The Effect of Internal and External Motivation on Organizational Trust: A Case Study on a Sport Organization in Turkey

Abstract

There are two types of motivation, internal and external, differenetiated by the source of the motivation. For internal motivation, the job itself motivates the individual; for external motivation, the environment motivates that individual. Today, organizational trust is extremely important to increase organizational success as well as to create effectiveness and efficiency. Having a successful, effective, and efficient organization is greatly linked with trust between organization managers and employees.  The purpose of this study was to investigate how the internal and external motivation of employees effects organizational trust levels. The study sample consisted of 164 employees working under the Youth Service and Sport Provincial Directorate of Bursa, Turkey. A survey was used to obtain data, which were analyzed with the SPSS 20 program. This study used the internal-external motivation and organizational trust scales. To measure the internal and external motivation levels of participants, a scale developed by Mottaz (1985) and a Turkish reliability-validity study conducted by Ersarı and Naktiyok (2012) were used. To measure organizational trust level, a scale developed by three different researchers (Whitener et al., 1998; Mayer et al., 1995; McAllister et al., 1995) and adapted to Turkish with a reliability and validity analysis by Tokgöz and Seymen (2013) was used. The independent t-test, ANOVA test, correlation and regression tests were used to analyze the data. Based on the correlation and regression analysis, both internal and external motivation had significant positive effects on organizational trust and its sub-dimensions. Accordingly, as the internal and external motivation of participants increased, organizational trust increased as well.