Introduction It was with great interest that the current author discov-ered the advance online publication of Lee and Raschke 2016,whichcallsforaset-theoreticapproachtothestudy ofemploye
Trang 1www.elsevier.es/jik
United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received2December2016
Accepted12December2016
Availableonlinexxx
JEL classification:
M12
M14
Keywords:
fsQCA
Meta-theoryofmotivation
Employeeperformance
a b s t r a c t
ThecurrentcommentaryoffersareflectionontheconceptualizationsofLeeandRaschke’s (2016)proposalforaset-theoreticapproachtoemployeemotivation andorganizational performance.Thecommentaryisinformedbythecurrentauthor’soperationalizationof set-theoreticresearchonemployeemotivationwhichoccurredcontemporaneouslytothe workofLeeandRaschke.Observationsonthestateofcurrentresearchonemployee moti-vation,developmentofmotivationtheoryandfuturedirectionsofset-theoreticapproaches
toemployeemotivationandperformanceareoffered
©2016JournalofInnovation&Knowledge.PublishedbyElsevierEspa ˜na,S.L.U.Thisisan openaccessarticleundertheCCBY-NC-NDlicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Reflexiones sobre la conceptualización y operacionalización de un método, siguiendo la teoría de conjuntos, para la motivación y la investigación del desempe ˜no de los empleados
Códigos JEL:
M12
M14
Palabras clave:
fsQCA
Meta-teoríademotivación
Desempe ˜nodelempleado
r e s u m e n
Elpresenteartículoofreceunareflexiónacercadelasconceptualizacionesdelapropuestade LeeyRaschke(2016)sobreunmétodo,siguiendolateoríadeconjuntos,paralamotivación
delosempleadosyeldesempe ˜noorganizacional.Elarticuloestáelaboradosiguiendolas actualesinvestigacionesdelautoracercalaoperacionalizacióndelateoríadeconjuntos
enlainvestigaciónsobrelamotivacióndelosempleados,queseprodujo contemporánea-mentealaobradeLeeyRaschke.Elarticuloofreceobservacionessobreelestadoactual
delainvestigaciónsobrelamotivacióndelosempleados,eldesarrollodelateoríadela
E-mailaddress:j.ryan@uaeu.ac.ae
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2016.12.001
2444-569X/©2016JournalofInnovation&Knowledge.PublishedbyElsevierEspa ˜na,S.L.U.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCC BY-NC-NDlicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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motivaciónylasdireccionesfuturasdelosmétodos,aplicandolateoríadeconjuntos,para
lamotivaciónyeldesempe ˜nodelosempleados
©2016JournalofInnovation&Knowledge.PublicadoporElsevierEspa ˜na,S.L.U.Estees
unart´ıculoOpenAccessbajolalicenciaCCBY-NC-ND(http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Introduction
It was with great interest that the current author
discov-ered the advance online publication of Lee and Raschke
(2016),whichcallsforaset-theoreticapproachtothestudy
ofemployeemotivation.Thetimingofthepaperrepresents
clearevidenceofthefactthatwhileLeeand Raschkewere
conceptualizingaset-theoreticapproachtoemployee
moti-vationresearch,thecurrentauthor,incollaboration(Ryan&
Berbegal-Mirabent, 2016), was attempting to operationalize
the verysame set-theoretic approachtoemployee
motiva-tion.Thisserendipitousdevelopmentofindependent,parallel
thoughtontheissueofemployeemotivationresearchoffers
auniqueopportunitytoreflectonhowanoriginalexperience
ofoperationalizingset-theoreticresearchintheareamight
furtherinform theconceptualizationofsuchresearch.This
commentaryandreflectionontheworkofLeeandRaschke
(2016)followsthestructureoftheiroriginalpaper
Reflections
LeeandRaschke(2016)introducetheirconceptualizationwith
ageneraloverview ofmotivation researchwhile
highlight-ingtheneedfor,andbenefitsof,alternativemethodological
approachestothestudyofworkmotivation.Theyassertthat
thepreponderanceofrecentdevelopmentinmotivation
the-oryisdominatedbyconventionalquantitativeanalyticaltools
