On the temporal stability of self-determined work motivation profiles: a latent transition analysis

Fernet et al. (2020) was limited to nurses and only considered a limited number of outcomes (emotional exhaustion, in-role performance, and intentions to leave the organization and the occupation), without also considering likely determinants of profile membership.

“However, this research was limited to nurses, and only considered a limited number of outcomes of these motivation profiles (i.e., emotional exhaustion, in-role performance, and intentions to leave the organization and the occupation), without also considering likely determinants of profile membership.”

In these studies, participants' global levels of self-determination tended to be the key component responsible for associations with a variety of covariates.

“These studies showed that participants' global levels of self-determination tended to be the key component responsible for associations with a variety of covariates, underscoring the importance of considering global levels of self-determination in future research on work motivation.”

Recent studies in work and educational areas have demonstrated that bifactor-ESEM makes it possible to simultaneously obtain a direct estimate of employees' global levels of self-determined work motivation and an equally direct estimate of the unique quality associated with each specific regulation.

“Recent studies conducted in the work (Fernet et al., 2020;Howard et al., 2018) and educational (Litalien, Morin, Gagné et al., 2017) areas have demonstrated that bifactor exploratory structural equation models (bifactor-ESEM; Morin, Arens, & Marsh, 2016) made it possible to simultaneously obtain a direct estimate of employees' global levels of self-determined work motivation and an equally direct”

Only one recent study has adopted a comprehensive approach to investigate nurses' motivation profiles.

“To the best of our knowledge, only one recent study has adopted a similar approach to investigate nurses' motivation profiles (Fernet et al., 2020).”

A single study has simultaneously considered global and specific levels of work motivation (using bifactor-ESEM) to identify motivation profiles among newly registered nurses.

“A single study has simultaneously considered global and specific levels of work motivation (operationalized using bifactor-ESEM; Fernet et al., 2020) to identify motivation profiles among newly registered nurses.”

Fernet et al. (2020) revealed four distinct profiles based on both global and specific levels of motivation: Moderately Motivated, Poorly Motivated, Self-Determined, and Strongly Motivated, with specific characteristics.

“Interestingly, the results from this study revealed more refined distinctions among four distinct profiles based on both global, and specific, levels of motivation.A first, Moderately Motivated, profile displayed moderately high global levels of self-determination, low specific levels of intrinsic motivation, and average specific levels of the other behavioral regulations.A second, Poorly Mot”

These results remain limited to a single sample of nurses.

“However, these results remain limited to a single sample of nurses, whereas person-centered evidence is known to emerge from the accumulation of research allowing one to better differentiate the core profiles that emerge systematically from those who only reflect sample-specific idiosyncrasies.”

These studies also supported the additional value of considering the specific regulation factors in prediction.

“However, they also supported the additional value of considering the specific regulation factors in prediction.”

Research shows that job demands (e.g., workload) and resources (e.g., organizational, supervisor, and colleagues support) are significantly associated with employees' autonomous and controlled forms of motivation.

“Research shows that job demands (e.g., workload) and resources (e.g., organizational, supervisor, and colleagues support) are significantly associated with employees' autonomous and controlled forms of motivation (Fernet et al., 2020;Gillet, Gagné, Sauvagère, & Fouquereau, 2013).”

Fernet et al. (2020) showed that the Poorly Motivated profile was associated with the highest levels of turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion.

“Similarly, Fernet et al. (2020) showed that the Poorly Motivated profile was associated with the highest levels of turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion.”

In Fernet et al.'s study (2020), the Self-Determined profile was unexpectedly found to be the second least desirable profile.

“However, the Self-Determined profile was unexpectedly found to be the second least desirable profile.”

Job demands and resources were strongly correlated in Fernet et al.'s (2020) study, suggesting a balancing act between them.

“However, it is noteworthy that job demands and resources were strongly correlated in the Fernet et al.'s (2020) study, suggesting that a balancing act might be at play between job demands and resources.”

Fernet et al. (2020) relied on global scores of job demands and resources and did not consider different types of job demands and resources.

“Furthermore, although job demands and resources may differ in nature (e.g., emotional, physical, cognitive), Fernet et al. (2020) relied on global scores of job demands and resources and did not consider the particularities and different types of job demands and resources.”

In Fernet et al.'s study (2020), the most adaptive outcomes (lowest emotional exhaustion, lowest intentions to leave, highest performance) were observed in the Moderately Motivated and Strongly Motivated profiles.

“In the Fernet et al.'s study (2020), the most adaptive outcomes (i.e., the lowest levels of emotional exhaustion, and intentions to leave, and the highest levels of performance) were observed in the Moderately Motivated and Strongly Motivated profiles.”

Fernet et al. (2020) showed that job demands were not significantly associated with membership into any motivation profiles when job resources were taken into account.

“On the other hand, Fernet et al. (2020) showed that job demands were not significantly associated with membership into any of their motivation profiles when job resources were taken into account.”

In Fernet et al.'s study (2020), the Poorly Motivated and Self-Determined profiles displayed the lowest levels of performance.

“Furthermore, the Poorly Motivated and Self-Determined profiles also displayed the lowest levels of performance.”

The Externally Driven profile shares similarities with the Externally Regulated profile identified by Jansen in de Wal et al. (2014), with the Low Autonomy profile identified by Moran et al. (2012), and with the Poorly Motivated profile identified by Fernet et al. (2020).

“the last profile displayed a less desirable, Externally Driven, configuration, and shared similarities with the Externally Regulated profile identified by Jansen in de Wal et al. (2014), with the Low Autonomy profile identified by Moran et al. (2012), and with the Poorly Motivated profile identified by Fernet et al. (2020).”

The Self-Driven Introjected profile shares similarities with the Moderate Autonomous-High Introjected-Moderate External profile identified by Gillet et al. (2018) and with the Moderately Motivated profile identified by Fernet et al. (2020).

“the Self-Driven Introjected profile was found to share similarities with the Moderate Autonomous-High Introjected-Moderate External profile identified by Gillet et al. (2018) and with the Moderately Motivated profile identified by Fernet et al. (2020).”

The Moderately Intrinsically Motivated and Highly Intrinsically Motivated profiles share similarities with the Moderately Autonomous profile identified by Howard et al. (2016) and with the Self-Determined profile identified by Fernet et al. (2020).

“The next two profiles, presenting Moderately Intrinsically Motivated and Highly Intrinsically Motivated configurations, rather appear to share similarities with the Moderately Autonomous profile identified by Howard et al. (2016) and with the Self-Determined profile identified by Fernet et al. (2020).”

Only one prior study (Fernet et al., 2020) relied on a bifactor approach to achieve a clear disaggregation of employees' global levels of self-determined work motivation from the unique qualities associated with each specific type of behavioral regulation.

“only one of these studies (Fernet et al., 2020) relied on a bifactor approach to achieve a clear disaggregation of employees' global levels of self-determined work motivation from the unique qualities associated with each specific type of behavioral regulation”

It is highly unlikely that employees characterized by the Externally Driven profile would rapidly vault to profiles characterized by higher levels of global self-determination on the basis of short-term interventions with no training transfer efforts.

“it is highly unlikely that employees characterized by the Externally Driven profile would be able to rapidly vault to profiles characterized by higher levels of global self-determination (e.g., Self-Driven Hedonist) on the basis of short-term interventions with no training transfer efforts (Fernet et al., 2020).”

The current study supports the dual nature of workers' motivation.

“The current study adds to this body of research by supporting this dual nature of workers' motivation (Fernet et al., 2020;Howard et al., 2018;Litalien, Morin, Gagné et al., 2017).”