Heterogeneous motives and the collective creation of value

The collective creation of value has remained underexplored in management research. Drawing on social psychology and behavioral economics, we analyze the impact of the mix of employee motives to cooperate and compare the collective value generated by three motivational systems: individual monetary incentives, benevolent cooperation, and disciplined cooperation. Aligning the motivational system with the mix of motives in the workforce allows firms to foster cooperation and realize the value creation potential of their resources.