Right in my wheelhouse. I have spent my career studying motivation, hopefully I can give you some insight.
You probably should start very old, with Skinner and reinforcement theory.
Then move on to Maslow, Alderfer needs theories
Process theories like Equity Theory (Adams), and Herzberg, Kohn, etc..
From there, I would go to goal setting theory (Locke and Latham)
Essentially, you want to cover VIE theory in all of its forms. While on the "old" side, it is still a basic theory. For that, there is Vroom; Naylor, Pritchett and Ilgen: A theory of behavior in organizations (1980, but still a classic)
In essentials, I would also cover Hackman and Oldham Job Characteristics
You will also want to cover Bandura's theory of self-efficacy. Also old, but a classic.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
You will want to spend some time on Cognitive Evaluation Theory from Deci and Ryan (a good Meta-Analysis is)
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999a). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 627–668.
There is also a "debate" with this article and Eisenberger and colleagues who don't believe in crowding out.
Eisenberger, R., Rhoades, L., & Cameron, J. (1999). Does pay for performance increase or decrease perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1026–1040.
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999b). The undermining effect is a reality after all-Extrinsic rewards, task interest, and self-determination: Reply to Eisenberger, Pierce, and Cameron (1999) and Lepper, Henderlong, and Gingras (1999). Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 692–700.
A more current review of this topic is
Cerasoli C, Nicklin J, Ford M. Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Incentives Jointly Predict Performance: A 40-Year Meta-Analysis. Psychological Bulletin [serial online]. July 2014;140(4):980-1008. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 18, 2017.
A good reasonably current review article is
Ambrose, M. L., & Kulik, C. T. (1999). Old Friends, New Faces: Motivation Research in the 1990s. Journal of Management, 25(3), 231–292.
There was also a "special issue" of AMR on July 1, 2004 on "the future of work motivation"
I would also recommend spending some time on Citizenship Behaviors (in-role/extra-role behavior).
Some more "general" texts:
Latham, Gary. Work Motivation: History, Theory, Research, and Practice
Pinder, Craing. Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior, Second Edition
Some other ideas:
Creativity: Amabile and colleagues
Dishonesty/Ethics: Ariely and Colleagues
Not terribly organized thinking, but these should at least give you some starting points.
Scott
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.AOM.ORG] On Behalf Of Harsh Pradhan
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 11:42 AM
To: OB@AOMLISTS.AOM.ORG
Subject: [OB-LIST] course outline for work motivation
I am teaching a course "Work Motivation" to PhD candidates. As I am teaching it for the first time, I will be obliged if you share course outline or relevant reference material for such course.