Similar to other concepts, there is no one way of defining what is motivation. Understanding exactly what motivation means will help the researcher to explain the drive behind social entrepreneurship. Motivation has been applied in various fields of study, including management studies (Burton, 2012), in psychology (Fry and Moor, 2019); and in education (Morokhoverts &
Uvarkiina, 2019). Gredler, Broussard and Garrison (2004; p. 106) defined motivation as “the attributes that moves us to do something or not to do something”. Guay et al. (2010; p. 712) viewed motivation as “the reasons that underlie behaviour characterised by willingness and volition”. Lai (2011; p. 2) contend that “motivation involves a constellation of closely related beliefs, perceptions, values, interests, and actions”. As a result, motivation is approached in different ways involving cognitive behaviours (monitoring and strategy use) and non-cognitive aspects (such as perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes) or both (Lai, 2011). For instance, Gottfried (1990; p. 525) used a non-cognitive approach in his study of academic motivation and defined it as “enjoyment of school learning characterized by a mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogeny; and the learning of challenging, difficult, and novel tasks”. In this example, Gottfried explained academic motivation for students as the deliberate action that is taken by students because they are interested in studying and while it can challenging however they also perceive education to be fun and they hold the beliefs that in order to excel in it students have to be diligent and persistent in order to overcome the difficult task associated with it. On the other hand, Turner (1995; p. 413) approached academic motivation using cognitive views and he defined academic motivation as
“voluntary use of high-level self-regulated learning strategies, such as paying attention, connection, planning, and monitoring”. This definition looks at academic motivation as a well- planned deliberate activity taken by students because of their perceived behavioural control of resources needed to successfully excel in education.
3.5.1 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation
Motivation is differentiated into two sub categories, namely, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Legault (2016; p. 1) defined Intrinsic Motivation (IM) as “an engagement in behaviour that is inherently satisfying or enjoyable”. In other words, IM can be categorised as naturally non- instrumental, as a result, intrinsically motivated individuals engage in behaviour without any instrumental outcome expectations. For example, a person may read several books in a week without any particular reason besides enjoying reading books or finding pleasure in reading books.
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As a result, IM is both the means and an end at the same time. Contrary, Extrinsic Motivation (EM) refers to “performance of behaviour that is fundamentally contingent upon the attainment of an outcome that is separable from the action itself” (Legault, 2016; p. 1). Unlike IM, EM is fundamentally instrumental in nature and extrinsically motivated persons engage in an activity with an expectation to gain or attain some kind of outcome or reward. For example, a student will study for a test in order to get good marks or a teenager will wash his father’s car in order to get an allowance. Lai (2011) argued that EM is multidimensional and ranges from external (e.g.
studying to get good marks) to internal (e.g. not talking with food in your mouth in order to appear as having good table manners).
3.5.2 Factors that affect motivation
Table 3-1: Four dimensions that affect intrinsic motivation
Four dimensions of motivation
Dimensions Indicators
Competence (Am I capable?)
The student believes he or she has the ability to complete the task.
Control/autonomy (Can I control it?)
The student feels in control by seeing a direct a link between his or her actions and an outcome.
The student retains autonomy by having some choice about whether or how to undertake the task.
Interest/value
(Does it interest me? Is it worth the effort?)
The student has some interest in the task or sees the value of completing it.
Relatedness
(What do others think?)
Completing the task brings the student social rewards, such as a sense of belonging to a classroom or other desired social group or approval from a person of social importance to the student.
Source: Centre of Education and Policy (2012; p. 4)
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IM is an organic human tendency, in other words, intrinsically motivated people will “strive toward doing things they find interesting or enjoyable” (Leugalt, 2016; p. 1). Early studies on IM focused on how extrinsic rewards affect intrinsic motivation. The studies found that when people engage in activities out of interests and offered external rewards such as money (Deci, 1971), or points (Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973) then IM declines. These findings disputed the operant theories (Skinner) of behavioural reinforcement, however, after deliberation it was affirmed that when extrinsic rewards are expected they discourage the intrinsic motivation for engaging in voluntary activities (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). This is due to the fact that extrinsic rewards have the propensity to shift the person’s motivation for engaging in the behaviour from internal (e.g. interests and enjoyment) to external (e.g. to again a reward). As a result, extrinsic rewards tend to alter the source of motivation.
In table 3-1 ‘competence’ refers to the individual’s capabilities in engaging on specific behaviours.
