explanatory factor that explained quite a large portion of the variance in

willingness to work was affective organizational commitment. According to the
result, the more an employee feels affectionately attached to the organization,
the higher the motivational level is. In a previous study, affective organizational
commitment was shown to be quite strongly associated with different work
related behaviors, like job performance (Meyer & Allen, 1997), absenteeism,
and turnover (Somers, 1995). Normative organizational commitment also
contributed to explaining the variance in willingness to work. The results
showed that the more an employee feels obligated to the organization, the more
motivated he or she is.

The explanatory variable, POSitive evaluation of one's job, which reflects

general attitudes towards OI1e's job, was also a relatively strong explanatory
factor to explain willingness to work. This indicates that the more positive an
individual is towards his or her job, the higher the motivational level is. This is
in line with what Katzell and Thompson (1990) concluded. However, in general,
the relationship between work attitudes and behavioral variables has been found
to be weak (for a review, see Andrich & Styles, 1998).

104
Interest in pedagogical work tasks was another explanatory variable of
willingness to work. The conclusion to be drawn here is that when people work
with tasks they find interesting, it affects their motivation in a positive way. In
this case, many of the employees in pre-schools probably might choose this
particular job because they are interested in children and pedagogical work
tasks, such as reading to the children and teaching children different things. In
the study of Sjoberg and Lind (1994), work interest was the strongest
explanatory variable of work motivation.

Both groups of risks, accepted risks and risk burden, contributed to explaining
willingness to work. The fact that risks can both increase and decrease the
motivation level might be a little bit confusing. Normally, risks are associated
with something negative at work, such as giviI1g colleagues negative critique,
and when an individual is exposed to that, the motivational level will decrease.
It has, however, been found that some high risk situations might instead be
perceived as a challenge (Svensson, Angelborg-Thanderz, & Sjoberg, 1993).

Another variable that contributed to explaining willingness to vv'ork \-vas

perceived competence (for a review, see Deci & Ryan, 1985). This study shows
that willingness to work increased with improved perceived competence.
Competence refers to knowledge and skills which people have at their disposal
and which they can use efficiently to reach certain goals in a wide variety of
contexts or situations (Kirschner & Van Vilsteren, 1997).

Not only the dimension of intrinsic motivation suggested by Deci and Ryan,
(1985), perceived competence contributed to explaining the variance in
willingness to work but also intrinsic n10tivation introduced by Amabile, Hill,
and Hennessey (1994), which measured intrinsic motivation more in general.
The result indicates that the more intrinsically motivated in whole a person is the
n10re willing to work he or she is. In a previous study, it was found that if the
intrinsic needs are met in a workplace, this will lead to increased job satisfaction
and improved job performance (Ilardi, Leone,& Ryan, 1993).

105
To sum up, the result of the study showed that in order to explain willingness to
work among pre-school employees and most likely in other professions and
organizations as well, a variety of factors must be considered. I believe that to
increase the understanding and prediction of work motivation, it might be
helpful to take into account a variety of factors, which has been demonstrated in
this explorative study.

4.2.1.2 Study 2: Determinants of willingness to work

In this study, 160 employees of an insurance company participated. The

variables included in the analysis from the beginning were, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment (affective, normative, and continuance), goal
setting, opinion about one's job, social relations, physical work environment,
work interest (client, business, and administrative work tasks), leadership,
creativity (spontaneous creativity and creativity inhibition), perceived risks
(accepted risks and risk burden), intrinsic motivation (perceived competence,
perceived relatedness, and perceived autonomy), gel1eral intrinsic n10tivation,
extrinsic motivation, work stress Gob pressure and lack of support), pay
satisfaction, and perceived control. The intercorrelations among these variables
are shown in Table 17.

106
 Table 17. Correlation matrix of all included variables (Study 2)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1.Willingness to work
2.Job satisfaction .64
3.Affective OC .50 043
4.Normative OC .21 .25 .65
5.Continuance OC -.12 -.11 .29 .58
6.Social relations .41 .51 .35 .16 -.10
7.Environment 043 AD .31 .19 -.06 .34
8.Interest (Business) .40 .25 .09 .12 -.21 .10 .25
9.Interets (Clients) .26 .11 .13 .07 .13 .01 .10 .64
10.Interest (Administrative) 048 .36 045 .23 -.05 .20 .26 .51 .60
11.General interest .54 .53 .36 .24 -.06 .25 .26 .23 .24 .37
12.Ledership/management .52 .55 .38 .18 -.09 .51 .32 .24 .11 .34 .37
13.Goal setting .35 .41 .40 .35 .12 .38 .15 .13 .07 .27 .29 .51
I-.l
0 14.Spontaneous creativity .34 .13 .08 -.02 -.14 .02 .04 042 048 .25 .20 .11 .01
-....l 15.Creativity inhibition -.16 -.08 -.03 -.06 .19 -.12 -.01 -.30 -.21 -.15 -.02 -.13 -.07 -.15
16.Accepted risks .51 .54 .27 .07 -.33 047 Al .33 .18 .32 .34 043 .19 .15 -.17
17.Risk burden -.15 -.08 -.09 -.05 -.17 -.20 -.09 -.06 -.02 -.11 .17 .10 -.11 -.21 -.05 .35
18.Job pressure .27 .23 .12 .09 -.13 .21 .23 .16 .01 .18 -.22 -.32 .23 -.11 -.06 .53 .39
19.Lack of support .33 .45 .20 .10 -.15 047 .32 .05 .13 .11 .17 -.51 .37 -.18 -.06 .53 .29 .65
20.Intrinsic motivation .14 .09 .01 .06 .15 .11 .10 .49 .55 .29 .16 .06 .07 .52 -.16 .13 .04 .04 .16
21.Extrinsic motivation .20 .13 .16 .22 .12 .06 .22 .25 .28 .14 .26 -.04 .13 .13 -.03 .02 .06 .02 .22 .33
22.Pay satisfaction .28 .29 .38 .15 -.01 .23 .26 .11 .12 .30 .17 .39 .38 .03 -.05 .37 .01 .21 042 .09 .12
23.Beliefs about one's job .65 .58 .50 .13 -.16 .35 .36 .21 .16 .34 .37 -.41 .23 .29 -.12 .56 .09 .13 .28 .22 .15 .24
24.Percieved competence .52 .48 .27 .06 -.34 042 .17 .32 .25 .32 .32 -046 .24 .23 -040 .58 .10 .23 .35 .25 .06 .25 .56
25.Perceived autonomy .46 .35 .18 .13 -.30 .23 .12 .16 .14 .30 .25 -.41 .17 .33 -.21 049 .05 .30 .27 .21 .03 .29 .58 .61
26.Perecived relatedness .23 .26 .24 .07 -.13 .57 .20 .05 .01 .23 .10 -.22 .14 .05 .09 .37 .13 .04 .33 .03 .10 .23 .34 043 .35
27.Percieved control Al .39 .25 .05 -.15 .31 .32 .21 .15 .34 .26 044 .26 -.22 -.16 .51 .01 .33 040 .14 .03 042 .54 049 .64 .24
28.Age .09 .10 .18 -.16 -.09 .07 .07 .02 -.02 .06 .11 .04 -.02 .09 .06 .13 .12 .14 .06 .06 -.14 .03 -.07 -.02 .04 .03 .00
29.Education -.11 -.11 .10 .05 -.09 -.16 .08 -.01 -.07 -.11 -.10 .01 -.05 -.10 .10 -.16 .22 -.04 .02 .06 .00 .01 .25 .18 .11 .09 -.18 .07
30.Tenure .11 .02 .34 -.27 -.17 -.04 -.01 .15 -.01 .12 -.03 -.04 -.05 .06 .02 .00 -.08 .06 .02 .09 .08 .00 -.20 .04 -.08 .10 .01 .21 .09
Note. OC = organizational commitment
Willingness to work was explained to 690/0 by a number of explanatory
variables. As in Study 1, the explanatory variables were selected after
performing a backward elimination procedure 7. The factors tl1at accounted for
the highest explanatory values were, first of all, beliefs abollt one's job and
perceived competence, which were significant at the 1% level. Job satisfaction,
risk burden, spontaneous creativity, work interest (business related work tasks)
and affective organizational commitment were significant at the 5% level,
whereas development of general work interest and perceived work environment
were significant at the 10% level. The results of the analysis are presented in
Table 18.

Table 18
Regression model obtained after performing a backward elimination procedure
with willingness to work as the dependent variable, N== 160
Explanatory variables b

Opinion about one's job .22 .30***

Perceived competence .16 .20***
Job satisfaction .09 .16**
Risk burden -.14 -.16**
Spontaneous creativity .18 .13**
Interest in business related work tasks .09 .13**
Affective organizational commitment .08 .12**
General development of work interest .08 .10*
Perceived work environment .10 .10*

2
R adj .69

*p ｾ .10, ** p ｾ .05, *** p ｾ .01.

7 Other stepwise procedures were performed and similar results were obtained.

108
The results show that as in Study 1, attitudes about one's job (opinion about
one's job), perceived competence, perceived risks (risk burden), work interest
and affective organizational commitment contributed to explaining the variance
in willingness to work. The variance in willingness to work was also in this
study explained to a high extent.

4.2.1.2.1 Conclusion

The result showed that the expla11atory variables that accounted for the variance
in willingness to work were the following: Opinion about one's job, perceived
competence, job satisfaction, risk burden (risks negatively related to work
motivation), spontaneous creativity, work interest (in business related work
tasks), affective organizational commitment, physical work environment, and
increased general work interest over the years. The variance in willingness to
work was explained to 69% by these explanatory factors. Thus, the level of
explanation of the dependent variable, willingness to work, was high. There is
only limited room for future improvement here, because the dependent variable
is affected by reliability deficiencies.

