HRCP Blog

Are you planning to take the PHR or SPHR exam in the December/January testing window? Are you finding it difficult to be motivated to study with the exam still several months away? HR professionals preparing for the PHR and SPHR exams should know Expectancy Theory, which explains that motivation is determined by the outcomes people expect to occur as a result of their actions. The amount of effort an individual is willing to exert depends on three things:

1. the perceived relationship between effort and performance (expectancy),
2. the perceived relationship between performance and the outcomes (instrumentality), and
3. the value of the outcomes (valence).

An illustration might be helpful. The level of motivation you have to study for the PHR or SPHR exam is determined by

1. Expectancy: “If I study hard, will I learn the required material?”
2. Instrumentality: “If I learn the required material, will I be able to answer a sufficient number of questions correctly to pass the exam?”
3. Valence: “If I pass the exam, will it lead to positive consequences in my professional and personal life?”

If you doubt that studying hard will result in learning the necessary information, or if you don’t believe that the knowledge you attain will help you correctly answer exam questions, then you won’t be very motivated to study. Also, if you don’t believe that obtaining certification will lead to valuable outcomes, you won’t be motivated.

What if you do believe all of the above, but you are still not adequately motivated to study? Perhaps you don’t think you need to study now to attain the desired outcome. Up next: beating procrastination. But right now, make sure you understand and can explain Expectancy Theory.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.