Paul Green, Francesca Gino, and Bradley R. Staats explore the importance of fitting in at work in the working paper Seeking to Belong: How the Words of Internal and External Beneficiaries Influence Performance . “We examine how connecting to beneficiaries of one’s work increases performance and argue that beneficiaries internal to an organization can serve as an important source of motivation, even in jobs that-on the surface-may seem routine and low on potential impact,” they write.