In motivational theories, what term describes the importance a person places on the outcomes of their efforts?

The term that describes the importance a person places on the outcomes of their efforts is valence. In motivational theories, particularly in Expectancy Theory, valence refers to the value that an individual assigns to a specific outcome. It indicates how much a person desires or values the results that they expect to achieve from their efforts.

For example, if a person perceives a promotion or a bonus as highly desirable, they will assign a high valence to those outcomes, motivating them to work harder. This concept plays a critical role in understanding motivation, as it emphasizes that people are not just motivated by the effort they put in but significantly by how much they value what they might achieve as a result.

The other terms, while related to motivation, do not capture this specific aspect of assigning importance to outcomes as effectively as valence does. Incentives can represent motivators or rewards, and rewards themselves are the actual positive outcomes, but they don't represent the individual's subjective value of those outcomes. Outcome value is also not a standard term used in theory; instead, valence specifically denotes individual preference and importance placed on the outcomes of their actions.