Does enjoyment, guilt, and/or rewards motivate faculty research productivity? A large-scale test of Self-Determination Theory

Abstract

What motivates faculty to be productive researchers is largely unknown as institutional, demographic, and social-environmental factors explain limited variance. The current study tested the extent to which self-determined motivation served as a predictor of university faculty member's research productivity. Analysis of a large-scale USA sample of 1,980 faculty from 21 institutions using structural equation modeling found autonomous motivation (enjoyment, value) positively related to self-reported research productivity and number of publications, beyond time spent on research. The basic needs of autonomy and competence predicted autonomous motivation, and indirectly predicted achievement. External motivation (rewards) had a relatively small positive relationship with research productivity, while introjected motivation (guilt) had no relationship. The results contribute to both the faculty development and motivation research literatures.