Academics and universities pursue research productivity. The question of how to encourage quality research becomes essential for promoting the progress of knowledge, research management of universities, and career development of academics. Research motivation to conduct quality research has not yet been well addressed in the existing literature. This study adopted constructivist grounded theory to explore the research motivations of academics in tourism and hospitality in teaching-oriented universities. The findings from 32 semi-structured interviews from 16 universities in Mainland China (hereafter known as China) revealed the dynamics of research activities. This study expanded self-determination theory on research motivation scale (RMS). The axis of research motivations was constructed, with 11 subscales of research motivations, including “puzzle,” “vision,” “mission,” “metrics,” “weapon,” “ribbon,” “stage,” “gold,” “think tank,” “air” and “catalyst.”