The Lawler-Porter model extended and expanded Vroom’s theory of motivation. The Lawler-Porter version of expectancy theory is cyclical and contains explicit intervening variables. This model suggests that a high performance level, if followed by equitable rewards, may lead to increased satisfaction.
The component parts of the model are as follows:
(a) Reward value which refers to the value an employee attaches to a particular personal reward.
(b) Reward probability refers to the perceived probability that the reward will come with a specified effort.
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These two together will establish the intensity of the effort to be made.
(c) Effort refers to how hard one tries or the amount of energy put into a given work situation.
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(d) Performance is the degree of task accomplishment of productivity resulting from a specific level of effort. It also includes additional outcomes such as enhanced co-operation and good working relationship.
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(e) Abilities and traits refer to relatively stable, long-term individual characteristics such as personality traits, intelligence, manual skills, etc. that represent the individual’s currently developed power to perform.
(f) Role perceptions which enhance or constrain the effort to performance outcome.
(g) Rewards, both intrinsic (psychological) and extrinsic (material) are a derivative of performance. These rewards represent the personal pay-off (praise, promotion, higher status) an employee receives from the additional efforts expended.
(h) Perceived equitable rewards are an outgrowth of equity theory discussed earlier. It refers to the level or amount of rewards that an individual feels he should receive as a result of a given level of performance.
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(i) Satisfaction refers to the extent to which the rewards actually received meet or exceed the perceived equitable level of rewards.
If the level of satisfaction does not meet expectations, the level of motivation drops accordingly. This occurs because the motivation process is a cycle of events and the employee knows that he or she was wrong in the original effort to performance probability estimation or underestimated the abilities required.
However, if the value of the reward remains high, then the employee might not give up but redouble his/her efforts. This model is diagrammatically represented as follows:
It must be noted here that in content theories of motivation, job satisfaction is assumed to lead to a quality performance. On the other hand, in expectancy theories, a quality performance leads to job satisfaction.