The final section (4.3) of the chapter reviews the applied hospitality motivation
literature to:
(i) establish the scope of the existing research in this area;
(ii) identify any additional relevant variables for inclusion in the study;
(iii) identify precedents for measuring the selected latent variables;
(iv) help inform the development of hypotheses for the survey research.
Chapter 5 goes on to systematically describe the development of measures for
each of the latent variables.
4.1 Work motivation research
Like leadership, work motivation research has a long history within the social
sciences: it has been studied (mainly by work/organisational psychologists) since
around the 1930s (Locke and Latham 2004) and, also in common with leadership,
owing to its complex, multidimensional nature, motivation has proved difficult to
define.
More recent attempt to define the concept have focused on internal and external
forces shaping work motivation. Pinder (1984, 1998), for example, drew upon a
number of earlier works to develop the following definition:
Work motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate both within
as well as beyond an individual’s being, to initiate work-related
behavior, and to determine its form, direction, intensity, and duration
(Pinder 1984: 8; and see also Pinder 1998)Ambrose and Kulik (1999: 231) examine this definition and describe (i)
organizational reward systems and the nature of the work being performed as
examples of Pinder’s external forces and (ii) individual needs and motives as
examples of internal forces. Elsewhere, Locke and Latham (2004: 388) provide a
similar definition to Pinder’s, describing internal forces that “impel action” and
external factors that “can act as inducements to action”. Moynihan and Pandey
(2007: 804) describe the multidimensional nature of work motivation in terms of
employee interaction with, and understanding of, their organisation. Once again
it is possible to see the internal (employee understanding) and external
(employee interaction) dichotomy within Moynihan and Pandey’s perspective.