J 2024

Employee Motivation in Contemporary Academic Literature: A Narrative Literature Review

JARKOVSKÁ, Petra and Martina JARKOVSKÁ

Basic information

Original name

Employee Motivation in Contemporary Academic Literature: A Narrative Literature Review

Authors

JARKOVSKÁ, Petra and Martina JARKOVSKÁ

Edition

Organizacija, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2024, 1318-5454

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Article in a journal

Field of Study

50200 5.2 Economics and Business

Country of publisher

Germany

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

References:

Marked to be transferred to RIV

No

Organization

Škoda Auto Vysoká Škola z.ú. – Repository

UT WoS

Keywords in English

Motivation theory, Motivation factor, Elton Mayo, Employee motivation

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Changed: 3/6/2026 15:51, Ing. Lada Honzáková

Abstract

In the original language

Background: Using the correct type of motivation is pivotal in triggering employees' affirmative work attitudes, such as work performance, job satisfaction, or voluntary retention, ultimately leading to increasing the organization's overall efficiency. Despite the ongoing academic debate, academics provide practitioners with mixed results on which motivation factors are relevant for targeted employee groups whose needs are under the economic and socio-psychological pressure of the rapidly evolving environment. Elton Mayo was the first to acknowledge these socio-psychological factors as significant motivation drivers almost a century ago. Methods: Therefore, the purpose of this paper, using the narrative literature review method (supported by a systematic search strategy) on 83 articles, is to evaluate the research findings on employees' motivation (related to their affirmative work attitudes) and to unfold the motivation theory's advancement. Results: Key motivation drivers were identified and unified into five motivation sets applicable to different employee groups. The findings also suggest that most academic works, theoretically grounded in classical motivational concepts, are quantitative analysis-based. Conclusion: To increase the efficiency of employees' performance, internal motivation or internalization of external motivation seems to be the best solution. Employees' “floating” needs call for practitioners to be trained in techniques from psychology.

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