What a great question! It was in earlier generation that most of professor used to do research out of their passion to know or generate knowledge. A significant number after obtaining PhD seldom did research. But, with the privatisation of education and due to publish or perish policy, most of the professors are engaged in research either lowering the level of research are producing fake researches. However, universities linked with industry are producing high quality research as they have become R&D university and have to be innovative in the technology or product oriented research. But, high quality theoretical research especially in natural sciences come from with least prolific professors.

Good leaders need to be intrinsic motivators so they can build strong relationships that can lead to greatness. success in leadership is based on how well people work together. sustained human relationship will enable people to get great things done.

In doing research or teaching, I think professors as well as other researchers should move based on their intrinsic motivation first, so that they know what they do and how it will benefit others. They must do it without reserve for continuous improvement. Moreover, professor usually is a figure in academic environment. They need to be a good example for others. Their work and dedication by themselves must be respected and appreciated. Therefore, other factors such as award, prize, or publicity will become a secondary result instead of being extrinsic factors that driven their motivation in doing research or teaching.

For myself I can say I have a high intrinsic motivation for research, but not at the same level for teaching.

But I don't agree as professors should teach the contents they like. It depends on what your student should become - if employabity is the goal - there are some rules. I expect an architect is able to build a house within an financial frame and not only to make freehand sketch as "artist", in the same way as I expect a professional midwife is able to help women with birth, with all complications.

Not necessarily..all professors are not the same.

I, for one, love teaching, but may not be motivated in any way, to go into research.

But yes, most teachers do a lot of reading, especially about the latest developments in research, and i do the same.

On most college campuses in U.S. excellent student evaluations do not translate into tenure or promotion. Research and publications do.

Most professors have external motivation or incentives tied (e.g. promotion and tenure). Intrinsically driven are a few only.,

I think it is a combination of both..but intrinsic motivation is something which plays a greater role. I am sure majority of researchers, professors and educators do not really bother about monetary benefits, as their basic needs are already been taken care by the salaries that they receive. They have a deep intrinsic motivation to bring about advancements in the science and technology and they work silently towards that goal..

Nice contributions, Our education system itself have combination of intrinsic and extrinsic. At initial Stage when a person join academics, his focus area will be teaching and alongwith teaching he start doing primary research, the teaching load is high, generally 16 lectures per week (in India Assistant Professor). After 5-6 years when he completed his Ph.D. He will promoted to Associate Professor where he suppose to concentrate more on Research, workload will be 12 lectures per week, again after 5-6 more years he will be promoted to Professor where his overall focus is expected to be research and alongwith research he will teach 8 lectures per week. here we can see that the academic career is motivated intrinsically or extrinsically to perform research and teaching?

The academic personality is the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic at any stages..has more dimension than corporate level.

It is actually a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that pushes academics to do research... I for one, I am not really a full professor now, but I still do research on the side for professional fulfilment... not because I would be getting any promotion or incentive from my university.

Thank you for all the good answers to my question. It seems that this is a rather complex question with no straight answer.

Both Sharaf's and Parag's answers both underscore the fact that research is more rewarding, extrinsically and intrinsically, than teaching - e.g. full professor "has to do less" teaching instead of "is allowed to do more" teaching. There seems to be a general "pecking order" for academics that goes something like "research beats teaching beats administrative work"... ;-). Even if some academics like Arnavaz like to teach, they will get less reward and recognition, at least from peers (as mentioned by Sharaf). This is not quite the way it should be, in my opinion, as more experienced academics would have more to share, while young ones have more to discover before they can share it - what do you think?

"A mix of intrinsic and extrinsic" seems to be the majority's reply to my original question, though. This is not really surprising, as many a worker with a good position would say the same (e.g. many corporate mid-manager functions). So, what makes scientists, academics different, then? Why can't they be handled like corporates?

Why can't they be handled like corporates?

Because Professors are not meant to generate profit like corporates.

Dear , I think I am a bit late but What you have raised about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is a contentious issue and it highly depends on the context of the professors. I observe that in a developing country where the salary of the prof. is not able to cover the basic needs what probably motivate the individual is the extrinsic reward which will be translated in to intrinsic elements like teaching once own child in a university where he/she is teaching. The question of satisfaction is complex and the freedom to teach what he/she thinks appropriate lies on their effect on the society and the activities effect on them- value given to the professors and the cause/source of the value.

Thus I believe that motivation of a university professor is the result of intrinsic, extrinsic and environmental factors.

