動機取向、組織創新氣候與員工創新行為之關係： Amabile動機綜效模型之驗證

Abstract

One of the challenging problems facing managers is the manner in which they should promote employees’ innovative behavior at work. Previous research has implicated organization innovation climate (OIC) and individual differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations as contextual and personal antecedents of innovative behavior respectively. Regarding the nature of the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, Amabile (1993) proposed a model of motivational synergy, arguing that certain types of extrinsic motivation can combine synergistically with intrinsic motivation when an individual’s initial levels of intrinsic motivation are high. Furthermore, such synergistic motivational combinations can have positive, rather than negative, effects on innovative behavior. This study examines the relationships among employees’ motivational orientations, OIC, and innovative behaviors. In addition to examining the independent associations between motivational orientations and OIC and innovative behavior, this study also explores whether employees’ extrinsic motivation has significant moderating effect on the relationship between employees’ intrinsic motivation and their innovative behaviors, and whether the OIC has significant moderating effect on the relationship between employees’ extrinsic motivation and their innovative behaviors. Finally, this study examines whether the moderating effect of employees’ extrinsic motivation on the relation between intrinsic motivation and innovative behaviors is, in turn, moderated by OIC. Survey data on 254 employees from Taiwanese enterprises suggest that the employees who placed more importance on their intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation were more likely to perform innovative behaviors. The employees who perceived the higher OIC most had the higher innovative behaviors. In addition, the synergistic motivational combinations significantly led to high levels of innovative behaviors, providing support for the motivational synergy model. The intrinsic motivation had more of a positive impact on employee innovative behaviors when extrinsic motivation was high rather than low. This pattern was most pronounced for employees who perceived the high-OIC. In contrast, employees who perceived the low-OIC and high levels of the intrinsic motivation exhibited higher levels of innovative behaviors, regardless of the level of the extrinsic motivation. Finally, the OIC had no significant moderating effects on the relationship between the employees’ extrinsic motivation and their innovative behaviors.