International Management
International
Ninth Edition
Management
Ninth Edition
Chapter 12
Motivation Across Cultures
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Fred Luthans
Jonathan P. Doh
International Management
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Motivation Across Cultures
• The specific objectives of this chapter are to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
DEFINE motivation, and explain it as a psychological process.
EXAMINE the hierarchy-of-needs, two-factor, and
achievement motivation theories, and assess their value to
international human resource management.
DISCUSS how an understanding of employee satisfaction can
be useful in human resource management throughout the
world.
EXAMINE the value of process theories in motivating
employees worldwide.
UNDERSTAND the importance of job design, work centrality,
and rewards in motivating employees in an international
context.
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The Nature of Motivation
• Motivation
– A psychological process through which unsatisfied
wants or needs lead to drives that are aimed at goals
or incentives
• The determinants of motivation can be
– Intrinsic
• An individual experiences fulfillment through carrying out an
activity itself and helping others.
– Extrinsic
• The external environment and result of the activity in the
form of competition or compensation or incentive plans are
of great importance.
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The Basic Motivation Process
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Motivation Across Cultures
The Universalist Assumption
• The Universalist Assumption
– The motivation process is universal; all people are
motivated to pursue goals they value.
– But, culture influences specific content and goals
pursued.
– So, the specific nature of motivation differs across
cultures.
– The motivational process may be the same, but the
specific needs and goals can be different between the
two cultures.
– The ways in which individuals in emerging and
changing nations are motivated will change.
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Motivation Across Cultures
The Assumption of Content and Process
• The Assumption of Content and Process
• Content Theories of Motivation
– Explains work motivation in terms of what arouses,
energizes, or initiates employee behavior
– The subject of most research in the field
• Process Theories of Motivation
– Explains work motivation by how employee behavior
is initiated, redirected, and halted
– More sophisticated and focused on individual
behavior in specific setting
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The Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory
• Maslow’s theory
– Five basic needs constitute a need hierarchy.
1. Physiological: basic physical needs for water, food,
clothing, and shelter
2. Safety: desires for security, stability, and absence of
pain
3. Social: needs to interact and affiliate with others and
the need to feel wanted by others
4. Esteem: needs for power and status
5. Self-actualization: desire to reach one’s full potential
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The Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory
• Maslow’s theory rests on a number of
assumptions:
– Lower-level needs must be satisfied before higherlevel needs become motivators.
– A need that is satisfied no longer motivates.
– There are more ways to satisfy higher-level needs
than there are ways to satisfy lower-level needs.
• These assumptions have driven much of the
international research on the theory.
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Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
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The Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory
International Findings
• Haire’s study indicated that all needs are
important to respondents across cultures.
– International managers (not rank and file employees)
indicated that upper-level needs were of particular
importance to them.
– Findings for select country clusters (Latin Europe,
U.S./UK, Nordic Europe) indicated autonomy and selfactualization were the most important and least
satisfied needs for respondents.
– Business firms will have to be concerned with the
satisfaction of these needs for their managers and
executives.
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The Hierarchy-of-Needs Theory
International Findings
• Another study of East Asian managers in eight
countries found autonomy and self-actualization in
most cases ranked high.
• Some researchers have suggested modification of
Maslow’s Western-oriented hierarchy by re-ranking
needs.
– Asian culture emphasizes the needs of society
– A Chinese hierarchy of needs might have four levels ranked
from lowest to highest:
•
•
•
•
Belonging (social)
Physiological
Safety
Self-actualization (in service of society)
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Collectivist Need Hierarchy
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Top-Ranking Goals for Professional Technical
Personnel from a Large Variety of Countries
continues
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Top-Ranking Goals for Professional Technical
Personnel from a Large Variety of Countries
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The Four Most Important Goals Ranked by
Occupational Group and Related to the Need Hierarchy
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The Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
• The Herzberg Theory
– A theory that identifies two sets of factors that
influence job satisfaction.
• Motivators: Job-content factors such as achievement,
recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the work
itself. Only when motivators are present will there be
satisfaction.
• Hygiene Factors: Job-context factors such as salary,
interpersonal relations, technical supervision, working
conditions, and company policies and administration. If
hygiene factors aren’t taken care of there will be
dissatisfaction.
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Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
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The Relationship Between Maslow’s Need
Hierarchy and Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
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The Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
International Findings
• International findings on Herzberg’s theory
– Research tends to support Herzberg’s theory
– Hines
• Surveyed 218 middle managers and 196 salaried employees
in New Zealand
• Found validity across occupational levels
– Similar study conducted among 178 Greek managers:
Overall theory held true.