It seems like an individual's beliefs or opinion about the job influence his or her
willingness to work a great deal. In previous studies, it has been argued that
beliefs directly affect intentions (Weber & Gillespie, 1998). Montgomery (1998)
stated that if the strength of a behavioral intention is equivalent to volitional
strength, then it follows from reasoned action theory (for a review, see Fishbein
& Ajzen, 1975) that volitional strength is dependent on the individual's beliefs.
It should be noted that in a great number of studies, Ajzen and Fishbein have
demonstrated a fairly close relationship between behavioral intentions and actual
behavior (see e.g., Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Beliefs
have been found to affect attitudes. Like work attitudes, beliefs are difficult to
influence or change. One way might be to introduce new positive information
about the job (Pinder, 1998).

109
As in Study 1, the results of this study showed that the more competence an
employee perceives him- or herself to have at work or for a specific work task,
the higher the motivational level is. It has been found that if the perceived
competence is fulfilled in the workplace, this will result in increased job
satisfaction (Ilardi, Leone, Kasser, & Ryan, 1993).

Moreover, ifpeople experience unpleasant events (risk burden) and situations or

if the workplace is perceived to be dangerous, this has shown to affect people
negatively, not only in this study but in others as well (e.g., Roberts, 1993). If
the work environment instead is perceived to be pleasant, this will affect
motivation positively, as the result of the study showed.

To let people come up with their own ideas and give them support in their
creative processes was an important factor in explaining willingness to work.
This supported the findings of Tollgerdt-Andersson and Sjoberg (1992).

In Study 1, it was found that work interest had a significant impact on work
motivation. In this study, work interest, both general work interest as well as
interest for specific work tasks (business), were important determinants of
willingness to work. Sjoberg and Lind (1994) have reported the same and this
indicates that work interest is an important variable to explain willingness to
work

Affective organizational commitment, another variable which was reported to

have a significant impact on willingness to work in Study 1, was shown to be
the dimension of the three organizational commitment dimensions suggested by
Allen and Meyer (1990) that has the strongest relation with willingness to work
also in this study. In previous studies, a quite strong association has been found
between affective commitment and job performance (Meyer & Allen, 1997).
Affective commitment has also been found to have an impact on turnover and
absenteeism (Somers, 1995).

110
As the result showed, willingness to work was explained with a variety of
explanatory factors. In the present study, variables of intrinsic values, such as
perceived competence, spontaneous creativity, and work interest stand for a
quite large amount of explanatory power together with job attitudes, like job
satisfaction, affective commitment, and opinion about one'sjob. There were two
variables that represent the environment, and tl1ese were perceived physical
work environment and risk burden. This reflects the complexity of work
motivation and shows that it is important to integrate numerous variables in
order to understand and predict work motivation.

4.2.2 A structural model of willingness to work

4.2.2.1 Introduction

As the results showed in the two previous studies, based on the data from pre-
school employees as well as employees in an insurance company, several of the
variables, such as work interest, perceived risks, affective organizational
conunitment, and perceived competence contributed to explaining the variance
in willingness to work in both of the groups.

All of the mentioned variables have been shown to have strong direct
relationships to willingness to work, as shown in the two previous studies.
Furthermore, in previous studies direct relationships between some of the
variables included, such as work interest, has been shown to have a positive
relationship with organizational comn1itment (Winer & Gati, 1986). A study of
Cury, Biddle, Goudas, Sarrazin, and Durand (1996) found that perceived
competence influenced students' interests. It should be mentioned that the
dimension of perceived risks included for further analysis was accepted risks,
although risk burden was the dimension that contributed significantly to
explaining willingness to work.

111
However, the decision was made to include accepted risks due to the results
presented in the correlation matrices in Tables 15 and 17, because this factor
was more strongly related to willingness to work than risk burden.

The purpose of this study was to examine the indirect as well as direct
relationships between willingness to work and the explanatory variables
mentioned above. Participants are the same as in the two previous studies, pre-
school employees and employees of an insurance company. The pllrpose of
including a second sample in this article was to examine the stability of the
revised model for Study 1.

In order to examine the direct as well as indirect relations in a model, structural

equation model LISREL (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996) was used. A Structural
Equation Model (SEM) can be described as a multivariate technique combining
aspects of multiple regression (examines dependence relationships) and factor
analysis (representing unmeasured concepts factors with multiple variables) to
estimate a series of interrelated dependence relationships simultaneously (Hair,
Andersson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). Moreover, an additional characteristic of
SEM techniques is its ability to represent unobserved concepts, latent variables,
in these relationships and account for measurement errors in the estimation
process (Hair et aI., 1998). A latent variable is a hypothesized and unobserved
concept that can only be approximated by observable or measurable variables.
The observed variables are known as manifest variables, which can be obtained
through e.g., surveys, tests etc. The most obvious difference between SEM and
other multivariate techniques is the use of separate relationships for each of a set
of dependent variables. The characteristic of LISREL is that the entire LISREL
model can be expressed in temlS of eight matrices, two defining the structural
equations, two definil1g the correspondence of indicators and constructs, one for
the correlation of exogenous ("independent") constructs, one for the correlation
of endogenous ("dependent") constructs, and finally two detailing the correlated
errors for the measurement of exogenous and endogenous variables (Hair et aI.,
1998).

112
On the basis of the literature reviewed, the hypothesized model is presented in
Figure 4.

+
Work interest + Organizational
commitment
(Affective)

ＮＴｾ

+
Accepted risks W illingness to work
+
..-

+
Perceived
competence

Figure 4 . A hypothesized work motivation model

4.2.2.2 Study 1: Structural model of willingness to work

Table 19 reports intercorrelations for the indices. The underlying observed

variables and their factor loadings on respective latent variables are presented
for willingness to work and accepted risks in Appendix C1, affective
organizational commitment in Table 1, work interest in Table 3, and perceived
competence in Table 4.

113
Table 19
Intercorrelationsfor the complete set ofindices (Study 1)
1 2 3 4

1. Willingness to work

2. Affective organizational .59

commitment

3. Perceived competence .51 .36

4. Work interest (pedagogical .46 .20 .33

tasks)

5. Accepted risks .42 .37 .43 .21

Note. All correlations are significant at p < .01 at least.

The correlations between willingness to work and the other variables are quite
high, as expected. Many of the factors are rather highly correlated like accepted
risks and perceived competence as well as accepted risks and affective
commitment. Perceived competence is quite strongly correlated to both affective
commitment and work interest.

4.2.2.2.1 Model estimation and modification

Estimation methods in structural equation modelling are developed under

various assumptions. One is the assumptio11 that estimates and tests are based on
large samples. The sample size (N = 179) in this study could be considered to be
small. The adequacy of the test statistics is thus likely to be influenced by the
sample size (Hu & Bentler, 1998). Therefore, the following fit indices were
chosen because, according to Hu and Bentler (1998), they are less affected by
sample size: Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), Goodness of
Fit Index (GFI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Incremental Fit Index (IFI).

114
The model presented in Figure 4 was estimated using LISREL 8.30 (Joreskog &
Sorbom, 1999) with the sample covariance matrix as input. The results of
estimating the hypothesized model were, X2 (4) = 30.4, SRMR == .14, GFI = .94,
CFI = .86 and IFI = .87. The result is shown in Table 20.

The fit indices suggested potential for improvement through model

modification. LISREL modification indices suggested, firstly, to add a path
linking accepted risks to affective organizational commitment, secondly to add a
path between perceived competence and affective organizational commitment.
The path between accepted risks and willingness to work was not significant and
was deleted. This improved the model fit to X2 (4) = 4.55, p = .34, SRMR =
.04, GFI = .99, CFI = 1.00, and IFI = 1.00. The revised model fits the data better
than the initial model. The results of the revised model analyses are shown in
Figure 5.

As expected, work interest, intrinsic motivation, and affective organizational

commitment had a significant impact on willingness to work, whereas accepted
risks did not. As predicted, a positive and significant path was found between
perceived competence and work interest as well as between work interest
(pedagogical work tasks) and organizational commitment (affective). In the
revised model the path between work interest and affective organizational
commitment was not significant and was deleted.

Approximately 52% of the variance in willingness to work, 20% of the variance

in affective organizational commitn1ent and 11 % of the variance in work interest
(in pedagogical tasks) was explained by the model.

115
Table 20
Hypothesized model (Study 1)

Structural paths Unstandardized t-value a

coefficient

Affective OC ｾ WTW .25 7.93

Work interest ｾ WTW .22 5.18
Perceived competence ｾ WTW .17 3.85
Accepted risks ｾ WTW .13 1.75
Work interest ｾ Affective OC .27 2.75
Perceived competence ｾ Work interest .32 4.60

at-values greater than 2.0 are significant. DC = Organizational commitment,

WTW = Willingness to work, Work interest = Interest in pedagogical work tasks.

.20 (4.50)

Perceived .32 (4.60) Work interest

competence (pedagogical tasks)

.22 ＨＵＮＲｾ ..----- -,

.30 (3.15)

Willingness to work

...--- .26_{---,7,:Y
.66 (3.88) Affective
Accepted risks ｾ organizational
commitment

Figure 5. Revised model of willingness to work for Study 1. Unstandardized coefficients and
t-values within parantheses are presented.

For this sample the fit indices suggest a good fit of the data to the revised model.

116
4.2.2.3 Study 2: Structural model of willingness to work

In Table 21, intercorrelations of the idices included in the analysis are shown.
Factor loadings on respective latent variables are presented for willingness to
work and accepted risks in Appendix C2, for affective organizational
commitment in Table 7, perceived competence in Table 9, and work interest in
Table 8.

Table 21
Intercorrelations ofthe indices included in the model (Study 2)
1 2 3 4

1. Willingness to work

2. Affective organizational .52

commitment

3 Perceived competence .58 .26

4. Work interest (business .45 .09 .32

tasks)

5. Accepted risks .59 .29 .59 .34

Note. Correlations above r= .20 are significant on (p < .01).

All of the variables were highly correlated to willingness to work, which was
expected. In addition, the relationship between perceived competence and
accepted risks was very high. The rest of the relationships were quite high,
around .30, except for the relationship between work interest and affective
organizational commitment.

