title: Fluctuations in work motivation: tasks do not matter!
abstract: Previous studies have shown that work motivation fluctuates considerably and in a  nonlinear way over time. In the present research, we are interested in studying if the task  at hand does or does not influence the presence of these fluctuations. We gathered daily  registers from 69 workers during 21 consecutive working days (7036 registers) of task developed  and levels of motivation, self-efficacy beliefs and instrumentalities perception. These  registers were then categorized into a list of labor activities in main tasks and subtasks  by means of three judges with a high level of agreement (97.47% for tasks, and 98.64% for subtasks).  Taking the MSSD statistic (mean squared successive difference) of the average of motivation,  self-efficacy and instrumentality, and using hierarchical regression analysis we have found that  tasks (beta = .03; p = .188) and subtasks (beta = .10; p = .268) do not affect the presence of fluctuations  in motivation. These results reveal instability in work motivation independently from the tasks and  subtasks that the workers do. We proceed to find that fluctuations in work motivation show a  fractal structure across the different tasks we do in a working day. Implications of these results  to motivational theory will be discussed as well as possible explanations (e.g. the influence of  affect in work motivation) and directions for future research are provided.
authors.affiliation: University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. j.navarro@ub.edu
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Curioso
authors.forename: Duarte
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arrieta
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cortes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology*; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology