Chaos in human behavior: the case of work motivation

This study considers the complex dynamics of work motivation. Forty-eight employees completed a work-motivation diary several times per day over a period of four weeks. The obtained time series were analysed using different methodologies derived from chaos theory (i.e. recurrence plots, Lyapunov exp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Navarro Cid, José, Arrieta, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/44683
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/44683
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Caos (Teoria de sistemes)
Motivació del personal
Chaotic behavior in systems
Employee motivation
Descripción
Sumario:This study considers the complex dynamics of work motivation. Forty-eight employees completed a work-motivation diary several times per day over a period of four weeks. The obtained time series were analysed using different methodologies derived from chaos theory (i.e. recurrence plots, Lyapunov exponents, correlation dimension and surrogate data). Results showed chaotic dynamics in 75% of cases. The findings confirm the universality of chaotic behavior within human behavior, challenge some of the underlying assumptions on which work motivation theories are based, and suggest that chaos theory may offer useful and relevant information on how this process is managed within organizations.