Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(136)
- Faculty Publications (44)
- 2009
- Working Paper
Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting
By: Lisa D. Ordonez, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Adam D. Galinsky and Max H. Bazerman
Goal setting is one of the most replicated and influential paradigms in the management literature. Hundreds of studies conducted in numerous countries and contexts have consistently demonstrated that setting specific, challenging goals can powerfully drive behavior and... View Details
- May 2007
- Article
Inner Work Life: Understanding the Subtext of Business Performance
By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer
Anyone in management knows that employees have their good days and their bad days and that, for the most part, the reasons for their ups and downs are unknown. Most managers simply shrug their shoulders at this fact of work life. But does it matter, in terms of... View Details
- 2006
- Working Paper
Too Motivated?
I show that an agent's motivation to do well (objectively) may be unambiguously bad in a world with differing priors, i.e., when people openly disagree on the optimal course of action. The reason is that an agent who is strongly motivated is more likely to follow... View Details
- September 2004
- Article
Trust in Agency
Existing models of the principal-agent relationship assume the agent works only under extrinsic incentives. However, many observed agency contracts take the form of a fixed payment. For such contracts to succeed, the principal must trust the agent to work in the... View Details
- April 2001
- Article
Beyond Talent: John Irving and the Passionate Craft of Creativity
By: T. M. Amabile
Although laypeople and creativity theorists often make the assumption that individual creativity depends primarily on talent, there is considerable evidence that hard work and intrinsic motivation-which can be supported or undermined by the social environment-also play... View Details
- June 1998
- Article
Reward, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creativity
By: B. A. Hennessey and T. M. Amabile
Comments on R. Eisenberger and J. Cameron's (see record 1996-06440-007) discussion on the impact of reward on creativity. The authors argue that Eisenberger and Cameron overlooked or failed to adequately explain several demonstrations of lower creativity on rewarded... View Details
- 1998
- Article
Looking Inside the Fishbowl of Creativity: Verbal and Behavioral Predictors of Creative Performance
By: J. Ruscio, D. M. Whitney and T. M. Amabile
This study set out to identify specific task behaviors that predict observable product creativity in three domains and to identify which of those behaviors mediate the well-established link between intrinsic motivation and creativity. One-hundred fifty-one... View Details
- fall 1997
- Article
Motivating Creativity in Organizations: On Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do
By: T. M. Amabile
Creativity in all fields, including business, flourishes under intrinsic motivation- the drive to do something because it is interesting, involving, exciting, satisfying, or personally challenging. This article presents the Componential Theory of Organizational... View Details
- Article
Entrepreneurial Creativity Through Motivational Synergy
By: T. M. Amabile
This paper defines and describes entrepreneurial creativity, which is the generation and implementation of novel, appropriate ideas to establish a new venture. Entrepreneurial creativity can be exhibited in established organizations as well as in start-up firms. The... View Details
- January 1996
- Background Note
The Motivation for Creativity in Organizations
People will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself--when they are driven by a deep involvement in their work and a passion for it. This note describes the ways in which creativity... View Details
- 1 May 1995
- Conference Presentation
The Work Preference Inventory: Assessing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Orientations
Keywords: Motivation and Incentives
- 1995
- Article
The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Student's Learning
By: R. Conti, T. M. Amabile and S. Pollack
This study assessed the effectiveness of engaging students in a creative activity on a topic as a means of encouraging an active cognitive set toward learning that topic area. This technique was examined in three motivational contexts. Before reading a short... View Details
- May 1994
- Article
The Work Preference Inventory: Assessing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Orientations
By: T. M. Amabile, K. G. Hill, B. A. Hennessey and E. M. Tighe
The Work Preference Inventory (WPI) is designed to assess individual differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations. Both the college student and the working adult versions aim to capture the major elements of intrinsic motivation (self-determination,... View Details
- autumn 1993
- Article
Motivational Synergy: Toward New Conceptualizations of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in the Workplace
By: T. M. Amabile
The foundation for a model of motivational synergy is presented. Building upon but going beyond previous conceptualizations, the model outlines the ways in which intrinsic motivation (which arises from the intrinsic value of the work for the individual) might interact... View Details
- 1 Apr 1992
- Conference Presentation
Intrinsic Motivation and Artistic Creativity: The Effects of Naturally-Occurring Interest, Affect, and Involvement
By: M. A. Collins and Teresa M. Amabile
- July 1989
- Article
Immunizing Children Against the Negative Effects of Reward
By: B. A. Hennessey, T. M. Amabile and M. Martinage
Two studies were conducted to examine the effect of intrinsic motivation training on children's subsequent motivational orientation and creativity in an expected reward situation. Past research has demonstrated the overjustification effect: Children who work on an... View Details
- January 1986
- Article
Social Influences on Creativity: The Effects of Contracted-For Reward
By: T. M. Amabile, B. A. Hennessey and B. S. Grossman
Three studies, with 195 5–11 yr olds and 60 female undergraduates, tested the hypothesis that explicitly contracting to do an activity in order to receive a reward would have negative effects on creativity, but receiving no reward or only a noncontracted-for reward... View Details
- February 1985
- Article
Motivation and Creativity: Effects of Motivational Orientation on Creative Writers
By: T. M. Amabile
72 members of the college community who identified themselves as actively involved in creative writing participated in individual laboratory sessions, in which they were asked to write 2 brief poems, to investigate the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation is conducive... View Details