4.2.2.3.1 Model estimation

The revised model presented in Figure 6 was estimated using LISREL 8.30 with
the sample covariance n1atrix as input. The results of estin1ating the revised

117
model are presented in Figure 6. Estimation of the revised model resulted in
X2(df= 3) = 12.51, P = 0.01, SRMR = 0.05, GFI = 0.97, eFI = 0.95, and IFI =
0.95.

Approximately 49% of the variance in willingness to work, 9% of the variance

in affective organizational commitment, and 10% of the variance in work
interest (in business related work tasks) was explained. Furthermore, the revised
model fit the data quite well. Most of the paths were significant, except the paths
between perceived competence and work interest and perceived competence and
affective organizational commitment.

.31 (5.95)

Perceived .41(4.28) Work interest

competence (business related
tasks)

.18 (4.31)
.23 (1.71)

Willingness to work

.23 (6.37)

.41 (1.89) Affective

Accepted risks
• organizational
commitment

Figure 6. Revised model of willingness to work for Study 2. Unstandardized coefficients and
t-values within parantheses are presented.

118
4.2.2.4 Conclusion

In Study 1, a positive relationship was observed between affective

organizational conunitment, work interest in pedagogical work tasks, accepted
risks, perceived con1petence and willingness to work. The hypothesized
relationship between perceived competence and work interest in pedagogical
work tasks was significantly positive. The relationship betwee11 work interest
and affective orga11izational commitment was significant in the hypothesized
model but not in the revised model and was therefore deleted.

One relationship that was expected to be significant, the one between accepted
risks and willingness to work, was not supported in this study and deleted. The
link that was suggested to be added in the model was the one between accepted
risks and affective organizational commitment. Another added link was the one
between perceived competence and affective organizational commitment.

In study 2, which was used to confirm or examine the stability of the model, the
fit indices showed a good fit of the data. In this second study, most of the paths
were supported. There were some paths that were not supported and those were
the relationships between work interest and affective organizational commitment
and between perceived competence and affective organizational commitment.

As the results indicate, the level of willingness to work is increased when

employees find their work task interesting. This supports previous findings by
Sjoberg and Lind (1994) and Tollgerdt-Andersson and Sjoberg (1992). The
more attachment to the organization an employee experiences, the more
motivated he or she is. A person who perceives him/herself as competent at
work will experience higher work motivation than a person who does not
perceive him/herself as having competence. Deci and Ryan (1987) found that
the higher the perceived competence, the greater the job satisfaction and job
performance.

119
In the model, perceived competence was a factor that had impact not only on
willingness to work but also on many of the other variables in the analyses.
Consistent with the theoretical proposition of perceived competence, Cury,
Biddle, Famose, Goudas, Sarrazin, and Durand (1996) fOllnd that it was an
important factor for determining interest. However, as Sansone (1986) stated,
competence perceptions are only important to interest if con1petence itself is
valued in that context.

In the revised model, it was shown that the more the risks are accepted by an
employee the more affectively committed to the organization he or she is. The
perception of one's competence has a positive impact also on affective
organizational commitment.

To sum up, the results showed that the indices of fit suggest a good fit of the
data to the revised model in both of the studies. This gives indications of a quite
stable model. It also supports tentative conclusions regarding causal
relationships.

4.3 Results of construct validity studies

4.3.1 Introduction

The purpose of this section was to examine the construct validity of willingness
to work, which was investigated in three groups, pre-school employees (Study
1), employees in an insurance con1pany (Study 2), and salespeople in an
insurance company (Study 3). Validity is the degree to which an instrllment
actually measured what it was supposed to measure. It is always relevant to
question the validity of an instrument. It is particularly relevant when new
instruments are being developed or when previously validated instruments are
translated and used in other countries (e.g., Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1990).

120
4.3.1.1 The relationship between willingness to work and work-
related behaviors

Work motivation has been defined as the process by which behavior is

energized, directed, and sustained in organizational settings (Steers & Porter,
1991). Therefore, a goal of work motivation theories is to be able to explain the
factors or processes that affect the direction, intensity and persistence of
behavior in the workplace. Behaviors that have often been examined are
withdrawal behaviors, such as absenteeism and turnover, because of the costs
for organizations (Steers & Porter, 1983). In the present study, intention to quit
is investigated. In prior studies, turnover intention has been found to be an
immediate precursor to actual turnover (e.g., Hom, Caranikas-Walker, Prussia &
Griffeth, 1992). A work-related behavior that reflects how hard an individual
works is the number of hours (each day, week etc) he or she puts into work. The
assumption here is that the more time an individual voluntarily puts into work,
the higher the motivational level is. Wallace (1997) fOllnd a positive association
between work motivation and number of hours worked. A positive relationship
has been found between job performance and work motivation (for a review,
see Pinder, 1984; Locke & Latham, 1990a; Locke & Henne, 1986; Maeher &
Braskamp, 1986).

In Study 1, 179 pre-school employees participated. The work-related behaviors

studied were absenteeism, number of hours worked, and intention to quit. The
construct validity was studied by examining the relationship between
willingness to work and the work-related behaviors.

121
Table 22
Intercorrelations among the variables. N= 179 (Study 1)
Variables 1 2 3

1. Willingness to work

2. Absenteeism - .12

3. Number of hours worked .31 * - .14

4. Intention to quit - .56** .11 - .03

*p < .05 , **p <. 01.

In Table 22, the correlations8 among willingness to work, absenteeism, number

of hours worked (per week) and intention to quit show that both number of
hours worked (per week) (.31) and intention to quit (-.56) were strongly related
to willingness to work, whereas absenteeism (-.12) was quite weakly associated
with willingness to work.

8 Cohen (1988, 1992) suggested that a correlation coefficient around .10 is small, .30 is
medium and .50 is large.

122
In Study 2, 160 employees of an insurance company participated. The work-
related behaviors studied were also in this study absenteeism, number of hours
worked, and intention to quit. The result is reported in Table 23.

Table 23
Intercorrelations among the variables N== 160 (Study 2)

Variables 1 2 3

1. Willingness to work

2. Absenteeism - .16*

3. Number of hours worked .48** - .19*

4. Intention to quit - .31 ** .01 - .08

*p < .05 , **p <.01.

In Table 23, the correlations show that willingness to work had a strong
relationship to number of hours worked (.48), a moderate relationship to
intention to quit (-.31) and a weak relationship to absenteeism (-.16). Similar
results were found in Study 1.

123
In Study 3, 45 salespeople in an insurance company participated. The work-
related behavior that was related to willingness to work in this study was job
perfoffi1ance. Job performance was measured with a subjective, self-rating
measure and an objective job performance measure, sales volume.

Table 24
Intercorrelations between willingness to work andjob performance

Variables 1 2

1. Willingness to work

2. Objective job performance .57

3. Subjective job performance .39 .78

Note. All correlations are significant at p < .01 at least.

In Table 24, the relationship between willingness to work and objective job
performance (sales volume) was quite strong (.39). The correlation between job
performance and self-rated performance was even stronger (.57).

4.3.1.1.1 Conclusion

The purpose of this part was to examine the construct validity of willingness to
work. In Study 1 and 2, the work-related behaviors that were included were
absenteeism, intention to leave, and number of hours worked. The results show
that the relationships between willingness to work and work-related behaviors
varied. Willingness to work was weakly related to absenteeism in both Study 1
(r = -.12) and Study 2 (r = -.16).

124
The relationship between willingness to work and number of hours worked was
moderate in Study 1 (r = .31) and quite strong in Study 2 (r = .48). The
association between willingness to work and intention to quit was strong in
Study 1 (r = -.56) and moderate in Study 2 (r = -.31).

Absenteeism was expected to be highly associated with willingness to work but

the result showed a weak relationship. The fact that absenteeism was so difficult
to explain is in line with the literature (e.g., Bjorklund, 1991), but still a
disappointment in this study because previous work by Sjoberg and Lind (1994)
succeeded much better in this matter. Sjoberg and Lind found that 18% of the
variance was explained. The study of Sjoberg and Lind (1994) was conducted in
1992, whereas the present data were collected during 1995. Two conditions
were changed in 1995 that might have affected the respondents. First, the law
concerning payment during sick leave from work was changed so that one day
of a qualifying period for benefit was introduced and the compensation was
decreased from 900/0 to 800/0 for the employee. This law gained legal force in
April 1993 9 . Another factor that might have influenced the participants was the
number of people unemployed. In 1992 1°, 233,200 people were unen1ployed
whereas in 1995,332,900 people were unemployed in Sweden.

Nevertheless, previous results regarding the effect of unemployment rate on

absenteeism have shown some inconsistencies. Markham (1991) found that
when unemployment rate increased, absenteeism decreased. These findings were
supported by Leigh (1986). In one study in Sweden (Knutsson & Goine, 1998),
there was no relationship between unemployment rate and sickness absence
found for women. Among men, however, an inverse relationship between
unemployment rate and long term sickness absence was found.

In Study 3, willingness to work was related to subjective as well as object job

performance. The result showed a satisfactory result. The relationship between

9 The law of public insurance (Lagen am allman forsakring (AFL) or The law of sick leave
payment (Sjuklonelagen, Sj 11). The statute book of Sweden. (http://www.jit.se/lagbok).
10 The numbers are from National Statistics Sweden

125
willingness to work and· job performance showed that willingness to work was
strongly correlated with subjective as well as objective job performance (.57,
and .39, respectively). In the study of Sjoberg and Lind (1994) a strong
relationship between economic successes of the company and willingness to
work was found, which strengthen the findings of this study.

In conclusion, the result showed that work-related behaviors were quite strongly
related to willingness to work, which supports the construct validity of the scale.
However, it should be mentioned that absenteeism was quite weakly associated
with willingness to work in Study 1 and 2. The reason might be due to the way
absenteeisn1 was measured or other factors that were discussed earlier.

