Running Head: PASSION GAPS 1

Passion Gaps:
Why People Quit Their Job in Pursuit of Work Passion

Jon M. Jachimowicz

Columbia University

Christopher To

New York University

Jochen I. Menges

WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management

Modupe Akinola

Columbia University

Author Note

We thank Erica Bailey, Kristen Duke, Adam Galinsky, Lilly Kofler, Shi Liu,

and Siyu Yu for helpful comments on an earlier draft, as well as Avalon Borg, Fatima

Ghedira, Zain Adam Kabeer, Joseph Kim, Thet Zaw Naing, Jane Selegean and

Miriam Shovel for their excellent research assistance.

Address correspondence to: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Columbia Business School,

New York City, NY, 3022 Broadway, 10025, USA. Email: jmj2183@columbia.edu
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 2

Abstract

Existing research suggests that attaining passion for work involves engaging in

activities that people both “like” and see as “important.” We show that these two

components of work passion have opposing effects on whether people report passion

gaps, defined as the experience of having less work passion than desired. Through

five studies using correlational, field, and experimental designs, we find that people

who believe work passion means pursuing what they “like” (i.e., adopting a feelings

mindset) experience larger passion gaps, in comparison to people who believe work

passion means pursuing what they see as “important” (i.e., a values mindset). Feeling

less passion for work than desired holds organizational relevance: people suffering

from larger passion gaps are more likely to consider quitting their job. The current

research furthers scholars’ understanding of work passion, and suggests practical

ways to help individuals attain desired levels of work passion.

Keywords: work passion, motivation, lay beliefs, turnover

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 3

Employees are switching jobs at record rates. Recent studies suggest that the

current generation of employees will move between jobs with an even higher

frequency in the future (Meister, 2012). As a result, organizations encounter

considerable replacement costs and lost revenue (Society of Human Resource

Management, 2000). Prior research suggests that one reason why employees desire to

quit their jobs is when their employment experience does not match their expectations

(Podsakoff, LePine, & LePine, 2007).

One expectation that employees hold concerns how passionate they wish to be

for their work and this expectation has grown in prominence in recent years (Bolles,

2009, Wolf et al. 2016). Passion has been defined as a strong inclination toward an

activity that people “like” and find “personally important” (Vallerand et al., 2003, p.

757). Higher levels of work passion have been associated with manifold positive

outcomes, such as higher perseverance, engagement, and performance (e.g., Burke &

Fiksenbaum, 2009; Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007; Ho, Wong, &

Lee, 2011; Zigarmi, Nimon, Houson, Witt, & Diehl, 2009). But the expectation to be

passionate for work is not always met. We propose that when employees experience

less passion for their work than they desire—what we call a “passion gap”—then this

expectation-experience discrepancy may lead them to look for a new job in the hope

of finding a more passion-filled job elsewhere.

In the current research, we examine the link between passion gaps and

turnover intentions, and investigate why employees experience passion gaps. Across

five correlational, field, and experimental studies, we find that the extent to which

employees suffer from passion gaps is determined by whether their understanding of

work passion is more driven by feelings—how much they view their job as an activity

they “like”—or values—how “important” they perceive their job to be. Although
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 4

prior research suggests passion is a composite of liking an activity (i.e., feelings) and

finding it important (i.e., values; Vallerand et al., 2003), the current research shows

that people attain different levels of work passion depending on whether their pursuit

of work passion focuses on feelings or values. This has consequences for turnover:

we find that employees who primarily think of work passion as a feeling suffer from

greater passion gaps, leading to increased turnover intentions, in contrast to those who

view work passion mainly as value enactment.

These insights advance our understanding of work passion and turnover

intentions in several ways. First, we disentangle two different lay beliefs individuals

hold on work passion pursuit, thus providing more clarity on the theoretical construct.

Specifically, whereas prior studies combine the “like” and “important” aspects of

passion, we demonstrate these aspects have opposing effects: those who hold a lay

theory of work passion focused on feelings are more likely to suffer from passion

gaps, in comparison to those who focus on values. This feelings focus has

consequences for turnover intentions. Thus, people may benefit if they see work

passion as the enactment of values, rather than constituting a feeling.

Second, we focus on meeting desired, rather than experiencing absolute levels

of work passion. That is, rather than investigating the beneficial consequences of

higher levels of work passion—as prior research has commonly done (e.g. Ho et al.,

2011; Zigarmi et al., 2009)—we concentrate on the gap between how much work

passion people experience relative to how much work passion they desire. Thus, the

current research highlights the importance of examining levels of work passion

relative to how much it is desired: lower work passion may be more detrimental for

those who desire work passion more, thus leading to greater turnover intentions

among those who seek high levels of passion (Podsakoff et al., 2007).
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 5

Overview of the Studies

Five studies investigate how different lay beliefs of work passion pursuit

affect passion gaps and, in turn, turnover intentions. We sample online participants

(Study 1a), management consultants (Study 1b), and employees at a technology

company (Study 1c), and provide a mini meta-analysis across these three samples

(Goh, Hall, & Rosenthal, 2016). Next, we manipulated lay beliefs of work passion

pursuit to provide causal support for the relationship between lay beliefs, passion

gaps, and turnover intentions, sampling MBA students (Study 2a) and online

participants (Study 2b).

Study 1a

Study 1a investigated whether individual differences in lay beliefs about work

passion pursuit affect passion gaps and turnover intentions.

Method

Participants. We recruited 93 full-time employees from Amazon’s

Mechanical Turk (MTurk; Mage = 35.81, 52.6% male). Our target sample size (100

participants) was determined before data collection based on heuristics.

