Vroom’s Expectancy

Theory
Thomas Rhee
 Idea

Behavior results from conscious choices in order to

maximize pleasure and minimize pain

An employee’s performance is based on several individual

factors such as personality, skills, and knowledge, but each
employee has different goals

 Drivers of Motivation

For employees to be motivated, they need to believe that:

• There is a positive correlation between effort and

performance

• Better performance results in better reward

• Reward will satisfy an important need

• The need is important enough to make efforts worth

Important Factors of Vroom’s Theory
 Expectancy

When employees put in effort, they do so with expectations.

They can expect things like level of difficulty, level of

confidence about their capabilities, and rewards for
performance

It is up to the employer to find out employee expectations,

as well as the employee’s driver of motivations
 Instrumentality

Employees will believe that if a performance is met, they will

receive tangible rewards, whether it is in the form of a pay
raise, promotion, recognition, etc.

A company can motivate the employee by following through

with promises of reward for good performance, and giving
them the feeling of instrumentality
 Valence

Every employee has different expectations, perceptions, and

goals

Valence is the recognition of this fact, and to be able to best

motivate employees, employers must discover these
informations on an individual level for each employee
 Vroom’s Motivation Formula

Motivation = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valence

 Strengths

When employers have a strong grasp of expectancy theory,

they can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of each
employee by motivating them to do their best

By understanding their employees, they can minimize the

gap between what they need to provide and what is
expected

With this theory, employees can be motivated to work in a

positive, constructive manner, and they will feel that what
they are doing is meaningful
 Weaknesses

This theory does not work in practice if there is no active

participation from the managers

Additionally, in reality, it takes a lot of effort for managers to

find out the individual expectations of their employees, and
may require resources and time to find out what employee
capabilities are

When managers give incentives but employees do not

believe these to be practical, this theory will not work