gender differential paper IJCRB

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INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
JUNE 2011
VOL 3, NO 2
Deci 1971, 1972a). Performance-contingent rewards (rewards dependent on the quality of
performance of tasks) or punishments decrease intrinsic motivation (Harackiewicz 1979; Deci
1972b for monetary rewards), and also have a substantial effect on the intrinsic motivation of
those not rewarded because of poor performance (Pritchard, Campbell and Campbell 1977).
Harackiewicz (1979) found that performance-contingent rewards reduced intrinsic motivation
more than task-contingent rewards. The effect of performance-contingent rewards may be
mitigated or exacerbated depending on how the rewards are delivered (Deci et al. 1994; Deci,
Nezleck & Sheinman 1981; Ryan, Mims & Koestner 1983)—Ryan, Mims and Koestner (1983)
argued that performance -contingent rewards may be perceived as either ‘controlling’ or
‘informational’, depending upon how they are administered, and found that controlling rewards
decreased intrinsic motivation more than informational rewards. The studies presented were
designed to investigate whether various reward contingencies (task contingent or performance
contingent) and different types of feedback affected intrinsic motivation. Overall, this
experimental evidence strongly suggests that task-contingent and performance-contingent
rewards decrease intrinsic motivation, while positive feedback enhances it. In many situations,
however, use of external rewards or controls is necessary. The critical question, then, is: how
may rewards and constraints is used to maintain, or even promote, intrinsic motivation? Studies
that address various aspects of this problem conclude that the effect of incentives or sanctions on
recipient behavior may crucially depend upon the nature of interactions with regulators,
particularly those enforcing a sanction or giving a reward. Recipients’ perceptions of agency
staff, and of the wider agency/department, are also likely to influence how they respond to an
incentive or sanction. On the one hand, interactions perceived as informational, and procedures
that give participants choice and encourage them to work out their own strategies and solutions,
may create environments in which incentives will increase motivation. On the other hand,
interactions perceived as threatening and highly controlling of behavior may mean that
incentives work to undermine motivation.
Conceptual framework
The research was carried out based on the factors affecting the Herzberg's Motivation Theory
(Two Factor Theory). This theory is a theory which has been given high significance by many
experts and scholars in the field of job motivation in the last three decades. In the Hertzberg
theory the typical motivation factors include: achievement, recognition for achievement,
responsibility for task, growth, advancement to higher level tasks and interesting job. The typical
hygiene factors also include: quality of supervision, interpersonal relations, salary, and safety,
working conditions and company policies and conditions.
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