AbstractThe aim of this paper is to examine how verbal rewards (praise) from superior public managers influence subordinate public managers’ work motivation coming from experiencing work tasks as important, exciting, interesting, and fun, so‐called autonomous motivation. We use self‐determination theory (SDT) to theorize that depending on how they are provided, verbal rewards can enhance or undermine autonomous motivation. This is because different verbal reward practices have different effects on subordinate public managers’ basic psychological needs, which in turn influences their autonomous motivation. Based on a cross‐sectional survey completed by 331 public managers in four Swedish local government organizations, we find that verbal rewards that are performance‐contingent and provided frequently undermine public managers’ autonomous motivation. Verbal rewards enhance autonomous motivation when they are based on skills and results. Our study contributes to the public management literature discussing the applicability of rewards in public sector organizations where autonomous motivation is crucial for performance. It contributes to practice by suggesting that superior managers who provide skills/result‐based verbal rewards are more likely to enhance than undermine the autonomous motivation of subordinates. In support of SDT, the overall conclusion is that the impact of verbal rewards on public managers’ autonomous motivation is contingent on how verbal rewards are provided by superiors. However, our results should be interpreted with some caution due to the circumstance that cross‐sectional survey research can only ensure associations between constructs and not causality.