Types of Rewards, Cognitions, And Work Motivation

Work rewards often are conceptualized as being of two types: intrinsic and extrinsic. Further, cognitions associated with different types of rewards typically are conceived of in terms derived from attribution theory. A review of the grounds used to dichotomize reward types reveals they are inadequate for distinguishing types of rewards and a review of existing data on the nature of cognitions associated with work rewards indicates the attributional perspective to be deficient. Alternative approaches to the definition of types of work rewards and variants of cognitions mediating the relationship between work rewards and motivation are discussed.