Extrinsic rewards can crowd out intrinsic motivation

When intrinsically motivated people are provided with extrinsic rewards, it can stifle the intrinsic motivation.

But when mission-oriented organizations try to use extrinsic rewards, as in promises of pay-for-performance, the result may actually be counterproductive. The use of extrinsic rewards for activities of high intrinsic interest leads people to focus on the rewards and not on the intrinsic interest of the task, or on the larger mission of which it is a part. The result is a “crowding out” of intrinsic motivation: having been taught to think of their work tasks primarily as a means toward monetary goals, they lose interest in doing the work for the sake of the larger mission of the institution.^[1]

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See also:

• It is difficult to make someone understand what their salary depends on them not understanding