Intrinsic Motivation Theories as The Basis for Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is perceived as 'the energy, effort, and initiative employees bring to their jobs' while satisfaction is perceived as 'the extent to which employees feel that the company meets their expectations at work and satisfies its implicit and explicit contracts', and commitment is perceived as 'the extent to which employees engage in corporate citizenship'. An employee may feel quite satisfied in his or her job and be well disposed to the organization, without necessarily translating this into levels of effort and performance that surpass typical expectations.

The traditional motivation-needs theories including the most important ones which are still taught to business students today are, according to Basset-Jones & Llyod: Maslow - the Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Herzberg et al., - The Two-Factor Theory , Vroom - Expectancy Theory, and Alderfer - Existence-Relatedness-Growth (ERG) Theory. All these theories posited the premise that extrinsic motivators, such as rewards, punishment, external controls, and incentives, are needed in order to create employee performance, perseverance, and productivity. It was the Human Relations Movement which introduced the new view of employee motivation which examined the dynamic of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and the concept of performance, as well as the influence of human dynamics. 

Intrinsic motivation (which is fundamental to an understanding of employee engagement) involves 'positively valued experiences that individuals derive directly from a task' and which are an internal part of the person and associated with the task itself, rather than the context of the task. Intrinsically-motivated behavior is characterized as follows: 'the work and action taken by the employee are not dependent upon the supervision of others nor upon rewards mediated by others. Instead, it is 'associated with self-determination, or the idea of freely choosing to act, on the basis of one's own motivation, in adherence with internal standards that are integrated into the self'. Intrinsic motivation is linked to the innate propensity of human beings to explore the environment, shape their own abilities and conquer successive challenges. When intrinsically motivated, people experience a sense of choice and fully endorse the activity in which they are engaged. Prior research distinguishing between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has suggested that individuals who are more intrinsically motivated not only employ deeper-level processing strategies and perform better academically, but also have better psychological well-being and derive more satisfaction out of various life activities.

At least 20 theories have emerged since Engagement Theory was first presented by Kahn in 1990 and have been used by researchers to explain conditions in which employees are intrinsically motivated when performing a job as well as the association between intrinsic motivation and the engagement construct. The most relevant theoretical frameworks for this study, which can best explain the interrelations between the study variables of organizational culture, motivation, trust, and engagement, are: Job Demands-Resources Theory (JD-R); Social Exchange Theory; Kahn's Personal Engagement Theory - mentioned above; Self-Determination Theory (SDT); and Job Design Theory.

In conclusion, some studies show that intristic motivation is more important that extristic. Nevertheless, both are required for successful employee engagement. Also, there is still the challenge of understanding how engagement differs from other constructs, such as organizational commitment, organizational identification, and job satisfaction. The combination of all beneficial factors will lead to successful employee engagement.