Employee motivation among academic staff in higher education institutions is increasingly critical as universities pursue innovation-driven strategies, yet the specific motivational routes within these contexts remain inadequately explored. We address this gap by systematically synthesizing the multidimensional factors influencing faculty motivation in innovative work settings and by developing a validated survey instrument for empirical testing. A structured two-phase approach was employed. The initial stage consisted of a systematic literature review conducted in accordance with the PRISMA framework across Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, with a concentration on studies published between 2018 and 2025. From an initial pool, thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The extracted evidence was synthesized into an evidence map identifying six core motivational factors: work environment quality, professional development, recognition, leadership support, employee involvement and autonomy, and compensation or job security. Theoretical grounding was primarily established in Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and Self-Determination Theory. The second phase then translated these findings into a quantitative survey instrument, wherein each factor was operationalized via validated Likert-scale items. The analysis uncovers a robust mediated model: work motivation is strongly associated with performance (r = 0.630), whereas the work environment exerts a smaller yet notable effect (r = 0.227). It is noteworthy that motivating factors have a markedly greater impact on performance (standardized beta = 0.643) than hygiene factors. Innovation climate is further recognized as a crucial moderator that amplifies the link between creative self-efficacy and sustained innovation under job stress. A notable deficiency remains regarding the absence of effect sizes specific to faculty within digital and agile academic structures. This study presents a thorough, empirically grounded schema for comprehending faculty motivation, which carries both theoretical and applied worth for institutional personnel tactics, policy creation, and innovation milieu design in tertiary education.
Nisha Choudhary (Mon,) studied this question.