Journal of Business & Economic Policy

Passion Thrillers and Passion Killers: How to Support and How to Thwart Employee Passion
Mark E. Hardgrove, Angelita P. Howard

Abstract
In any work environment passion can be encouraged or discouraged; the authors refer to this dichotomy as passion thrillers and passion killers. An organization’s productivity can be affected by its employees’ passion for their job and place of employment. Studies reveal several ways to excite passion in the workplace and by doing so increase employee engagement and persistence. However, too often leaders fail to analyze what drives the passion of their employees. While there seem to be several ways for passion to be thrilled, this work also explores the proposition that passionate engagement can be killed. Leaders who focus on the negative usually fail to excite passion and the critical culture kills the fire within employees. The findings suggest that inherent employee passion can be ignited in the workplace, promoting success; or it can also be extinguished, destroying the great potential that employee passion brings to the organization.

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