Magister Public Health - MPH / Background: Low motivation, defined as an individual's lack of willingness to maintain and exerteffort to attain organizational goals, is a problem in Ethiopia. Its consequences are poor quality of health care or performance, lack of retention and inequity. This study explored influences on nurse motivation in Butajira Zonal Hospital (BZH), and specifically investigated the influences of financial and non-financial incentives on nurses' motivation at work. Methods: A qualitative methodology, consisting of both in-depth interview and focus group discussion (FGDs) data collection methods was adopted. The study population was all nurses working at BZH with more than two years of experience, from which a sample of fifteen nurses(representing a balance of age, gender and category) was purposefully selected. Following informed consent, these fifteen nurses were interviewed by the investigator, and were followed in a second stage by three focus group discussions; with six participants each (total eighteen). Both the interviews and the discussions were conducted mostly in Amharic and tape recorded, transcribed and translated by the researcher. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. After reading, transcriptions were coded in informants' own words and phrases. These were examined, categorised and consistent themes identified and then coded with keywords to represent the content,which were considered to constitute the 'emerging themes'. Findings: In both the FGDs and interviews, a number of key themes were identified relating to both nurses' self-reported motivation and the factors influencing this at BZH. Altruism and professional pride ('love of the profession') as a source of intrinsic motivation emerged as a key theme, counterbalanced by a perception of nursing as having significant job risks (e.g. contracting infections from patients). With respect to financial incentives, salaries too low to meet living costs, unfair taxation on overtime payments, and the absence of a salary grading system for nurses was all raised as negative influences on motivation. While team spirit and solidarity amongst nurses was a positive feature of the work environment, relationships between doctors and nurses were described as poor, aggravated by large salary differentials, and perceived indifference of management to nurses. Other non-financial incentives– training, recognition systems, supervision and workplace conditions– had mixed influences on motivation at BZH. Finally, personal factors, such as age, gender and origin or married in the region,influenced reported motivation. Conclusions and Recommendations: The Ethiopian health system has paid great attention to increasing numbers, expanding training of, and creating specializations for, nurses. However, less attention has been given to their working conditions and the appropriate package of financial and non-financial incentives that will sustain performance and retention. These need to be addressed at the hospital itself, at higher levels of the system and at a broader policy level. Managing motivation requires keeping a broad perspective and innovative approaches that address the range of influences identified in the study. Solutions should be context based and sensitive to influences beyond the commonly understood sources of motivation.