Fekadu, Addis Ababa

I've recently been to ICME12 (International Congress on Maths Education), in Seoul, and met some colleagues from United States that were presenting an innovative project they are developing at their (private) university. It was astonishing, because the novelty of the project was being research based! In Portugal, most mathematics teacher educators (i.e., professors that teach at masters and doctorates level) are supposed to do research. And they do it, sometimes following the students they are advising, but there has to be a research component of their work.

There's a correlation between research, teaching and administrative work..

Join as asst or assoc Prof in a Univ, do research at least 70-80% of the time, get research grants, publish papers.. get promoted as Professors..

Once you become Professors, you foray into administrative work (which is a thankless job) becoming HOD, dean, director etc.... research takes a back seat in this stage..

But Japanese system has a solution for this.. every Professor will have one or two Asst Professors in his lab.. so while the Professor is busy in admin work or chasing research dollars.. Asst Professors will continue lab's research..

Dear Ewa, does universities support these activities (focusing on the research which supports their spin-off companies)? How do they act in such situations. I am seeing a similar shift happenning in Asia now i.e. universities demanding enterprenuers and inventions leading to bussiness generation (spin-off companies) etc..

What a great question! It was in earlier generation that most of professor used to do research out of their passion to know or generate knowledge. A significant number after obtaining PhD seldom did research. But, with the privatisation of education and due to publish or perish policy, most of the professors are engaged in research either lowering the level of research are producing fake researches. However, universities linked with industry are producing high quality research as they have become R&D university and have to be innovative in the technology or product oriented research. But, high quality theoretical research especially in natural sciences come from with least prolific professors.

The statement given by Prof. M.F. Khan is quite convincing to me.

Sorry to say this, but some comments remind me of the Hindi proverb.. "naach na jaane aangan tedha"..

If a Professor is really passionate, he will definitely find time for research. I personally know a IIT Prof who was HOD, Dean and now Director of a new IIT, who is really passionate about research.

Come rain or shine, if he's in town, he religiously comes to lab every night and discusses with his students...

As most others here, I can of course really only speak for myself. However, I've many close friends in the Swedish/Scandinavian academic community, as well as in USA and Japan where I spent periods doing postdoctoral research, so I can to some extent also compare situation and driving force to theirs.

For me and most of my colleagues, it's certainly not intrinsic rewards which drives us, but rather our own ambition to carry out curiosity-driven fundamental research. One of the biggest extrinsic rewards you get from this job, is a much greater degree of freedom than I see in most of the private, industrial sector. Freedom to follow our instincts and explore new, exciting questions. Of course, we need funding to do so and thus, unfortunately, most of us spend inordinate amount of time trying to convince various funding agencies to support us. This freedom includes the freedom to collaborate with the people we choose, creating lasting friendships. I see examples of my colleagues who have entered into the private industry (pharmaceuticals), when their research projects are shut down overnight, they are not allowed to publish or present their findings in any form, just so that a multinational company can make more money. This is, of course, unfair - it would be a great thing to be a part of producing some new medicine, and getting paid a lot to do so. However, what I value the most is the degree of academic freedom I've got

Yes

i agree with susan...i quote "One of the most fun aspects of teaching is working one on one in the lab to train a student to do research, and I really think teaching is more exciting if one can share the recent advances in one's own field with students."

the reason i love teaching is the mentoring......when you pass on what you have learnt thru experience, to your students, when you suggest research topics to them, guide them into more fulfilling areas of study or research.

there comes a time in one's life when you need to look back and think about what you have given to others,what you want to leave behind in the memories of those around you, especially our post-graduate students.

passing on the torch, according to me, is a very important aspect of being a teacher and a guide..as professor we have a lot of power, and with great power, comes great responsibility.

my mother always exhorted me to be humane in all aspects of my life and being a teacher, making my students learn their subject well and go on to do reasearch which contributes to the general good of mankind is very high on my list of priorities.

in india, research is not given a high priority and companies often steal your work and make money from, plus take credit for your hard work.

sponsors for research are few and those that come forward take advantage of your circumstances.

except for tata institute of fundamental research, institutes of science and indian institute of technology, there are very few good research institutions.

as teachers we have a little more freedom and better scope to work in our colleges, but again, there are many considerations.

See Paula Stephan 1996/2012: The Economics of Science/How Economics shape science

See Merton, Robert K. (1988)

The Matthew Effect in Science

See Krabel, S., Mueller, P. (2009). What drives scientists to start their own company? An empirical investigation of Max Planck Society scientists. Research Policy, 38(6), 947-956.

I am somewhat late jumping in here but this is a question that I have pondered many times.

