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Enligt  Self-determination Theory presterar människor bäst när de upplever inre motivation, snarare än motivation sprungen ur yttre faktorer. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka motivation hos gruppen innebandytränare. I synnerhet undersöks anledningar till att börja som tränare, samt sambandet mellan dessa och tränarnas upplevda motivation. En webbenkät sändes ut till 1059 innebandytränare i Sverige varav 355 svarade. Resultatet visar 12 kategorier av  anledningar till varför tränarna valde att engagera sig: Egna barn, Idrottsintresse, Bidra, Saknades tränare, Nöje, Egen utveckling, Allmänt intresse, Ledarskapsintresse, Social kontakt, Tillfrågad, Besatt kompetens, samt Gott syfte. Resultatet visar även att tränarna upplevde inre motivation i störst utsträckning. Flera samband återfanns mellan åtta av kategorierna och typ av motivation. Tydligast var den positiva korrelationen mellan kategorin Bidra och självbestämmande motivation. Detta kan bero på att viljan att bidra går att relatera till det psykologiska behovet av samhörighet. Studien bidrar till kunskap kring inre motiverande faktorer hos idrottstränare. / According to Self-determination Theory, people perform better when they experience inner motivation, rather than motivation sprung from external factors. This study aims to examine motivation in floorball coaches. Especially, reasons for starting to work as a coach are examined, as well as relationships between those reasons and the coaches experienced type of motivation. A web-survey was sent to 1059 floorball coaches in Sweden, wich were answered by 355 coaches. The results show 12 reasons why the coaches chose to commit themselves: Their own children, Sports interest, Contribute, Lack of coaches, Enjoyment, Their own development, A general interest, Leadership interest, Social connections, Asked to, Possessed expertise and A good cause. The results also showed that the coaches experienced inner motivation to the largest extent. Several relationships were shown between eight of the categories and the different types of motivation. Of those, the most distinct was the relationship between Contribute and self-determined motivation. This may be due to that the will to contribute can be related to the psychological need for relatedness. The study contributes to the knowledge of factors that may affect inner motivation in athletic coaches.

Microbreaks are short, voluntary breaks taken during the workday that have been found to be beneficial in the recovery process as they are less structured and can be taken when an employee is feeling heightened levels of fatigue. Self-determination theory provides an important lens through which to study the possible association between microbreaks and work performance. Self-determination theory states that when an individual's needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are satisfied the individual will have intrinsic motivation which will drive performance. In this experience sampling study, I recruited employees to respond to four surveys per day for five days. Based on the results of 100 participants, using unconflated multilevel modeling I found that higher work engagement covaried with higher personal initiative. Using multilevel structural equation modeling and focusing on between-person relationships, I found that autonomy need satisfaction during microbreaks covaried with increased intrinsic work motivation, while relatedness covaried with decreased intrinsic work motivation. Also, focusing on the between-person relationships, higher intrinsic work motivation covaried with higher work engagement, which then covaried with higher personal initiative. At the between-person level autonomy influenced personal initiative indirectly via enhancements in work engagement extending from intrinsic motivation. In this dissertation, I provided a comparative analysis of microbreak activities and implications of need satisfaction on various work-related constructs. / Doctor of Philosophy / Recent research surrounding recovery has focused on breaks after work, during the weekend, or vacations. Microbreaks are short, voluntary breaks that are beneficial in that they allow employees to relax. Microbreaks are less structured and can be taken when employees feel the greatest level of tiredness from their work. I hypothesized that when employees satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness during microbreaks, they will experience greater intrinsic work motivation. I also hypothesized that this increase in intrinsic work motivation will correlate with increased work engagement, finally, correlating with increased personal initiative and helping behaviors. Results from 100 participants indicated that higher work engagement correlated with increased personal initiative. I also focused on relationships between people and found that individuals who experienced greater autonomy correlated with increased intrinsic work motivation, while individuals who experienced greater relatedness correlated with decreased intrinsic work motivation. Also, with the between-person relationships, individuals who had more intrinsic work motivation positively correlated with work engagement, which then positively correlated with personal initiative.

