How intrinsic motivation drives higher performance, and greater workplace creativity

People who moralise intrinsic motivation often expect it from everyone else. In a study of nearly 800 employees across 185 teams, we found that employees who experienced intrinsic motivation were more generous toward teammates they perceived as loving their work

It's popular advice for new graduates: “Find a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.” Love for one's work, Americans are often told, is the surest route to success. As a management professor, I can attest that there is solid research supporting this advice. In psychology, this idea is described as “intrinsic motivation” – working because you find the work itself satisfying. People who are intrinsically motivated tend to experience genuine enjoyment and curiosity in what they do, relishing opportunities to learn or master challenges for their own sake.

Research has long shown that intrinsic motivation enhances performance, persistence and creativity at work. Yet my co-authors' recent research suggests that this seemingly innocent idea of loving your work can take on a moral edge. Increasingly, people seem to judge both themselves and others according to whether they are intrinsically motivated. What used to be a personal preference has, for many, become a moral imperative: You should love your work, and it is somehow wrong if you don't.

Moralising motivation

When a neutral preference becomes charged with moral meaning, social scientists call it “moralisation.” For example, someone might initially choose vegetarianism for their own health reasons but come to view it as the right thing to do – and judge others accordingly.

The moralization of intrinsic motivation follows a similar logic. People work for many reasons: passion, duty, family, security or social status. But once intrinsic motivation becomes moralised, loving what you do is seen as not only enjoyable but virtuous.

Working for money, prestige or family obligation starts to look less admirable, even suspect. In a 2023 study, fellow business researchers Julia Lee Cunningham, Jon M. Jachimowicz, and I surveyed over 1,200 employees, asking whether they thought working for personal enjoyment was virtuous. People who did, we found, tended to believe everyone else should be intrinsically motivated, too.

They were also more likely to see other motives, such as working for pay or recognition, as morally inferior. They tended to agree, for example, that “you are morally obligated to love the work itself more than you love the rewards and perks.” These employees had internalised the idea that you work either for love or money – even though most people, in reality, do both.

Costs for you

At first glance, treating love for work as a virtue seems to offer nothing but benefits. If a job's mission or day-to-day tasks are personally meaningful, you may persist through challenges because quitting could feel like betraying an ideal. But this virtue can also backfire. When intrinsic motivation becomes a moral duty rather than a joy, you may feel guilty for not constantly loving your work.

Emotions that are normal in any job, such as boredom, fatigue or disengagement, can prompt feelings of moral failure and self-blame. Over time, this pressure can contribute to burnout if you stay in unsustainable roles out of guilt. By idealising your “dream job” when you're applying, you may overlook security, stability, and other important life needs – risking financial strain and underusing your talents.

This unrealistic standard could also lead you to leave a job too soon when reality disappoints or initial passion fades.

Costs for a company

Moralising intrinsic motivation doesn't stop at the self; it also reshapes how we judge others. People who moralise intrinsic motivation often expect it from everyone else. In a study of nearly 800 employees across 185 teams, we found that employees who experienced intrinsic motivation were more generous toward teammates they perceived as loving their work.

(Author is from Rice University)