Chapter 12 – Motivation Across Cultures
Chapter 12: Motivation Across Cultures
Learning Objectives and Chapter Summary
1. DEFINE motivation, and explain it as a psychological process.
Two basic types of theories explain motivation: content and process. Content
motivation theories have receoved much more attention in international
management research because they provide the opportunity to create a composite
to improve the performance of their human resources.
2. EXAMINE the hierarchy-of-needs, two-factor, and achievement motivation
theories, and assess their value to international human resource management.
Maslow’s hierarchy-of-needs theory has been studied in a number of different
countries. Researchers have found that regardless of country, managers have to be
concerned with the satisfaction of these needs for their human resources.
Some researchers have suggested that satisfaction profiles are not very useful for
studying motivation in an international setting, because there are so many different
3. DISCUSS how an understanding of employee satisfaction can be useful in human
resource management throughout the world.
Like Maslow’s theory, Herzberg’s two-factor theory has received considerable
attention in the international arena, and Herzberg’s original findings from the
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4. EXAMINE the value of process theories in motivating employees worldwide.
The third content motivation theory that has received a great amount of attention in
the international arena is the need for achievement. Some current findings show
that this need is not as widely held across cultures as was previously believed. In
some parts of the world, however, such as Anglo countries, cultural values support
5. UNDERSTAND the importance of job design, work centrality, and rewards in
motivating employees in an international context.
Process theories have also contributed to the understanding of motivation in the
international arena. Equity theory focuses on how motivation is affected by
people’s perception of how fairly they are being treated, and there is considerable
research to support the fundamental equity principle in Western work groups.
However, when the theory is examined on an international basis, the results are
goal-setting studies have been conducted in the United States; few of them have
been carried out in other cultures. Additionally, research results on the effects of
goal setting at the individual level are very limited, and culture may well account
for these outcomes.
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Expectancy theory postulates that motivation is largely influenced by a
multiplicative combination of a person’s belief that effort will lead to performance,
that performance will lead to specific outcomes, and that these outcomes are valued
by the individual. There is mixed support for this theory’s value. Many researchers
the average U.S. employee’s life and perhaps less a part of the average Japanese
worker’s life. Research also indicates that Japanese office workers are less satisfied
with their jobs than are U.S., Canadian, and EU workers, suggesting once again that
MNCs need to design motivation packages that address the specific needs of
different cultures. This is also true for rewards. Research shows that the
motivational value of monetary and nonmonetary rewards is influenced by culture.
Countries with high individualism, such as the United States and the U.K., tend to
make wide use of individual incentives, while collectivistic countries such as those
in Asia prefer group-orientated incentives.
A central point of the chapter is that some motivational approaches universal
appeal, but more often they need tailoring to fit to the culture in which an MNC
may be working. Research shows that some motivational approaches in the United
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The World of International Management: Motivating Employees in a
Multicultural Context: Insights from Emerging Markets
1. Summary
This vignette explores how to motivate employees in different cultures. Because
different cultures value rewards differently, a one-size-fits-all reward as a motivator
typically will not work in a multinational corporation. Instead, managers must learn
about each culture and understand what is important in the culture. Then, the
question of what can best motivate employees to perform can be answered. It is
important to keep in mind that for many people, intrinsic rewards can be as
important, or even more important, than extrinsic rewards.
2. Motivating Employees: General Principles
Goal of management: not simply to direct and control employees seeking to
shun work, but rather to create conditions that make people want to offer
maximum effort
Havw employees harness self-direction and self-control in pursuit of common
Giving people responsibility caused them to rise to the challenge.
Unleashing their imagination, ingenuity, and creativity resulted in their
contributions to the organization being multiplied many times over.
3. Factors of strong drivers of employee commitment
Management effectiveness
4. Suggested Class Discussion:
1. Discuss the importance of understanding another culture prior to implementing
strategies to motivate employees.
2. Reflect on the differences between the culture in China and the culture in the
United States and how the differences influence the types of incentives a firm
might offer to motivate its employees.
3. What is the role of intrinsic rewards in a multinational organization?
3. Related Internet Sites:
BusinessWeek: {http://www.businessweek.com}.
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Chapter Outline with Lecture Notes and Teaching Tips
The Nature of Motivation
1) Motivation is a psychological process through which unsatisfied wants or needs lead to
drives that are aimed at goals or incentives.
2) Figure 12–1 in the text shows the motivation process. The three basic elements in the
process are needs, drives, and goal-attainment.