Burnout and staff turnover among correctional officers can be the result of low well-being. These are problems that can be devastating for both the individual, his or her colleagues, the inmates and the organization if not prevented. Well-being among correctional officers is an important and well-researched subject. However, the majority of all studies are made in American prisons, and very few consider jail specifically. Jails are often smaller workplaces than prisons in terms of number of employees, which makes them more exposed to staff turnover. In addition, they have difficulty competing with other organizations in terms of high salary and other benefits, and must therefore invest extra hard in a healthy work environment that promotes well-being among their employees. This study is based on a web survey and made in about half of all jails in Sweden. The purpose is to explore, with support of the Self-Determination Theory, how correctional officers in jail are experiencing well-being at work, and if there may be any correlation between perceived well-being and individual factors. The results show that the well-being are generally good, although some weaker aspects are identified, such as percieved autonomy. No significant differences between men and women were found when it comes to work related well-being. Factors that, on the other hand, seems to have a slight impact on the perceived well-being is tenure, education and age.

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985), the motivation of sports coaches and the development of the Coach Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ) are the subject of this thesis. Motivation contributes to the way in which people think, feel, and act, and is therefore a central issue in the study of psychology (Ryan & Deci, 2000b). The motivational sequence (Vallerand, 1997) suggests that coaches’ motivations influence their behaviours, which subsequently have an effect on their athletes’ perceptions of the motivational climate. In the sport domain, the coach-athlete relationship is one of the most important influences on athletes’ motivation and subsequent performance (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Nevertheless, while there is much research concentrating on the impact of coaching behaviours on athletes’ perceptions and performance, little thought seems to have been given to the coaches’ needs themselves (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Following previous work with athletes (e.g., Frederick-Recascino & Schuster-Smith, 2003), the motives and motivational styles of coaches should be related to how they behave within the coaching environment (Frederick & Morrison, 1999). In other words, why coaches coach should influence how coaches coach. The present investigation was conducted to further research and understanding of coach motivation. In the pursuit of this aim, the following three studies were conducted. In Study 1, the motivation of Australian coaches was examined, with a view to informing the development of a valid measurement tool. Employing a qualitative methodology, 13 coaches from different sports and levels of competition participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive content analysis of the interview transcripts yielded four key dimensions: (a) connection with sport, (b) coach and athlete development, (c) external influences, and (d) internal motives. Overall, SDT appeared to be a useful lens for understanding the data and the existence of multiple forms of motivation were discussed. Study 2 involved the development and pilot testing of a pool of potential items for the CMQ. These items reflected each of the six forms of motivation as conceptualised in SDT, and were designed to be broad and applicable to a wide range of coaches and coaching scenarios. Coaches (N = 86) completed the extended version of the CMQ online, and were requested to respond to two open-ended questions designed to gauge the face validity and general clarity of the questionnaire content. Results suggested that motivation factors were internally consistent, however empirical and qualitative feedback suggested the adaptation of one item for conceptual clarity and the removal of a second item resulting in the CMQ-41. The psychometric properties of the CMQ were examined in Study 3. Coaches (N = 556) completed an online questionnaire package that included the CMQ and measures of psychological needs, goal orientation, and well-being. Examination using CFA produced a 22-item measure with good model fit. Further evaluation produced preliminary evidence for the scale’s validity and reliability. The implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed. Directions for research concerning coach motivation, SDT, and the coach-athlete performance relationship are also highlighted.

This study investigated the perceived locus of causality of motivation in high school football players. The Sports Motivation Scale (SMS) was used to study seven motivation subscales (IM to know, IM to accomplish, IM stimulation, EM identified, EM introjected, EM external and Amotivation) with respect to motivation among high school football players. This indicated that IM to know, IM to accomplish, EM identified and EM introjected were the best predictors of the participants? perceived locus of causality of motivation. The results indicate that when using perceived locus of causality for motivation, position played could be predicted 62 percent of the time. The study also speculates on ways in which communication could be used to affect motivation.

