What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century. The Academy of Management Review

We present six recommendations for building theories of work motivation that are more valid, more complete, broader in scope, and more useful to practitioners than existing theories. (1) Integrate extant theories by using existing meta-analyses to build a megatheory of work motivation. (2) Create a boundaryless science of work motivation. (3) Study the various types of relationships that could hold between general (trait) and situationally specific motivation. (4) Study subconscious as well as conscious motivation. (5) Use introspection explicitly in theory building. (6) Acknowl-edge the role of volition in human action when formulating theories. The concept of motivation refers to internal factors that impel action and to external factors that can act as inducements to action. The three aspects of action that motivation can affect are direction (choice), intensity (effort), and duration (persistence). Motivation can affect not only the acquisition of people’s skills and abilities bu