Determinantes y evolución de la motivación de los trabajadores en un contexto de crisis económica. El caso de España.

Abstract

Job motivation is a key factor from both a personal and an organizational perspective. The main objective of this study is to analyze the determinants of workers’ motivation in recent years in Spain, and hence in a context of crisis. This work also contributes to the knowledge of the motivational situation of the Spanish workforce. Based on data drawn from the 2008-2010 waves of the Quality of Working Life Survey, ordered logit models are used to estimate the marginal effects of sociodemographic, occupational and organizational variables. The results show that the overall level of motivation has not changed in recent years, contrary to what is found for specific groups of workers, such as those who have a working week of less than twenty hours or foreigners. Regarding the determinants of motivation, not only are there differences along time, but changes can also be observed in terms of education, job category or between waged workers and self-employed individuals. Nevertheless, monthly net income yields the most significant effect. In conclusion, the value of this research is threefold: it is the first of its kind to be conducted for Spain, it provides new evidence on motivation in a context of economic crisis, and its results support the thesis that economic incentives are one of the most powerful motivators.