Abstract
Non-linear dynamics in work motivation: A model and its preliminary results. Many specialists would be agreement that work motivation should be understand as a dynamic process. However, they are few investigations that have been interested in the description and explanation of this motivational dynamics. This paper proposes a complex model of work motivation that integrates three classic variables in the literature: motives, self-efficacy and instrumentalities perceptions. The model incorporates the changes in the motivation through the time as a consequence of the feedback by the variable performance (evaluated with a commitment indicator). In a 271 people sample the relationships that configure the model, and using the computer simulation, it is demonstrated that the model dynamics it is stable only when the motives change in a chaotic way. This phenomenon has a series of consequences, for the investigation and the management, that are broadly discussed.