This study examined a sample of entrepreneurs operating in South Africa. Motivation of entrepreneurs in shopping malls in Gauteng province was investigated. A survey of 50 entrepreneurs in South Africa was conducted face-to-face interviews. Principle component analysis (PCA) identified the most important motivation factors among entrepreneurs in South Africa. Results indicated that family security and extrinsic rewards are the most important motivation factors. “To be closer to my family”, “to maintain my personal freedom” were the highly rated motivation items which were used in the questionnaire. These results were compared with the results of previous studies which examined Nigerian, Ghanaian and Kenyan entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurs in Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, and India. This findings of the current study suggested that motivation factors of entrepreneurs in South Africa are different than other African countries which were used in this study as comparison countries. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The primary objective of this thesis was to investigate whether intrinsic rewards play a role in the intrinsic motivation, work engagement and retention of employees working within non-profit organisations in Australia, Belgium, South Africa and the United States of America. It therefore served to form a cross-cultural comparison between employees from these four geographically dispersed yet culturally similar countries. A further aim was to determine whether demographic differences occurred across the four constructs studied. In order to achieve these objectives, a theoretical model was constructed to highlight the relationships between the constructs under study. The study made use of both qualitative and quantitative research to achieve the above-mentioned objectives. As a result of the data obtained from 15 qualitative interviews conducted with non-profit employees in Belgium and South Africa, two measuring instruments, namely the Intrinsic Work Rewards Scale and the Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale, were developed to assess intrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation respectively. These measuring instruments were qualitatively piloted on a sample of academics and non-profit employees, and were translated from English into Dutch for use on the Belgian sample. Once these instruments had been refined, they were combined with instruments to measure work engagement and intention to quit to form a composite questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed electronically by 587 non-profit employees from the four countries under study. Data analysis was conducted in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequency tables, Cronbach’s alpha testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations, chi-square tests, t-tests, analysis of variance and structural equation modelling. The quantitative findings showed that intrinsic rewards lead to higher levels of intrinsic motivation, which in turn causes higher levels of work engagement and lower levels of intention to quit. Intrinsic rewards were also found directly to predict a reduction in employees’ intentions to quit their non-profit organisations, and work engagement directly predicted an increase in intention to quit. From a cross-cultural perspective, practically significant inter-country differences were discovered across the intrinsic rewards of meaningful work and challenging work; across intrinsic motivation and its three dimensions (personal connection to one’s work, personal desire to make a difference, and personal desire to perform); and across work engagement and its three factors (absorption, dedication and vigour). In addition to these inter-country results, age and job level differences were discovered across the four constructs under study, together with significant correlations between the four constructs. The Intrinsic Work Rewards Scale and the Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale were successfully validated in both English and Dutch in this study, with a number of forms of validity being confirmed through factor analyses and correlations. Reliability was proven through satisfactory Cronbach’s alpha values being obtained for both language versions of the instruments. These results theoretically contribute to literature pertaining to intrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation as a result of the development of two measuring instruments that were empirically validated to assess these constructs. Furthermore, the results make a valuable contribution to the field of rewards management globally. This study’s findings provide evidence for causal relationships between four constructs not previously tested empirically, specifically within Australia, Belgium, South Africa and the United States of America. Consequently, this study’s results hold important implications for the management of non-profit employees worldwide.

This thesis explored different perceptions of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in an intercultural context. The main objective of this study was to investigate similarities and differences concerning extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in the workplace between the German and the South African culture by examining individuals with working experience and tertiary education. It provides background information about motivation and a historical overview of previous and current motivational theories as well as cultural influences and differences. In addition, regarding the two cultures the researcher aimed to investigate similarities and differences between other demographics such as gender, age and income. The literature review provides information about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation retrieved from previous research and puts it into an intercultural context. The researcher conducted a quantitative, exploratory study. The data was gathered using an existing research instrument, which was distributed online. The sample comprised 374 respondents. This sample was conducted by a combination of quota and snowball sampling. The obtained data is evaluated and presented in text and table form. The results revealed preferences for intrinsic motivators for the whole sample and higher motivation for the South African part of the sample. Demographic characteristics played a minor role.

A series of three projective cues, designed to measure fear of success, were administered to fifty women with coeducational backgrounds (twenty-eight from grade 11 and twenty-two from first year university) and forty-eight women from single-sex schools (thirty from grade 11 and eighteen from first year university). The groups were matched for socioeconomic status and intellectual ability. Following the administration of the verbal cues, subjects were tested in competitive and non-competitive conditions on two performance tasks, before which they were asked to estimate their performance. They also completed a Sex-Role Differentiation (SRD) questionnaire and a general information sheet. The results indicated that the level of fear of success was the same for public and private school women in Grade 11 but increased significantly for private school women in university. Women evidencing high fear of success gave lower expectancy estimates of their performance while those low in fear of success made significantly more accurate estimates of their performance on the tasks. Women with high fear of success also held more traditional views of male and female roles as evidence by their higher scores on the SRD scales. However, no significant relationship between fear of success and performance was revealed. The implications of a private school environment for the future education of women were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

