Motivational Theories of Content & Motivational Process Theories

Abstract

This article indicates the existing literature treating questions related to human resources motivation side. Thus, motivation is considered as one of the biggest preoccupations in Human resources management field. Actually the companies become constantly innovative to concretise efficient systems to motivate their employees. Based on the direct impact of motivation on the quality of employee work, companies make great efforts to understand what drives employees to be more efficient, more productive and highly performing.

Our article deals with two main motivational theories, namely motivational content theories (Maslow, Herzberg, McClelland, McGregor & Alderfer) who are interested in understanding the needs of individuals and who have presented the psychological gaps that individuals seek to fill. As well as the motivational theories of the processes (Adams, Vroom, Locke & Hackman) that seek to understand the mechanism of motivation and to identify what explains or triggers an individual’s behavior in a given environment.

Keywords: HR Motivation, Content theories, Process theories, performance, Satisfaction

Classification JEL: O15

Paper type: Theoretical research