Work Passion Pursuit Lay Belief. First, participants completed nine items

assessing their lay beliefs about the pursuit of work passion. We developed this scale

by collecting narratives on how to achieve work passion from 117 graduation

addresses from a variety of different university categories. Each speech highlighted

the value of pursuing work passion (for more details, see Supplemental Materials

available online). Participants were first given the prompt, “to follow my passion for

work, I believe it is important to…,” and then provided with nine items that included

“never be bored at work” and “feel like I never work a day in my life” (feelings); and

“explore what matters to me” and “identify aspects of my work that allow me to
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 6

express my values” (values). Participants responded using a seven-point scale (1 =

strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). The scale was reliable (α feelings = .72; α values

= .92). A two-factor model (feelings and values) fit the data better than a single factor

model, thus suggesting the two measures are distinct (CFI = .85, RMSEA = .16, χ2(27)

= 92.75, p < .001; Δχ2 = 38.16, p < .001; see Supplemental Materials available online

for additional analyses).

Passion Gaps. We next measured the extent to which individuals experience

passion gaps with a three-item measure. Participants rated their agreement with three

items on a scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree: “I am less

passionate for my work than I should be”, “I often feel as if I have to be more

passionate for my work”, and “I frequently feel obliged to be more passionate for my

work than I currently am” (α = .89).

Turnover Intentions. In addition, we measured turnover intentions with a

two-item measure adapted from Chen et al. (2011). On a scale from 1 = strongly

disagree to 7 = strongly agree, participants rated their agreement with, “I frequently

think of quitting my job” and “I am planning to search for a new job during the next

12 months” (r = .78).

Control Variables. Finally, to distinguish our effects from other constructs

related to work passion (Perrewé, et al., 2014), we also measured intrinsic motivation

(e.g., in response to “Why are you motivated to do your work?”, items included,

“Because I enjoy the work itself”; α = .98; Grant, 2008), work meaningfulness (e.g.,

“What I do at work makes a difference in the world”; α = .97), and neoclassical

calling (e.g., “The work I do feels like my calling in life” ; α = .95; Bunderson &

Thompson, 2009). Table 1 provides an overview of our study variables.

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 7

TABLE 1

Study 1a: Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Gender 0.47 0.5
(1 = female)
2 Age 35.81 11.19 .01
3 Feelings 4.56 1.20 .04 -.01
4 Values 5.60 0.99 .01 -.16 .47**
5 Passion Gap 3.43 1.52 -.09 -.02 -.10 -.52**
Turnover
6 3.27 1.79 .08 .01 -.11 -.47** .63**
Intentions
Intrinsic
7 4.47 1.87 -.08 -.08 .26* .56** -.49** -.67**
Motivation
8 Meaningfulness 4.33 1.80 -.13 -.06 .24* .47** -.44** -.63** .87**
Neoclassical
9 4.14 1.58 -.12 -.06 .23* .46** -.48** -.63** .89** .90**
Calling
Notes. * p < .05; ** p < .01

Results

Passion Gaps. We first regress passion gaps onto both feelings and values. As

Table 2, Model 1, shows, we find that higher levels of feelings endorsement were

marginally related to higher levels of passion gaps (B = .24, SE = .13, p = .065). In

contrast, individuals who endorsed a values theory were significantly less likely to

experience passion gaps (B = -.94, SE = .15, p < .001). Thus, individuals who

endorsed feelings lay beliefs reported marginally higher passion gaps, whereas

individuals who focused more on values experienced significantly lower passion gaps.

Turnover Intentions. Next, we examined the effect of passion gaps on

people’s desire to quit their job. To do so, we regressed turnover intentions on passion

gaps and find a significant effect (B = .74, SE = .10, p < .001), such that higher levels

of passion gaps were related to higher turnover intentions.

Mediation. We then tested if endorsement of feelings increased turnover

intentions through an indirect effect of higher passion gaps. Bootstrapped bias-

corrected confidence intervals (5,000 iterations) indicate a significant indirect effect

(CI95% = [.005; .321]), such that individuals who endorsed a feelings lay belief had an
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 8

increased desire to quit their job through higher passion gaps. We also examined

whether the endorsement of values decreased turnover intentions through lower

passion gaps. Again, bootstrapped bias-corrected confidence intervals (5,000

iterations) indicate a significant indirect effect (CI95% = [-.711; -.204]), such that

individuals who endorsed a values lay belief had a decreased desire to quit their

organization through lower passion gaps.

Finally, we conducted our analyses controlling for constructs related to

passion: intrinsic motivation, work meaningfulness, and neoclassical calling. All

significance levels of our results remain unchanged (see Table 2, Model 2). All VIFs

were below the suggested value of 10 (O’Brien, 2007).

TABLE 2

Regression Models from Study 1a

Model 1 Model 2
Intercept 7.58*** (.78) 7.59*** (.79)
Feelings .24† (.13) .24† (.12)
Values -.94*** (.15) -.73*** (.12)
Intrinsic Motivation -.01 (.17)
Meaningfulness .04 (.18)
Neoclassical Calling -.33 (.21)
Adj. R2 .30 .34
†
Notes. Outcome Variable: Passion Gaps; n = 93; p < .10; * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

Discussion

Study 1a demonstrates that lay beliefs of work passion pursuit are associated

with passion gaps and turnover intentions. Participants who held a feelings lay belief

experienced larger passion gaps, and reported greater turnover intentions. In contrast,

those who focused on values had fewer passion gaps and indicated lower intentions to

quit their job.

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 9

Study 1b

In Study 1b, we aimed to replicate the effects of Study 1a in a field setting to

provide insight into the generalizability of our results.

Method

Participants. We recruited 183 employees (Mage = 27.38, 52.5% male, mean

tenure = 32.99 months) from a management consulting company which espoused

work passion as one of the core values in their company mission statement.

Employees were not paid for their participation, and received an invitation from their

subject group head to participate in the study. Based on Study 1a, we aimed to recruit

at least 100 participants, but continued data collection after this threshold was

surpassed because this was a convenience sample.

