Describe how the expectancy theory of motivation predicts effort.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The expectancy theory of motivation has received mixed research support but
does provide insight into the process of motivation. The theory has three basic
principles: 1. Employees decide to put forth effort when they believe that their effort will
lead to good performance. This is called the Effort × Performance relationship, which is
the probability that a person believes that their effort will lead to performance
(designated as the E × P expectancy). 2. The employee’s performance will be evaluated
accurately and will lead to rewards (e.g., pay raises, bonuses). This is the follower’s
estimated probability that if they perform well, they will actually receive the reward from
the organization (designated as the P × O instrumentality). 3. The employees value the
rewards offered by the organization. One level of performance may have multiple
outcomes (such as a salary increase and a bonus) (designated as the list of valences,
Vs, which can be either positive or negative). For example, a negative outcome associated with high performance might be having to stay late at work to accomplish a
task and the employee misses his daughter’s violin solo at a school concert. So,
receiving a salary increase and a bonus has a positive (+) valence. At the same time,
having to work late has a negative (–) valence. In the original formulation of expectancy
theory, these components were multiplied to predict effort. Later, these three aspects of
motivation were shown to each directly predict effort (rather than needing to be
multiplied together).