4.3.1.2 Willingness to work and other work motivation measures

(job satisfaction and organizational commitment)

To study the construct validity of willingness to work further, this measure was
related to two traditional and well established measures of work motivation, job
satisfaction and organizational commitment. Moreover, it was also investigated
whether willingness to work was a more efficient measure of work motivation
than the more traditional ones Gob satisfaction and organizational commitment).

The result of the relationships between willingness to work and the two
traditional work motivation measures Gob satisfaction & organizational
commitment) in Study 1 is reported in Table 25.

126
Table 25
Intercorrelations between willingness to work and traditional work motivation
measures Uob satisfaction and organizational commitment. N==179 (pre-school
employees.)
Variables 1 2

1. Willingness to work
2. Job satisfaction .48*
3. Organizational commitment .48* .34*

Note. *p < .01

The result shows a strong relationship between willingness to work and the two
traditional measures of work motivation job satisfaction (.48) and organizational
commitment (.48).

Furthermore, the result in Study 2 showed that the association between

willingness to work and job satisfaction was high (.62), whereas the relationship
between willingness to work and organizational commitment was weaker (.23).
The result is presented in Table 26.

Table 26
lntercorrelations between willingness to work traditional work motivation
measures (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). N==160 (employees
ofan insurance company)
Variables 1 2

1. Willingness to work
2. Job satisfaction .62
3. Organizational commitment .23 .26

Note. All correlations are significant at p < .01 at least.

127
111 Study 3, the result showed that the relationship between willingness to work
and the traditional work motivation measures was weak (.27 and 27,
respectively). The result is presented in Table 27.

Table 27
Intercorrelations ofwillingness to work and traditional work motivation
measures (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) N==45 (salespeople)
Variables 1 2

1. Willingness to work
2. Job satisfaction .27
3. Organizational commitment .21 .10

4.3.1.2.1 Conclusion

The results from the analyses showed that willingness to work was quite
strongly related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment in both Study
1 (r ==.48, .48, respectively) and Study 2 (r = .62, .23, respectively). However, in
Study 3 the correlation between willingness to work and the two traditional
work motivation measures (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) was
only moderately strong, (.27, 21 , respectively).

The conclusion that can be drawn from the result is that the construct validity
could be supported in Study 1 and 2 but not in Study 3. The strength of the
relationships varied, and the strongest relationship was found between
willingness to work and job satisfaction.

128
4.3.1.3 Is willingness to work a more efficient measure of work
motivation than the two traditional ones (job satisfaction and
organizational commitment)?

The purpose of this section was to investigate if the new measure of work
motivation, willingness to work, is a more efficient measure than job satisfaction
and organizational commitment. In order to examine this, all of the measures
were related to work-related behaviors (for a review of willingness to work, see
Table 22 and 23).

The results in Study 1 showed that job satisfaction was strongly associated with
intention to quit (-.58) and to some extent to absenteeisn1 (-.20) but weakly
related to number of hours worked (.05). Organizational commitment was
weakly related to both absenteeism (-.07) and number of hours worked (.10),
whereas the association to intention to quit was stronger (-.48). It should,
however, be mentioned that it might be an overlap between intention to quit and
organizational commitment, because there were questions in the organizational
commitment scale that concerned quitting the job.

In Study 2, both job satisfaction and organizational commitment were strongly

related to intention to quit (-.52, -.44) and weakly associated to absenteeism
(-.08, .02). Job satisfaction was also quite strongly related to number of hours
worked (.35) whereas organizational commitment was weakly associated with
number of hours worked (.08).

In Study 3, job performance (objective and subjective) was associated with all of
the work motivation measures. The results showed that job satisfaction was
strongly associated with objective (.34) as well as subjective (.49) job
performance. Organizational commitment, on the other hand, was weakly
related to both of the job performance measures (.19, .08).

129
Willingness to work was, like job satisfaction and organizational commitment,
weakly related to absenteeisn1 il1 Study 1 (-.12) and 2 (-.16). Moreover, intention
to quit was quite highly associated with willingness to work in Study 1 (-.56)
and Study 2 (-.31), which the two traditional work motivation measure also
were. Nun1ber of worked hours was in both of the studies, Study 1 (.31) and 2
(.48), stronger related to willingness to work compared to the other two
traditional work motivation measures. Moreover, willingness to work was more
strongly associated with both objective (.39) and subjective (.57) job
performance than job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Regression models were performed with absenteeism, intention to quit, and

nun1ber of hours worked as dependent variables and willingness to work, job
satisfaction, and organizational commitment as independent variables to
investigate if construct validity was improved by adding job satisfaction and
organizational commitment to willingness to work.

In Study 1, the result shows that by adding job satisfaction and organizational
comn1itment to the model, the work-related behaviors that were affected were
absenteeism, to a small degree, and intention to quit. Although job satisfaction
and organizational commitment were added to the regression model,
absenteeism was poorly explained, only to 2%. The work-related behavior that
was explained to the highest extent was intention to quit and all of the three
work motivation measures contributed to explaining the variance to 46%,
compared to 31 % with only willingness to work as the explanatory variable.
Willingness to work as a single explanatory variable accounted for 9% of the
variance in nUITlber afhours worked. The result is shown in Table 28.

130
Table 28
Regression models with absenteeism, number ofhours worked and intention to
quit as dependent variables (Study 1)
R 2 change R2 adj

Absenteeism
1a .31 .01 .01
2b .20 .04 .03 .02

Number of
hours worked
a
1 .31 .09 .09
2b .33 .11 .01 .09

Intention to quit
1a .56 .31 .31
2b .69 .47 .16 .46

a Predictor: Willingness to work,

b Predictors: Willingness to work, job satisfaction & organizational commitment

Also, in Study 2 different regression models were tested. Willingness to work,

job satisfaction and organizational commitment were used as predictors of
absenteeism, hours worked and intention to quit. The proportion of explained
variance it1creased in intention to quit when job satisfaction and organizational
commitn1ent were added to the regression model. The explained variance in
absenteeism and nUll1ber of hours worked did not increase noticeably by adding
job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The variance in absenteeism
was as in Study 1 poorly explained, at the highest 2%. The work-related
behavior that was explained to the highest extent was intention to quit and by
adding job satisfaction and organizational commitment the variance increased.
Number of hours worked was explained to 190/0 and by adding job satisfaction
and organizational commitment the portion of explained variance did not
increase. The result is shown in Table 29.

131
Table 29
Regression models with absenteeism, number ofhours worked and intention to
quit as dependent variables (Study 2)
2 2
Model R R R 2 change R ad;

Absenteeism
la .16 .03 .02
2b .16 .03 .00 .01

Number of
hours worked
la .44 .19 .18
2b .45 .20 .01 .19

Intention to quit
a
1 .31 .09 .09
b
2 .60 .36 .27 .35

a Predictor: Willingness to work

b Predictors: Willingness to work motivation, job satisfaction & organizational commitment

4.3.1.3.1 Conclusion

A con1parison in construct validity was made between the new n1easure of work
motivation (willingness to work), and the two traditional ones (job satisfaction
and organizational commitment). The results showed that willingness to work,
job satisfaction and organizational commitment were quite weakly related to
absenteeism. All of the three measures were strongly associated to intention to
quit, whereas willingness to work showed a generally stronger relationship to
number of hours worked.

Regression analyses were performed in order to investigate if the predictive

power increased by adding job satisfaction and organizational commitment to
willingness to work, to a regression model. The work-related behavior where the
proportion of explained variance increased by adding job satisfaction and
organizational commitment was intention to quit. The variance in the other two
work related behaviors was not affected as much or at all when job satisfaction

132
and organizational comrnitn1ent were added. The result supported the construct
validity of willingness to work, because willingness to work contributed by itself
to a high extent to explain the variance in the work-related behaviors.

4.3.1.4 Does work motivation in general predict work-related

behaviors?

In Study 1, a canonical correlation analysis!! (CCA) was performed, to

investigate the overall effects of the set of work motivation variables
(willingness to work, job satisfaction and organizational commitment) on the set
of work related behaviors (absenteeism, number of hours worked, and intention
to quit). The canonical correlation coefficient measures the degree of correlation
between the two variates 12 or sets of variables described earlier. The canonical
correlation coefficient between the first canonical variate of the dependent
variables and the first canonical variate of the independent variables was .71 and
significant at the 1%-level [X 2(9) =127]. The canonical R2 was computed, which
represents the square of the canonical correlation coefficient and is interpreted
as the proportion of variance that is shared between the two canonical variates.
For the model, 50% of the variance in the first criterion canonical variate is
accounted for by its predictor canonical variate counterpart. As such, the overall
relationship is reasonably strong.

Also, in Study 2, a canonical correlation analysis was performed, to investigate

the overall effects of the set of work motivation variables (willingness to work,
job satisfaction, and organizational commitment) on the set of work related
behaviors (absenteeism, number of hours worked and intention to quit). The
canonical correlation coefficient between the first canonical variate of the

11 A canonical correlation analysis describes the nature of the relationships between two sets
of variables. The underlying logic of canonical correlation involves deriving these linear
con1binations so that the correlation between the two linear combinations is maximized.
12 Canonical variates are pairs of linear combinations of variables. One variate is derived from
the dependent variables and the other from the independent variables.

133
dependent variables and the first canonical variate of the independent variables
was .67 [X 2 (9) ==114]. For the model, 45% of the variance in the first criterion
canonical variate was accounted for by its predictor canonical variate
counterpart. As such, the overall relationship is reasonably strong.

4.3.1.4.1 Conclusion

It was also investigated if work motivation (including willingness to work, job

satisfaction, and organizational commitment) is an efficient predictor of work-
related behaviors (absenteeism, number of hours worked, and intentiol1 to quit).
This was employed using canonical correlation analysis. The results showed a
strong relationship in both of the studies (.71, and .67).

In conclusion, the results showed that the three work motivation measures
together were quite efficient predictors of work-related behaviors.

134
5. General discussion

5.1 A summary of the findings

There were two main questions investigated in the thesis. The first question was
to investigate the determinants of work motivation defined as willingness to
work. The second question was to examine the construct validity of the
willingness to work scale.

