The role of motivation in human performance and in minimizing the impact of human error

Abstract The role of human error is the subject of various case studies on process safety incidents worldwide. To improve the situation and minimize the impact of human error, efforts are widely focused on the external job situation, such as job design, and the rules of rewards and punishments. Furthermore, organizations have opted to improve individual conditions such as job competencies and skills development. It is the aim of human factors engineering to maximize the potential of human performance in preventing process safety incidents. However, little attention is paid to the internal motivational process that occurs in an individual participating in the incident. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to bridge the gap and to highlight the role of motivational behavior in developing human performance or in executing actions that lead to human error. Human behavior and motivation widely vary within organizations. Therefore, organizations may benefit from the motivational theories that are widely used in the study of organizational behavior. The theoretical approach to motivation is separated into two main categories: inner motivation and outer motivation. Moreover, inner motivational theory is also subdivided into rational factors and irrational factors. The theories applied in this paper exemplify and combine the use of motivational theories in improving human performance and preventing process safety incidents. Based on the analysis, key recommendations are generated that can be implemented to improve human performance as part of the process safety management system.