People experience autonomy when they perceive their behaviour to be volitional and they feel controlled when their behaviour is driven by external demands or internal pressures. Gaine and La Guardia (2009) developed the Motivations for Relational Activities (MRA) scale to assess the extent to which romantic partners feel autonomous and controlled in a variety of specific relational activities. In a sample of mostly non-married individuals, Gaine and La Guardia (2009) found that the more willing and the less pressured individuals feel to engage in relational activities, the greater their relationship well-being. Study 1 examined whether autonomous and controlled activity motivations have similar implications for relationship well-being for married individuals. Results replicated the results from the non-married sample (Gaine & La Guardia, 2009). Study 2 assessed the relational activity motivation of both partners in married and common-law relationships and examined how one’s own motives relate to one’s own relationship well-being and one’s partner’s relationship well-being. Results suggested that one’s own motivations toward relational activities predict one’s own relationship well-being but not one’s partner’s well-being, with the exception of men’s relationship satisfaction, which was positively predicted by women’s autonomous activity motivation. Study 2 also employed daily diaries to examine the implications of each partner’s activity motivations for partners’ daily relational functioning and well-being. Results showed that when individuals are more willing and less pressured to engage in relational activities, they experience greater daily relationship well-being. Further, when individuals are more willing and less pressured in their relational activities, they are observed by their partner to be more engaged and responsive on a day-to-day basis. Finally, women’s willing engagement of relational activities emerged as a particularly important predictor of their own as well as men’s relational functioning and wellness.

I dagens informationssamhälle blir konkurrensen allt hårdare och servicen gentemot kunden ett allt viktigare konkurrensmedel. Servicen som frontpersonal levererar gentemot kunderna blir extra viktig inom tjänsteföretag då det är en central del av verksamheten. För att frontpersonalen ska vilja göra ett så bra arbete som möjligt och agera serviceinriktat i interaktionen med kunderna är det då viktigt att de är motiverade. Handlingsfrihet är ett verktyg för att motivera sina anställda och innebär, ”Att ge anställda befogenhet att själva fatta beslut och agera efter eget huvud i problematiska situationer”. Det finns många studier som tyder på att handlingsfrihet hos frontpersonalen kan leda till ökad arbetstillfredsställelse som i sin tur kan leda till ökad motivation och bättre arbetsprestation.   Handlingsfrihet behöver dock inte nödvändigtvis leda till en mer motiverad frontpersonal som levererar en bättre service gentemot kunderna. Det är inte passande att ge alla i personalen handlingsfrihet eftersom inte alla vill axla det ansvar som följer med handlingsfriheten. En väl fungerande handlingsfrihet kan leda till ökad servicekvalitet gentemot kunden samtidigt som frontpersonalen upplever ett ökat förtroenden, välmående och motivation. Detta skulle då utgöra en yttre autonomt motiverande faktor vilket är när yttre motivationsfaktorer stämmer överens med individens egna värderingar och denne finner en inneboende glädje samt vilja i att utföra uppgifterna. Samtidigt kan en misslyckad handlingsfrihet även leda till stress och osäkerhet som i sin tur kan resultera i felaktiga beslut, försämrad servicekvalitet och en minskad motivation. Människor är olika och reagerar på olika sätt i olika situationer, vissa kanske stimuleras av ansvarstagande, ökat förtroende och utrymme för kreativitet och frihet i sitt handlingsutrymme samtidigt som andra kan vara intresserade av att ha tydliga riktlinjer för vad som ska göras oavsett situation. Utifrån ovanstående bakgrund har studien följande problemformulering:   Hur påverkar handlingsfrihet frontpersonalens upplevda yttre autonoma motivation inom tjänsteföretag?   Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en fördjupad kunskap om hur handlingsfrihet påverkar frontpersonalens yttre autonoma motivation samt att resultatet ska kunna användas av ledare inom främst tjänstesektorn.   Studien använder sig av en kvalitativ metod med en induktiv ansats som grund. För insamlandet av data har elva semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts och transkriberat där respondenterna utgörs av kundtjänstpersonal på de fem största bankerna.   Slutsatserna visar att handlingsfrihet kan leda till en ökad yttre autonom motivation. Om det ger en ökad yttre autonom motivation eller inte beror dock till stor del på individens egen inställning till handlingsfrihet. För att kunna avgöra om handlingsfrihet passar för individen kan ledaren identifiera det genom att analysera individernas personlighetsdrag. Detta då det finns ett tydligt samband där de respondenter med högre grad av personlighetsdragen tenderar att skapa en ökad yttre autonom motivation vid mycket handlingsfrihet medan de personer som med en lägre grad av personlighetsdragen istället tenderar att få en minskad motivation av handlingsfrihet.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det förelåg några skillnader i upplevelsen av inre arbetsmotivation och arbetstillfredsställelse bland tjänstemannakonsulter inom ett bemanningsföretag beroende på antal uppdrag. Syftet var även att undersöka om det förelåg någon interaktionseffekt mellan hur väl uppfyllda de inre motivationsbehoven var och antal uppdrag. Ytterligare ett syfte var att undersöka vilket motivationsbehov som predicerade generell arbetstillfredsställelse främst. Studien genomfördes inom ett bemanningsföretag i mellansverige, där 70 tjänstemannakonsulter deltog genom att besvara en webbenkät. Mätinstrumenten som användes var Basic Need of Satisfaction at work scale (BNS) och Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). BNS mätte de inre motivationsbehoven; autonomi, kompetens och samhörighet och MSQ mätte inre och yttre arbetstillfredsställelse. Resultatet visade en signifikant skillnad i upplevelse av de inre motivationsbehoven där kompetens och samhörighet skattades högre än autonomi. Resultatet visade även att autonomi predicerade generell arbetstillfredsställelse främst i gruppen med 1-3 uppdrag medan i gruppen med 4-12 uppdrag var det kompetens som predicerade generell arbetstillfredsställelse främst. / The purpose of the study was to examine whether there were any experience difference of intrinsic work motivation and work satisfaction among agency workers depending on the amount of assignments. The purpose was also to examine whether there was an interaction between the amounts of assignments and how well met the work motivations needs were and finally to examine which motivation needs that predicted general job satisfaction best in the groups. The study was conducted within an employment agency in Sweden, where 70 agency workers participated by answering an online questionnaire. The measuring instruments used were Basic Need of Satisfaction at work scale (BNS) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). BNS measured the intrinsic motivation needs; autonomy, competence and relatedness while MSQ measured internal and external work satisfaction. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the experience of the intrinsic motivation needs; competence and relatedness was higher estimated than autonomy. The results also showed that autonomy was the best predictor of general job satisfaction in the group with 1-3 assignments while competence was the best predictor of general job satisfaction in the group with 4-12 assignments.