The participants were three different professional groups that all belong to the
service industry. The first group included 179 pre-school employees, the second
group 160 employees of an insurance company, and finally 45 insurance
salespeople.

A large number of factors that have been shown to be related to work motivation
were included in the first research question which was carried out in Study 1 and
2. The variables that were selected to be included in the study were chosen due
to previous findings of Sjoberg and Lind (1994) and to other results regarding
variables that have shown to be related to work motivation. In Study 1, the
participants were 179 pre-school employees. After using a multiple regression
analysis with a backward elimination procedure, the factors that contributed to
explaining the variance in willingness to work were affective organizational
comn1itment, positive evaluation of one's job, interest in pedagogical work
tasks, risk burden, accepted risks, perceived competence, general intrinsic
motivation, and normative organizational commitment. These factors accounted
for 59% of the explained variance.

In Study 2, 160 employees of an insurance company participated. The purpose

was to explore the determinants of willingness to work. The variables
contributing to explaining the variance in work motivation were quite similar.
The variance was explained in work motivation to 69%. The determinants were
opinion about one's job, perceived competence, job satisfaction, risk burden,

135
spontaneous creativity, interest in business related work tasks, affective
organizational commitment, general work interest, and perceived work
environment.

As the results showed in the two studies, there were several factors that had an
impact on willingness to work in both of the studies. This was in line with what
Sjoberg and Lind (1994) found in their study. A further analysis was made on
the factors that explained the variance in both of the studies in order to examine
the relationships between them more thoroughly. Therefore, a LISREL analysis
(Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996) was carried out to investigate direct as well as
indirect relationships between affective commitment (organizational
commitment), accepted risks (perceived risks), work interest (specific work
tasks), perceived competence (intrinsic motivation), and willingness to work.
The result showed significant paths between affective organizational
commitment, work interest, accepted risks, perceived competence, and
willingness to work. Further, the path between perceived competence and work
interest was significant. A significant path between work interest and affective
organizational commitment was also found. Moreover, significant paths between
accepted risks and affective organizational commitment as well as perceived
competence and affective organizational commitment were found. The revised
model that was found in Study 1 was confirmed in Study 2. The results
indicated that the data fit the revised model well in Study 1 and 2.

The first question examined the factors that determined willingness to work and
their direct as well as indirect relationships. In the second research question, the
construct validity of the measure willingness to work was examined. A valid
and useful measure of work motivation should be closely related to different
work-related behaviors (Pinder, 1998), and in order to investigate the construct
validity of the measure, willingness to work was related to absenteeism,
intention to quit, and number of hours worked (Study 1 and 2) and to subjective
job performance as well as objective job performance (Study 3).

136
Moreover, the results showed that willingness to work was in both studies
(Study 1 and 2) quite highly correlated to intention to quit and number of hours
worked but weakly related to absenteeism. The relationship between willingness
to work and job performance (subjective and objective) was examined (Study 3).
The result showed a strong relationship between willingness to work and
subjective as well as objective job performance n1easures (.57, and .39,
respectively).

The new measure of work motivation, willingness to work, was also compared
to two traditional work motivation measures Gob satisfaction and organizational
commitment) and the general conclusion to be drawn is that it was a more valid
measure than the two traditional ones, especially compared to organizational
commitment.

The correlations partly supported that willingness to work can be considered as a

valid measure of work motivation. It should, however, be mentioned that the
relationship between willingness to work and absenteeism was weak in Study 1
and 2. The findings as regards the internal consistency showed that Cronbach a
appears to hold across different types of samples (different professions). The
Cro11bach a was around .80 in all of the studies.

To sum up, the variance in willingness to work was well explained in all of the
studies. In fact, although the work groups were very different, similar variables
explained the variance. Similar findings were presented by Sjoberg and Lind
(1994), which makes the determinants of work motivation defined as
willingness to work quite consistent across work groups. The variable that in all
of the groups was shown to be important in explaining work motivation was
work interest, which was also shown in the study of Sjoberg and Lind (1994).
Work interest has not often been related to work motivation in prior studies, but
n1uch more attention should be paid to this factor because of its ability to predict
work motivation.

137
The construct validity of willingness to work was also examined and it showed
to be a valid and useful measure of work motivation, because the measure was
closely related to work behaviors such as job performance, number of hours
worked, and intention to quit. As the results showed, using volitional approach,
willingness to work successfully predicted different job related behaviors and
this strengthens the notion of using this approach instead of traditional ones.

A final remark, to understand work motivation is not an easy tasks as Locke

(1991, p. 298) stated when he wrote about work motivation "we do not know
everything, but we do know something!". Hopefully, the studies presented here
have contributed to increasing the knowledge about work motivation and the
results presented here can be used both in further research as well as among
practitioners.

5.2 Limitations

In all of the studies there were limitations. A limitation of the study of

en1ployees working in pre-schools (Study 1) was the relatively small sample size
and the fact that only pre-schools in the county of Stockholm were selected. This
limitation was due to financial and practical constraints. Evidently, this limits
the level to which the results can be generalized. Other factors, for example
policies on how pre-schools should be run and the amount of money received
for a child from the parents and the municipality might be different depending
on where one lives. There are, of course, other possible factors that may affect
the employee's motivational level. One important thing to consider is that the
majority of the respondents in this study were wome11. This means that the
results might be difficult to apply to other work groups than those withiI1 the
child care sector.

138
In the second study, where employees at a Swedish insurance company were
studied, generalizations can be drawn only to this specific company, as the
particular organizational culture and structures are unique for every company,
which may in term mirror people's motivational level. However, the method
used here can be applied to other professions and work places.

To investigate the determinants of willingness to work, a stepwise regression

analysis was used. Using stepwise procedures could involve limitations, if they
are not used with precaution. Stepwise procedures are susceptible to sample-
specific error because of a great potential for capitalization on chance (cf.
Freedman, 1983). Also, as many of the decisions in selecting variables may be
based on small differences in values of regression weights or partial correlations,
stepwise procedures applied to two different samples from the same population
are likely to identify different subsets of predictors as "best" (Bobko, 1990).
Other errors can occur when using stepwise regression. One is that irrelevant
variables could be included in the model and the second is that relevant
variables could be excluded. This error is related to the fact that the final
regression model fits too well to the empirical data used. Another potential error
is related to the possibility that relevant variables are excluded and this could
interfere with the final analysis. To clarify, if two independent variables are
highly correlated, the first one of these independent variables that will be
included in the model will also absorb a large part of the other variables'
explanatory value and there is a risk that the second variable will not be included
in the model and that the first variable will have too much impact on the
dependent variable (Ruist, 1990).

In the study of construct validity the first limitation was that the work-related
behaviors were self-reported, which can be a disadvantage because some
participants might have been unsure of, for example, how many days they had
been absent from work. It would have been desirable that both self-reported and
objective data, such as personnel records, could have been compared. Secondly,
absenteeism was not divided into involuntary and voluntary absenteeism, which
might have influenced the results.

139
Additionally, Sagie (1998) found that the correlation between absence obtained
from personnel records and absence obtained from self-reports was .91 for
voluntary absence and .85 involuntary absence.

In Study 3, there were certain limitations, which might affect the

generalizability of the findings. One major limitation is due to the sample size,
45 insurance salespeople, and another is due to the fact that the study was
conducted only in one insurance company. It should also be mentioned that self-
reports of behaviors in general are strongly influenced by features of the
research instrument, including question wording, format, and context
(Schwartz, 1999), which should be considered when the results are interpreted.
Further, to use sales volume as an objective job performance is common.
However, it should be recognized that sales volume measures are a function of
both individual skill and effort and environmental factors beyond the control of
the employee (Borman, 1991). Moreover, sales volume will often fail to
n1easure important parts of the job, for example, how helpful an employee is to
a colleague, how much service an employee gives to a client, etc (Boffi1an,
1991). However, this problem might be somewhat minimized by also adding a
subjective job performance measure.

Further research

The next step in the research process is to further study the measure of work
motivation defined as willingness to work and use the measure in other work
groups. Further to study factors such as work interest, perceived risks,
(

organizational commitment and intrinsic motivation and their effects on

willingness to work in other work groups and professions.

A further study of the construct validity of the work n10tivation measure is

crucial. It would be preferable to use self-reported as well as objective measures
of different work-related behaviors, such as personal records of absenteeism,

140
actual turnover rate, and actual number of hours worked and to divide
absenteeism into involuntary and voluntary absenteeism. Also, the relationship
between work motivation and job performance is important to study further.

New technology is creating new types of work and corporations, which also
would be of great interest to study further.

141
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180
7. Appendix

7.1 Appendix A

Service industry

Services is the most rapidly growing economic sector in contemporary

industrialized societies (Nelson, 1994) and the population that works in the
manufacturing industry has been reduced during the recent decade. Previous
studies on work motivation have been conducted mostly in the manufacturing
industry. Since the number of people working in the service industry increases
continuously, work motivation studies in this area are called for.

In this section, the service industry is first presented. Then, the services that
have been studied in the thesis are child care services and insurance services
separately introduced.

Research suggest that the shift to service employment has not uniformly
benefited the work force. Service workers are more likely than manufacturing
workers to have low incomes, fewer opportunities for full-time employment, and
also greater inequality in earnings (Nelson & Lorence, 1988; Nelson, 1994).
However, Aarnio (1999) stated that the service sector has generated
disproportionately both good quality and well-paid jobs.

The conventional characteristics of manufacturing versus services are given as

tangibility versus intangibility, transferability as opposed to non-transferability,
storability versus non-storability and no direct contact versus direct contact
between the producer and consumer (e.g., Aanio, 1999).

