Abstract
Reviewed by: Judy Rouse Van Doorn, Psychology Division, Troy University, USA
This Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation, and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) edited by Marylène Gagné is a welcome and timely addition for organizational researchers of business, industrial organizational (IO) psychology, and social psychology. The handbook is a good fit for master’s level courses on employee motivation and organizational behavior through its focus on tapping motivational constructs and relationships with what makes work important and satisfying to employees. On account of the strengths of theory development, SDT implications, and future research directions, this Oxford handbook merits this thorough review to reveal its insightful benefits for academic researchers and business practitioners. Managers, IO consultants, coaches, and trainers would greatly benefit from use of the handbook as a reference on employee motivation through SDT research evidence. The chapters culminate into a masterful handbook fabric focused on the dynamics of the workplace that is woven with robust research evidence on social and organizational psychological theories and constructs such as self-esteem, motivation, engagement, attachment theory, person-environment fit, job design, job stress, workplace violence, goals, values, and leadership constructs with Deci and Ryan’s (2000) SDT.
The architecture of this handbook lies in the foundational empirical work done by its editor, Marlene Gagné. Both Gagné and Deci present a thorough review in Chapter 1 titled The History of Self-Determination Theory in Psychology and Management. Organizational managers have grappled with the dilemma of achieving top performance in their organizations through the behavioral aspects of extrinsic pay reward systems, but have noticed that other variables may be driving the satisfaction levels of employees and, specifically, their intrinsic motivational forces that may influence worker engagement (Meyer). The layout of the handbook includes addressing conceptual issues in Part One where the articles focus on further defining universal psychological needs related to workplace motivation (Deci and Ryan), motivation’s part in employee commitment and engagement in the workplace (Meyer), sustained proactivity in the workplace (Strauss and Parker), the over justification effect of intrinsic motivation (Weibel, Wiemann, and Osterloh), and Vallerand, Houlfort, and Forest’s review on determinants and outcomes for work passion. Building upon the theoretical research foundation, the divisional parts of the handbook include exceptional scholarly research in Part Two—Individual considerations, Part Three—Organizational and contextual considerations, Part Four—Work motivation outcomes, and Part Five—Domains of application aimed at micro-individual levels to macro-organizational motivational perspectives.
The handbook focuses on Deci and Ryan’s (2000) SDT on worker related needs for autonomy, competence, and the social aspect of relatedness as compelling evidence-based needs theory built upon Maslow’s (1943, 1970) classic hierarchical needs theory. In Chapter 2 Deci and Ryan give concrete SDT experimental evidence across different organizational settings including a psychiatric facility, a not-for-profit organization (Gagné, 2003), and a bank setting (Baard et al., 2004) that are applied studies to discuss in business and academic classroom environments. Part One of the handbook includes detailed conceptual issues that build, clarify, and integrate theories starting with Chapter 3 where Meyer’s (p. 43) Engagement Model integrates the SDT framework with three employee commitment components of disengagement, contingent, and full engagement. In Chapter 4 Strauss and Parker (p. 62) present five propositions for a compelling upward spiral model that integrates SDT’s autonomy component as regulated proactivity motivation. This motivation model proposes that energized proactivity, when autonomously regulated, may stimulate and sustain employee self-regulated goals. Successively, goal achievement fulfills individual needs satisfaction and may heighten motivation to align performance with the organizational goals for creating a proactive, person–environment fit. In Chapter 5 Weibel, Wiemann, and Osterloh further the behavioral economic perspective with reviews of the “crowding-out effect” (Frey, 1997) that represses intrinsic motivation through supervisory, hierarchical authority control and pay-for-performance that thwarts employee autonomy and performance interest for challenging work; whereas, the “crowding-in effect” evidence suggests that intrinsic motivation is increased through a participatory, trust-based management style, organizational procedural fairness, and wage equity based on market comparisons. These authors fold the SDT’s need for autonomy and internal locus of causality into the behavioral economics perspective through its application in building employee self-determination and by giving opposing effects through literature reviews on pro-environmental behavior (PEB) (Lindenberg & Steg, 2007) and political decision-making on tax morale (Frey & Torgler, 2007).
