The study was co-authored with Associate Professor Rellie Derfler-Rozin of the University of Maryland. It was titled "Motivation purity bias: Expression of extrinsic motivation undermines perceived intrinsic motivation and engenders bias in selection decisions", and was published in the Academy of Management Journal in January 2020.
Decades of research suggests that workers whose extrinsic motives are satisfied (e.g., mothers provided with flexibility needed for childcare, or workers who are able to provide for their families) also tend to be more intrinsically motivated, i.e., they enjoy the job itself more and work harder. However, people tend to view the two sets of motives as zero-sum – either the candidate is in it for the money or they do it out of love for the work itself. This leads to a bias in hiring where candidates who express extrinsic motivation are discriminated against as they are perceived as having lower intrinsic motivation. This leads to unfair treatment of candidates as well as unnecessary loss of talent for organisations.
The study included scenarios where student participants wrote fake cover letters to answer job advertisements, emphasizing either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. Another group of students acted as hiring managers who indicated if they would hire a candidate based on these cover letters.
The study found that the "hiring managers" were 20 percent less inclined to hire "candidates" who expressed greater extrinsic motivation.
As part of the study, a professional actor was also recorded in different job interview scenarios expressing either high or low interest in talking about salary and benefits while also talking about interest in the work itself.
Versions of these recordings were then shown to real-life hiring managers. The hiring managers who watched a candidate expressing a high level of extrinsic motivation, even when also expressing high levels of intrinsic motivation, rated the individual as lower on intrinsic motivation. The hiring managers were 23 percent less likely to make a hiring recommendation when it came to those candidates.
The authors suggest that this study could help change mindsets and policies among employers to mitigate against bias so that they do not overlook qualified candidates. For instance, hiring managers should provide sufficient information about a job, its compensation and its benefits.
For job seekers, the study advises caution against showing interest in extrinsic job features or showing signs of extrinsic motivation at the interview stage, even if such motivation may be effective in enhancing a prospective worker’s future performance in the job, and does not necessarily mean a lack of intrinsic motivation.
