Download - Dental Asia

CLINICALUPDATE
perceived outcomes does the work offer a person?
How attractive does that person consider these
outcomes to be? What kind of behavior must the
person exhibit to achieve these outcomes? How
does the person view his/her chance of doing what is
asked? The key to understanding expectancy theory
to understand an individual’s goal and the linkage
between effort and performance, between
performance and rewards, and between rewards
and individual goal satisfaction. According to
expectancy theory, various choices of behavior are
evaluated according to their expectancy,
instrumentality and valence. This can be summed up
as a mathematical equation. Motivation is related to
the mathematical product of expectancy,
instrumentality and valence (fig. 1). People are more
motivated with higher value of the product.
Applications to Dentistry: It is important to decrease
the effort/cost needed, increase the association
between the effort/cost and the reward/benefit and
increase the attractiveness of the reward/benefit.
Conclusion
It can be seen that different motivation theories are
complementary to each other. No single theory can
explain all the responses of the patients. An
understanding to each theory can evolve a combined
strategy that can motivate the most difficult patients.
DA
References
1. Maslow A. Motivation and Personality. New York; McGraw-Hill; 1954.
2. McGregor D. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York; McGraw-Hill; 1960.
3. Herzberg F, Mausner B, Snyderman B. The Motivation to Work. New York;
John Wiley; 1959.
4. McClellend DC. The Achieving Society. New York; Van Nostrand Reinhold;
1961.
5. McClellend DC. Power: The Inner Experience. New York; Irvington; 1975.
6. Ambrose ML, Kulik CT. Old Friends, New Faces: Motivation Research in the
1990s. Journal of Management 1999;25:231-92.
7. Skinner BF. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York; Knopf; 1972.
8. Adams JS. Inequity in Social Exchanges. In: Berkowitz L (ed.). Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 2. New York: Academic Press; 1965;267-
300.
9. Lord RG, Hohenfeld JA. Longitudinal Field Assessment of Equity Effects on the
Performance of Major League Baseball Players. Journal of Applied Psychology
1979; Feb:19-26.
10. Vroom VH. Work and Motivation. New York; John Wiley; 1964.
11. Van Eerde W, Thierry H. Vroom’s Expectancy Models and Work-related criteria:
A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology 1996;Oct:575-586.
Footnotes
1 Business Administration, the Hong Kong Shue Yan
University
2 Orthodontics, the University of Hong Kong
Dr. Fanny Y. F. Young is an assistant
professor in Business Administration,
the Hong Kong Shue Yan University.
Dr. Ricky W. K. Wong is a clinical
associate professor in Orthodontics,
the University of Hong Kong.
Dental Asia • May / June 2008
29