Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory states that a person’s motivation is determined by two variables:
(1) Effort-reward probability;
(2) Reward-value, or valence.
Effort-reward probability is the person’s own perception of whether effort will lead to reward. If a student believes that studying hard will lead to good examination grades, he will study hard. But if the student believes that good grades come from other factors, such as natural intelligence or luck in spotting the correct examination questions, then he will not study hard.
Reward-value or valence is the person’s perception of the value of the reward. If a student believes that good grades will lead him to other rewards, such as prizes, scholarships and better job opportunities, then good grades have high reward-value for him. He will work hard to achieve good grades. But if he believes that good grades do not really matter — that a person can succeed in life no matter how well or badly he performs in school — he may not want to strive for good grades.
In this case, good grades have low reward-value for him. Vroom’s theory states that motivation is determined by the reward-value multiplied by the effort-reward probability. If the result is low or zero, no motivation will be present. Let’s say a student wants to score straight A’s. He can see that, if he scores straight A’s, he will obtain a scholarship and his career prospects will be bright.
So scoring straight A’s has high reward-value for him. Let’s give it a value of 100. But this student has no idea about how to score straight A’s. He feels that, no matter how hard he studies, he will never be able to score A’s. In this case, his effort-reward probability is zero. Thus, reward-value multiplied by effortreward probability is ;
100 × 0 = 0.
This student has zero motivation.
Another student also wants to score straight A’s. This student feels that it can be achieved if he studies consistently throughout the year, seek help from teachers and friends, practise past examination questions and otherwise work diligently. For this student, the effort-reward probability is very high. Let’s give it a value of 100. Thus, reward-value multiplied by effort reward probability is ;
100 × 100 = 10,000.
This student has very high motivation. My own life story illustrates the vast difference in motivation levels. When I was in primary school, all I wanted to do was play. True, I wanted to do well in my studies to make my mother happy. But I would not say that good grades had a very high reward-value for me. At the same time, I did not have any idea how to improve my grades. So, my reward-value was low, while my effort-reward probability was practically zero.
Overall, my level of motivation was very low. In secondary school, I began to want to become a “good boy”. By the time I reached Secondary 2, I had become my family’s “last hope” as all my other brothers had dropped out of school. Over the years, I began to see greater and greater value in doing well in my studies. It would not only make my mother happy, but also pull me out of the poverty trap that I was in. Slowly, I also began to see that if I made the effort to study, I could actually achieve quite good grades.
At the end of Secondary 3, I became the second top student in my class. It was a minor achievement, but it gave me the encouragement that I was capable of doing reasonably well in my studies. Thus, my level of motivation improved over the years. By the time I did my postgraduate studies, it had reached an all-time high.
The reward-value was high because I saw it as my last chance to become a top student and redeem the years of humiliation that my mother suffered when relatives and friends looked down on her because her children did badly in school. By then, I was also mature enough to see that good examination grades would give me a strong headstart in the corporate world. I was still serving as a naval officer at that time, but I was preparing to leave the navy and embark on a corporate career.
Apart from the professional diploma and master’s degree certificates, I also saw value in the knowledge and information that I would gain from my studies. When I first studied personnel management at university, I did not like the subject at all. But when I did it in my professional diploma course, I really enjoyed it. I felt as if I was naturally suited for a career in this field. Thus, I really saw great value in doing well in my studies.
At the same time, I could see a real possibility of me actually becoming a top student. At university, I was already among the better students. My final year grades were similar to those of one of my study group members, who was offered the honours degree programme. Now, as I embarked on my postgraduate studies, I had developed PRAISE as a life skills model for overcoming challenges and achieving excellence.
Even though I had yet to put the PRAISE model to the test, I was confident that it would deliver results. My effort-reward probability was thus also at an all-time high. These two factors combined made me an extremely motivated student during my professional diploma and master’s degree programmes. They helped me achieve extraordinary results. Ultimately, I succeeded in attaining my Prizedream.
Read More : Vroom’s theory — the “why” of motivation
