Treating love for work like a virtue can backfire on employees and teams

"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 and 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."

"When a neutral preference becomes charged with moral meaning, social scientists call it "moralization." 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 moralized, loving what you do is seen as not only enjoyable but virtuous."

There is robust research showing intrinsic motivation—working for enjoyment and mastery—enhances performance, persistence and creativity. Intrinsic motivation produces genuine enjoyment, curiosity, and a desire to learn or master challenges for their own sake. Recent research indicates that valuing intrinsic motivation has become moralized, so loving work is seen as virtuous while working for money, prestige or obligation is viewed negatively. Moralization transforms a neutral preference into a moral imperative, prompting people to judge themselves and others by whether they are intrinsically motivated. A 2023 survey of over 1,200 employees measured beliefs about whether working for personal enjoyment is virtuous.

Read at The Conversation