Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Communication and Information

Major Professor

Joan R. Rentsch

Committee Members

Michelle Violanti, John Haas

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between motivation and performance by examining factors, such as feedback and individual differences, posited to influence motivation and performance. The most damaging form of performance feedback, destructive critical, was contrasted with constructive critical feedback to determine its impact on motivation. Expectancy theory, a mainstay theory in research on motivation, served as the theoretical framework to study motivation. An individual difference variable, resilience, was examined in relation to performance. These relationships were explored through the lens of both actual and perceived performance. An online quasi-experiment was conducted to examine these relationships, in which participants were asked to complete a task, receive feedback and then complete the task a second time. This study expanded understanding of the motivation-performance relationship and provided epistemological depth to the individual variables being studied.

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