Relative autonomy describes the degree to which people connect their actions to internal values and goals, rather than external standards and expectations (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The present research examined how relative autonomy moderates defensive responses to psychological threats. The first set of studies compared the effects of negative performance feedback to negative feedback about internal aspects of the self (i.e., motivation). The latter threat was expected to be more self-relevant to higher than lower autonomy individuals, who typically do not react defensively to performance threats. In Study 1 (N = 106), having a more autonomous disposition predicted decreased positive affect in neutral and performance threat conditions, but not under motivation threat. In Study 2 (N = 165), participants having a more autonomous disposition showed a consistent desire to engage in intrinsic pursuits across all conditions, but a decreased interest in extrinsic pursuits when threatened. The second set of studies aimed to expand the spectrum of threat-responses to determine whether autonomy would predict greater commitment toward personal goals upon exposure to universally relevant threats (i.e., mortality salience, relational threat). Results of Study 3 (N =120) suggested that more autonomous participants reacted to the threat of mortality (i.e., thinking about their own demise) by planning for future goals and maintaining positive affect. Study 4 (N = 122) compared positive with negative relationship feedback and revealed that participants higher in autonomy were increasingly likely to agree with positive, and disagree with negative, feedback. Additionally, autonomy predicted consistent positive affect and sustained engagement with intrinsic pursuits. In sum, compared with individuals lower in autonomy, those higher in autonomy displayed more positive affect and eagerness to accept positive feedback under a variety of threats, including threats to motivation, relational need satisfaction, and existence as an individual. More autonomous participants distinguished themselves from less autonomous participants by sustaining their interest in existing pursuits and selectively disengaging from less intrinsic activities. Expanding on existing self-determination theory research, these results suggest that a more autonomous disposition relates to greater positivity overall and to a tendency to react to threat with focus on and discernment among personal goals.