Theories of Motivation from Western and Islamic Perspectives: A Theoretical Framework

Abstract

Motivation is widely discussed widely in areas such as psychology, education and development. Motivation plays a crucial role in human lives as it leads human to any action. The purpose of this paper is to compare the motivation theories according to Western perspective with Islamic perspectives. Western psychologists relate motivation to many aspects of life such as biological, environmental, cognition, and developmental. Islamic perspective on the other hand put more emphasis on the spiritual and religion aspect where Muslims are motivated to do good deeds or to perform any activity only to seek the pleasure of Allah. The paper ends with the elaboration on how soul function as the moderator to motivate human to do their actions.

Keywords: theories of motivation, Western perspectives, Islamic perspectives

JEL Classification: I20