In Chapter 6 Vallerand, Houlfort, and Forest present the work passion construct with a 10-year literature review that includes the dualistic model of work passion (DMP). The worker passion construct is delineated between two opposing types. The first type includes an obsessive, potentially maladaptive performance-avoidance tendency and the second type is an adaptive, harmonious passion that drives workers to mastery goals. Harmonious passion determinants and outcomes align better with SDT cognitive processes, psychological well-being, interpersonal relationships, and worker performance development. Vallerand et al. (p. 90) integrate classic creative flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1978) with harmonious passion that can be found in individuals with secure self-esteem and openness to experience. Harmonious passion enhances workflow experiences and well-being; whereas obsessive passion provokes defensiveness in individuals with contingent self-esteems and results in more negative psychological outcomes, such as burnout and ill-being. Further research evidence supports the distinctions found between transformational and transactional leadership styles. Transformational leadership is positively related to harmonious passion and transactional leadership is related to obsessive passion (Houlfort & Vallerand, 2013). Additionally, the review suggests that organizational structures representing a clan culture of collaboration may foster more harmonious passion; whereas market cultures of competition may develop more obsessive worker passion. Overall, the handbook’s conceptual theoretical chapters give a strong research foundation for future academic inquiry into the role that SDT plays in organizational workplaces and cultures for heightened employee performance, work passion, and psychological well-being.
Part Two of the Oxford handbook focuses on individual considerations in the workplace and in Chapter 7 Ronen and Mikulincer present a developmental approach to the SDT autonomous motivation with the use of classic attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973, 1982) and adult attachment theory (Feeney & Thrush, 2010). These attachment theory approaches describe secure home and work bases that may enhance employee stress regulation and autonomous exploration. Contextually designed workplaces could address employee needs, group cohesion, Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) (Gerstner & Day, 1997), and prosocial behavior when supported by non-interfering supervisors and thereby enhance employee relatedness and autonomy satisfaction. In Chapter 8 Ferris addresses the need to study the organizational dynamics of contingent self-esteem identified as importance of performance to self-esteem (IPSE). IPSE is based on an individual’s domain-related successes or failures and has a subsequent impact to well-being. Organizational researchers will benefit greatly from the handbook’s SDT model and theory clarifications with updated evidence-based research for their planning and strategy development initiatives in order to enhance employee motivation and organizational commitment. Furthermore, Greguras, Diefendorff, Carpenter, and Troster integrate the importance of SDT and propose that social networks may influence person–environment (PE) fit theoretical research. Furthermore, these authors detail the subsumed primary fit types of person–organization (PO) fit, subordinate–supervisor (PS) fit, employee–coworkers group (PG) fit, and person–job (PJ) fit as untapped research opportunities where certain environments or better PE fit may provide higher worker well-being. An additional consideration for the handbook would be to add a useful supplemental study guide with case studies, scenario-based exercises, and research project ideas for instructors and students in the classroom. An assignment might include designing prototype PE, PO, PS, PG, and PJ matrices of organizational person–environment types through job analyses and employee survey data.
Upon reviewing individual constructs with SDT, Part Three focuses on organizational contextual considerations including job design, leadership, compensation, and workplace training and development. In Chapter 10 Gagné and Panaccio present the job characteristics model (JCM), (Hackman & Oldman, 1976, 1980) and job design/job resources (JD-R) model (Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Both of these models align well with SDT and influence job enrichment potential, worker proactive behavior, and job crafting. In Chapter 11 Gilbert and Kelloway tackle the important role that leadership behavioral styles—including transformational, transactional, charismatic, LMX, behavioral, and authentic leadership—have on influencing worker motivation. Fall and Roussel, in Chapter 12, focus on compensation and incentive motivation through their theory review on equity, organizational justice, goal-setting, efficiency and the fair wage model theories and how the SDT worker needs theory relates to motivation and compensation. Also, Dysvik and Kuvass bring forth worker training and development issues (TAD) in Chapter 13 as a component of motivational need fulfillment that is specifically related to employee autonomy support, relatedness, and the transfer climate of learning.
