Collective work motivation in knowledge based organizations

Abstract

Purpose– Collective work motivation (CWM) has been construed as humans’ innate predispositions to effectively undertake team-oriented work activities under ideal conditions (Lindenberg and Foss, 2011). However, management research aimed at explicating its etiology in knowledge-based organizations (KBOs) has been largely ignored. Given that these organizations strive to gain market competitiveness by motivating employees to cooperatively share knowledge, as well as protect organizational specific knowledge from being externally expropriated, it becomes expedient to understand how they can mobilize and sustain CWM that is geared towards the normative goal of knowledge sharing and knowledge protection.Design/methodology/approach– Conceptual insights from the social identity theory were deployed by the study.Findings– Three hypothetical principles derived from the processes of social categorization, social comparison and social identification tentatively mobilize and sustain CWM in KBOs.Originality/value– This paper adopts the social identity perspective to CWM. In so doing, it sees CWM as a team-based intrinsically derived process rather than an extrinsic means of eliciting the motivation of people in KBOs to engage in the normative goal of knowledge sharing and protection.