Uncertainty in work motivation theory-building

This article responds to Locke and Latham's (2004) masterpiece, "What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century." In their paper, Locke and Latham reviewed major motivation theories and emphasised motivation theory development's future direction, proposing six recommendations to build a more valid, more complete theory. Seventeen years later, however, the literature lacks this type of refined theory, and what has prevented its development remains unclear. This article discusses previous theory-building attempts' hidden assumptions. It is also the first article to point out sources of uncertainty that have prevented scholars' creation of an integrated work motivation theory in the way Locke and Latham proposed. Understanding such sources of uncertainty is important to theory-building; indeed, it is more important than proposing a new theory.