Interactive effects of job complexity and expectancy on internal motivation

A questionnaire administered to 1391 nurses in big hospitals revealed that they were strongly motivated if they expected good results from their efforts and if they had enough information about what they were supposed to do and how. Satisfactory work situations were characterized by smooth feedback, role clarity and so on. Even nurses who responded to external rewards were internally motivated to carry out complex jobs if they received sufficient information about the jobs presumably because the information eliminated uncertainty about their roles. Autonomy, or delegated power and responsibility, tended to be motivating only for the nurses who placed high valence on intrinsic rewards, that is, who received encouragement from the accomplishment of the job itself. These results suggest that even those who have more extrinsic needs may be motivated by the complexity of the job. Individual differences in the response to the job may be understood as a matter of information-prosessing such as the extent of adaptation to the job.