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With their specific characteristics, religious orders provide an interesting environment that can be used to deepen the understanding and dynamics of work motivation in the public sector. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The paper empirically investigates the levels and kinds of motivation (from extrinsic to intrinsic) in different religious orders, and analyze some major factors of influence. A broad survey of monastic leaders offers a unique data set to analyze the influence of constitutions and traditions on motivation in a quantitative and comparative way. The theoretical foundations are based upon self-determination theory (SDT), formalization and public service motivation.

The paper shows that even the most constrained and hierarchically structured communities succeed in preventing a crowding out of self-determined motivation. On the one hand, this can be ascribed to the influence of faith and religion. On the other hand, and this is the focus of the paper, the analysis suggests that if norms and structures are approved and considered essential, a crowding-out effect is absent, and motivation levels can be maintained.

This study has an explorative character; it is intended to provide interest for further research. Because of the particular position of religious orders, and equally because of the relatively small sample and few variables concerning the approval of rules and traditions, further investigations in other settings are needed.

An alternative path to increase public service motivation comes into play. The negative effects of little or no autonomy and strict regulation in an organization's daily routines can be tempered by a conscious composition and awareness of governance, i.e. an understanding of and agreement upon constitutions, rules and traditions.

The approval of constitutions and traditions has received little study, yet offers new insights into public service motivation, SDT and formalization.

This paper aims to analyse the governance structure of monasteries to gain new insights and apply them to solve agency problems of modern corporations. In an historic analysis of crises and closures it asks, if Benedictine monasteries were and are capable of solving agency problems. The analysis shows that monasteries established basic governance instruments very early and therefore were able to survive for centuries.

The paper uses a dataset of all Benedictine abbeys that ever existed in Bavaria, Baden‐Württemberg, and German‐speaking Switzerland to determine their lifespan and the reasons for closures. The governance mechanisms are analyzed in detail. Finally, it draws conclusions relevant to the modern corporation. The theoretical foundations are based upon principal agency theory, psychological economics, as well as embeddedness theory.

The monasteries that are examined show an average lifetime of almost 500 years and only a quarter of them dissolved as a result of agency problems. This paper argues that this success is due to an appropriate governance structure that relies strongly on internal control mechanisms.

Benedictine monasteries and stock corporations differ fundamentally regarding their goals. Additional limitations of the monastic approach are the tendency to promote groupthink, the danger of dictatorship and the life long commitment.

The paper adds new insights into the corporate governance debate designed to solve current agency problems and facilitate better control.

By analyzing monasteries, a new approach is offered to understand the efficiency of internal behavioral incentives and their combination with external control mechanisms in corporate governance.