Supplemental Material for Managing the Motivation of Others: Do Managers Recognize How to Manage Regulatory Focus in Subordinates?

Abstract

One of the challenges of effectively managing others is fl exibly equipping them for tasks that may differ signi fi cantly in their motivational demands. Using a metamotivational approach (Scholer et al., 2018) in the domain of regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997), fi ve studies ( N = 932) examine people ’ s metamotiva-tional knowledge of how to actively manage the promotion-and prevention-focused motivations of others. Results revealed that, on average, managers have normatively accurate knowledge of how to create task-motivation fi t in others by ensuring that others ’ motivational orientations fi t with qualitatively different tasks (Studies 1 – 2). Managers also communicate to subordinates in ways that are known to induce normatively relevant motivational states in open-ended, consequential paradigms (Studies 3 – 4), and are perceived as more effective when they use strategies to create task-motivation fi t in others (Study 5). We discuss the implications of these fi ndings for (a) managing the motivation of others across a variety of domains and (b) managing the self versus others.