Psychologists now classify motivation as intrinsic vs. extrinsic—are you doing something because you want to, or because someone told you to/offered you something? Importantly, for creative tasks like knowledge work, extrinsic motivators like bonuses are weaker than people’s concern for a job well done. Many studies in a variety of situtations have shown the counterinuitive result that adding bonuses to a task makes people perform worse, give up quicker, and not do it on their own initiative.
The book Drive by Daniel Pink is an excellent walk through the research.
Psychologists now classify motivation as intrinsic vs. extrinsic—are you doing something because you want to, or because someone told you to/offered you something? Importantly, for creative tasks like knowledge work, extrinsic motivators like bonuses are weaker than people’s concern for a job well done. Many studies in a variety of situtations have shown the counterinuitive result that adding bonuses to a task makes people perform worse, give up quicker, and not do it on their own initiative.
The book Drive by Daniel Pink is an excellent walk through the research.