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Much of the literature focusing on the construct of ‘motivation’ in the public sector feeds the idea that organisational peculiarities of this sector and the individual circumstances of its employees translate into a prevalence of intrinsic motivation and, as a consequence, of the value of intrinsic rewards. However, this assumption has never been scrutinised within the Portuguese public sector; hence, the central goal of this work is, precisely, to offer a contribution to overcome this gap, that is, to provide an answer to the following question: ‘in general terms, what is the predominant type of motivation among Portuguese civil servants: intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation?’. So as to achieve this goal, we have carried out an empirical study based on the scale ‘The work preference inventory’, developed by Amabile, Hill, Hennessey and Tighe (1994). This study involved the survey, through a questionnaire, applied to the non-teaching staff of three public higher education institutions. Although the study, by its nature, is not be generalizable to all Portuguese civil servants, it clearly indicates the prevalence, among these, of intrinsic motivation and, as a consequence, of the value of intrinsic rewards. Yet, not negligible levels of appreciation of extrinsic rewards should be emphasised. This indication has led to a goal of a peripheral nature for the present study: to alert for the possible inadequacy of the performance appraisal system of most Portuguese civil servants, given that this system, in exchange for the performance, only offers extrinsic rewards. |
