Motivation intensity differs across individuals. While prior work has examined how situational factors contribute to these discrepancies, the present work takes an individual differences approach. We developed a new tool to measure a novel construct we call “moxie” to assess individual differences in motivation intensity. Seven studies were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the proposed Moxie Scale. A single factor structure was demonstrated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and the Moxie Scale was shown to have high internal consistency and strong test–retest reliability. Convergent, discriminant, criterion-related, and incremental validity were established by exploring associations between moxie and the Big Five personality traits, as well as related motivational constructs such as grit, self-control, volition and inhibition systems, and procrastination. Moxie also predicted intrinsic and extrinsic motivation above other motivational constructs. Finally, moxie predicted goal achievement over time and mediational analyses indicated that this occurred because those high in moxie invested more resources into their goal. Collectively, these findings suggest that moxie is an important and distinct motivational construct and offer new insights regarding individual differences in motivational intensity.

动机强度因人而异。虽然先前的工作已经研究了情境因素如何导致这些差异，但目前的工作采用个体差异方法。我们开发了一种新工具来测量一种我们称为“moxie”的新结构，以评估动机强度的个体差异。进行了七项研究来检查所提出的 Moxie 量表的心理测量特性。通过探索性和验证性因素分析证明了单因素结构，并且Moxie量表具有较高的内部一致性和较强的重测信度。收敛效度、判别效度、标准相关效度和增量效度是通过探索热情与大五人格特质之间的关联以及相关的动机结构（如毅力、自我控制、意志和抑制系统，以及拖延。Moxie 还预测内在和外在动机高于其他动机结构。最后，随着时间的推移，moxie 预测了目标的实现，中介分析表明这是因为那些 moxie 高的人为他们的目标投入了更多的资源。总的来说，这些研究结果表明，moxie 是一种重要且独特的激励结构，并为激励强度的个体差异提供了新的见解。