Work Passion Pursuit Lay Belief. We used the same nine-item scale from

Study 1a to measure employees’ lay beliefs of work passion pursuit (α feelings = .65; α

values = .88).

Passion Gaps. We used the same three-item scale to measure employees’

passion gaps (α = .87) as in Study 1a.

Turnover Intentions. We used the same two-item scale to measure turnover

intentions as above (r = .77). Table 3 provides an overview of our descriptive

statistics.
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 10

TABLE 3

Study 1b: Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Gender
(1 = female)
0.48 0.55
2 Age 27.38 5.53 .03
3 Tenure 32.99 25.09 -.18* .39**
4 Feelings 4.52 1.09 -0.13 -.19** -.21**
5 Values 5.79 0.85 -0.06 -.18* -.23** .38**
6 Passion Gap 3.56 1.47 .00 -.04 .03 .08 -.14
Turnover
7 3.74 1.80 -.23** -.10 .14 .06 -.07 .42**
Intentions
Notes. * p < .05; ** p < .01

Results

Passion Gaps. We regressed passion gaps onto both feelings and values.

Employees who endorsed a feelings lay belief experienced greater passion gaps (B

= .21, SE = .11, p = .047). Endorsement of values was significantly related to lower

passion gaps (B = -.33, SE = .14, p = .014).

Turnover Intentions. Next, we regressed passion gaps onto turnover

intentions and find that higher levels of passion gaps are associated with an increased

desire to quit the organization (B = .52, SE = .08, p < .001).

Mediation. We subsequently regressed feelings, values, and passion gaps onto

turnover intentions. Bootstrapped bias-corrected confidence intervals (5,000

iterations) of our indirect effects indicate that feelings increased turnover intentions

through higher passion gaps (CI95% = [.002; .231]), whereas values decreased turnover

intentions through lower passion gaps (CI95% = [-.337; -.038]).

Discussion

The results of Study 1b conceptually replicate Study 1a in a field setting: lay

beliefs of work passion pursuit are associated with passion gaps, and in turn, turnover

intentions.
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 11

Study 1c

In Study 1c, we aimed to replicate the effects of Studies 1a-b in another field

setting with a broader variety of jobs to ensure our findings are robust to different

types of jobs.

Method

Participants. We recruited 994 employees from a large technology company

in Colombia, Latin America (Mage = 31.90, 59.05% male, mean tenure = 55.20

months). Employees received an invitation from the company’s Human Resources

department to participate in the study and could complete the survey during their

work time. Based on Studies 1a and 1b, we aimed to recruit at least 100 participants,

but continued data collection after this threshold was surpassed because this was a

convenience sample. Employees received no other incentive for their participation.

Work Passion Pursuit Lay Belief. We used the same nine-item scale from

Studies 1a and 1b to measure employees’ lay beliefs of work passion pursuit (α feelings

= .61; α values = .88). However, since the majority of employees were native Spanish

speakers, the survey was translated into Spanish. For this and subsequent measures,

we used back-translation to ensure semantic item equivalence in English and Spanish

(Schaffer & Riordan, 2003).

Passion Gaps. We used the same three-item scale to measure employees’

passion gaps (α = .83) as in Study 1a and 1b.

Turnover Intentions. We used the same two-item scale to measure turnover

intentions as above (r = .76).

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 12

TABLE 4

Study 1c: Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Gender
(1 = female)
0.41 0.49
2 Age 31.90 7.58 -.12**
3 Tenure 55.20 97.04 -.05 .28**
3 Feelings 5.59 1.00 -.02 -.03 -.00
4 Values 6.28 0.76 -.00 .03 .04 .54**
5 Passion Gap 3.34 1.52 -.01 -.05 -.05 .05 -.07*
Turnover
6 2.94 1.81 .03 -.08* -.06 -.04 -.12** .61**
Intentions
Notes. * p < .05; ** p < .01

Results

Passion Gaps. Employees who endorsed a feelings lay belief experienced

greater passion gaps (B = .20, SE = .06, p < .001), whereas the endorsement of values

was significantly related to lower passion gaps (B = -.29, SE = .08, p < .001).

Turnover Intentions. Higher levels of passion gaps were associated with an

increased desire to quit the organization (B = .72, SE = .03, p < .001).

Mediation. Bootstrapped bias-corrected confidence intervals (5,000

iterations) of our indirect effects indicate that feelings increased turnover intentions

through higher passion gaps (CI95% = [.061; .224]), whereas values decreased turnover

intentions through lower passion gaps (CI95% = [-.326; -.104]).

Discussion

The results of Study 1c conceptually replicate Studies 1a and 1b with a

broader variety of job types.

Studies 1a-c: Mini Meta-Analysis

We conducted a mini meta-analysis to summarize the results of Studies 1a-c

(Goh, Hall, & Rosenthal, 2016).

Analysis and Results

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 13

We meta-analyzed Studies 1a-1c using the ‘metafor’ package in R

(Viechtbauer, 2010). Since the measures and models were identical across all three

studies, point estimates and standard errors of the regression coefficients and indirect

effects can be used as a standardized measure of effect size. We converted these

coefficients into sample-weighted Fisher’s z-scaled correlations and used a random

effects model to test our hypotheses, as recommended by Goh et al. (2016). The

confidence interval around the effect sizes for both feelings ([.068, .179]; r = .123)

and values ([-.368; -.029]; r = -.200) on passion gaps did not include zero, thus

indicating that both are significant. Likewise, the indirect effects of feelings

([.062, .172]; r = .117) and values ([-.272; -.039,]; r = -.155) on turnover intentions

through passion gaps were also significant as the confidence interval around both

effect sizes did not include zero.

