AHRMIO Webinar
What motivates employees to work hard to serve the public interest? This talk presents the results of a recent book in which my colleague Dr. Christian Schuster and myself systematically review answers from public administration research to the classic debate on how to motivate employees. We locate this research in a novel two-dimensional typology which shows that employees can be motivated for other- and self-interested reasons; and extrinsic (motivated by outcomes) and intrinsic (motivated by work itself) reasons. Public administration research sheds significant light on extrinsic motivators: working hard to help society (public service motivation), one’s organization (organizational commitment) and oneself (financial incentives). Future research should focus on hitherto understudied motivators: symbolic rewards and intrinsic motivators, such as enjoyable work tasks, warm glow, and relatedness with colleagues
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