N° 2016-03 High involvement management practices, technology uses, work motivation and job search behaviour

This publication examines the impact of two management policies on employees’ motivation on one hand and their quitting behaviour on the other hand. These two policies are i) the participation in High Involvement Management (HIM) practices and ii) the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Employees’ motivation, which is at the heart of this question, has different facets. Using recent survey-based data of employees, the results show that the HIM and ICT strategies are positively related to the two types of work motivation (personal growth and rewards/compulsion). However, these strategies affect differently the likelihood of staff to remain or leave their current employer by type of motivation. While the HIM strategy reduces the risk that employees motivated by personal growth search for another job, it encourages on the contrary those who are motivated by rewards or compulsion to leave. ICT appear to play no role in employee retention.