Discussion

Studies 1a-c provide robust evidence for the opposing effects of feelings and

values on passion gaps: individuals who endorsed a feelings lay belief reported higher

passion gaps, increasing turnover intentions, whereas individuals who endorsed a

values lay belief reported lower passion gaps, and reducing turnover intentions.

Supporting the notion that work passion consists of both feelings and values,

the findings of Studies 1a-c also suggest a moderate positive correlation between

feelings and values. To determine the causal effect of emphasizing one more than the

other, we next conducted two experimental studies where we manipulated work

passion pursuit lay beliefs to examine their opposing effects on passion gaps and

turnover intentions.
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 14

Study 2a

Study 2a provided both feelings and values work passion pursuit lay beliefs,

but emphasized that one is more important than the other, and tested whether this

would influence passion gaps and subsequent turnover intentions.

Method

Participants and Design. We recruited 355 participants who had just started

their MBA program at a private East Coast university (M age = 27.59, 56% male). The

sample size was determined by the overall size of the class and the willingness of

students to participate. Our sample was restricted a priori to participants who

indicated that English was their first language to ensure sufficient text

comprehension.

Participants were randomly assigned to a three-condition, between-subjects

design: feelings over values, values over feelings, or feelings equal to values.

Lay Beliefs Manipulation. Participants in all three conditions were asked to

read the transcript of a highly passionate person giving a graduation address at their

local college (adapted from an actual graduation speech; see Supplemental Materials

available online). While all three conditions mentioned that the pursuit of work

passion requires attention to both feelings and values, the conditions differed on the

emphasis they placed on the feelings or values inherent in the pursuit of work passion.

In the feelings over values condition, the speech emphasized that a focus on feelings

is more important than values. An excerpt read: “In order to become more passionate,

you should first and foremost focus on doing work you enjoy.” In the values over

feelings condition, the speech emphasized that a focus on values is more important

than feelings. An excerpt read: “In order to become more passionate, you should first

and foremost focus on doing work you really value.” Finally, in the feelings equal to
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 15

values condition, the speech emphasized that feelings and values are equally

important in the pursuit of passion. An excerpt read: “In order to become more

passionate, you should therefore focus on both, doing work you enjoy, and doing

work you really value.”

Passion Gaps. We measured passion gaps using the same three-item scale

used in our prior studies (α = .87). However, given that participants had just begun

their MBA program, questions began with the prompt, “Thinking about your last job

before you started your MBA...” and then read statements such as “I was less

passionate for my work than I should have been.” The scale ranged from 1 = strongly

disagree to 7 = strongly agree.

Turnover Intentions. We measured turnover intentions with one item:

“Thinking about your last job before you started your MBA... I often thought of

quitting my job.” The scale ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.

Results

Passion Gaps. An ANOVA with lay beliefs condition (i.e., feelings over

values, values over feelings, or feelings equal to values) as the independent variable

and passion gaps as the dependent variable shows a significant effect of condition on

passion gaps (F(2, 352) = 3.63, p = .028). Subsequent pairwise comparisons reveal

that participants in the values over feelings condition indicated significantly lower

passion gaps (M = 3.78, SD = 1.71) than participants in the feelings over values

condition (M = 4.33, SD = 1.51; t(353) = 2.68, p = .02, d = .28). The feelings equal to

values condition (M = 4.13, SD = 1.60) did not differ significantly from either the

values over feelings condition (t(353) = 1.67, p = .22, d = .0.18), nor the feelings over

values condition (t(353) = 0.99, p = .58, d = .11; see Figure 1).

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 16

FIGURE 1

Passion Gaps Predicted by Work Passion Pursuit Lay Beliefs Condition

4.5
Passion Gaps

3.5

3
Feelings Over Values Values Over Feelings Feelings Equal to Values

Note: Error bars denote standard errors.

Turnover Intentions. We tested whether participants with higher levels of

passion gaps reported greater intentions to quit their organization. Across conditions,

passion gaps were positively related to increased turnover intentions (B = .69, SE

= .05, p < .001).

Mediation. We next tested the indirect effect of condition on turnover

intentions through passion gaps. We conducted mediation analyses with 5,000

bootstrapped iterations and find that when comparing values over feelings to feelings

over values, the bias-corrected confidence interval does not include zero (CI95% =

[-.647, -.095]). The mediation is not significant, when comparing values over feelings

to feelings equal to values (CI95% = [-.531, .046]), or when comparing feelings equal

to values to feelings over values (CI95% = [-.472, .142]).

Discussion
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 17

Study 2a shows that when mentioning both the feelings and values of work

passion, where the emphasis is placed matters: when feelings feature more

prominently than values, passion gaps and turnover intentions are higher.

Study 2b

Study 2b replicates the findings of Study 2a with an online sample, and

focuses on a stronger test between feelings and values. Rather than emphasizing both

feelings and values, we manipulated work passion mindsets in Study 2b as consisting

of either feelings or values, and examined their effect on passion gaps and turnover

intentions.

Method

Participants and Design. Our target sample size (270 participants) was

determined before data collection began, based on the effect size of the difference

between the feelings over values and values over feelings conditions in Study 2a, to

obtain a power of 0.90.

We recruited 270 participants from MTurk (Mage = 35.81, SD = 10.62, 55.0%

male). Fifty-one participants (18.9%) failed our attention check, leaving a final

sample size of 219 participants. There were no significant differences in

demographics between participants who failed the attention check and those that did

not (Age: t(487) = .51, p = .61, d = .05; Gender: t(487) = .13, p = .90, d = .01). We

present our analysis with and without participants who failed the attention check.

Participants were randomly assigned to either the feelings or values condition.