3) The determinants of motivation could be intrinsic (an individual experiences fulfillment
through carrying out an activity itself and helping others), or extrinsic (the external
environment and result of the activity in the form of competition and compensation or
incentive plans are of great importance).
4) There are some motivational differences caused by culture. The major question is: Are
these differences highly significant, or can an overall theory of work motivation apply
throughout the world?
The Universalist Assumption
1) The first assumption is that the motivation process is universal, that all people are
motivated to pursue goals they value—what the work-motivation theorists call goals with
“high valence” or “preference.”
a) Although the process is universal, the specific content and goals that are pursued will
be influence by culture.
b) No one motivation theory can be universally applied across cultures.
2) Welsh, Luthans, and Sommer
a) Researchers examined the value of extrinsic rewards, behavioral management, and
participative techniques among Russian factory workers. The first two of these
motivational approaches worked well to increase worker performance, but the third
did not.
b) The study also points out the danger of making universalist assumptions about U.S.-
based theories and techniques.
3) As new opportunities for economic rewards emerge, the ways in which individuals in
these nations are motivated will change.
4) Reward packages for Chinese employees:
a) Difficult because of the range and complexity of nonwage benefits expected by
workers as a legacy
b) State is taking over health and accident insurance, pensions, unemployment and other
benefits.
c) Two cultural impediments:
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5) Japanese employees:
6) The relative frequency with which managers from one stratum of one nation are involved
in various skill activities reflects the relative frequency with which managers from other
strata within the same nation and from nations of different cultural-industrialized standing
are also involved in the same activities, providing in this case at least some general
support for the universalist hypothesis.
The Assumption of Content and Process
1) The second starting assumption is that work-motivation theories can be broken down into
two general categories: content and process.
a) Content theories explain work motivation in terms of what arouses, energized, or
initiates employee behavior.
b) Process theories explain work motivation by how employee behavior is initiated,
redirected, and halted.
2) The majority of research studies in the international arena have been content-driven; this
chapter explores the content and the process theories.
The Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory
1) The hierarchy-of-needs theory is based primarily on work by Abraham Maslow.
The Maslow Theory
1) Maslow postulated that everyone has five basic needs, which constitute a need hierarchy.
In ascending order, beginning with the most basic, they are physiological, safety, social,
esteem, and self-actualization needs.
1. Psychological needs include food, clothing, shelter, and other basic, physical needs.
2. Safety needs include the desire for security, stability, and the absence of pain.
2) Maslow’s theory, translated over the years, include a number of basic assumptions that
have driven much of the international research on the theory.
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1. Lower-level needs must be satisfied before higher-level needs become motivators.
2. Once a need is satisfied, it no longer serves as a motivator.
3. There are more ways to satisfy higher-level than lower-level needs.
International Findings on Maslow’s Theory
1) Do people throughout the world have needs that are similar to those described in Maslow’s
need hierarchy? Research generally shows that they do.
Teaching Tip: “The Maslow Reading Room” {http://www.maslow.org/main.php} is a
website dedicated to the work of Abraham Maslow. A wide variety of interesting material
is included at the site including links to articles in the Wall Street Journal and Inc.
Magazine about Maslow’s work.
2) Haire, Ghiselli, and Porter:
a) All these needs were important to the respondents across cultures. Subjects were
managers, not rank-and-file employees.
b) Autonomy and self-actualization were the most important needs for the respondents.
2) Nevis: Chinese hierarchy of needs would have four levels―lowest to highest (1)
belonging (social), (2) physiological, (3) safety, and (4) self-actualization in the service of
society. See Figure 12–3.
3) Geert Hofstede and others:
a) Need-satisfaction profiles are not a useful way to address motivation; many different
subcultures within any country that may make it difficult or impossible to determine
which culture variables are at work in a work setting.
b) Self-actualization and esteem needs rank highest for professionals and managers;
security, earnings, benefits, and physical working conditions are most important to
low-level, unskilled workers.
c) MNCs should focus most heavily on giving physical rewards to lower-level personnel
and on creating for middle- and upper-level personnel a climate in which there is
challenge, autonomy, the ability to use one’s skills, and cooperation.
The Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
1) Frederick Herzberg and his colleagues formulated the two-factor theory.
a) Similar to Maslow’s theory, Herzberg’s has been a focus of attention in international
human resource management research over the years.
b) The two-factor theory is closely linked to the need hierarchy.
