The relationship between performance-based pay and intrinsic motivation— An empirical study on physicians

• Main Authors: Ming-Yi Ho, 何明怡
• Other Authors: Chin-Kang Jen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/56839043570618733240

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 人力資源管理研究所 === 89 === Pay for performance programs are being used more and more extensively nowadays. The proponents of incentives claim that money is an important motivator for better performance, while the opponents insist that incentives can never bring lasting performance improvement, which is driven by intrinsic motivation. It has been born out that monetary reward has detrimental effects on intrinsic motivation. However, the results come mostly from experiments on school children, whether the result can be replicated in work settings is still a question needs to be examined. This study examined whether performance based pay has detrimental effect on physicians’ intrinsic motivation and what effects other non-monetary rewards may have on intrinsic motivation. It is found that the intrinsic motivation of Attending Physician is significantly higher than Resident Physician, which implies that the motivational property of the work itself is a very important factor of intrinsic motivation. Physicians from privatized public hospitals have higher intrinsic motivation than those from public hospitals, of which the causes may need to be further explored. In terms of different positions, productivity-based pay, organizational performance based pay and recognition are found to have positive influence on Attending Physicians’ intrinsic motivation, while career development opportunities and research-teaching based pay are found to have positive influence on Resident Physicians’ intrinsic motivation. As to the effects of performance-based pay, it is found that physicians having performance-based pay do feel more controlled by pay; however, their intrinsic motivation is not negatively affected. It seems to imply that organizational workers are able to separate intrinsic reward and extrinsic reward and thus their intrinsic motivation is not affected by extrinsic rewards. This result is similar to what Fisher found in 1978. The moderating effect of individual difference is not significant in this study due to the homogeneity of physicians.