Purpose The present study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the picture story exercise (PSE), a tool for measuring implicit motivations in Iran. Design/methodology/approach The research method is descriptive correlation and was conducted in two studies. In the first study 24 psychology master’s students were selected by convenience sampling method and tested them to check retest and inter-coder reliability. The second study investigated the correlation between self-reports and the PSE test on a sample of managers. Its statistical population comprised all the managers of a refinery company, 50 people were selected by convenience sampling method. To check the concurrent validity of the PSE test, the participants of the second study, completing the PSE, also completed the needs questionnaire of Steers and Porter (1979). Findings The findings showed that the PSE test in the Iranian sample had high retest reliability (0.62 on mean) and inter-coder reliability (0.87 on mean), and, following previous research, it does not show a significant relationship with self-reported motives. Practical implications PSE can be used in future research as a tool that has demonstrated its reliability and validity in the Iranian sample. Originality/value Measurement of implicit motives is a practical factor for predicting people’s behavior, the necessity of using tools that can accurately evaluate implicit motives is strongly felt. Taking into account the fact that so far, in Iranian samples, implicit motivations have not been measured, therefore, the current research is trying to answer this question, whether one of the most important and prominent tools that were made for this purpose and used in various studies can also be used in Iranian samples.