The relationship between self-esteem and the employees' motivation in work of state organizations

. Work feeds many different aspects of people's lives. It influences self-identity, self-esteem and opportunities for personal development. Over time, researchers have paid considerable attention to the concept of self-esteem, trying to understand its influence on other psychological constructs such as motivation and performance at work, anxiety and risk-taking. In most companies today, motivating employees to perform to their full potential in the workplace is one of the key elements in modern human resource management. It is believed that when an employee is motivated, he will generally be satisfied with the job, which will have an impact on self-esteem.Abraham Maslow was the first modern psychologist to move away from the idea that people are passive and driven only by physiological impulses and external stimuli. His theory of human motivation suggested that people are motivated by both psychological and physiological needs. Motivation is the basic force that explains why people engage in certain behaviors. Some people seem to be driven by an increased interest in their work, a deep level of pleasure in what they do, and others seem to be more motivated by external incentives in their work, such as promotion, salary, recognition, and so on.An individual's self-esteem, formed around work and organizational experiences, plays a significant role in determining employees' motivation, attitudes and work-related behaviors. Self-esteem refers to an individual's overall self-assessment of his or her skills. In this sense, self-esteem is a personal assessment that reflects what people think about themselves as individuals. At the same time, self-acceptance is essential for mental health and performance at work. Lack of the ability to accept oneself unconditionally can lead to a variety of difficulties in the workplace.As a general objective, the paper aims to measure the relationship, the connection between self-esteem and motivation at work, with an emphasis on the branches of motivation.The relatively low number of participants and the fact that all individuals belong to the urban environment can be mentioned as limitations of the study.

According to Kanfer (1990), motivation is a hypothetical construct; we cannot see or feel it. We can see the effects or by-products that indicate different levels of motivation. To use an analogy, motivation is like gravity. We can't see or feel gravity, but its effects would become very clear if someone jumped out of a five-story building window.
According to Pinder (1998), motivation determines the form, direction, intensity and duration of work-related behavior. Thus, observing these dimensions of behavior, we can draw some conclusions about the impact of motivation on employee behavior.
Psychological forces according to García et al. (2019), resides in people. Basically, there are two types of psychological forces: intrinsic and extrinsic. Behavior derived from intrinsic motivation is accomplished for his own sake, and people who perform the behavior often enjoy it, experience a sense of accomplishment, and feel that they have done something significant. Behavior driven by extrinsic motivation is performed for purposes external to individuals, such as obtaining rewards and praise in money or avoiding penalties. Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation must not be mutually exclusive. Sometimes people can be motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically at the same time. While intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy provides a convenient means of classifying motivating factors and analyzing their impact on behavior, it oversimplifies the complex structure of motivation. For example, the promotion and avoidance of the supervisor's accusation are both extrinsic motivations at work, but we usually expect the promotion to be accompanied by more work effort and higher performance.
Given the importance of motivation in psychology, many theories of human motivation have been developed over the years. Many of these, however, have either not been developed to explain workplace behavior or are simply difficult to apply in the workplace. Thus, the theories of motivation were placed by Jex (2002) in four general categories: 1. Needs-based theories -Maslow tried to create a "universal" theory that would explain the driving forces behind all intentional behaviors. At the bottom of the hierarchy are physiological needs. This level represents the need for food, oxygen and water -things that are physiologically necessary to sustain life. When physiological needs are met, a person then moves to the next level in the hierarchy: safety needs, which include things like sheltering elements and protection from predators. If the need for security is met, the next level that becomes obvious is the need for love. This level represents the need to form meaningful social relationships with others and the desire to feel a sense of belonging. Once the needs of love are met, the next level that becomes important in motivating behavior is the need for esteem. The need for esteem is related to the desire to feel a sense of competence and mastery. As with social / affiliation needs, esteem needs can be met in a variety of ways. For many people, the workplace is a key environment in which the needs for esteem and competence are met. The highest level of need that can be achieved, in Maslow's hierarchy, is self-actualization; Jobbased theories -place the source of motivation primarily in the content of the jobs employees perform. Needs-based theories of motivation are based on the premise that human behaviour is largely driven by the desire to satisfy needs. Job-based theories take this one step further; they propose that the secret to understanding motivation lies in the content of employees' jobs. Jobbased theories are closely related to needs-based theories, due to the fact that needs satisfaction is often offered as an explanatory mechanism linking job content and motivation. Cognitive Process Theories -Another way to analyze employee motivation is in terms of the cognitive processes that underlie motivation. Knowledge, of course, means thinking. These theories emphasize the decisions and choices that employees make when allocating their efforts; 2. Behavioral approach -involves the use of principles adapted from behaviorism to influence behavior in organizations. The most commonly used principle is reinforcement, although others, such as punishment, modeling, and extinction, may be used in certain situations..

