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Category: Project

Description: Prior research has found mixed evidence regarding the relationship between grit—defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals—and job performance. We propose these inconsistencies have occurred for two reasons. First, the grit literature and its measurement has focused on perseverance and paid insufficient attention to passion. In contrast, we emphasize why a measure that adequately captures both perseverance and passion is necessary to predict higher job performance. Second, we propose that whether employees meet or fall short of desired passion—i.e., whether they experience passion alignment or passion gaps—is more important than their absolute levels of passion. We predict that the combination of perseverance and passion alignment has synergistic benefits for job performance. A survey of employees at a technology company matched to supervisor-rated job performance (N = 422) found that the current measure of grit that emphasizes perseverance did not have a main effect on supervisor-rated job performance. However, when employees experienced passion alignment, perseverance predicted job performance; in contrast, when employees experienced passion gaps, perseverance had no significant relationship with job performance. The current results help resolve the mixed evidence of grit’s relationship with job performance: because grit is the synergistic combination of perseverance and attaining desired levels of passion, theoretical and empirical specifications need to include passion alignment in the conceptualization and measurement of grit. The results suggest that grit without desired levels of passion is drudgery and insufficient to increase job performance. Instead, perseverance only propels employees forward when they experience passion alignment.