Motivation and Competencies
What the domain tests
This domain tests motivation theories and the competencies that turn motive into venture performance.
Core rules
- Push factors: job loss, low salary, dissatisfaction. Pull factors: opportunity, autonomy, achievement.
- Maslow: physiological, safety, social, esteem, self-actualisation; not a rigid ladder.
- Herzberg: salary and working conditions are hygiene factors; achievement, recognition, responsibility and growth are motivators.
- McClelland: nAch, nPower, nAffiliation; entrepreneurs are higher on nAch.
- Vroom expectancy: motivation = expectancy × instrumentality × valence.
- Competencies: opportunity recognition, organising, financial literacy, marketing, digital literacy, negotiation, risk management and learning agility.
Worked example
A salaried designer resigns after spotting demand for customised wedding invitations. She earns less initially but persists because she values autonomy and achievement. Her salary is a hygiene factor: raising it in a job may reduce dissatisfaction, but it will not create the intrinsic motivation she feels. Her competency gap is financial literacy, so an EDP module on costing and cash flow is more useful than another motivation lecture.
Traps
Do not call salary a motivator under Herzberg. Do not treat Maslow as strict-people can seek esteem before safety is fully met. Do not confuse a trait such as persistence with a competency such as preparing a cash-flow forecast. Do not assume motivation alone produces success; competencies and resources matter.