181
A more detailed description of service industries was presented by Fitzsimmons
and Sullivan (1982). The characteristics of the service sector are:

• The consumer is a participant in the service process. This requires particular

attention to the surroundings and characteristics of the service operations.
• Services cannot be stored, they are time perishable and if they are not used
they are likely to be wasted. For example, the lost income from an unsold
hotel room for one day is lost forever.
• Unlike physical products, services are less tangible and more difficult to
explain or communicate. Benefits derived from services tend to be associated
with feelings and emotions.
• In service operations work activities are people-oriented and the
characteristics of the. workforce are particularly important in determining
organizational effectiveness.
• Measurement of output is difficult and there is unlikely to beone single,
important criterion by which to measure effective performance.

182
The development of employment in Sweden has been divided into three types of
industries; agriculture, manufacturing and services. They are compared in Figure
AI.

90

80
-+- Agriculture
70 --.- Manufacturing

60 - -Services

50

40

30

1925 1950 1975 1994

Figure A 1. The development of three industries over time in %.

(Source: Swedish Coalition of Service industries, 1996)13.

Figure Al shows the increase of employees in the service sector. In 1850, the
number of employed people in agriculture was approximately 82% and in 1994,
only 4%. In manufacturing, the number of people employed in 1850 was 8% and
in 1994 it was 26%. The number of employed persons in services in 1850 was
10%, and in 1994, it was 70%.

The total number of en1ployed people in 1994 was 4 million. The division
between different industries is presented in Table Al and Figure A2.

13 Information from Swedish Coalition of Service industries concerning the Swedish service
sector.

183
Table Al
The division ofemployed people in Sweden in 1994, divided between different
kinds ofindustries.
Industries Number of employed people in % (%)

Private services 38
Public services 32
Construction 5
Agriculture 4
Manufacturing 21
(Source Swedish Coalition of Service industries, 1996).

em Private services

• PubHc services

II Manufacturing

GJ Constructing

o Agriculture

Figure A2. The division of the 4 million employees in Sweden, divided in different types of
industries (Swedish Coalition of Service industries, 1996).

The internationalization process is another important aspect in service industries.

The Swedish industry as a whole is one of the most internationalized in the
world, and Swedish service industries are dependent upon foreign markets. The
business world is getting increasingly global, and the processes of
internationalization are even more important today, as a result of the Swedish
membership in the ECC. This makes education in languages and properties of
other cultures important.

It is not only the service industry in Sweden that has grown but the development
and the shift from manufacturing industry to service industry look the same in

184
most countries in the world. Tables A2 a11d A3 give the general picture of the
official service sector share of GDP and employment in a number of GECD
countries, based on the traditional three-sector division (agriculture is not
reported). The trend over the past 30 years in the GECD countries towards ever
greater proportions of service-based income and employment is well
documented.

185
7.1.1 Changes in work per se

Since the industrial revolution every decade has had its unique defining
characteristics. Innovation and challenging the establishment characterized the
1960s; industrial strife and conflict between employer and employee, the 1970s;
the enterprise culture, with its strategic alliances, privatizations and the like, the
1980s; and the short-term contract culture, with its outsourcing, "flexible"
orkforce, and long working hours culture, the 1990s (Cooper, 1999). These
dramatic changes in the UK, and in the European and North American
workplaces have led to freelance, and to intrinsically job-insecure and less stable
work environments which is partly responsible for certain industrial and social
problems (Cooper, 1999). In fact, organizations today are facing more change
than ever before (Conner, 1992). As they strive to retain their competitive edge,
they are reorganizing, downsizing, and implementing new technology. The
traditional notion of a "job" is becoming antiquated as work becomes more

186
project based and employees are required to work beyond fixed job descriptions
(Howard, 1995). Employees today are facing greater changes, at a more rapid
pace, than ever before. Moreover, in order to meet the changes, it is important to
be aware of and understand them. It is possible that this will especially have an
impact on the service industry, as investments here are in the human capital.
New, specific competence is demanded. For a company to be able to be
successful and productive, the employees have to improve their competence.
Their roles have to be flexible since they have to act both as sellers and
customers.

7.1.2 Work motivation and productivity in the service

industry

Tollgerdt-Andersson and Sjoberg (1992) argued that interest and creativity are
factors that influence work motivation among people working in the service
sector. Sjoberg and Lind (1994) reported that work interest was the dimension
that explained a large share of variance in work motivation in the private service
sector.

Stymne (1989) stated that there are strong indications that there is less
productivity growth in services than in the manufacturing industry. Ifwe want to
continue to improve our living standards, it might be necessary to find out
whether improved motivation could raise productivity in the service sector,
since this sector employs the majority of our human resources.

187
7.1.3 Two different kinds of service industries

7.1.3.1 Introduction

The present thesis deals with two, quite different kinds of services, child care
and insurance. Both of the industries have gone through many changes and are
still undergoing change, which makes the employees face new challenges and
develop new kinds of competence. The number of people employed in child care
was in 1999 approximately 115,500, and in the insurance services, 23,500
(Statistics Sweden, 2000)14. First in this section, child care is introduced and
second, some facts on the insurance industry are presented.

7.1.3.2 Child care in Sweden

Child care services have developed rapidly, and the past few years have brought
about a number of changes concerning ideology and practical activities. During
the expansive years of the 80s, the control of child care in Sweden was strongly
govemn1ental. This control was exerted through state grants, with norms and
guidelines issued by the supervisory authority; the National Board of Health and
Welfare. Political developments have been generally characterized by the
abolition of state controls, norms and restrictions in favor of greater
decentralization in child care services from 1992 (The Swedish Institute, 1994).

7.1.3.2.1 Changes in child care

The Swedish child care tradition is built upon three components; nursing,
pedagogy and service. Current changes, so far, have not had any effect on any of

14 Statistics Sweden. Statistical yearbook of Sweden 2000.

188
these components. The changes have included larger groups of children, new
organizations and a ｦｲｾ･ choice concerning the kind of child care service
parents choose (Knutsson & Hjalmarsson, 1994).

Political developments in recent years have generally been characterized by the

abolition of state control, norms and restrictions in favor of greater
decentralization. Since January 1992 day care centers in Stockholm make their
own decisions and take care of their own budget. A new role has been assigned
to the employees: to market their specific day care center (Johal1sson, Kronvall,
Jansson & Linstrom, 1994). Because of the changing circun1stances, earlier
guidelines and restrictions have been modified with regard to staffing ratios and
the size of groups (Sjoberg, 1995).

A summary of the main changes is presented below:

• All child care services used to be municipal, but today co-operatives,

foundations, limited companies and other bodies can also be provided with
mUl1icipal funding support (Sundell, 1995).

Municipal spending cuts have tended to result in larger groups and lower
staffing ratios. Between 1990 and 1994, the number of enrolled children per
employee has increased by approximately 40 % (Sundell, 1995).

In January 1995, approximately 20 % of the day care services were within the
private sector, the most common form being a parental co-operative (Stahle,
1995).

• An increase has occurred in responsibilities of the managers (for example

financial responsibly).

• The responsibility for six-year-old children has been transferred to schools,

and younger children have taken their place (Sundell, 1995).

• Larger groups, younger children and the new three-hour per day option had a
negative effect on child care centers. The available number of employees was
reduced when an employee was ill, because substitute employees were not
available (Sjoberg, 1995).

189
The consequences of the changes cOll1d be sumn1arized as the following,
according to Sundell (1995):

• The mangers do not have sufficient time to manage the group they are
responsible for and there is not time for them to supervise staff members in
pedagogy. A decrease in number of personnel may result in a decreased
ability to support and stimulate all children.

• It is not possible to the same extent as earlier for the staff to participate in
different training programs. These changes might result in larger turnover
because of a lowered degree of job satisfaction and well-being of the
personnel.

• Because of the changes in child care services, employees not only have to
adjust to new demands but may also have to find new challenges within the
changes (Lundstrom, 1995).

• The changes in day care services have brought forth protests both from
parents and personnel (Lundstrom, 1995), because of a decrease in the quality
of the existing child care service (Stahle, 1995).

Thus, the present situation of day care centers is one of strongly increased
demands on productivity and decentralized responsibility. Work motivation
could, under such conditions, be affected in a negative or a positive manner,
depending on the details. Challenges tend to be positive for motivation if they
are not too demal1ding. It remains to be seen how the current situation should be
characterized.

7.1.3.2.2 Work motivation and productivity in child care

Lundstrom (1995) found that employees working in day care centers were
satisfied with their work situation. Most of them had good relationships with

190
their coworkers. The staff also felt that their contact with the children's parents
was satisfying.
Job satisfaction had not been affected by the municipal spending cuts within the
child care sector. The employees were as satisfied as they used to be, although
the number of children per group had increased (Olsson, 1995).

The variables that explained job satisfaction were the work itself, the
relationship between the personnel and the manager, and characteristics of a
small variation of the age of the children in the groups (Lundstrom 1995). In a
study of Australian directors of child care centers, survey respondents reported
that intrinsic motivators such as "interesting and challenging work" and "feeling
of achievement" were more important to their job satisfaction than "salary"
(Savery & Wingham, 1991).

The child care sector and its productivity have often been discussed in the
media. Nowadays, the municipal child care sector has to compete with private
child care services. In 1994, 5% more children were enrolled in child care
services as compared with 1993. This increase occurred in the private child care
sector alone (Jallhage, 1995). The reductions in state grants have resulted in a
need for increased efficiency of child care services. The cost of a child in child
care services has drastically been reduced during the past years, and the sector's
productivity has increased by 50% to the mid 1990's (Kjellander, 1995).

7.1.3.3 Insurance industry

Insurance and banking stand for 6% of the service industry's total employment
of 1.5 million people (Swedish Coalition of Service Industries, 1996). The key
to success in the insurance industry has been stated as "self-motivation"
(Gaedeke, 1995). In most insurance agencies, owners, managers, and employees
are more often rewarded equally rather than paid on the basis of their individual
performances. Traditionally, salary raise has been practiced which increases
total compensation expenses each year without necessarily changing

191
performance. The challenge for the agency system, and the insurance industry in
general, is to design compensation programs that motivate without
compensation costs escalating. Some agencies are replacing the straight salary
raise with a salary/bonus arrangement in which the bonus is tied to performance.
Employees who fail to meet goals receive no bonus (Cunningham, 1995).