Lay Beliefs Manipulation. Similar to Study 2a, we manipulated work passion

pursuit lay beliefs through a graduation speech either emphasizing that to achieve

more work passion, one should follow what one finds “fun,” “enjoyable,” or which

makes one “happy” (feelings), versus follow what reflects “obtaining clarity of
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 18

personal values,” “reflects personal values,” or helps individuals engage in activities

they “care about” (values) (see Supplemental Materials available online). For

example, an excerpt read: “The important point is thus: you need to have a strong

desire to work on things you enjoy [care about], and make sure you set aside time

each day to do what makes you happy [what you personally value].”

Subsequently, participants responded to an attention check that captured

whether participants read the manipulation text.

Passion Gaps. Participants then responded to the same three-item measure of

passion gaps as in Studies 1a-c (α = .86).

Turnover Intentions. We measured turnover intentions using the same two-

item measure as in Studies 1a-c (r = .86).

Results

Passion Gaps. A t-test on passion gaps shows that participants in the feelings

condition reported higher levels of passion gaps (M = 4.55, SD = 1.53) than

participants in the values condition (M = 4.03, SD = 1.47; t(217) = 2.58, p = .01, d =

0.35; see Figure 2). When including participants who failed the attention check, the

difference between conditions on passion gaps remains marginally significant (t(268)

= 1.88, p = .06, d = 0.23; M feelings = 4.43, SD feelings = 1.51; M values = 4.09, SD values =

1.52).

Turnover Intentions. We tested whether participants with higher levels of

passion gaps reported greater intentions to quit their organization. Across conditions,

higher levels of passion gaps are related to increased turnover intentions both when

excluding (B = .60, SE = .07, p < .001) and including (B = .66, SE = .06, p < .001)

participants who failed the attention check.

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 19

Mediation. We then tested the indirect effect of condition on turnover

intentions through passion gaps. The bias-corrected confidence interval did not

include zero both when excluding (CI95% = [.072, .564]) and including (CI95% =

[.002, .457]; 5,000 bootstrapped iterations) participants who failed the attention

check. This suggests participants in the feelings condition reported increased turnover

intentions through higher passion gaps compared to participants in the values

condition.

Discussion

Study 2b conceptually replicates the results of Study 2a. Participants who read

a graduation speech emphasizing feelings were more likely to indicate higher passion

gaps and, as a result, increased turnover intentions, in comparison to participants who

read a graduation speech emphasizing values.

General Discussion

Passion for work is an increasingly highly valued and expected attribute to

possess (Bolles, 2009; Wolf et al., 2016). When people fall short of their desired

levels of work passion, their expectations are not met and, consequently, they are

more likely to leave their organization (Podsakoff et al., 2007). Across five studies,

with both correlational (Study 1a-c) and causal designs (Study 2a-b), we find that lay

beliefs of work passion pursuit affect passion gaps and, in turn, their turnover

intentions. People who primarily held a feelings lay belief indicated higher passion

gaps and a stronger desire to quit their organization. In contrast, people who held a

values lay belief indicated lower passion gaps and a weaker desire to quit their

organization. Together, our studies provide some insight into why employees are

switching jobs at record rates (Meister, 2012).

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 20

The distinct lay beliefs of focus (i.e., feelings and values) are conflated in the

academic literature. For example, Vallerand and colleagues (2003, p. 756) define

passion as both “a strong inclination toward an activity that people like” (reflecting a

feelings lay belief) and “that they find important” (reflecting a values lay belief). The

graduation speeches we sampled in Study 1a are similarly conflated; speeches often

contained statements referring to both feelings and values lay beliefs. Our finding that

feelings and values lead to opposing effects on passion gaps, even when both are

mentioned (as in Study 2a), not only offers a more nuanced theoretical understanding

of work passion, but also provides important normative implications: people may

benefit if they see work passion as the enactment of personal values, rather than

constituting a feeling.

We also extend prior literature that has focused on work passion as an absolute

measure (e.g., being low versus high in passion; Ho et al., 2011; Zigarmi et al., 2009)

by investigating the outcomes of relative work passion (i.e., passion gaps). Employees

may vary in how much they desire passion for their work, and hence lower work

passion may have distinct consequences for different employees; for employees with

a higher desire to attain work passion, lower passion for work is more likely to have

detrimental consequences for their intentions to quit, in comparison to employees who

have a lower desire for work passion. Emphasizing the importance of work passion—

as academic literature and public discourse increasingly espouse (Wolf et al., 2016;

Duckworth, 2016; Bolles, 2009)—may inadvertently increase passion gaps. This can

be detrimental for employees’ quest for a passion-filled job, and for organizations

having to cover the costs of frequently replacing exiting employees (Society of

Human Resource Management, 2000).

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 21

We did not make ex ante predictions on why feelings and values lay beliefs

may lead to opposing effects on passion gaps and turnover intentions. However, prior

literature provides conceivable explanations. When individuals strive to obtain work

passion with a feelings lay belief, they pursue a fleeting emotional experience.

Because the joy individuals gain from tasks and events diminishes over time (Diener,

Lucas, & Scollon, 2006), individuals who focus on feelings will likely experience less

emotion than they desire. As Frijda (1988, p. 353) once noted, “continued pleasure

wears off.” Thus, focusing on the thrill of work passion likely highlights the

inevitable decline in emotional intensity in any job. In contrast, individuals who

pursue work passion with a values lay belief focus on enduring underlying values.

Because values are stable cognitions, sometimes lasting over a lifetime, jobs that

reflect one’s values can provide a continuing fulfilling experience (Rokeach, 2008).

Just as the German word for passion—“Leidenschaft”—refers to an ability to endure

hardship, individuals holding a values lay belief may wish to see things through, even

when times are tough, and are less likely to quit their job. Future research is necessary

to elucidate these underlying mechanisms of work passion.

