Preschool Teachers’ Work Motivation : A Study on intrinsic factors of work motivation for Swedish preschool teachers

Sammanfattning: Background: The shortage of teachers in Sweden is an ongoing problem and is expected to continue. The preschool profession seems to be more unattractive which in turn might be a cause of low work motivation, but why? This made it interesting to investigate the work motivation amongst preschool teachers to see what factors that might cause the low work motivation. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine the intrinsic factors of work motivation for preschool teachers and how a manager might impact their work motivation. This thesis will be examined and connected to the Self Determination Theory. Method: This is a qualitative study with an inductive approach. Data were collected qualitatively through semi-structured interviews with seven respondents, two managers, and five preschool teachers from different schools. Using Gioia's coding method the information from the interviews was analyzed. The Self-determination theory was found to be the foremost applicable theory to use, as a result, intrinsic motivation became the first focus of this thesis. Conclusion: The main factors that affect the work motivation for preschool teachers are three aggregate dimensions, feeling of efficiency, opportunity to influence, and a sense of belonging which were conducted with help from the SDT and Gioia methodology. It was also recognized that managers had a big impact on how all these three aggregate dimensions were fulfilled.