| Summary: | The aim of this master thesis is to examine research perspectives and a selection ofmanagers’ views on the concept of work motivation. With an exploratory approach,based on a literature review and interviews these views are examined and compared inrelation to a theoretical framework. This theoretical framework consists of three keyconcepts, the individual, the context and the regulation of work motivation. Theliterature review reveals two research perspectives, a classic economic perspectivebased on Principal–Agent Theory and a more up to date social psychologicalperspective based on Self-Determination Theory. Interviews with selected managersas informants reveal that both of these research perspectives are represented amongthe managers, but foremost the social psychological perspective. The comparisonbetween the research perspectives and the managers’ views also show that thesimilarities between the social psychological perspective and the managers’ views arestrongest in relation to the key concept of the individual, compared to the keyconcepts of context and regulation. A discrepancy between how managers view workmotivation and how managers deal with work motivation in practice can also be seenand related to the managers’ views on the key concepts named.
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