Conclusion

The role of social science in shaping societal and workplace outcomes is

increasing (Benartzi et al., 2017). The current research suggests that passion gaps, and

ensuing negative effects on turnover intentions, can be reduced if individuals hold a

values rather than feelings lay belief of work passion pursuit. Clearly distinguishing

between these two different lay beliefs of work passion pursuit appears crucial for a

generation that has developed a habit of job hopping in the pursuit of work passion

(Meister, 2012). How passionate people are for work may have less to do with their

job, and instead more with how they think work passion is obtained.
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 22

Author Contributions

J.M. Jachimowicz, C. To, J.I. Menges, and M. Akinola designed the studies

and wrote the manuscript. J.M. Jachimowicz and C. To conducted the experiments

and analyzed the data. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for

submission. In accordance with guidelines endorsed by the Center for Open Science,

we report how we determined our sample size in the supplementary materials. We did

not exclude any data points from our analyses, and we report all manipulations and all

measures for all studies.

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 23

REFERENCES

Benartzi, S., Beshears, J., Milkman, K. L., Sunstein, C. R., Thaler, R. H., Shankar,

M., … Galing, S. (2017). Should Governments Invest More in Nudging?

Psychological Science, 28(8), 1041–1055.

Bunderson, J. S., & Thompson, J. A. (2009). The call of the wild: Zookeepers,

callings, and the double-edged sword of deeply meaningful work. Administrative

Science Quarterly, 54(1), 32–57.

Chen, G., Ployhart, R. E., Thomas, H. C., Anderson, N., & Bliese, P. D. (2011). The

Power of Momentum: A new model of dynamic relationships between job

satisfaction change and turnover intentions. Academy of Management Journal,

54(1), 159–181.

Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Scollon, C. N. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill:

Revisiting the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61, 305–

314.

Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit:

Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101.

Frijda, N. (1988). The laws of emotion. American Psychologist, 43(5), 349–358.

Goh, J. X., Hall, J. A., & Rosenthal, R. (2016). Mini Meta-Analysis of Your Own

Studies: Some Arguments on Why and a Primer on How. Social and Personality

Psychology Compass, 10(10), 535–549.

Grant, A. M. (2008). Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational

synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 93(1), 48–58.

Ho, V. T., Wong, S. S., & Lee, C. H. (2011). A Tale of Passion: Linking Job Passion
Running Head: PASSION GAPS 24

and Cognitive Engagement to Employee Work Performance. Journal of

Management Studies, 48(1), 26–47.

Meister, J. (2012, August 14). The Future Of Work: Job Hopping Is the 'New Normal'

for Millenials. Forbes. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/the-future-of-work-job-

hopping-is-the-new-normal-for-millennials/

O’Brien, R. M. (2007). A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation

factors. Quality and Quantity, 41(5), 673–690.

Perrewé, P. L., Hochwarter, W. A., Ferris, G. R., Mcallister, C. P., & Harris, J. N.

(2014). Developing a passion for work passion: Future directions on an emerging

construct. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(1), 145–150.

Podsakoff, N. P., LePine, J. & LePine, M. (2007). Differential challenge stressor-

hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover,

and withdrawal behavior: a meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2),

438–454.

Rokeach, M. (2008). Understanding Human Values. New York, NY: Schuster and

Schuster.

Schaffer, B. S., & Riordan, C. M. (2003). A Review of Cross-Cultural Methodologies

for Organizational Research: A Best- Practices Approach. Organizational

Research Methods, 6(2), 169–215.

Vallerand, R. J., Blanchard, C., Mageau, G. A., Koestner, R., Ratelle, C., Léonard,

M., … Marsolais, J. (2003). Les passions de l’âme: On obsessive and

harmonious passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(4), 756–

767.

Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package.

Running Head: PASSION GAPS 25

Journal of Statistical Software, 36(3), 1–48.

Zigarmi, D., Nimon, K., Houson, D., Witt, D., & Diehl, J. (2009). Beyond

engagement: Toward a framework and operational definition for employee work

passion. Human Resource Development Review, 8(3), 300–326.

 Supplementary Materials for
Passion Gaps: Why Employees Quit Their Job in Pursuit of Work Passion

Pilot Study

We explored lay beliefs on how to attain work passion (e.g., if you do X, you will be

passionate for your work) by sampling popular narratives of work passion pursuits from

graduation addresses.

We chose graduation speeches as our setting to sample work passion pursuit

narratives for two reasons. First, graduation speeches occur at a pivotal moment in the life of

many young adults, just before many of them will begin their first job. Demarcating such a

personally relevant event, graduation speeches are likely to exert a considerable influence on

the development of people’s lay beliefs (Rawolle, Schultheiss, Strasser, & Kehr, 2016).

Second, graduation speeches are typically given by individuals of high status who are seen as

having reached the pinnacle of the aspirations harbored by audience members. As perceived

experts on the topic of achieving work passion, advice speakers give will be more likely to be

influential in the mind of the graduating college student about to enter the job market (Grier

& Deshpandé, 2001; Maddux & Rogers, 1980).

Methods and Results

To maximize the likelihood of identifying diverse lay beliefs about work passion

pursuit, we collected narratives on how to achieve work passion from 117 graduation

addresses from a variety of different university categories (e.g., doctoral versus non-doctoral;

public versus private; liberal arts versus not). These graduation addresses were chosen based

on availability of transcripts from university websites and third-party websites (e.g.,

graduationwisdom.com).

Coding. Three independent raters coded the narratives for themes related to work

passion pursuits (for similar methods, see Grant, Berg, & Cable, 2014; Spielmann et al.,
2013). The coding was conducted in a data-driven fashion, such that themes emerged from

the comments on work passion pursuit provided by the graduation addresses (Braun &

Clarke, 2006). Each narrative received as many codes as were applicable, with coding

indicating either the presence or the absence of a theme. An average Cohen’s kappa

agreement between raters of .84 reflected reasonably good agreement overall (e.g. Landis &

Koch, 1977).