Susan and Arnavaz, I couldn't agree with you more. I am all about giving back because I remember what a personal and financial struggle it was for me to even get here and how the quiet help I received from professors and mentors made such a difference. The little notes or conversations from students who privately tell you that you changed their lives produce no plaques to put on the wall, but instead puts a plaque in your heart that is priceless and personal. Teaching and engaging in research with the goal of making a difference in peoples' lives is all I need and I think this is a common intrinsic motivator for those with passion in their fields. We are always looking to help someone else, sometimes even at our own expense.

As you can probably tell, I am a more intrinsically motivated person in general. Maybe that comes from upbringing in a family that was very humble and as altruistic as possible. "The lasting and true rewards come from within" is something I heard many times and one in which I truly believe for myself but do not project onto others. However, there are periods of time where I am extrinsically motivated because of the demands of tenure, promotion, expectations and evaluations that are vital to staying in the field that I love. However, the external trophies, plaques and recognition that come with that are nice and I do enjoy them, but they do not drive me.

An interesting observation I have made while at conferences is that there are truly some who are extrinsically motivated with the sole purpose of impressing colleagues or becoming famous. Even if the research is great, it's still a turn off to me, but that's just me and everyone has a right to chase his/her own motivations.

So, in short, I think there can be periods of time where extrinsic or intrinsic motivation dominate due to unique situations despite one's general orientation. And I don't think either motivation carries a "good" or "bad" label with it. It is merely how we navigate through the demands of academia as to what makes us tick.

In academia I know people who are extremely extrinsic, extremely intrinsic and everything in between. Maybe that is a good thing because it brings balance and potentially reaches more of our students who come to us with differing levels of motivation.

I agree with Arnawaz and Susan. Teaching is fun and exciting.

To be able to share recent advances in ones field with our students, reading extensively does not suffice. It is when research is carried out that a focused study is made and it is working in the lab that hones practical skills all together helping to keep our minds tuned.

I believe that research is necessary for a teacher. I have worked as a teacher for 3 decades and enjoy both activities. In fact I make it a point to catch up despite administrative work, as I am scared that I will lose my touch if I do not !

In India the support (and also a demand) for research by teachers is increasing. As Prof. Khan has said there are quite a few teachers carrying out fake research and working on topics which are outdated adding virtually nothing to science or learning. However I am optimistic, there are others too who are beginning to carry out meaningful work. Such people will enhance education by inculcating their inquiry based approach to the students.

Ewa, joann, shylaja

thank you for your inputs.

I am so glad to hear from people who think like me..not becoz it just makes me feel better and re-affirms my faith, but also bcoz the work culture and level of efficiency in india is going lower and lower.

It is now more important to "show off" your work, curry favour with your dean/principal, and try to be sweet to your sponsors.

And that is what we, the real teachers, find difficult to do.

So i try to find a dental school where the management ( the owners), is more conducive to student benefits and a better work culture for their faculty.

It is tough, but luckily, at proffesorial level, it is a little easier.

I have reached a stage in life where i really dig in my heels and stick to my principles..i guess i can afford to bcoz i have a private practice i can depend on to pay my bills.

I really feel sympathetic towards those who do not, and have to kow-tow and make demeaning compromises to keep their jobs.

Its really sad!!!!!!!!

I believe that the both "drivers" play an important role. Fame and Glory are components who have a historical backround stretching back to the late seventeenth century. In fact, looking across science sytems around the globe today, it is possible to detect that teaching, with certain exceptions, is often neglected. The measuring of science and it outcomes with bibliometric indicators and steering of science with economic ratios are putting pressure on the "New Scientist" who is mostly a part of de Solla Price´s concept of "Big Science". Sometimes, knowledge seems to become a sophisticated product, who has to be managed and is unequally distributed. Furthermore, the "ravages of time" which seem to be saturated by the competitiveness of the epigraph "publish or perrish", may confuse the young scientist.

I can hypothesize that the intrinsic motivation is absolutely different when you have a closer look into the socialisation processes of the disciplines. An intrinsic curiosity of a professor can belong to absolute different motifs as well as research environments. Therefore, it is necessary to continue and push new socialization research in the academic area. 

Interesting question & nice contributions. I am following.

Interesting.

I am following and writing a paper on drivers of motivation of university professors and other instructors.What a great ideas coming through this forum.Am enriched

I demonstrate lots of examples in my teaching from what I learned in my research. I think at the university level, both teaching and research are equally important. I love doing both. I get easily bored if I had to do only one of them.

Hello Mehrab,

In my humble opinion a combination of both would work better (at least for me). This goes along with EDI, particularly equity. Imagine two professors one with zero research production and the second is very productive, yet they have the same salary. Do you think this is fair? equitable?