There are approximately 500 insurance companies in Sweden out of which

approximately 400 are small local businesses (Swedish Insurance Federation,
1995)15. Swedish insurance companies have 16 affiliated companies in other
countries. Most of these are either situated in the other Nordic countries or in
England.

7.1.3.3.1 New tasks for the insurance industry

The conditions in the industry have changed. The strict regulations that limited
the insurance companies have lessened during the past years.

Tl1e exchange control was abolished in 1989 and a new insurance agency law
was established in 1990. The following after, it was permitted to run both
insurance and banking activities within the same business concern. With the
EES agreement, it also became possible to run business activities in other
European countries (Swedish Insurance Federation, 1995).

Since July 1, 1995, the insurance Business Act has been adapted to conform to
the ED's third Non-Life and Life Assurance Directives. A large part of the
Federation's activities during 1995 involved the question of whether the
insurance industry can and should take on greater responsibility for some of the
matters that burdened the national budget. This could be done by developing
private alternatives to some of the National Insurance systems (Swedish
Insurance Federation, 1995).

15 Swedish Insurance Federation Annual Report 1995.

192
7.1.3.4 Sumolary

From 1992, both muni9ipal and private child care services exist, which has
resulted in an increase of competition between day care centers. This has
resulted in new work tasks for employees in child care, and improved
competence is more or less required. Each of the day care centers is a separate
organization with its own budget. The insurance industry also faces new
challenges mainly because the strict regulation that limited the insurance
companies before has lessened during the years. Today it is possible for an
insurance company to run insurance as well as banking activities in the same
organization. It is also possible for them to run business activities in other
European countries. The presented services are well known and used by the
public and often, especially child care, discussed in the media, which makes
these two services interesting to study. They are also quite different. If findings
generalize across them, this would be an interesting finding.

193
7.2 Appendix B

Scales that were marked with **

Study 1= en1ployees in pre-schools
Study 2= employees in an insurance company
Study 3= salespeople in ·an insurance company

Work motivation (Questions 12)

(Study 1,2 and 3)

Absolutely Rarely Uncertain Maybe Absolutely

not

Do you feel motivated by your job? 0 0 0 0 0 (1)

Do you feel stimulated by your work tasks? 0 0 0 0 0 (2)

Would you like your children to 0 0 0 0 0 (3)

choose the same job as you?

Do you feel that your dedication to your job 0 0 0 0 0 (4)

is so strong that it interferes with your
family life, friends etc?

Do you perceive your job as challenging? 0 D D 0 0 (5)

Would you like to devote some more time D 0 0 0 0 (6)

to your work?

Would you like to work fewer hours per 0 0 0 0 0 (7)

week if it was econon1ically possible?
(R)
Note: ( R)= Reversed scale

Never Rarely Uncertain Sometimes Often

Are there times when you take your 0 0 0 0 0 (8)

work home voluntarily, even though it
is not required?

Are there times when you do not take a 0 0 0 0 D (9)

lunch break because of your strong
dedication to your work tasks?

Do you look forward to returning to 0 0 0 0 o (10)

work at the end your summer holiday?

194
 It passes very It passes Neither It passes It passes
slowly quite slowly quickly quite very
nor quickly quickly
slowly

Do you feel that time at work goes 0 0 0 0 0 (11)

quickly or slowly?

Less than 5 5-9 days 10-14 15-20 days More than

days days 20 days

During how many working days per

month do you feel a strong will to 0 0 0 0 0 (12)
work?

195
 Beliefs/opinion about one's job
(Study 1 and 2)

Presented below are some questions about how you perceive your job

Not at all To some In some Neither Toa To a To a

small degree small quite high very
degree nor high high degree high
degree degree degree

A routine job D D D D D D D

A job that is well respected D D D D D D D

in society

A popular job among D 0 0 D D D D

young people

An in1portant job 0 D D D D D D

A job I can recommend D 0 D 0 0 D 0

Ajob with clear demands 0 0 0 D D D D

Ajob that demands female D D D D D D D

characteristics
Ajob that demands male D D 0 D D D D
characteristics
A job that allows me to D D D D D D D
develop

Ajob I have never D D D 0 D D D

regretted that I have chosen

A job with support from D D D D D D D

the top management

Ajob with a high D D D D D D D

employment security

A job that I myself shape to D D D D D D D

a high degree

A job that unfortunately D 0 D D D D 0

allows colleagues to "take
it easy"

A job to be proud of D 0 0 0 0 D 0

196
A job that gives meaning to 0 0 0 0 0 0
life 0

A job that one gets tired of 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

after a while

A job that gives me self- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

confidence

Ajob that teaches me a lot 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

about people and society

A job that constantly gives 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

me new experiences

A job where I can openly 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

and clearly communicate
with my colleagues

A job where you are treated 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

fairly by managers

A job where you are 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

"irreplaceable"

A prestigious job 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

197
 Evaluation of one's job
(Study 1)

To what degree does the statement below agree with your job

Not at all To some In some Neither To a To a very

small degree small high high
degree nor high degree degree
degree

My job is nice 0 D 0 0 0 D

My job is bad 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job is ideal for me 0 0 0 0 0 D

My job is A waste of time 0 0 0 0 D 0

My job is good 0 0 0 0 D D

My job is not suited for me 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job is valuable 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job is worse than most 0 0 0 0 0 0

jobs

My job is fantastic 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job is acceptable 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job is better than most 0 0 0 D 0 0

jobs

My job is not acceptable to 0 0 0 0 0 0

me

I am satisfied with my job 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job does is not good 0 0 0 0 0 0

enough for me

My job is excellent 0 0 0 0 0 0

My job is very bad 0 0 0 0 0 0

I am comfortable with my 0 0 0 0 0 0
job

My job is worthless D 0 0 0 D D

198
 Perceived risks
(Study 1 and 2)

The statements below, different negative events or conditions at work are

presented. Are there times when you experience the following events or
conditions?
Never Almost Sometimes Quite often Often
never
That I catch a serious illness or become
physically injured 0 0 0 0 0

That I catch a less serious infection 0 0 0 0 0

That I am subjected to negative influences 0 0 0 0 0

by colleagues and/or management

I have to give negative information to others 0 0 0 0 0

I perceive myself as incapable of handling 0 0 0 0 0

demands the job requires

I think that it is a disadvantage having to live 0 0 0 0 0

where I do because the job demands it

That I have to live in a special place or 0 0 0 0 0

district because the job demands it

That I regret my professional choice or work 0 0 0 0 0

place

That I feel strongly stressed 0 0 0 0 0

That I perceive the work tasks as 0 0 0 0 0

meaningless

That my salary is not enough for myself and 0 0 0 0 0

my family's needs

That my family or/and friends have a 0 0 0 0 0

negative image of my job

That I will be unemployed 0 0 0 0 0

That I do not feel committed to my job any 0 0 0 0 0

longer

That I cannot manage conflicts (between 0 0 0 0 0

colleagues or managers)
That the children lose respect for mea 0 0 0 0 0

199
That I do not have any control over the child 0 0 0 0 0
groupa

That I disagree with my colleagues 0 0 0 0 0

That I lose my patience 0 0 0 0 0

That a child "disappears" during a tripa 0 0 0 0 0

That a parent insists on leaving his or her 0 0 0 0 0

child at the day care centre, even though the
child is ina

That a parent is critical of mea 0 0 0 0 0

That the work is poorly planned 0 0 0 0 0

That I am alone with a group of childrena 0 0 0 0 0

That I have or will have a conflict with a 0 0 0 0 0

parene

That the number of working staff members is 0 0 0 0 0

not enough compared to what is needed

That the rest of the work team has different 0 0 0 0 0

relationships and attitudes to the children
than I have a

That the children dislike mea 0 0 0 0 0

Note. a those questions were only included in Study 1.

200
 Work interest
(Study 1)

Here are some questions about how interesting you find different work tasks. Evaluate
how interesting they are.
Completely Almost To some Quite Inter- Very Extremely
uninteresting completely degree interesting esting interesting interesting
uninteresting interesting
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Work tasks in
general

Parental meetings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Read to the children

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

To help the children

to get dressed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

To lead creative 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
games

To lead creative 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
playing (i.e.,
painting)

Play theatre with 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

children

Make excursions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
with children

Work with the 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

oldest children

Work with a mixed 0 D 0 0 0 0 0

age group of
children

Get further advance 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

training

Read literature about 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

pedagogy

To lead sports 0 0 0 D 0 0 0

To tell the children 0 0 0 D 0 0 0

about society

To arrange music 0 0 0 0 0 0 D

201
events for the
children

To teach the 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
children reading,
counting and writing
Let the children take
initiative 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Meetings with 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
children

To supervise 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
trainees

To be outside 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
playing with
children

To prepare meals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Meetings with 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
parents

To solve conflicts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
between the children

To work with
handicapped 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
children

To have contact with 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

authorities

Accounting 0 0 0 0 0 D 0

Management 0 0 D 0 0 0 0

To market! the child 0 0 D 0 0 0 0

care center

To work with the D 0 0 0 0 0 D

youngest children

Meetings with D 0 0 0 0 0 0
colleagues

To eat with the D 0 0 0 0 D 0

children

Shopping for the 0 0 D 0 0 0 0

chi ld care center

Cooperate with

202
other day care 0 0 D 0 0 0 D
centers

The contact with the 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

children's parents

To clean 0 0 0 0 0 0 D

203
 Work tasks for insurance employees
(Study 2 )

Here are some questions about how interesting you find different work tasks. Evaluate
how interesting they are.
Completely Almost To some Quite lnter- Very Extremely
uninteresting completely degree interesting esting interesting interesting
uninteresting interesting

Work tasks in D D D D D D D
general

Administrative work 0 D D D D D D
tasks

To travel for
business purposes 0 D D D 0 D D

Management 0 0 0 0 0 D D

To report D 0 0 0 D D D

Accounting 0 0 0 D D D D

To make money 0 D D D 0 D D

To develop new
ideas and products 0 0 0 D 0 0 0

To sell new ideas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

and products

To give service
and support clients D 0 D D 0 D D

To sell insurances 0 D 0 D 0 D D

To cooperate with 0 0 D 0 D 0 0
others outside my
own department

To negotiate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

To market one's D 0 D D 0 0 0
company

Lo solve conflicts D 0 D 0 0 0 D

Further training 0 D 0 0 D 0 0

204
To participate in
development 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
projects

Meetings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

To use new 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
techniques (e.g.,
computers)

To write letters, 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
reports etc

To collect 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
information

International contact 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
and cooperation

To give service 0 D 0 0 0 0 0
and support within
one's department

To do business 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

To solve problems 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
in groups

To solve problems 0 0 0 0 D 0 0
by myself

To work with 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
numbers

To be responsible 0 0 0 0 0 0 D
for different work
tasks

To teach others in 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
the company

To create and 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
increase networks a

To update 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
handbooks and other
materials

To make decisions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
To participate at 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
conferences

Telephone contacts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

205
To educate others 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

To be responsible
for payments to 0 0 D 0 D 0 0
clients

To follow up work 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
tasks

To work with 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
changes within the
organization

To introduce new 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
colleagues

Insurance clain1 0 0 D 0 0 0 0

206
 Self-reported job performance
(Study 3)

Items included in the subjective job performance measure.