Open-Ended responses about work passion pursuit. Participants’ responses with

examples for both themes are summarized in Table S1. Speeches frequently contained

statements referring to both themes.

When discussing how to obtain more work passion, many statements in graduation

speeches made explicit claims that to become more passionate for work, one had to pursue

the feelings associated with work passion. These statements suggested that work passion is

obtained as a consequence of being “happy to do what you get to do,” “enjoying your work”

and “loving what you do.” We labeled this first category as pursuing work passion with a

feelings lay belief. It is the causal belief that being passionate for work is best pursued

through a quest for the feeling of being passionate, which a job must imbue.

A second set of statements in graduation speeches indicated that becoming more

passionate for one’s work required the pursuit of one’s values. The statements advocating this

values lay belief contained references to obtaining work passion as a consequence of

“knowing what your values are,” and “dedicating time to pursuing a personally meaningful

value.” We labeled this second category as pursuing work passion with a values lay belief. It

is the causal belief that being passionate for work is best obtained enacting one’s value,

which a job needs to facilitate.


Theme
You become passionate by…
…following the feeling
associated with passion.
…avoiding future regret.
…enjoying your work.
…becoming content through
your work.
…pursuing euphoric
experiences.
You become passionate by…
…exploring what is
personally important.
…allowing your personal
values to guide you.
…working on what you
care about.
…prioritizing interests and
values.
…finding activities that are
meaningful to you.
TABLE S1: Frequencies and Examples of Themes from Open-Ended Narratives
Percent
reported Example
Feelings lay belief
“[F]ind what you love to do, and pour yourself into it. You do not want to dread driving to work every day.
68.2
You'll be at your best, by the way, when you're happy. When you feel joy.”
“And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to
42.7
be lived.”
41.2 “These qualities bloom when we're doing what we love.”
21.2 “Find your passion, and you will find joy.”
12.7 “Whatever you choose to do, do it with a childlike passion.”
Values lay belief
“You have to give meaning to your life. And to do so, you have to embrace with passion the things that you
57.3
believe in, and that you are fighting for.”
47.3 “Use your heart and the values imbedded in it to inform and guide your intellect.”
“It is absolutely essential that you ask yourself what it is that you really care the most about? What are your
34.6 passions? It is actually easier than it sounds because when we are truly following our hearts we are tapped
into our deepest passions in life.”
26.4 “Joy, by contrast, is unpredictable. It comes from pursuing interests and passions that do not ‘obviously’ result
in happiness. It comes from building a great team, from family, from friends and inexpensive if not free things.”
“A few years ago, when Barack Obama was serving in the U.S. Senate, I visited him with a group of students.
18.5 They peppered him with questions about how he built his career. ‘Look,’ he told them, ‘you can't plan out your
life. What you have to do is first discover your passion - what you really care about.”
 Additional Text for Study 1a

We developed the scale items on the basis of the codes extracted from statements in

the graduation speeches. In response to the prompt, “To follow my passion for work, I

believe it is important...” participants were asked to rate their agreement on a 7-point scale to

the following items for for feelings, “to never be bored at work,” “to avoid having regrets,”

“to make my work leisurely” and “to feel like I never work a day in my life” and for

values,“to identify aspects of my work that allow me to express my values,” “to trust myself

to find work activities that are meaningful to me,” “to explore what matters to me,” “to be

inspired to work on what I care about” and “to dedicate time to engage in work activities that

reflect what is significant to me.”

Scale structure. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the work passion pursuit

scale yielded two factors that accounted for 68.00% of the variance. As expected, feelings

and values loaded on separate factors (all factor loadings greater than .35 on the

corresponding factor and lower than .35 on the other factor). A two-factor CFA model

(feelings and values) also fit the data reasonably well (CFI = .94, RMSEA = .10, χ2(26) =

54.59, p < .001), and significantly better than a single factor model (CFI = .85, RMSEA =

.16, χ2(27) = 92.75, p < .001; Δχ2 = 38.16, p < .001). To examine whether feelings and values,

intrinsic motivation, meaningfulness, and neoclassical calling were distinct, we conducted

another CFA. The fit-indices were acceptable when loading each construct onto its own scale

(χ²(242) = 478.69, RMSEA = .10, CFI = .91, SRMR = .07), and fit significantly better than a

one factor-model (RMSEA = .18, CFI = .72, SRMR = .12, χ2(252) = 1036.42, p < .001; Δχ2 =

557.73, p < .001).

 Study 2a: Work Passion Pursuit Lay Theory Manipulation

Manipulation Text for: feelings over values

How do I become more passionate for what I do?

It takes guts to look deep inside of yourself and find the things that make you happy. Where

should you look? You first must have some idea of what you enjoy, what you love doing.

Ask yourself: “what activities do I find enjoyable?” Everyone has hobbies, of course, but try

to look deeper at the things that provide your life with happiness – indeed, with that rush of

feeling that you experience when you do something that you truly love! How will you know

when you are doing things you are passionate about? Usually, it is quite easy. One moment

you are talking in hopes of finding a topic of great interest. The next you find yourself talking

and don’t want to stop, and then you realize why: because it’s so much fun for you. Passion is

what you genuinely love. But the rule of passion is two-fold: yes, it’s mostly about what

makes you happy and what you love – but don’t forget that the other thing to consider is what

is meaningful to you. Look for opportunities to work on tasks that mainly make you feel good

but also reflect what is meaningful to you. Let me conclude. In order to become more

passionate, you should first and foremost focus on doing work you enjoy. Find an exciting

job! So, focus on your feelings first. Indeed, this is what I did, and now, I finally experience

passion for my work – it’s the best feeling in the world.

Manipulation Text for: values over feelings

How do I become more passionate for what I do?

