For the Fun of It: Harnessing Immediate Rewards to Increase Persistence in Long-Term Goals

Woolley, Kaitlin; Fishbach, Ayelet

doi:10.1093/jcr/ucv098

Cited by 122 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Conversely, employees high in trait intrinsic motivation may invest more in job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001), cognitively crafting tasks to reframe them as more interesting and behaviorally crafting tasks to redesign them as more interesting (e.g., van Hooff & van Hooft, 2014). Recent research suggests that persistence toward long-term goals can be traced back to finding ongoing enjoyment in those activities (Woolley & Fishbach, 2016). In the short run, dull tasks may suffer when juxtaposed with more intriguing work, but, in the long run, employees may well find creative ways to make those tasks less dull in the first place.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bored by Interest: How Intrinsic Motivation in One Task Can Reduce Performance on Other Tasks

Shin

Grant

2019

AMJ

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While existing research has demonstrated that intrinsic motivation can increase task performance, jobs are composed of multiple tasks, and it remains to be seen how intrinsic motivation in one task affects performance on other tasks. Drawing on theories of psychological contrast, we hypothesize that high intrinsic motivation in one task reduces performance on less intrinsically motivating tasks. In a field study at a Korean department store, employees with the highest maximum intrinsic motivation in one task had lower average and minimum performance across their other tasks as well as more performance variance across their tasks. In a laboratory experiment in the United States, working on a highly intrinsically motivating initial task led participants to perform worse in a subsequent task if it was uninteresting, but not if it was interesting. This effect was mediated by boredom, but not by a range of other psychological processes. Across both studies, moderate intrinsic motivation in one task was associated with better performance in less interesting tasks than high intrinsic motivation, revealing a curvilinear cross-task effect of intrinsic motivation. Our research advances knowledge about the dark side of intrinsic motivation, the design of work, and the drivers of task performance. Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved. Contents may not be copied, emailed, posted to a listserv, or otherwise transmitted without the copyright holder's express written permission. Users may print, download, or email articles for individual use only. motivation. When the first task was highly intrinsically motivating, they performed worse on a second task if it was uninteresting, but not if it was interesting. This effect was mediated by boredom, but not by alternative emotions of anger, anxiety, sadness, disgust, relaxation, happiness, desire, or humor-and was also not explained by cognitive processes of depletion, attention residue, or perceptions of task complexity, difficulty, and cognitive load. Across the two studies, moderate intrinsic motivation yielded better performance on less interesting tasks than low or high intrinsic motivation, yielding an inverted U-shaped cross-task effect of intrinsic motivation. Our research extends knowledge about work motivation, design, and performance in three key ways. First, in contrast to the dominant emphasis on the performance benefits of intrinsic motivation, we document that it can be a double-edged sword. The evidence that intrinsic motivation can reduce cross-task performance addresses calls to systematically study how there can be too much of a good thing (Grant & Schwartz, 2011; Pierce & Aguinis, 2013). Second, when an employee excels in one task but struggles in another despite possessing the requisite skills to succeed in both, this discrepancy is often attributed to the fact that the first task is motivating while the second task is not (e.g., Ashford & Northcraft, 2003; MacKinnon, 1962; Schmidt & DeShon, 2007). Our studies highlight the complementary pos...

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bored by Interest: How Intrinsic Motivation in One Task Can Reduce Performance on Other Tasks

Shin

Grant

2019

AMJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Whereas extrinsic (i.e., outcome-focused) motivation enables actions aimed at reaching a desired end state, intrinsic (i.e., process-focused) motivation enables actions that themselves constitute the desired end state (Kruglanski et al, 2017;Lepper & Greene, 1978;Woolley & Fishbach, 2016). An activity is intrinsically motivated if it constitutes its own end (Laran & Janiszewski, 2010;Sansone & Morgan, 1992).…”

Section: The Process: How Will I Experience the Goal?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, thinking about the fun of communicating with their 376 closest friends or listening to their favorite music while typing might render the goal-pursuit experience more enjoyable and hence increase motivation. Within this perspective, Woolley and Fishbach (2016) found that compared to gym-goers who chose fitness exercises they found most useful for their health goals, those who chose exercises they found most enjoyable from the same list (e.g., shoulder press, bicep curl) completed more sets-that is, they worked harder.…”

Section: The Process: How Will I Experience the Goal?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas outcome-focused motivation enables actions aimed at obtaining an external reward, process-focused motivation enables actions that themselves constitute an internal reward (Laran & Janiszewski, 2010;Sansone & Morgan, 1992;Woolley & Fishbach, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, the drive to explore or manipulate the environment, or more broadly the motivation to work toward a goal with no regard for the outcome, stems from a focus on the process of goal pursuit where goal-related activities elicit subjective feelings of enjoyment, interest, and satisfaction (Deci & Ryan, 1985;Sansone & Harackiewicz, 1996;Shah & Kruglanski, 2000). Whereas outcome-focused motivation enables actions aimed at obtaining an external reward, process-focused motivation enables actions that themselves constitute an internal reward (Laran & Janiszewski, 2010;Sansone & Morgan, 1992;Woolley & Fishbach, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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For the Fun of It: Harnessing Immediate Rewards to Increase Persistence in Long-Term Goals

Cited by 122 publications

References 50 publications

Bored by Interest: How Intrinsic Motivation in One Task Can Reduce Performance on Other Tasks

Bored by Interest: How Intrinsic Motivation in One Task Can Reduce Performance on Other Tasks

Three sources of motivation

Psychological analysis of consumer intertemporal decisions

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