Expectancy Theory of Motivation

Expectancy Theory of Motivation,

an approach to improving performance.

Mark R. Mattox

Western Governors University

Expectancy Theory of Motivation

“Expectancy Theory -

A theory that says that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.”

(Judge 07/2012, p. 224)

Explanation of the Three Components and Relationships

of the Expectancy Theory of Motivation

The three components of Expectancy Theory of Motivation are expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.

1 Expectancy:

Expectancy is related to the amount of effort that an employee exerts towards task performance. Expectancy incorporates the belief of an employee, that for a given effort there will be a given task performance. Expectancy also states that an increase in effort will lead to an increase in performance. The closer the correlation of effort to reward, the higher the expectancy factor will be.

2 Instrumentality:

Instrumentality is related to the performance leading to a reward. Instrumentality incorporates the belief of an employee, that for a given performance there will be a proportional rewards for that employee. The higher the association of performance to reward the higher the instrumentality factor will be.

3 Valence:

Valence is the value that the employee places on the reward for achieving the desired level of performance. The more an employee desires the reward, the harder employee will work to achieve the task.

(Judge 07/2012, p. 237)

The three relationships of Expectancy Theory of Motivation are

4 Effort–Performance Relationship:

The employee has a belief that for a given amount of effort, a certain level of work will be accomplished.

5 Performance–Reward Relationship:

The level of the employee's belief that the employer will reward the employee for reaching the desired level of...