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Work Motivation Theory and Research at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

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Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2005. 56:485–516 doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142105 Copyright c 2005 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved First published online as a Review in Advance on June 21, 2004

WORK MOTIVATION THEORY AND RESEARCH AT THE DAWN OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Gary P. Latham
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6; email: latham@rotman.utoronto.ca

Craig C. Pinder
Faculty of Business, University of Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2; email: cpinder@uvic.ca

Key Words needs, values, goals, affect, behavior ■ Abstract In the first Annual Review of Psychology chapter since 1977 devoted exclusively to work motivation, we examine progress made in theory and research on needs, traits, values, cognition, and affect as well as three bodies of literature dealing with the context of motivation: national culture, job design, and models of person-environment fit. We focus primarily on work reported between 1993 and 2003, concluding that goal-setting, social cognitive, and organizational justice theories are the three most important approaches to work motivation to appear in the last 30 years. We reach 10 generally positive conclusions regarding predicting, understanding, and influencing work motivation in the new millennium.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MOTIVATIONAL FRAMEWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NEEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TRAITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VALUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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