Content area
Abstract
Research in environmental, experimental, and social psychology has found that choice, the perceived control of the selection process among options of similar value and outcome certainty, can have powerful effects on the way people think, feel, and act. Studies in educational psychology have indicated that choice of reinforcers can influence motivational levels and individual attitudes; however, no research has applied these findings to organizational individual-level outcomes.
Using a fully randomized 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design, the effects of choice (i.e., choice or yoked no choice), feedback (i.e., performance feedback or no performance feedback), and reward (i.e., activity reward which involved the control of task scheduling or outcome reward which reinforced with either bonus pay or time off with pay) on performance quantity, performance quality, task satisfaction, task commitment, generalized positive affect, perceptions of self-efficacy, and feelings of self-esteem for 149 college students were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. In addition, the moderating influence of the individual characteristics of locus of control, concern for self-presentation, and need for achievement/endurance on the relationship between choice of rewards and the dependent variables was measured.
The results indicate that the relationships among choice, feedback, and reward are more complex than initially hypothesized. Contrary to theory, choice did not result in higher levels of arousal as measured by reaction speed. Allowing individuals to choose their rest schedules, rather than assigning identical rest periods, significantly increased task quality. Satisfaction with task performance was decreased for choice subjects in the outcome reward condition who received performance feedback and for choice subjects who received no feedback in the activity reward condition. Choice individuals under outcome reward expressed significantly higher levels of positive affect when they received feedback, as well as when they received no feedback in the activity reward condition. Perceived responsibility for task performance was significantly higher for choice subjects who selected their breaks. Also, as perceptions of choice increased, significantly higher levels of task commitment were reported. Finally, moderating effects were found for some individual characteristics.
