A Look at the Acceptability of Goal Priming in a Healthcare Setting
Uploaded by PaulAguilar on Sep 20, 2017
A Look at the Acceptability of Goal Priming in a Healthcare Setting
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
Motivation in the work place is an ongoing and heavily researched area of organisational behaviour (Latham and Pinder, 2005) and arguably, motivation in the work place is crucial to organisational success and employee wellbeing (Kanfer, 2017). Motivation can be defined as the ‘internal factors that impel action and [the] external factors that can act as inducements to action’ (Locke and Latham, 2004, p.388). It is believed there are three core aspects that affect motivation which are; direction, intensity and duration (Locke and Latham, 2004). Direction looks at the way in which efforts are focused, intensity focuses on ‘how hard a person tries’ and duration looks at persistence, and for how long a person can continue to maintain their efforts. It is believed that a motivated individual will persist until their objective is complete (Robbins and Judge, 2003, p.202).
Motivation theories are often divided into two main groups; content and process theories. Content theories aim to explain the specific needs which motivate an individual and give them satisfaction in their work. They place emphasis on the nature of an individual’s needs and what motivates those needs (Dinibutun, 2012). The main content theorists and theories are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943), Aldefer’s ERG theory (1969), Herzberg’s’ two-factor theory (1959) and McClelland’s’ achievement motivation theory (1988).
Process theories look at how an individual’s specific needs or set of values impact their job satisfaction (Locke, 1976). They focus on ‘how behaviour is energised, directed, sustained and stopped’ (Gibson et al, 2012, p.129). Common process theories are Vrooms (1964) expectancy theory, Adams (1963) equity theory and Locke’s (1968) Goal setting theory.
Goal setting theory lies within the cognitive psychology field (Meichenbaum, 1977) and the theory is supported by a large abundance of evidence, with 90% of studies showing a positive or partially positive result (Locke et al, 1981). The theory assumes that conscious goals are an immediate regulator for human action (Locke et al, 1981). Building on this theory and integrating it with the automaticity model (Bargh, 1990), Latham et al (2017) identified a relationship between priming, goal difficulty and task performance.
However, whilst subconscious motivation may show promise, there is growing pressure on organisations to be ‘transparent’ in their actions to reduce corruption, tax avoidance and allow the pubic to see what goes on ‘behind closed doors’ (Roberts, 2009, p.1). Therefore, it is...