Extrinsic Motivation Paper

Many studies over the past thirty plus years have tried to determine how extrinsic rewards affect intrinsic motivation. These studies have taken place in settings such as; in the classroom or in a work setting to gauge how the environment affects the outcomes (Porter & Lawler, 1968) (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). For purposes of this paper, I will focus solely on a business setting. With that being said, nearly all of the Fortune 500 companies employ a pay-for-performance plan of some type. Meaning, that some part of the employee’s compensation plan is contingent on meeting or exceeding a performance objective. With so many companies using this compensation plan we will try to determine how it affects intrinsic motivation in the workplace.
According to Deci and Ryan’s Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) perceived autonomy can be reduced by various means, including the requirement to achieve a performance objective. Additionally, a performance based reward will cause a greater detriment to self-determination which in turn leads to lower intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Contradicting most of Deci and Ryan’s conclusions (Eisenberger, Rhoades, & Cameron, 1999) performed multiple cognitive studies in both a lab and work setting noting that Rewards produced greater perceived self-determination and personal autonomy than non-reward. These findings are critical because greater self-determination and personal autonomy indicate positive intrinsic