HavingreviewedthesameliteratureasLeeandRaschke(2016),
forthe operationalizationofaset-theoreticinvestigationof
employeemotivation(Ryan& Berbegal-Mirabent,2016),the
currentauthorwouldgoevenfurther,andproposesthatthe
dominanceofneteffect,linear,quantitativeanalysishasled
toanalmostcompletesuspensioninmeaningfultheory
devel-opmentonemployeemotivation.Rather,thegreatmajorityof
researchonemployeemotivationpresentshighlyderivative
modelsofmotivationwhichofferlittlemorethana
tinker-ingontheedgesofclassicalmotivationtheory.Thistinkering
seemstoservethedisseminationoffragmented‘new’
con-ceptswhichinmanycasesofferlittlemorethanoldwinein
newbottles.Itseems,inanenvironmentofpublishor
per-ish,thatsuch‘new’conceptsallowacademicauthorssome
publicationtractioninthepromotionandfurtherresearchof
theseconcepts,whichactstofeedandperpetuatethecycleof
furtherfragmentation
Evidenceinsupportofthisperspectiveisavailableinthe
workofLeeandRaschke(2016) Themajorityofinfluential
researchwhich theyreviewis aproductofthe goldenage
ofsocial-psychologicalresearchinthe 1950s–1970s,
includ-ingthenotableeffortsofHerzberg,Mauser,andSynderman
(1959),Adams(1963),Vroom(1964),Skinner(1965),Deci(1975),
and Hackman and Oldham (1976) Such ground breaking theoriesweredevelopedthroughconsideredandthoughtful theorizing,observingandexperimenting.Itisperhapsnot sur-prisingthen,sincetheproliferationofsurveybasedresearch withastatistical-analytical,neteffectfocus,thatsuchpoor progressisobservedinourfurtherdevelopmentofemployee motivationtheory.Thepoorstateofmuchresearchin man-agementstudiesisofcentralconcerntoWoodside(2016)inhis callforbetterresearchpractices.Theset-theoreticapproach popularizedbyRagin(2008)andadvocatedbyLeeandRaschke (2016)iscertainlyapositiveinitiativeinthisregard
Therearealsocallswithinourcurrentthinkingon moti-vationtomoveawayfromthetinkeringeffectsoffragmented newconceptsandseekintegrationandunificationin moti-vationtheory(Dörnyei&Ushioda,2013;Steel&Konig,2006)
Lee and Raschke (2016) offeronesuch attemptat theoret-icalintegration asauseful basistobegin ourset-theoretic approachtothestudyofemployeemotivation.Theypropose thehumandrivestheoryofLawrenceandNohria(2002) Cer-tainlyLawrenceandNohriaofferaveryusefulandpractical theoryforset-theoreticinvestigations,butthecurrentauthor would alsosuggestanalternative tothose interested read-erswhomayconsiderundertakingsuchinvestigations.The meta-theoryofLeonard,Beauvais,andScholl(1999)offersa veryinterestingintegrationofclassicalmotivationtheorywith self-conceptbased theory.Themeta-theory (Leonardet al.,
1999)iswellconceptualizedandintuitive,andhasfoundsome followingincontemporaryresearchonworkplacemotivation, includingtherecentset-theoreticinvestigationofRyanand Berbegal-Mirabent(2016) Whilethe theoreticalfoundations
ofthemeta-theoryarerobustitsmostsignificantweakness may beitsfailureatself-promotionà la Nohria,Groysberg, andLee(2008)‘powerfulnewmodel’
Regardlessofthechoiceofcontemporarymotivation theo-ries(Lawrence&Nohria,2002;Leonardetal.,1999),orclassical theories,thewould-beset-theoreticresearchershouldattend
to someimportantconsiderations Irrespectiveofthe ana-lytical approach being taken, the unit of analysis should
be a central concern Lee and Raschke (2016) call for the understanding of employee motivation and organizational performance.Undoubtedlyemployeemotivation aggregates
to impact at the higher order ofthe organizations perfor-mance However,it isimportant forgenuine advancement
in employee motivation theory that we accuratelyexplore employeemotivationatthelevelofemployeeperformance
Lee and Raschke (2016) discusselements ofcultural levers
on motivation,representingahigher orderunitofanalysis whichmightreasonablyexplainahigherorderlevelof perfor-mance,i.e.organizationalperformance,butmaybelessuseful
