Linking trait gratitude to employees' performance and work motivation: A two-wave longitudinal study

Research linking trait gratitude to work outcomes is still limited. In this study, we examined how gratitude relates to employees' performance and motivation. Specifically, we argued that grateful employees would increase their performance as a way to give back to their companies. Moreover, we drew on the self-determination theory and hypothesized that gratitude would prevent amotivation and promote more autonomous forms of motivation. We also explored whether motivation would mediate the effect of trait gratitude on performance. A sample of 246 Romanian employees participated in the study. They completed measures assessing trait gratitude, work motivation, and job performance twice, with a 10-week interval between assessments. The results indicated that gratitude was positively related to task performance both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Moreover, gratitude was prospectively related to lower levels of amotivation, higher levels of introjected and identified regulation, as well as higher levels of intrinsic motivation. Motivation did not mediate the longitudinal effect of gratitude on job performance. Although more research is needed to determine whether gratitude influences objective performance and to identify the explanatory mechanisms in these relations, the current findings suggest that there might be value in cultivating gratitude in the workplace.