Motivation and Decision-Making Styles at Work: A Comparison of Public Private Sector Managerial Positions

Abstract

The current study investigated the link between motivation and decision-making strategies of employees working on managerial positions in different organizations of Multan. Additionally, participants were compared across gender, marital status, age groups and organizational set up. The sample included 164 men and 68 women (N = 232, Mage 38.5 years). Work Preference Inventory and General Decision-Making Style Questionnaire were administered in order to measure intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and a range of decision-making styles respectively. Correlational analysis showed significant inverse association of dependent decision-making style with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation yet only extrinsic motivation proved to be a significant predictor of dependent style in regression analysis. Results of t-test showed that men preferred rationale style women scored higher on dependent and avoidant styles of making decisions than men. Decision making ability of married employees was better than unmarried. Differences across gender and marital status were non-significant on level of motivation and its types. Private sector employees showed greater motivation than public sector employees, however both were alike in decision making except for dependent style that was preferred by public sector employees. Younger group was more intrinsically motivated while older groups were more dependent in decision making as compared with the younger group. Findings are discussed for improvement of organizational set up.