Incorporating Time-Lag Effects Into The Expectancy Model of Motivation: A Reformulation of the Model

Of cognitive theories of motivation, the most intensively researched in recent years is the Valence-Instrumentality-Expectancy (VIE) theory. A recent review of VIE research (9) shows the valence model to be reasonably predictive of occupational preference, job satisfaction, and valence of performance. The behavioral choice model has not fared so well; although it moderately predicts self-ratings of job effort, its efficiency in predicting criteria measured by other then self-ratings is questionable. When the behavioral choice model is used in research, the following findings are typical: 1. Intrinsic outcomes (feelings of accomplishment, etc.) are better predictors of satisfaction and performance than are extrinsic outcomes (pay, promotions, etc.). 2. Small variances are obtained in valence measures; thus, multiplying expectancy by valence does not increase predictability over use of expectancy alone. 3. Casual tests using time series designs are inconclusive. In addition to a number of methodological problems, these findings led Mitchell (9) to suggest development of more accurate theoretical representations and better construct measures

Toward A Definition of Organizational Politics

Viewing organizations as political entities is not a recent phenomenon. March (7) suggested that organizations are political coalitions in which decisions are made and goals are set by bargaining processes. Other writers stressed the utility of taking a political perspective when studying organizations (1, 6, 9, 22). Anyone associated with almost any form of organization eventually becomes aware of activities that are described by employees as political , but what is termed political by one observer may not be viewed as political by another. To understand the nature of political processes in organizations, some agreement as to what constitutes political behavior must be developed. This article attempts to shed light on the organizational political process by constructing a literature-derived definition of organizational politics (OP). Guiding this effort are the following assumptions: 1. Behavior referred to as politics takes place in varying degrees in all organizations. 2. Not all behavior in organizations can be categorized as political. 3. The organizational political process can be described as non-evaluative terms. 4. While many variables involved in describing organizational politics may be familiar to other organizational behavior concepts, a combination of these variables constitutes a unique process that cannot be described adequately by existing paradigms. This unique process if organizational politics

Some Boundary Considerations in the Application of Motivation Models

From the actor\u27s perspective, a behavioral environment can be typified by two continuous dimensions, knowledge of potential outcomes and knowledge of causal relationships among environmental elements. These dimensions determine the situational ambiguity perceived by the actor. Expectancy, equity, operant conditioning, and attitude theories of motivation are considered in such ambiguous environments. Propositions are set forth which allow the researcher to select the most predictive motivation mode

Implicit sources of bias in employment interview judgments and decisions.

This study empirically examined implicit sources of bias in employment interview judgments and decisions. We examined two ethnic cues, accent and name, as sources of bias that may trigger prejudicial attitudes and decisions. As predicted, there was an interaction between the applicant name and accent that affected participants\u27 favorable judgments of applicant characteristics. The applicant with the ethnic name, speaking with an accent, was viewed less positively by interviewers than the ethnic named applicant without an accent and non-ethnic named applicants with and without an accent. Furthermore, modern ethnicity bias had a negative association with the favorable judgments of the applicants, which, in turn, affected hiring decisions. Implications of the results, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed