How does Work Motivation Impact Employees’ Investment at Work and their Job Engagement? A Moderated-Moderation perspective through an International Lens

This paper aimed to shed light on the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as predictors, have on Heavy-Work Investment of time and efforts and Job Engagement. In a moderated-moderation analysis, two conditional effects were taken into consideration – worker’s status (working students vs. non-student employees) and country (Israel vs. Japan). Data were gathered from 242 Israeli and 171 Japanese participants. The results support the moderated-moderation rationale, showing interesting findings. For example, the associations between intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and Heavy-Work Investment or Job Engagement were found stronger for working students vs. their counterparts, and these links are very different for the Israeli and Japanese sample. Theoretical and practical implications and future research suggestions are discussed.