Motivating scientific knowledge workers: an investigation of the rewards leading to the motivation of scientific knowledge workers

Abstract

Numerous studies have been previously conducted, investigating motivation and the role of rewards as motivators for knowledge workers. While many studies have investigated knowledge workers, the scientific knowledge worker group has attracted little attention. Through a survey carried out on 132 scientific knowledge workers employed in a Research and Development function, this study identifies which rewards motivate this group of knowledge workers and investigates the differences of reported motivation from these rewards between the different demographics of the respondents. The results from this study highlight that there are inconsistencies in reported motivations between the different demographics surveyed, namely gender, age and educational background. This study also discovers that scientific knowledge workers are most motivated by financial rewards, progression, job title and recognition. These findings recommend that further research is required to fully understand the rewards leading to the motivation of scientific knowledge workers and the difference in demographics. It is also recommended that businesses employing scientific knowledge workers recognise the importance of these factors in motivating their employees, in order to ensure motivation, job satisfaction and high performance, thus leading to a competitive advantage.