摘要：The importance and continuous attention that has been paid to work moti- vation, however, also has its drawbacks. A broad range of perspectives and theories on work motivation have been developed and, in turn, each of these has inspired diverse and rapidly growing research streams without much attention or work towards integration. This has resulted in an extensive research literature characterised by a lack of unifying theoretical framework or theme and often difficult to grasp for the inexperienced (and even for the experienced!) reader. In the words of Lyman W. Porter (2008, p. 7): “Work motivation is... a sort of a Rubik’s cube of many interesting facets and com- ponents, but also extremely difficult to put together into a meaningful whole with all of the pieces lined up appropriately”. In putting together this special issue, we decided to acknowledge the diversity in conceptual perspectives and empirical traditions in this area, and therefore, considered a broad scope of topics on work motivation for publication in the special issue. In recent years, a few scholars have tried to tie various isolated research streams together into an overall comprehensible framework (e.g., Locke, 1997; LockeandLatham, 2004). In retrospect, we are happy to see that the various studies included in this special issue can be easily mapped on this prelimi- nary work motivation model and seem to provide new insights for each of the components of this framework. The studies included provide a comprehen- sive overview of most of the current dominant theories and topics of work motivation including feedback processing, organisational commitment, organisational justice, leadership, perceived organisational support, typical and maximal performance, and achievement goals. Apart from the various theoretical perspectives discussed, the special issue also gives a good picture of the various methods (e.g., cross-sectional and longitudinal field studies, experimental designs, conceptual analysis, multi-level studies) and statistical procedures (e.g., linear regression, structural equation modeling, hierarchical linear modeling) that are typical of this field. We are convinced that, after reading this special issue, the reader will come away with a rich picture and better understanding of the diversity of work motivation research in Work and Organisational Psychology.