D.Ed. / The child constitutes his world by experiencing the content of life in a particular society. This content is included in the school curriculum as learning content after careful selection on the basis of its intrinsic value for education. Owing to the fact that the child attains adulthood by internalizing content, it is of the utmost importance that the pupil be motivated in such a manner by the content of the teaching-learning situation, that he learns because he wants to learn. When the selected content is presented to the child as a factual statement and not as a problem which concerns him, it may be experienced as an answer to a question which was never put. \~hen the child does not experience the content which is presented to him as a real life problem with which he can identify, the result is often meaningless learning by rote in order to avoid punishment, to pass a test, or to win the favour of a teacher. The interdependent nature of teaching and learning has made it possible for the researcher to show empirically how teacher strategies, focusing on the learning content as an object of wonder, relate to a willingness on the part of the pupil to learn in a meaningful way. It was also shown that the absence of teacher behaviour, concentrating on the learning content as an object of wonder, is associated with the absence of an inquiring attitude in pupils. In categories 2, 4 and 6 below, the contingency of the learning content is accentuated, whereas...

Denna kunskapsöversikt syftar till att ta reda på hur elevernas inre motivation till att bli engagerade läsare kan utvecklas, utifrån frågeställningen Vilka är framgångsfaktorerna för att öka elevernas inre motivation till att bli engagerade läsare i årskurs 4–6? Materialet är hämtat från välkända sökmotorer samt är peer-reviewed. Jag granskade elva olika forskningsartiklar som berör ämnet motivation och engagemang i läsningen samt vad det är som gör att eleverna blir motiverade läsare eller inte. Genom litteraturgranskningen framkom det att känslor, etnicitet, kultur och bakgrund påverkar elevernas ställningstagande till litteraturen. Artiklarna berör även hur lärare kan arbeta med strukturerad undervisning och vilka resultaten blir efter ett sådant arbete. Artiklarna beskrivs först var för sig för att sedan ställas i relation till varandra i diskussionen. Materialet visar också att motivation och engagemang är svårdefinierade begrepp och olika författare definierar begreppen på olika sätt. Det argumenteras för att strukturerad undervisning och tillgänglig litteratur gynnar elevernas inre motivation till läsningen, samt att få vara en del av en läsande gemenskap gynnar engagemanget för läsningen. I kunskapsöversikten diskuteras det hur lärarna kan arbeta med lässtrategier i klassrummet för att gynna elevernas motivation till läsningen samt hur viktigt det är att eleverna får vara delaktiga i valet av texter som ska läsas. Kunskapsöversiktens slutsats blir att det finns lite forskning att luta sig mot i Sverige vilket är utmanande för lärarna. Det är inte heller alla elever som blir engagerade i sin läsning trots att de ges alla förutsättningar.

Studien syftade till att undersöka om det fanns någon skillnad i akademisk motivation mellan män och kvinnor. En enkätundersökning gjordes vid Luleå Tekniska Universitet i form av det validerade mätinstrumentet akademiska motivationsskalan (AMS). Med hjälp av mätinstrumentet gick det att identifiera sju olika dimensionerna av akademisk motivation för respektive kön. Beräkningarna mättes och förklarades sedan med hjälp av SPSS. Av de 61 respondenter visade resultatet att den akademiska motivationen inte skiljde sig signifikant mellan män och kvinnor men att det fanns tendenser i resultatet som visade på skillnader mellan män och kvinnor i medelvärdet för de olika dimensionerna i akademisk motivation. Det visade sig att det skiljde sig mellan män och kvinnor i vilken typ av motivation som påverkade den totala motivationen.

This study addresses student attitudes about open badges (after having been required to earn badges as part of their course work or having earned them through the library) and their desire to earn additional optional badges offered across campus. Research has presented conflicting evidence about the potential effect of open badges on student motivation, usually studying students who have had no previous experience with open badges. However, research has also found that open badges are still largely new and unknown for many people, which may affect initial motivation to earn badges. For this reason, our study considered the potential impact that prior exposure to and earning of open badges could have on students' attitudes toward open badges. Our findings are that student motivation to earn additional badges is increased after prior exposure depending on the badge design, badge implementation, and student understanding of how open badges function. We found that students who earned badges through the library software training program had the highest motivation, followed by Ed Tech class students.

No description available.