Workplace Motivation Theories: In the early 1960s, the study of motivation was not considered as a reputable pursuit since it was dominated by behaviorists. These behaviorists argued that motivation is brought by external factors that act as either re-inforcers or punishers. Internal factors resulting in individual motivation were basically regarded as physiological by non-behaviorists. However, in the past few decades, workplace motivation has developed to become a significant topic to an extent that it has been examined by various psychologists and other professionals. These efforts have contributed to the development of theories that act as mechanisms for predicting, describing, and impacting employee motivation. In attempts to explain workplace motivation, these theories focus on cognition, employee needs, and the specific job characteristics. The various workplace motivation theories have been developed to explain job motivation across various job arenas.

Goal Setting Theory and Social Cognitive Theory:

Some of the major examples of workplace motivation theories that relate to different job arenas include the goal setting theory and social cognitive theory. Goal Setting Theory was introduced following experiments on Ryan's hypothesis about the effect of intentions (Latham, 2006, p.53). These experiments resulted in three suggestions that eventually resulted in the development of goal setting theory. The suggestions include the fact that particular high goals contribute to high performance, the higher the goal the higher the performance, and...

Job performance is affected by goal setting because goals provide a regulatory basis for the employee to observe, examine, analyze, and change behavior to achieve the goal.
The impact of goals on performance takes place through four mechanisms including the fact that they act as a directive function. Through directive function, goals guide attention and effort toward initiatives that are goal-oriented and away from those that are not goal-oriented. The effect of directive function takes place from a cognitive and behavioral aspect i.e. attention and effort towards goal-centered activities. The second mechanism is an energized function in which higher goals result in greater efforts than low goals. This mechanism is evident in tasks that directly involve physical effort, repeated performance, subjective effort, and physiological indicators. The third and fourth mechanisms are persistence and action respectively where hard goals prolong effort while action leads to arousal, identification, and use of relevant knowledge and strategies towards particular tasks.

In contrast, Social Cognitive Theory was developed by Albert Bandura and emphasizes on the significance of goal setting on workplace motivation. Social Cognitive Theory states that behavior is an ongoing mutual interaction between cognitive, environmental, and behavioral variables (Latham, 2006, p.71). This perspective is viewed on the argument that behavior is determined by and influences environmental consequences that in turn…