When East meets West:Employee Motivation in Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

The present work on employee motivation can be regarded as a contribution to theoretical and empirical cross-cultural research. The goal of the thesis is to add to the critical analysis of traditional and universally renown theories on motivation and to test their global applicability. For this reason, content theories of Maslow, Herzberg and McClelland are introduced and discussed. With a view to literature and current research it is concluded that theories by Maslow, Herzberg and McClelland cannot necessarily be regarded as true for non-American cultures. Their use in the practice of internationally operating companies is therefore limited. Following this theoretical part on existing motivation theories, an empirical study is presented that has been conducted in co-operation with the company HENKEL. Results gained from the interrogation of 131 HENKEL - employees in four Eastern- and Western-European regions (Poland, Slovakia, East- and West-Germany) are demonstrated. The chosen data are aiming to prove that HENKEL - employees in Eastern and Western European countries are motivated by completely different motivational factors. It is then argued that organisations should therefore not apply identical motivational systems across borders. In fact, HENKEL - employees are shown to be extremely diverse in their attitudes towards leadership, group-affiliation and money. Little differences can be found concerning the power motive. Factor analysis allows to identify three different types of motivational characters among HENKEL-employees; notably the ‘materialist’, the ‘powerist’ and the ‘comrade’. By showing that these three different motivational characters can almost directly be attributed to different nationalities the thesis concludes that international companies should adjust their motivational systems to the national culture of those countries they are operating in.