Research methodology 3.1.
Research objectives In order for organizations to keep their employees motivated and to encourage them to show better results, thus increasing their self-esteem, they need to be recognized for their merits and rewarded according to their performance. Recognition can be considered the strongest ally of employee motivation because it helps build the foundation of self-esteem.
Based on these statements, as a general objective, the paper aims to measure the relationship, the link between employees' self-esteem and motivation at work.
Taking into account the personal findings developed around the observation of employees at work, as well as the study of the specialized literature, we aimed as objectives in this paper the following: 1) Identify the level of self-esteem of employees.
2) Administration of questionnaires on the chosen sample.
3) Identifying the influence of self-esteem on the need for power (leadership) in employees of state organizations. 4) Identifying the influence of self-esteem on the need for affiliation (relationship) with employees of state organizations. 5) Identifying the influence of self-esteem on the needs of existence (subsistence) of employees in state organizations.

3.2.
Research hypotheses Following our own findings and research in the literature on the relationship between employee self-esteem and motivation at work, the following hypotheses were formulated: 1) It is assumed that there is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for power (leadership) in employees of state organizations.
2) It is assumed that there is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for existence (subsistence) of employees in state organizations.
3) It is assumed that there is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for affiliation (relationship) with employees of state organizations.

The sample of participants
In this research, a sample of 60 participants aged between 21 and 60 years was investigated. In terms of nationality, all participants are Romanians from urban areas.

Measures
In order to achieve the proposed objectives, we started from the formulated hypotheses and we considered that the most important and useful measures in the methodological approach are: x Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale 7KH VFDOH LQFOXGHV LWHPV ZLWK D WRWDO RI DQVZHU SRVVLELOLWLHV UHVSHFWLYHO\ ³'LVDJUHH´ SRLQW DQG ³7RWDO DJUHHPHQW´ SRLQWV ,WHPV WKDW DUH TXRWHG LQ reverse are: 2, 5, 6, 8, 9. Scores can be between 10 and 40; high scores showing high self-esteem.
When quoting the results, the values between: -10-16 points -indicates low self-esteem; -17-33 points -indicates an average self-esteem;  (2004) in order to determine the predominant motivational factors of employees. The questionnaire includes the following factors: I. Leadership (need for power) -The desire to influence one's entourage by mobilizing them for success or manipulating them in self-interest; being responsible, leading or not dependent on others (independence in decision making); II. Expertise (achievement needs) -The tendency or desire to excel in the activities in which he is employed, to be seen as an expert, professional, to be a "shadow man" (expertise) who influences decision making; III. Relationship (affiliation needs) -The desire that the individual feels regarding the establishment and manifestation of friendly relations with others, respectively to work with pleasure with understanding people, to belong to a pleasant team; IV. Subsistence (needs of existence) -The interest of the individual to meet their basic, existential needs (such as food, rest, financial stability, etc.).

Research design
This research was conducted during the year 2021, from November to December 2021. After consulting the literature, the two measure methods were selected, the Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg) and "Dominante motivationale" questionnaire. The questionnaires together with the informal consent were distributed through the online environment to the sample. The dependent variables of the research are: the need for power, the need for affiliation and the need for existence and the independent variable is self-esteem. The data processing was done with Microsoft Excel 2010. The data was inserted into a table, and then the calculation formulas for each variable and items were added. Following the summation of the scores, the data of both questionnaires were entered in IBM SPSS Statistics 20, where the hypotheses were verified by statistical analysis.

