Flowers, Penelope (2013) Non-mandatory Professional Development Motivation and Pro-social Behaviour at Work. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) provides a framework from which to understand motivation and behaviour in the workplace. Within the professional development (PD) sector little research presently incorporates both constructs of SDT – basic needs satisfaction and motivation – in examining both antecedents to these variables and outcome behaviour. Prosocial behaviour following PD incorporates sharing learnt knowledge and contributing in a positive way to internal and external customers; providing organisational benefits through improved workplace harmony, efficiency and a raised overall knowledge level. The present study’s purpose was to examine workplace factors that predicted workplace basic needs satisfaction, motivation for participation in non-mandatory PD and prosocial behaviour. One hundred and sixty participants (73.8% female) were recruited through convenience sampling of the researchers’ networks to complete a self-report survey. Results suggest partial support for the proposed SDT conceptual model. When accounting for autonomous and controlled motivation, workplace factors, and workplace basic needs satisfaction accounted for 5.9% of the variance in the prediction of prosocial behaviour, with no single variable uniquely contributing. However autonomous motivation uniquely contributed to the prediction of prosocial behaviour. Competence was found to uniquely contribute to the prediction of autonomous motivation for participation in PD. Feeling valued, competence, and autonomy all uniquely contributed to the prediction of controlled motivation for participation in PD. The present study is limited by the small sample size and self-report nature of all measures. Results suggest organisations would benefit from supporting employee competence to engender autonomous motivation for PD participation which supports prosocial behaviour at work.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology, Counselling and Community (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2014) |
| Supervisors: | Tony Machin |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Oct 2025 00:16 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Oct 2025 00:16 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52322 |
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