The effect of monetary rewards on autonomous motivation in an enabling performance measurement context

This paper investigates the impact of monetary rewards on autonomous motivation in an enabling PMS context. The study uses survey data from 314 managers from different organizations. The results indicate that organizations benefit from performance measurement systems that are perceived as highly enabling. A highly enabling PMS leads to a higher level of autonomous motivation, when compared to a situation with a minimally enabling PMS or no performance measurement system. In organizations where the performance measurement system is perceived to be minimally enabling, the results indicate that perceived fairness of individual monetary rewards positively affects managers’ autonomous motivation. The findings also reveal that the more the performance measurement system is perceived as enabling, the less effective a fair individual bonus is to enhance the level of autonomous motivation of managers