3.6.Research ethics
In terms of research ethics, the agreement of participation for each individual has been requested, and the results are transmitted further with their agreement. In carrying out the study, the names of the participants were not requested, but only the initials, thus managing to protect personal data. A communication of the results was also notified after a serious and prior verification.

First hypothesis: It is assumed that is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for power (leadership) in employees to state organizations.
To test the hypothesis, we applied to the subjects Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg) and the "Dominante motivationale" questionnaire. In order to achieve the objective and after processing the data in the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 program, the normality of the distribution was tested. .000 .000 Due to the fact that our research includes 60 participants, ie N is greater than 50, we are interested in the significance threshold p(Sig) from the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The analysis of the coefficient shows that the distributions are not normal, which allows the use of a nonparametric listing method.   From the analysis of the correlation coefficients, it is observed that there is a positive correlation between Self-esteem and Leadership, at a threshold of significance p = 0.000.  The hypothesis is confirmed. As a dynamic state that encourages the worker to choose an activity, to engage and persevere in carrying out the activity, with a goal in mind (Benabou & Tirole, 2004), motivation at work appears to be a complex phenomenon. Considering workers' self-esteem is of paramount importance as it is an intimate relationship with oneself that has an impact on an individual's thoughts, self-image, environment and behavior, and his emotions. As Daboné (2019) demonstrates, self-esteem predicts motivation at work, but not social well-beinge. However, the two variables together provide motivation at work. The researcher argues that a high level of self-esteem leads to the satisfaction of basic needs such as autonomy and competence in the workplace, thus strengthening the feeling that the individual can succeed on their own. It also determines his motivation to work, because the more the employee feels that he has control over the activity he carries out, the better the motivation at work will be. A worker who perceives his professional success as a result of his skills, will feel more secure, more competent and more motivated. For example, if a worker perceives himself as "strong" at work, he is probably one of those employees who likes to perform "that" task and puts a lot of effort into succeeding.
Following the analysis of the results obtained in the present research, the hypothesis according to which self-esteem correlates positively with the need for power (leadership), was confirmed. The results are empirically supported by the study by Aryee et al. (1996). In this study, a number of 350 managers employed in the public sector were investigated. They investigated the influence of individual and situational characteristics on the motivation to become a mentor for other employees. The results show that individuals with high self-esteem are motivated to engage in the role of mentor, because it will give them the opportunity to demonstrate their organizational competence, the ability to lead and guide their employees.
Power and self-esteem are in the process of merging. Power means the potential to influence and control others, while self-esteem is a response or an evaluative attitude toward self. Effective and stable control over others would be impossible for people who do not believe in their ability to do so, lacking consistent belief in their own worth. High self-esteem can give a person the confidence and initiative to take the lead in a group, to make decisions under pressure or uncertainty, and to expect others to conform to the individual's desires and aspirations.
Jha (2010) identifies a significant positive relationship between the need for power, selfconfidence and the intrinsic motivation of employees. The need for power reflects an individual's desire to influence, train, teach, or encourage others to perform certain tasks. In the competitive world, individuals are constantly fighting for power and control over their environment.
It is the most fundamental and most recognizable of the primary needs. People are looking for anything that gives them a greater sense of power and prestige (Denton, 1997). The researcher's study supports the hypothesis that the size of the competence and the impact on others demonstrate the degree of self-confidence and influence that the individual has on the environment. The need for power makes an individual with high self-esteem motivated enough to continually improve their skill levels. Such an individual will also strive for better work performance, in an attempt to have an influence on the organization.
Autonomy is a beneficial environmental resource in the workplace (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007) and we expect it to influence employees' self-esteem experience as well. Thus, Pierce et al. (1989) show that the experience of control further increases the self-esteem of employees at work, because organizations that allow employees to make decisions about their own jobs, imply that the employee is competent and trustworthy.
Less self-employed jobs, which are highly structured and controlled, may suggest to employees that they are incapable of good, unsupervised performance. The researcher concludes that employees' experience of responsibility for success is influenced by selfconfidence.
The second hypothesis: It is assumed that is a positive correlation between selfesteem and the need for existence (subsistence) to employees in state organizations.  Due to the fact that our research includes 60 participants, ie N is greater than 50, we are interested in the significance threshold p(Sig) from the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The analysis of the coefficient shows that the distributions are not normal, which allows the use of a nonparametric listing method. Figure 3. Histogram for the variable Self-esteem and Subsistence Table 6. Calculation of the correlation between the variables Self-esteem and Subsistence