inunderstandingindividualemployeeperformance
Employee performanceis broadly defined asa function
of many factors, including motivation, but also including
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abilityandresources Theseresources mightincludemany
thingssuchastools,time,opportunity,environmental
charac-teristics,andtheculturalleversreferredtobyLeeandRaschke
(2016) Whileculturallevers mightoccur withinthehigher
orderunit oftheorganization, theyare experiencedatthe
levelofthe individual,and may beexperienceddifferently
fromoneindividualtothenextinthesame organizational
unit.Itisthisfactthatmakesemployeemotivationsuchan
interestingand complexphenomenon.Itisalsothereason
whywemustensurethatindividualemployeemotivationis
examinedatthelevel ofindividual employeeperformance
LeeandRaschke(2016)ask‘what cultural levers best motivate
employees to create organizational value?’Suchaquestionmight
overlooktheviewthatdifferentemployeesinthesame
orga-nizationcanexperiencethesameculturalleversdifferently
Ratherweshouldask‘what are the complex combinations of
indi-vidual employee motives, abilities and characteristics of the work
environment (including cultural levers) that enhance employee
per-formance?’Such anapproachencouragesthe inclusion ofa
morecompletevariablesetandoptimizestheusefulnessof
theset-theoreticresearchapproach
Ryan and Berbegal-Mirabent’s (2016) early effort in the
set-theoreticinvestigationofemployeemotivationand
perfor-mancedoesnotincludeadditionalvariablessuchasindividual
abilityorresources.However,akeylearningexperiencefrom
thatresearchistheconfirmationofthesuitabilityofthe
set-theoreticapproachforincludingcomplex ingredients,such
asmotives,abilitiesandresources.Infact,resultsfromthe
operationalizationofaset-theoreticinvestigationofemployee
motivation and performance not only highlights the
suit-abilityofthe set-theoreticapproachbut alsothe necessity
ofincluding complexingredientsinto set-theoretic
investi-gations (Ryan & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2016) To improve our
understandingofemployeemotivation,suchingredientscan
include Lee and Raschke’s (2016) cultural levers, but as
experiencedbytheindividualemployee,andassessedin
con-junctionwiththemotivationaldrives/needsoftheindividual
employee
Thecurrentauthorfullysupportsthecallforset-theoretic
investigations of employee motivation Undoubtedly prior
knowledge of the conceptualizations of Lee and Raschke
(2016)wouldhavepositivelyinfluencedtheoperationalization
ofRyanandBerbegal-Mirabent(2016).Regardless,thisearly
evidenceinthe domain ofemployeemotivation highlights
theabilityofset-theoreticinvestigationstosupplementand
enhanceonthemoretraditionallinearinvestigationsofthe
sameconcept(Ryan,2014;Ryan&Berbegal-Mirabent,2016)
Inpromotingset-theoreticresearchonemployeemotivation,
futureresearchmightconsiderthefollowing.Advancing
moti-vation theory enhances our ability to understand human
behavior.Asworkmotivationresearchers,itishuman
behav-ior,explained through motivations, that weare ultimately
interested in In this case, the behavior of interest is the
employee’sworkplaceperformance.Employeeperformanceis
afunctionofmanyelementsincluding(a)motivation,butalso (b)individualability,and(c)resources,environmental charac-teristics,etc.Anyset-theoreticinvestigationshouldinclude somemeasureofallthreeelementsifwearetotrulyadvance ourunderstandingoftherelativeinfluenceandimportance
ofemployeemotivation incomplex organizational environ-ments
Acknowledgments
Theauthorisgratefulforthefacilitatingsupportofresearch funding from The Center for Public Policy and Leadership (grantG00001569),UnitedArabEmiratesUniversity
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