"Changes of the usage of""motivation"" and related concepts within Chinese literature of human resources for health" / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

After introduction into Chinese academy, and in the application in health care domain, the usage ofmotivation and related concepts has been changed. The changes were partly due to pragmatic utility, and caused confusion in the application of motivation theory in Chinese human resource for health. Both English and Chinese lit-erature was reviewed and systematic literature review was applied. We analyzed the different definitions of motiva-tion in English, and how they were used and understand in Chinese academia in history. Motivation was divided into three Chinese concepts, representing the process of motivation, inner driver of motivation and psychological state of being motivated. The other usage changes include willful exchange ofincentive andmotivation;motivationbeing used more as a means to motivate than a motivational process;the result of motivation as an aroused psychologi-cal state not seriously defined. Systematic literature review revealed the distribution of various motivation topics in Chinese literature and supported the abovementioned arguments. These changes of usage could cause barriers to re-search of human resource for health in China. It is recommended that usage ofmotivation should be clarified in ac-ademia in China and the process of motivation rather than motivation as a managerial means deserves more attention.