It takes guts to look deep inside of yourself and find the things that are meaningful to you.

Where should you look? You first must have some idea of what your values are, what you

stand for. Ask yourself: “what activities do I find meaningful?” Everyone has hobbies, of

course, but try to look deeper at the things that provide your life with meaning – indeed, with

that sense of responsibility that you experience when you do something that truly matters!

How will you know when you are doing things you are passionate about? Usually, it is quite

easy. One moment you are talking in hopes of finding a topic of great interest. The next you

find yourself talking and don’t want to stop, and then you realize why: because it represents

something you personally value. Passion is what you genuinely care for. But the rule of

passion is two-fold: yes, it’s mostly about what you find meaningful and what gives you a

sense of purpose – but don’t forget that the other thing to consider is what is fun for you.

Look for opportunities to work on tasks that mainly reflect what is meaningful for you but

also make you feel good. Let me conclude. In order to become more passionate, you should

first and foremost focus on doing work you really value. Find a meaningful job! So, focus on

your values first. Indeed, this is what I did, and now, I finally experience passion for my work

– it’s the best experience in the world.

Manipulation Text for: feelings equal to values

How do I become more passionate for what I do?

It takes guts to look deep inside of yourself and find the things that make you happy and are

meaningful to you. Where should you look? You first must have some idea of what your

values are and what you stand for; as well as what you enjoy and love doing. Ask yourself:

“what activities do I find both enjoyable and meaningful?” Everyone has hobbies, of course,

but try to look deeper at the things that provide your life with happiness, that rush of feeling

that you experience when you do something that you truly love! — and with meaning, that

sense of responsibility that you experience wen you do something that truly matters. How

will you know when you are doing things you are passionate about? Usually, it is quite easy.

One moment you are talking in hopes of finding a topic of great interest. The next you find

yourself talking and don’t want to stop, and then you realize why: because it’s so much fun

for you, and because it represents something you personally value. Passion is what you

genuinely love and care for. So the rule of passion is two-fold: it’s about both what you find

meaningful and what makes you happy. Don’t forget to consider that what you do should be

both meaningful and fun for you. Look for opportunities to work on tasks that equally make

you feel good and reflect what is meaningful to you. Let me conclude. In order to become

more passionate, you should therefore focus on both, doing work you enjoy, and doing work

you really value. Find a meaningful and exciting job! Focus on both your values and your

feelings. Indeed, this is what I did, and now, I finally experience passion for my work – it’s

the best experience in the world.

 Study 2b: Work Passion Pursuit Lay Theory Manipulation

Manipulation Text for: feelings

How do I become more passionate for what I do?

It takes guts to look deep inside of yourself and find the things that make you happy. Where

should you look? You first must have some idea of what you enjoy. Ask yourself: “what

desires do I find enjoyable?” Everyone has hobbies, of course, but try to look deeper at the

things that provide your life with happiness. How will you know when you are doing things

you are passionate about? Usually, it is quite easy. One moment you are talking in hopes of

finding a topic of great interest. The next you find yourself talking and don’t want to stop,

and then you realize why: because it’s so much fun for you. The rule of passion is simple: the

mind cannot stop thinking about what makes it happy. Once you have a better idea of what

you like doing, you can start looking for more opportunities to work on things that you enjoy.

Perhaps you could speak to your manager about working on tasks that reflect what is fun for

you. Perhaps you could create more of those opportunities yourself. The important point is

thus: you need to have a strong desire to work on things you enjoy, and make sure you set

aside time each day to do what makes you happy. Indeed, this is what I did, and now, I finally

feel passion for my work – it’s the best feeling in the world.
Manipulation Text for: values

How do I become more passionate for what I do?

It takes guts to look deep inside of yourself and find the things that strongly reflect your

values. Where should you look? You first must have some idea of what your values are. Ask

yourself: “what desires do I find meaningful?” Everyone has hobbies, of course, but try to

look deeper at the things that provide your life with meaning. How will you know when you

are doing things you are passionate about? Usually, it is quite easy. One moment you are

talking in hopes of finding a topic of great interest. The next you find yourself talking and

don’t want to stop, and then you realize why: because it represents something that you

personally value. The rule of passion is simple: the mind cannot stop thinking about what it

finds important. Once you have a better idea of what your values are, you can start looking

for more opportunities to work on things that you personally value. Perhaps you could speak

to your manager about working on tasks that reflect what is meaningful to you. Perhaps you

could create more of those opportunities yourself. The important point is thus: you need to

have a strong desire to work on things you care about, and make sure you set aside time each

day to work on things that you personally value. Indeed, this is what I did, and now, I finally

feel passion for my work – it’s the best feeling in the world.
References

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research
in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
Grant, A. M., Berg, J. M., & Cable, D. M. (2014). Job titles as identity badges: How self-
reflective titles can reduce emotional exhaustion. Academy of Management Journal,
57(4), 1201–1225.
Grier, S. A., & Deshpandé, R. (2001). Social Dimensions of Consumer Distinctiveness: The
Influence of Social Status on Group Identity and Advertising Persuasion. Journal of
Marketing Research, 38(2), 216–224.
Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical
data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159–174.
Maddux, J. E., & Rogers, R. W. (1980). Effects of source expertness, physical attractiveness,
and supporting arguments on persuasion: A case of brains over beauty. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 39(2), 235–244.
Rawolle, M., Schultheiss, O. C., Strasser, A., & Kehr, H. M. (2016). The Motivating Power
of Visionary Images: Effects on Motivation, Affect, and Behavior. Journal of
Personality, 1–29.
Spielmann, S. S., MacDonald, G., Maxwell, J. A., Joel, S., Peragine, D., Muise, A., & Impett,
E. A. (2013). Settling for less out of fear of being single. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 105(6), 1049–73.