Correlations
Self From the analysis of the correlation coefficients, it is observed that there is a positive correlation between Self-esteem and Subsistence, at a significance threshold p = 0.000.  The hypothesis is confirmed.
People are motivated to defend, maintain, and improve their favorable opinions about themselves (Crocker et al., 2004). Self-esteem may be necessary because it facilitates social acceptance (Leary et al., 2000) and involves actively pursuing skills and the meaning of life (Ryan et al., 2003).
Money and self-esteem are both things that people need, want, and work hard to achieve. Second, money can mean the competence of its owner, so the symbolic meaning of money connects financial results with self-esteem. Money can increase self-esteem because a high profit indicates a person's competence. Money and self-esteem can partially replace each other, because the two have common components of satisfying human desires. At the same time, Zhang (2004) points out that the need for employees to earn as much money as possible is due to their feelings of competence, autonomy and pride.
The idea behind the hypothesis is that a company cannot reach its optimum potential if employees are not given the opportunity to grow personally and professionally. Consequently, understanding what motivates employees can help the organization create the most favorable growth climate. Zerbo (2010) assumes that the best growth environment is the one that allows employees to meet their basic needs for: security, connection, freedom and achievement. It states that at least three needs must be met to allow a person or organization to grow. These findings are important for both employees and the organizations in which they work. The data show that high levels of concern about losing autonomy have a strong negative impact on meeting the basic needs of employees. It has been shown that employees with high self-esteem who have control over their work are able to increase the level of satisfaction of basic needs at work (Carusone, 2021).
According to the study by Kim et al. (2021) on a number of 425 employees, it has been shown that employees with high self-esteem have a higher sense of security at work. Third hypothesis: It is assumed that there is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for affiliation (relationship) with employees of state organizations. In the analysis of table 7. which is the calculation of the starting indices for the variable Selfesteem, we obtained an average of 31.97, with a standard deviation of 0.74. For the variable Relationship we obtained an average of 45.17, with a standard deviation of 1,413. Due to the fact that our research includes 60 participants, ie N is greater than 50, we are interested in the significance threshold p(Sig) from the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The analysis of the coefficient shows that the distributions are not normal, which allows the use of a nonparametric listing method.  Figure 5. Histogram for the variable Self-esteem and Relationship Table 9. Calculation of the correlation between the variables Self-esteem and Relationship
From the analysis of the correlation coefficients, it is observed that there is a positive correlation between Self-esteem and Relationship, at a significance threshold p = 0.000. The hypothesis is confirmed. Human beings are social animals with an innate need to affiliate or associate with each other. Choosing someone to work with, asking for advice, sharing lunch, and even approaching someone at a party or at work are examples of the processes involved in engaging in an affiliate behavior (Astra et al., 2012) . A co-worker is a person who holds a position or rank similar to that of an employee in the same company / organization. Co-workers are a distinct part of the work environment, and employees are expected to work harmoniously with other employees (Iqbal, 2010). People are looking for friendly, warm and cooperative relationships with others, not only for what these relationships produce in the immediate present, but also for what they offer in those times of need, such as social support. Coetzee et al. (2014) suggest that employees should support each other technically, emotionally and socially. Harmonious interactions between an individual and his colleagues, as well as the group relationships that are formed at work, have a positive influence on the level of commitment and organizational motivation of an individual (Iqbal, 2010). Pleasant associations with co-workers have been found to have a positive influence on an individual's level of motivation (Ladebo et al., 2008).
Researchers have established that the similarity of opinions and beliefs between people is an important factor in interpersonal pleasure and friendship (Case et al., 2015). Regarding the similarity of self-esteem, Lloyd et al. (1995) conducted a study in which participants were initially paired, based on the same levels of self-esteem. Subsequently, new pairs were created with participants who had different levels of high and low self-esteem. Co-workers with the same level of self-esteem liked their partners much more than members of high and low selfesteem couples. However, even if Lloyd and her colleagues argued strong arguments for similarity theory, their results may not tell the whole story (Longinos, M. et al., 2013).
Another explanation is possible with the help of self-consistency theory. This theory argues that people are prone to be attracted to those whose perceptions of themselves seem to agree with their own perceptions of themselves (Chen et al., 2015). Moods also appear to be related to low self-esteem, and people with low self-esteem appear to have less pleasant moods than people with high self-esteem (Hofer et al., 2014). It seems reasonable to assume that most people would prefer to associate with others who are in a good mood and have a positive attitude. People with weak moods may be more likely than those who consider themselves happy and safe to seek the company of optimal and cheerful affiliates. Therefore, the hypothesis was confirmed. Employees with higher self-esteem are more inclined to seek and form relationships at work, to affiliate and connect, unlike those with low self-esteem who do not initiate relationships to the same extent.

