A motivational theory that explains individual effort as the product of two key factors: the likelihood that actions will produce desired results and the personal importance of those results. According to this theory, people are motivated to exert effort when they both believe their actions can successfully achieve an outcome and when that outcome matters to them. (Chapter 2, p. 23; see also Vroom 1995, Porter and Lawler 2005)*
*Terms defined for the Nurturing Online Communities (NOC) course include a chapter reference to the course text Building Successful Online Communities by Kraut and Resnick.
Citation: Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement. (2025) CSCCE Glossary: Nurturing Online Communities. Santistevan, Pratt, and Woodley doi: 10.5281/zenodo.17137478