Measuring academic motivation

Abstract

Conventional management practices in universities do not rely upon modern theories that explain the varieties of employee behavior. We generalize different theories of motivation to develop a comprehensive toolkit for measuring academic motivation. Our analysis shows that it is possible to motivate academic employees without additional financial reward. The review of literature on economic, psychological and social models of human behavior in the academic field confirms these findings. We studied the sources on the theories of professional identity, internal and external motivation, the theory of displacement and de-motivation, narrative economics, the theory of subjective well-being, as well as practical issues related to employee engagement. We propose a new approach and the system of indices for measuring various aspects of effective or ineffective employee behavior in universities. The case of the Southern Federal University (Russia) exemplifies the study of the employee motivation relying on our analytical framework. The analysis involves the factor of engagement, as well as that of the assessment of economic, social and psychological indicators of employee behavior. Our methodology makes it possible to reveal negative trends in motivating employees, identify the ways to improve academic motivation.