Legault (2016; p. 2) state that “in order for IM to flourish, the social environment must nurture it”.
For example, if the social environment discourages the individual’s competency to freely engage on behaviour, then IM declines. Similarly, when the social environment encourages individual’s competency then IM increases. For example, Legault (2016; p. 3) argues that “positive feedback (e.g., verbal praise) tends to fuel perceptions of personal effectance and bolster intrinsic motivation. However, this reinforcement requires that a person should also have the autonomy in addition to feeling competent. Similarly, when the social environment encourages autonomy by influencing the person perception that the behaviour is done because of their personal choice then IM increases. In contrast, when the social environment discourages autonomy by introducing extrinsic rewards or making demands, then IM declines. In summary, when the social environment introduces extrinsic factors that acts as behavioural controls, in terms of reinforcers and constraints then motivation become less intrinsic and more extrinsic in nature (Legault, 2016). Extrinsic factors such as threats, punishment, and deadlines tend to discourage intrinsic motivation while increasing extrinsic motivation. Centre of Education and Policy (2012; p. 4) defines Interest/value as a “vested interest in the task and a feeling that its value is worth the effort to complete it”. In IM, inherent satisfaction when engaging in the behaviour determined its value. As soon as the individual feels that engaging in a certain behaviour is not satisfying anymore, then intrinsic motivation declines. Centre of Education Policy (2012; p. 4) define “relatedness” as the need to feel part of a group or social context and exhibit behaviour appropriate to that group”. Using the last example, individuals tend to close their mouth when eating in the table in order to be perceived as having table manners.
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Table 3-2: extrinsic motivation when applied to the example of motivation to regulate racial prejudice
Type of Extrinsic Motivation
Nature of External Contingency
Underlying Reason for
Behaviour
Example
External Regulation Consequences, incentives, compliance
To receive or avoid a consequence; to fulfil an external
requirement
“I avoid making prejudiced comments so that other people will think I’m non-prejudiced”
Introjected Regulation
Feelings of internal pressure; to avoid guilt
or to boost the ego
Because it “should”
be done
“I avoid acting in a prejudiced manner because I would feel bad about myself if I didn’t”
Identified Regulation
Personal valuing of a behaviour, sense of importance
Because it is important
“I avoid being prejudiced because it is
an important goal”
Integrated Regulation
Expression of self and identity; congruence with self and other values
Because it reflects core
values and self/identity
“I avoid being prejudiced because I see myself as a non-prejudiced person”
Source: Legault (2016; p. 3)
So extrinsic motivation refers to behaviours that are undertaken with a contingent expectation or gaining some sort of outcome. And the previous example used is that a teenage will wash his father’s car in order to get allowance. Legault (2016; p. 2) argued that “not all EM are the same, some forms of extrinsic motivation feel more self-endorsed and self-concordant than others”. In simple terms, this means that people can be motivated to do something and expect an outcome however, the motivation itself is a personal choice more than an extrinsically controlled behaviour.
As a result, even if the person does not find the activity personally satisfying of fun (not
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intrinsically motivated) however, the decision to engage in that behaviour may be internally regulated as opposed to externally regulated.
Table 3-2 shows a list of extrinsic motivations, namely, external regulation, Introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation. Legault (2016; p. 3) defined external regulation as “behaviour that is controlled mainly through external factors (e.g., deadlines, rewards, directives, punishers)”. Here, the expectation is incentives and compliance, and behaviour is premised on fulfilling an external requirement. Legault (2016; p. 2) stated that introjected regulation refers to “behaviour wherein external pressures have been partially deflected inward, but not truly adopted or internalized”. This behaviour is more controlled by an individual’s internal intrapersonal dispositions with the aim to avoid guilt or boost the egocentric requirements. The pressure stem from internal dispositions than external regulators. Lagault (2016, p. 2) defined Identified regulation as “a more autonomous form of extrinsic motivation and denotes the point at which behaviour becomes internally governed and self-endorsed”. Here, the behaviour may not be personally relevant to the individual, but the individual perceives the behaviour as intrinsically important or valuable. For example, avoiding being prejudice, not because the individual wants to stop being prejudice but because it an important quality to have as part of your interpersonal skills when living with people every day. Finally, Lagault (2016; p. 2) defined integrated regulation, as
“a behaviour that is fully internalized”. Here, identification is integrated together along with the individual’s personal beliefs, value and needs. The decision to behave a certain way here is motivated by self-expression and self-identity more than extrinsically motivated factors.