Employee motivation to share knowledge is widely acknowledged both as an important predictor of knowledge sharing behaviors, and as a challenging factor to manage. In this light, it would be useful to know - will the lack of motivation fully block knowledge sharing, or can one still share their knowledge being unmotivated to do so? In other words, is motivation to share a necessary condition for knowledge sharing? Building on self-determination theory, past research suggested to differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to share, as intrinsic motivation is a stronger predictor of knowledge sharing, and, at the same time, is more difficult to influence by managerial interventions. We do not know if both types of motivation are equally necessary for knowledge sharing to happen, or if, when intrinsic motivation is lacking, extrinsic motivation can compensate for it. We explore these questions using three datasets (total N = 610) on organizations from different countries and industry sectors and applying a new methodological technique, Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA). Our findings, largely replicated across three samples, demonstrate that intrinsic motivation is a necessary condition for the employees to share knowledge, while extrinsic motivation is not. Implications for managing knowledge sharing behaviors are discussed.