Very Poorly Neither good Good Very

poorly nor good
poorly
Educate and inforn1 the client 0 0 0 0 0
service

To support client service 0 0 0 0 0

To gather information 0 0 0 0 0

Knowledge about the products D 0 0 0 D

To contact the client 0 D 0 0 D

To prepare oneself for a client D D D 0 D

meeting

To adapt oneself to the client D D D 0 0

To use new technique 0 0 0 0 0

To work with numbers 0 D 0 0 0

To do reports 0 0 0 D 0

To prepare a prospectus 0 0 0 0 0

To solve problems 0 0 0 0 D

To contact expertise D D D D 0

To deliver a good proposal to the 0 0 0 0 0

client

To sell new products 0 0 0 0 0

To close a deal (insurance) 0 0 0 0 0

To sell other products than usual 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0
To advice the clients
0 0 D D 0
To inform the clients in agood
way

207
To follow up the clients 0 0 0 0 0

Networking 0 0 D 0 0

To keep clients D 0 0 0 D

To plan one's work D D D 0 0

To solve conflicts 0 D D 0 0

To delegate work 0 D D 0 0

My general performance 0 D 0 0 0

To cooperate with others 0 0 0 0 0

To be there for my colleagues 0 0 0 0 0

208
7. 3 APPENDIX C
Table Cl
Observed variables with their factor loadings on each latent variable(Study 1).

Factor
Loadings

Work motivation
I fell motivated in my job .68
I have stimulating work tasks .60
I would like my children to choose the same job as myself .53
I take my work home voluntarily .42
My dedication to my job is so strong that I at times do not take lunch .45
breaks
I feel that my dedication to my job is so strong that it interferes with my .58
family life, friends
I perceive my job as challenging .65
I feel that time at work goes quickly .58
I look forward to returning to work at the end of my summer holiday .60
I often feel a strong will to work .64
I would like to devote some more time to my work .46
I would like to work fewer hours per week if it was economically .52
possible a

Accepted risks

That I could catch a less serious infection .46

That I perceive myself as incapable of demands the job requires .50
That the job takes too much of my spare time .47
I regret my professional choice or work place .60
That I feel strongly stressed .66
That I perceive the work tasks as meaningless .51
That my friends orland family have a negative image of my job .38
That I do not feel committed to my job any longer .69
That I can not handle conflicts .54
That the children lose respect for me .43
That I do not have control over the children .44
That I disagree with my colleagues .53
That I lose my patience with the children .56
That a child "disappears" during a trip .43
That a parent insists on leaving his or her child at the pre-school, even .67
though the child is ill
That I am alone with a group of children .47
That the number of personnel is not enough compared to what is needed .50
That the rest of the working team has different relationships and .59
attitudes to the children than I have

209
Table C2
Observed variables with their factor loadings on each latent variable.
(employees ofan insurance company).

Factor
Loadings

Work motivation

I feel motivated in my job .84

I have stimulating work tasks .80
I would like my children to choose the same job as myself .58
I take my work home voluntarily .49
My dedication to my job is so strong that I at times do not take lunch .48
breaks
I feel that my dedication to my job is so strong that it interferes with my .34
family life, friends
I perceive my job as challenging .72
I feel that time at work goes quickly .63
I look forward to returning to work at the end of my summer holiday .62
I often feel a strong will to work .64
I would like to devote some more time to my work .36
I would like to work fewer hours per week if it was economically .48
possible a

Accepted risks
I perceive myself as incapable of handling the demands the job
requires .52
That I am subjected to negative influence by colleagues .64
I regret my professional choice or work place .60
I feel strongly stressed .61
That I perceive the work ｴ｡ｳｾ as meaningless .51
That my friends orland family have a negative image of my job .41
That I do not feel committed to my job .78
That I can not manage conflicts (between colleagues or managers) .69
That the number of working staff members is not enough compared to .47
what is needed
That my work is poorly planned .72
That I do not get along with my colleagues .54

210
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Approaches Applied to Sweden.
Lange, F. och Wahlund, R., Category Management - Nfir konsumenten ar manager.
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Levin, J., Essays in Company Valuation.
Ljunggren, D., Styrning av grundskolan i Stockholms stad innan stadsdelsnamnds-
reformen.
Mattsson, S., Fran stat till marknad - effekter pa natverksrelationer vid en bolagise-
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Nyberg, A., Innovation in Distribution Channels - An Evolutionary Approach.
Olsson, P., Studies in Company Valuation.
Reneby, J., Pricing Corporate Securities.
Roszbach, K., Essays on Banking Credit and Interest Rates.
Runsten, M., The Association Between Accounting Information and Stock Prices.
Model development and enlpirical tests based on Swedish Data.
Segendorff, B., Essays on Bargaining and Delegation.
Sjoberg, L., Bagozzi, R., Ingvar, D.H., Will and Economic Behavior.
Sjogren, A., Perspectives on Human Capital: Economic Growth, Occupational Choice
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Studier i kostnadsintaktsanalys. Jennergren, P., (red)
Soderholm, J., Malstyming av decentraliserade organisationer. Styming mot finansiella
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Thorburn, K., Cash Auction Bankruptcy and Corporate Restructuring
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Replacement Therapy and Uncertainty in Economic Evaluations.

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Alexius, A., Essays on Exchange Rates, Prices and Interest Rates.

Andersson, B., Essays on the Swedish Electricity Market.
Berggren, N., Essays in Constitutional Economics.
Ericsson, J., Credit Risk in Corporate Securities and Derivatives. Valuation and
Optimal Capital Structure Choice.
Charpentier, C., Budgeteringens roller, aktorer och effekter. En studie av budget-
processema i en offentlig organisation.
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The Fourth International Conference on Ethics in the Public Service, Stockholm June
15-18, 1994.
Friberg, R., Prices, Profits and Exchange Rates.
Fran optionsprissattning till konkurslagstiftning. Bergstrom, C., Bjork, T., (red)
Hagerud, G.E., A New Non-Linear GARCH Model.
Haksar, A., Environmental Effects of Economywide Policies: Case Studies of Costa
Rica and Sri Lanka.
He, C., Statistical Properties of Garch Processes.
Holmgren, M., Datorbaserat kontrollrum inom processindustrin; erfarenheter i ett
tidsperspektiv.
Jennergren, P., Tutorial on the McKinsey Model for Valuation of Companies.
Lagerlof, J., Essays on Political Economy, Information, and Welfare.
Lange, F., Wahlund, R., Planerade och oplanerade kop - Konsumentemas planering
och kop av dagligvaror.
Lothgren, M., Essays on Efficiency and Productivity; Contributions on Bootstrap, DEA
and Stochastic Frontier Models.
Nilsson, H.E., Using Conceptual Data Modelling in Management Accounting: A Case
Study.
Sjoberg, L., Ramsberg, J., En analys av en samhallsekonomisk bedomning av andrade
sakerhetsforeskrifter rorande heta arbeten.
Safvenblad, P., Price Formation in Multi-Asset Securities Markets.
Sallstrom, S., On the Dynamics of Price Quality.
Sodergren, B., Pa vag mot en horisontell organisation? Erfarenheter fran naringslivet av
decentralisering och darefter.
Tambour, M., Essays on Performance Measurement in Health Care.
Thoren, B., Berg-Surwee, D., Omradesarbete i Ostra Hokarangen - ett forsok att
studera effekter av decentralisering.
Zhang Gang., Chinese Rural Enterprises Between Plan and Market.
Ahlstrom, P., Sequences in the Profess of Adopting Lean Production.
Akesson, G., Foretagsledning i strategiskt vakuum. Om aktorer och forandrings-
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Advancing your Business. People and Information Systems in Concert.

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Andersson, P., The Emergence and Change ofPharn1acia Biotech 1959-1995. The
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Holgersson, C., Hook, P., Ledarutveckling for kvinnor - Uppfoljning av en satsning pa
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Holmberg, C., Stores and Consumers - Two Perspectives on Food Purchasing.
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Stromberg, P., Thorburn, K., An Empirical Investigation of Swedish Corporations in
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Becker, T., Essays on Stochastic Fiscal Policy, Public Debt and Private Consumption.
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upplosning av en organisationsteoretisk paradox.
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Persson, P-G., Modeling the Impact of Sales Promotion on Store Profits.
Roman, L., Institutions in Transition. A Study of Vietnamese Banking.
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Schuster, W., Redovisning av konvertibla skuldebrev och konvertibla vinstandelsbevis
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Tamm Hallstrom, K., Kampen for auktoritet - standardiseringsorganisationer i arbete.
Thoren, B., Anvandning av information vid ekonomisk styming - manadsrapporter och
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