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Initial Publication Date: June 6, 2022

Expectancy-Value Theory

See more Change Theories »Summary written by Jessica L. Spott, Texas Tech University, Jessica.spott@ttu.edu

Expectancy-Value Theory is a motivational theory that researchers use to study how a person believes they will perform on a specific activity and why they think it is worth it to do so. EVT addresses motivation and attainment of their goals within a specific domain or area.
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Summary

Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) was developed by Atkinson in 1964 and was further developed and used within educational psychology by Eccles and most recently, Wigfield (Atkinson, 1964; Eccles, 1984; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). EVT defines the motivation of a person within a specific realm to complete a specific task and attain a goal. Motivation is highest when someone is challenged, but also feels as if the challenge is attainable. EVT measures motivation based on the expectancy beliefs and value beliefs a person has about a specific task. Expectancy beliefs are the extent to which a person feels that they can be successful in the task, including their own beliefs and abilities. Value beliefs are based on the level of importance the person places on completing that task. The value that a person ascribes to a task includes their enjoyment of the task, the task usefulness, and the necessity they feel to complete the task in order to reach their goal. In contrast with value beliefs, cost beliefs involve the negative factors that influence both value and expectancy of the task. Cost beliefs can include effort/time required to complete the task, effort needed for other opposing activities, and/or social ramifications of successfully completing the task or not.

Example of Use

I have used EVT to explore and understand the challenges of MotherScholars obtaining tenure within STEM disciplines. Once becoming mothers, MotherScholars' value beliefs and expectancy beliefs change- they still want tenure and hope to earn tenure, but their cost beliefs are higher than before having children. There is more at stake, and it will be more difficult, but MotherScholars are still motivated to go for tenure, and expect to be successful. 

In addition to my study, EVT has historically been used to describe gender differences in achievement and persistence within a variety of STEM disciplines. For example, EVT was used to understand college women's' value beliefs about graduate education, and how those beliefs are impacts by their value beliefs about family and their future careers (Battle & Wigfield, 2003). Many current studies are using EVT to examine underrepresented groups in hopes at understanding if expectancy belief, value beliefs or cost beliefs help explain the underrepresentation. 

Assumptions & Limitations

This theory assumes the motivation of the participants is equally weighted by the expectancy beliefs, value beliefs and cost beliefs, which creates motivation necessitating action. A primary limitation of EVT is the lack of significant weight of cost beliefs on motivation. While cost beliefs have been included in measuring EVT, the bulk of the use of this theory has focused on expectancy and value beliefs. Recently, researchers have hypothesized that cost beliefs play a more significant role in understanding motivations than originally considered and some researchers have therefore proposed a change from EVT to Expectancy-Value-Cost Theory (Barron & Hulleman, 2015; Bergey et al., 2018; Flake et al., 2015).

Original Publication of Theory

Atkinson, J. W. (1964). An introduction to motivation. Van Nostrand.

Eccles, J. S. (1984). Sex differences in achievement patterns. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 32, 97–132.

Other References

Barron, K. E., & Hulleman, C. S. (2015). Expectancy-Value-Cost Model of Motivation. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp. 503–509). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26099-6

Battle, A., & Wigfield, A. (2003). College women's value orientations toward family, career, and graduate school. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(1), 56–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00037-4

Bergey, B. W., Parrila, R. K., & Deacon, S. H. (2018). Understanding the academic motivations of students with a history of reading difficulty: An expectancy-value-cost approach. Learning and Individual Differences, 67, 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2018.06.008

Flake, J. K., Barron, K. E., Hulleman, C., McCoach, B. D., & Welsh, M. E. (2015). Measuring cost: The forgotten component of expectancy-value theory. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 41, 232–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2015.03.002

Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (2000). Expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 68–81.


Note: This summary is written as a secondary resource to help researchers and practitioners learn about potentially relevant change theory. We encourage authors to read the original references rather than citing this summary in published work or grant proposals.