Difference between content and process theories of motivation

Difference between content and process theories of motivation

There are two approaches in studying what goals and reasons motivate people to work and these are named content theories and process theories, respectively. The different things influencing people’s behaviour are closely looked at by several psychologists such as Maslow, Herzberg, Vroom etc.

The difference exists between the two approaches and it includes the explanation on how the motivation of people should be perceived. The content theories speak about specific things which motivate human beings in particular situations, in our case, in their jobs. The content theories’ most important concerns are about people’s needs and the aims that they’re trying to reach in order to satisfy them.

In contrast, the process theories professors are more worried about the actual process of this psychological feature of humans. In general, process theories try to understand the actual course of motivation by focusing on how exactly people’s needs influence their own behaviour. They are concerned about the way that people use to interact with each other during, for example, a meeting, whereas the content theories  put more stress on the matter of what it is exactly, that motivates people, rather than explaining the act of motivation itself.

In conclusion, process theories define motivation as a cognitive process that occurs in the individual, for example the Equity theory, while, on the other hand, content theories define motivation as a satisfaction of human needs, for example, the Hierarchy of needs theory by Maslow. For the process theories scholars a motivation is a relationship, not a just a set of needs like for the content theories ones.