Haw-Jeng Chiou
Department of Social Psychology Shih-Hsin University
The purpose of this study is to examine the intrinsic and extrinsic natures of work motivation (Amabile, 1983). Based on the viewpoint of measurement, this study administered a work motivation questionnaire (WPI, Working Preference Inventory; Amabile, Hill, Hennessey, & Tighe, 1994) into two cultural samples for inquiring the structure of questionnaire and examining the subjects’ responses on test items. Statistically, the paradigm of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied the quantitative procedures of parameter estimations and model comparisons. Samples consisted of 414 Taiwanese undergraduates and 1363 American undergraduates. The WPI was translated into Chinese. The results supported a two-first-order-factor and a four-second-order-factor model on the Chinese WPI. The two main factors of work motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, were orthogonal, which was correspondent with theoretical conceptualization. Furthermore, a series of significant correlation coefficients between the scores of the Chinese WPI factors and the other related constructs suggested the concurrent validity of Chinese WPI. Finally, issues regarding measurement and cultural differences were also discussed.
Keywords: work motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, quantitative comparison, structural equation modeling