How Generational Membership Moderates Motivational Orientation Effects on Adaptive Performance in Public Employment Services

ABSTRACT Organizations navigating transformation increasingly depend on adaptive performance—employees' capacity to flexibly respond to changing demands—as the critical organizational capability for surviving and evolving amid disruption. Yet cultivating this capability across multigenerational workforces remains challenging, particularly in public sector organizations where compensation flexibility is constrained and generational diversity is pronounced. Drawing on Self‐Determination Theory, Generational Theory, and Resource‐Based View, this study examines whether the effectiveness of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivational orientations in predicting adaptive performance varies systematically across generational cohorts. Using data from 620 Greek Public Employment Services employees spanning four generations—Baby Boomers (late‐career employees), Generation X and Millennials (the dominant mid‐career workforce), and Generation Z (younger entrants)—we test direct motivational orientation effects and generational moderation using hierarchical and moderated regression analyses. Results demonstrate that intrinsic motivation explains nearly three times the adaptive performance variance compared to extrinsic motivation. Generational context completely transforms motivation‐performance relationships: Generation Z exhibits unprecedented responsiveness to enjoyment‐based intrinsic motivation with zero challenge effect, while Baby Boomers respond exclusively to challenge‐based intrinsic motivation but remain unaffected by enjoyment. Generations X and Y, comprising 91% of the workforce, respond primarily to extrinsic motivation, yet its substantially lower explanatory power indicates organizations systematically under‐leverage intrinsic motivational orientations. These findings advance motivation theory by providing initial quantitative evidence that SDT's motivational mechanisms may operate through generationally specific rather than universal pathways, directly challenging the assumption that intrinsic motivation effects are consistent across cohorts. For public organizations with constrained compensation flexibility, results provide actionable guidance for optimizing adaptive performance through generation‐tailored intrinsic motivational approaches.