Conclusions
The general objective of this paper was to measure the relationship between self-esteem and motivation at work among state employees. In order to be able to measure more concretely and to organize the objectives more specifically, the needs towards which the employees tend, respectively, the need for leadership, the need for affiliation and the need for subsistence, were divided and analyzed. These three, in turn, were reported and correlated with the self-esteem of each participant.
The first hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for power (leadership) in employees of state organizations was confirmed. Promotional opportunities significantly affect employee motivation. The desire for promotion is generally strong among employees with high self-esteem, as it involves changing the content of the job, which is a challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate their skills, responsibility, independence, status and personal satisfaction who nourishes self-esteem. Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of needs also described that when people's esteem needs (autonomy, power, recognition, and status) are met, they will be more satisfied with their work.
The second hypothesis was confirmed, resulting in a positive influence between selfesteem and the need for existence (subsistence) of employees in state organizations. Nobody works for free and they shouldn't. Employees want to earn at least a reasonable salary to be able to support themselves and their families. Money is the fundamental incentive, no other incentive or motivational technique comes close to it in terms of its influential value. It has the supremacy to magnetize, retain and motivate individuals to superior performance. Thus, it has been shown that employees with high self-esteem have a higher sense of security at work.
The third hypothesis proves that there is a positive correlation between self-esteem and the need for affiliation (relationship) to employees of state organizations. The group of colleagues at work serves as a source of motivation for employees. It does so primarily by providing opportunities for group members to interact with each other. It is well known that for many employees, work fills the need for social interaction. The working group is an even stronger source of motivation when members have similar attitudes and values, as it causes less chance of conflict every day. Co-workers with similar attitudes and values can also provide some confirmation of a person's self-concept.
Self-esteem is a fundamental dimension of personality. It consists in the relationship that each individual has with himself. Self-esteem is a perspective on one's self, which is essential for one's mental balance.
Work-related motivation remains one of the most enduring and compelling topics in industrial/organizational psychology. There is broad agreement that motivation involves both cognition and affect. However, most theories of work motivation continue to prioritize knowledge and transfer affect to a supporting role. However, in recent decades, progress in the study of emotions and affect has given rise to theories of action that highlight the role of different affective processes during self-regulation and to studies that examine the relationship between affect and work-related behaviors.
When considering the results of this study, we must not forget certain limitations. The relatively low number of participants and the fact that all individuals belong to the urban environment can be mentioned as difficulties encountered. A more extensive research can be performed on a larger number of subjects, using diversified psychological tools, combining the method of the questionnaire with the experimental one or with different projective tools.