This article explores the challenges presented in using the scholarship of teaching as a model of teaching excellence when devising an appropriate approach to reward. It argues that the complexity of staff motivation has to be addressed by a critical evaluation of institutions' commitment to the scholarship of teaching. An expectancy model of motivation drawn from organizational behaviour literature is suggested as an approach to analysing the distance between espoused commitment to the scholarship of teaching and academic staff perspectives. The context of the discussion is set against the background of the UK Government's approach to funding incentives to promote reward for teaching excellence in higher education and the literature related to practices employed in HEIs. The views of academic staff drawn from seven focus groups across all subject areas in one institution demonstrate the need to take account of the motivation process and the need to have a shared understanding of what constitutes excellence. (Contains 2 figures, 2 notes and 1 table.)