Stewardship theory is a framework which argues that people are intrinsically motivated to work for others or for organizations to accomplish the tasks and responsibilities with which they have been entrusted. It argues that people are collective minded and pro-organizational rather than individualistic and therefore work toward the attainment of organizational, group, or societal goals because doing so gives them a higher level of satisfaction. Stewardship theory therefore provides one framework for characterizing the motivations of managerial behavior in various types of organizations.
A steward is one who takes on the responsibility of caring for something on behalf of another person or group of people. Therefore, stewards do not have ownership of what they have responsibility to take care of, but must, nevertheless, carry out their duties conscientiously since they have to render account of what they have done to the.
