Offer inventors a cash bonus and you get more inventions. Research summarized in the September–October Harvard Business Review suggests the answer depends on who receives the money.

The study behind the article followed inventors at publicly listed Chinese firms — 2,376 observations of individual inventors' yearly output. When reward programs were in place, the two groups responded differently. Specialists, who work in a narrow technical field, produced fewer inventions, and the ones they produced were more novel and technically significant. Generalists, who work across fields, raised their output.

In the article's words: "The effectiveness of an incentive program depends not only on how it is designed but also on who receives it."

The finding sits well within a long line of research on motivation. Frederick Herzberg argued in HBR in 1968 that pay moves behavior without necessarily moving the drive behind it. Self-determination theory adds that intrinsic motivation depends on basic needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness; a 2025 study in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, using samples from Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., found these needs to be close to a necessary condition for it.

Seen that way, the same bonus can mean different things. For a specialist it may read as permission to pursue the harder problem. For a generalist it may read as a signal to produce more. The incentive works through what people already care about.

The breadth question has come up here before (Range — David Epstein), and so has the reach of pay as a motivator (Drive — Daniel Pink).

The study comes from one country and one kind of reward. Seeing the pattern tested in other settings would be a valuable next step.

Talent Takeaway

Before you design a reward, map your people. Ask what kind of work each group does best and what the reward will signal to them. The same budget can buy volume or depth, depending on who gets it.

Read the original at Harvard Business Review

Sources

Szpilman, D. (2026). Why cash rewards don't always produce better ideas. Harvard Business Review, September–October 2026. https://hbr.org/2026/09/why-cash-rewards-dont-always-produce-better-ideas

Ding, H., et al. (2025). Exploring the necessary roles of basic psychological needs at work: A necessary condition analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.70012

Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2003/01/one-more-time-how-do-you-motivate-employees