The Herzberg Theory
1) The two-factor theory of motivation holds there are two sets of factors that influence job
satisfaction: hygiene factors and motivators.
a) Collected data on:
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i) When did you feel particularly good about your job?
ii) When did you feel exceptionally bad about your job?
b) The two factors:
i) Motivators refer to the job content factors which include achievement, recognition,
administration.
2) According to the two-factor theory, if hygiene factors are not taken care of or are
deficient, there will be dissatisfaction. If hygiene factors are taken care of, there may be
no dissatisfaction, but there also may not be satisfaction.
a) Only by providing the motivators will there be satisfaction.
3) Criticisms of the theory
a) The classification of money as a hygiene factor and not as a motivator is not
universally accepted.
b) Herzberg’s findings may actually support a theory of job satisfaction.
International Findings of Herzberg’s Theory
1) International findings on Herzberg’s theory fall into two categories.
a) Two-Factor Replications: A number of research efforts have been undertaken to
replicate the two-factor theory, and in the main, they support Herzberg’s findings.
i) No motivator was found to be a source of dissatisfaction. Traditional hygiene
factors were more important contributors to job dissatisfaction than to job
satisfaction.
ii) Motivators in a kibbutz tended to be sources of satisfaction and hygiene factors
iv) The most important aspects of a job to Romanians were how much recognition and
appreciation they would receive, followed by a desire for salary incentives.
b) Cross-Cultural Job-Satisfaction Studies: Recent cross-cultural studies related to job
satisfaction show that Herzberg’s-type motivators tend to be more important to job
satisfaction than are hygiene factors.
i) Job context factors are those factors controlled by the organization, such as
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c) Herzberg’s two-factor theory appears to reinforce Maslow’s need hierarchy through its
research support in the international arena.
Teaching Tip: Additional information on Herzberg’s theory of Motivation is available
at {http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_05_herzberg.html}.
Achievement Motivation Theory
1) In addition to the needs-hierarchy and two-factor theories of work motivation, the
achievement motivation theory has been given a relatively great amount of attention in the
international arena.
2) Achievement motivation theory has been applied to the actual practice of management
more than the others, and it has been the focus of some interesting international research.
The Background of Achievement Motivation Theory
1) Achievement motivation theory holds that individuals can have a need to get ahead to
attain success and to reach objectives. The theory is associated with the work of David
McCelland.
2) The need for achievement is learned.
3) Researchers have identified a characteristic profile of high achievers.
a) These people like situations in which they take personal responsibility for finding
solutions to problems. They want to win because of their own efforts, not because of
luck or chance.
b) They tend to be moderate risk takers rather than high or low risk takers.
c) They want concrete feedback on their performance.
d) They often tend to be loners, and not team players.
4) Ways to develop high-achievement needs in people. These involve teaching the individual
to do the following:
a) Obtain feedback on performance and use this information to channel efforts into areas
d) Daydream in positive terms by picturing oneself as successful in the pursuit of
important objectives.
5) Shortcomings of the theory:
a) It relies almost solely on the projective personality Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
b) It is grounded in individual effort, but in many countries group harmony and
cooperation are critically important to success.
International Findings on Achievement Motivation Theory
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1) A number of international researchers have investigated the role and importance of high
achievement needs in human resource management.
a) One study surveyed Polish industrial managers and found that the average high-
Central European countries. Achievement needs of postcommunist Europeans, now
able to be freely expressed, may well be high today.
2) Because the need for achievement is learned, differences in these samples can be
attributed to cultural differences.
3) People in high-achieving societies are not afraid to take at least moderate risks or to live
with ambiguity. These societies also tend to have moderate-to-high masculinity.
4) Figure 12–7 explores differences in countries in more detail. In summary, achievement
motivation theory provides additional insights into the motivation of personnel around the
world.
Select Process Theories
1) Process theories explain how employee behavior is initiated, redirected, and halted: and
can be used to understand motivation in the international arena.
2) Among the most widely recognized are equity theory, goal-setting theory, and expectancy
theory.
Equity Theory
1) Equity theory focuses on how motivation is affected by people’s perception of how fairly
they are being treated.
2) Findings support the basic concepts of equity theory. However, the results of studies still
point to the fact that equity theory is not universally applicable in explaining motivation
and job satisfaction.
Goal Setting Theory
1) Goal setting theory focuses on how individual go about setting goals and responding to
them and the overall impact of this process on motivation.
2) Specific areas of attention include the level of participation in setting goals, goal
difficulty, goal specificity, and the importance of objective, timely feedback to progress
toward goals.
3) Some conclusions:
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