This Oxford handbook is replete with focused research connections to SDT, new theoretical models, and future organizational research pathways that will supply academics with many scientific directions. Part Four, Chapter 14, focuses on work motivation outcomes including Fernet and Austin’s (p. 236) self-determination model of job stress. The authors present three propositions related to job stress of strain or higher well-being including resource availability, high demands, and management style; whether autonomy supportive or controlling. In addition, in Chapter 15 Spreitzer and Porath (p. 251) provide an integrative model of human growth focused on contextual facilitators of trust, performance feedback, information sharing, decision-making discretion, and lower environmental turbulence promoting more SDT factors with the positive residual result of thriving at work. In Chapter 16, Cossette (figure 16.1, p. 270) presents the emotional labor relationship with employee self-regulation and related consequences of job satisfaction, turnover, burnout, and performance. Scott, Fleming and Kelloway (p. 282) take occupational safety to new heights with their insightful research questions, useful literature review of safety motivational research, and validation of a new scale titled Self-Determined Safety Motivation (SDSM) scale. An ever-increasing organizational issue is workplace violence and in Chapter 18 Dagenais-Desmarais and Courcy (pp. 306, 309) present compelling evidence that the thwarting of fundamental needs and psychological control may lead to potential workplace violence. Part Four also presents another motivational outcome area including PEB that is part of socially valued environmental work initiatives. In Chapter 19 Pelletier and Aitken examine how SDT can be applied to organizations to motivate employees to participate in their quests to comply with new government and environment policies. In Chapter 20, Forest, Gilbert, Beaulieu, LeBrock, and Gagné effectively demonstrate how cost-procedures-process-outcomes-analysis (CPPOA) can be used to show the economic utility costs and savings for training managers on SDT use. It suggests that SDT-trained managers may reap the benefits of higher employee motivation within the workplace. This practical economic utility analysis on SDT benefits in organizations is an effective teaching tool in the classroom as well as analysis tool for an IO consultant’s proposal presentation.
In Part Five, this Oxford handbook presents the uses and domain applications of SDT in a refreshing procedural approach to SDT theory applications. In Chapter 21, Reeve and Su present research on teacher motivation and higher teaching efficacy through autonomy support to students. In Chapter 22, González, Niemiec, and Williams (p. 370) present SDT as part of supportive organizational climates that represent work status, social hierarchy, and related psychosocial determinants such as reciprocity and social support. These determinants are integral for employee health, well-being, and higher job satisfaction. In Chapter 23 Stone (pp. 379–380) presents a functional financial perspective to motivation including an example illustrated by the Indiana Department of Education’s core standard that teaches financial responsibility through financial self-efficacy, autonomy, and relatedness. This scaffolding model highlights financial achievement stages that progress to an apex of financial altruism or autonomy such as giving earned money back to building communities. In Chapter 24, Grouzet applies SDT to the dual valuing process model in a study on business and law school settings where socialization impacts the development of student values. This author’s dual valuing process model describes organizational growth climates that may foster organismic intrinsic values and goals; whereas climates that thwart intrinsic needs may encourage more extrinsic value development and an outcome of needs incongruence to values. Consequently, incongruence of needs to values may lead to unethical decision-making and lower well-being. Another domain application includes the question of why goals are pursued and are usually founded on personal intrinsic motivation. In Chapter 25 Koestner and Hope provide a review of goal-setting research evidence that supports striving for goal success and is influenced by SDT when individuals are intrinsically motivated, autonomous, and empathetically supported. In the final chapter of this Oxford handbook, Chapter 26, Gagné provides a comprehensive review and addresses more research topic areas on performance monitoring, deadlines, teams, information technology usage, knowledge sharing, innovation, career and job choice behavior, and volunteer work. Editor in Chief for this series, Peter E Nathan, and Editor, Marylène Gagné, have edited and brought forth an outstanding Oxford handbook focused on the valuable contribution that worker engagement, motivation, and SDT research can bring to organizational workplaces. This handbook is an outstanding researcher’s reference comprising quality motivational research evidence authored by top organizational scholars that will excite many more organizational research studies.