Experimental Demonstration of the Effects of Expectancy Theory Variables on Work Behavior

摘要

Expectancy Theory of work motivation is a prescriptive theory which predicts that the effort exerted in a work setting is partly a function of the worker's perceptions of his work environment. In spite of the predictive nature of the model, very little work has been done to investigate the extent to which experimental manipulations of factors in the work environment do lead to altered perceptions of the environment and then to motivational changes in work behavior. This study manipulated experimentally all three central variables in Expectancy Theory: expectanices; instrumentalities; and valences; and found subsequent changes in perceptions and performance. This report is first in a 1975-1976 series entitled 'Sources and Effects of Accurate Work Perceptions'.