Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2018

Work Motivation in the Rhetoric of Component Content Management

Tatiana Batova Arizona State University

Abstract

This article describes a 12-month qualitative study that analyzes how a company’s transition to component content management (CCM)—a set of methodologies, processes, and technologies that allows working with texts as small components rather than complete, static documents—influences the work motivation of its technical communicators. The analysis is based on actor-network theory and the theories of work motivation from economics. When technical communicators felt that CCM’s only focus was efficiency and savings and that they were not recognized and connected to the fruits of their labor, their motivation decreased. But their motivation increased when they were engaged in job crafting—reshaping their understanding of the fruits of their labor and gaining recognition through prosocial behavior.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2018-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651918762030
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Topics
rhetorical criticism technical communication qualitative research
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Cited by in this index (7)

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