The Psychology of Employee Motivation

Dear Colleagues,

Firms care a great deal about getting the best from their employees, however they tend to focus on the carrot or the stick. This focus has led to, what psychologist Harvey Levinson called, the great Jackass fallacy (Levinson, 1973).  While he coined this term in 1973, not much has changed in the literature on motivation.  Most managers still seem to believe that money and the threat of punishment are the best motivators. Much research in the last 20 years has challenged these assumptions, yet these ideas refuse to evolve.

Anecdotal evidence exists everywhere, as most employees perform well when they feel valued by the company and not necessarily payment for services or the removal of something negative. Looking at Fortune’s best companies to work for, over 90% of employees say the following:

• When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome;
• Management is honest and ethical in its business practices;
• I'm proud to tell others I work here;
• I am able to take time off from work when I think it's necessary;
• I feel good about the ways we contribute to the community;
• I am treated as a full member here regardless of my position.

None of these statements mention pecuniary rewards or punishments, yet conventional wisdom still puts a lot of weight on these two mechanisms.

This Special Issue calls for papers that add psychological ideas to the science of motivation.  While papers do not need to specifically challenge prevailing views about motivation, consider this an invitation to look past the carrot and stick.  

Relevant theoretical perspectives may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Employee commitment;
• Employee engagement;
• Exchange theory;
• Perceived organizational support;
• Organizational rewards;
• Incentives;
• Pay;
• Recognition;
• Non-cash incentives and rewards.

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 October 2024

Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 15 December 2024

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–500 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors ([email protected]) or to the Administrative Sciences Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review.

Dr. Scott A. Jeffrey
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Administrative Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• employee commitment
• employee engagement
• exchange theory
• perceived organizational support
• organizational rewards
• incentives
• pay
• recognition
• non-cash incentives and rewards