Does pay for performance increase or decrease perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation?

TLDR

Humanist and social‑cognitive theories posit that individuals pursue autonomy and self‑determination, and that tangible rewards can act as social control that diminishes intrinsic motivation. The study investigated how performance‑based rewards influence perceived self‑determination and intrinsic motivation in both laboratory and field settings. Performance‑based rewards were found to enhance perceived self‑determination, competence, task enjoyment, and free time, with these effects mediated by self‑determination, and to positively relate to organizational support, mood, job performance, and interest in daily activities—especially among those with a high desire for control.

Abstract

Laboratory and field studies examined the relationships of reward for high performance with perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation. Study 1 found that pay for meeting performance standard had positive effects on college students' perceived self-determination and competence, expressed task enjoyment, and free time spent performing the task. Furthermore, reward's incremental effect on expressed task enjoyment was mediated by perceived self-determination and competence. Study 2 established that perceived self-determination mediated positive relationships between employees' performance-reward expectancy and perceived organizational support, positive mood at work, and job performance. Study 3 demonstrated that performance-reward expectancy was positively related to employees' expressed interest in daily job activities, with this relationship being greater among employees having high desire for control. Individualistic views of human nature, embedded in humanist and social-cognitive theories of motivation, propose that persons pursue their unique potentialities and resist constraints on freedom of action. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), an influential proponent of individualism, believed that openness to new experience and spontaneity in thought and action were required for self-actualization. Rousseau (1762/1974, 1782/1995) depicted the exploration of short-term whims and long-term avocations as fundamental to human development, and he strenuously objected to social restrictions on how people conduct their lives. Such accounts suppose an innate motive for autonomy or selfdetermination, involving a sense of freedom to act or make choices; avoiding the feeling of being pressured, constrained, or coerced (Ford, 1992, p. 89). Deci and Ryan's (1985, 1987) cognitive evaluation theory (CET) elaborates these conceptions and incorporates related assumption having far-reaching theoretical and empirical implications: Tangible reward is assumed to be an aversive form of social control that lessens perceived selfdetermination and thereby reduces enjoyment of activities for their own sake (intrinsic motivation).