Work Motivation: Advancing Theory and Impact

It is not often that one gets the opportunity to engage other scholars in lively written dialogue on a topic close to his/her professional heart. So I felt honored to provide the target article on work motivation (Kanfer, 2009), and I looked forward to reading my colleagues’ commentaries. As I had hoped, each commentary was quite stimulating. Some commentaries were also provocative, whereas others were more instructive. Regardless of orientation and issue, however, each commentary reflected a positive, forward-looking tone. That is, from a Reichenbach (1951) perspective, the commentaries seem to emphasize discovery (e.g., building new perspectives and approaches) over justification (e.g., extending, refining, and reconciling extant theories that dominated much of the late 20th century). Although paradigmatic work remains important, its role is cast more in the service of new advances rather than the other way around. As the commentaries also demonstrate, many new ideas and research directions are emerging. Their traction and utility for work motivation scientists and organizational personnel raise exciting, empirical questions.