– Study in an Israeli kibbutz: “Satisfactions arise from
the nature of the work itself, while dissatisfactions
have to do with the conditions surrounding the work.”
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Motivation Factors in Zambia
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Selected Countries
Hygiene and Motivation
continues
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Selected Countries
Hygiene and Motivation
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The Results of Administering the JOI
to Four Cross-Cultural Groups
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Achievement Motivation Theory
• Achievement motivation theory
– Holds that individuals can have a need to get ahead,
to attain success, and to reach objectives.
• Profile of high achievers
– They like situations in which they take personal
responsibility for finding solutions to problems.
– They tend to be moderate risk-takers rather than high
or low risk takers.
– They want concrete feedback on performance.
– They often tend to be loners, and not team players.
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Achievement Motivation Theory
• To develop high achievement needs,
individuals should
– Obtain feedback on performance and use the
information to channel efforts into areas where
success is likely.
– Emulate people who are successful achievers.
– Develop an internal desire for success and
challenges.
– Daydream in positive terms by picturing self being
successful in the pursuit of important objectives.
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Achievement Motivation Theory
International Findings
• Polish industrialists were high achievers.
– Scoring 6.58 (U.S. managers’ scored an average 6.74)
• Some studies did not find a high need for achievement in
Central European countries.
– Average score for Czech managers was 3.32―considerably
lower than for U.S. managers.
• Achievement motivation theory must be modified to meet
specific needs of local culture.
– Culture of many countries doesn’t support high achievement.
– Anglo cultures and those rewarding entrepreneurial effort do
support achievement motivation, and their human resources
should probably be managed accordingly.
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Selected Countries on the UncertaintyAvoidance and Masculinity Scales
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Select Process Theories
Equity Theory
• Equity Theory
– Focuses on how motivation is affected by people’s
perception of how fairly they are being treated.
• When people perceive they are treated equitably, this will
have a positive effect on their job satisfaction.
• If people believe they aren’t being treated fairly (especially
relative to relevant others), they will be dissatisfied, leading
to negative effect on job performance; they will attempt to
restore equity.
– While there is considerable support for the theory in
the Western world, support is mixed on an
international basis.
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Select Process Theories
International Findings
• International findings on equity theory
– Israeli kibbutz production unit, everyone is treated the
same but managers reported lower satisfaction levels
than workers.
• Managers perceived contributions greater than other groups
in kibbutz and felt under-compensated for value and effort.
– Employees in Asia and Middle East often readily
accept inequitable treatment in order to preserve
group harmony.
– Japanese men and women (and in Latin America)
typically receive different pay for doing same work;
due to years of cultural conditioning women may not
feel treated inequitably.
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Individualistic and Collectivist
Approaches to Equity Model
continues
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Individualistic and Collectivist
Approaches to Equity Model
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Select Process Theories
Goal-Setting Theory
• Goal-Setting Theory
– Focuses on how individuals set goals and respond to
them and the overall impact of this process on
motivation.
• Specific areas given attention in this theory
–
–
–
–
–
Level of participation in goal setting
Goal difficulty
Goal specificity
Importance of objective
Timely feedback to progress toward goals
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Select Process Theories
Goal-Setting Theory
• Goal setting theory is continually refined and
developed.
• Considerable research evidence exists
showing employees performing extremely
well when assigned specific and challenging
goals in which they have a hand in setting.
• Most studies have been conducted in US; just
a few have been carried out in other cultures.
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Select Process Theories
International Findings
• International findings on goal setting theory
– Norwegian employees shunned participation and
preferred to have union representatives work with
management to determine work goals.
– Individual participation in goal setting was
inconsistent with the prevailing Norwegian philosophy
of participation through a union rep.
– In the U.S., employee participation in goal setting is
motivational; no value for Norwegian employees in
this study.
– The value of goal-setting theory may well be
determined by culture.
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Select Process Theories
Expectancy Theory
• Expectancy theory
– A process theory that postulates that motivation is
influenced by a person’s belief that
•
•
•
•
Effort will lead to performance.
Performance will lead to specific outcomes.
Outcomes will be of value to the individual.
High performance followed by high rewards will lead to
high satisfaction.
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Select Process Theories
International Findings
• International findings on expectancy theory
– Eden found some support for the theory while
studying workers in an Israeli kibbutz.
– Matsui and colleagues found it could be
successfully applied in Japan.
• The theory seems culture-bound.
– It is based on employees having considerable
control over their environment (which does not
exist in many cultures).
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Motivation Applied: Job Design, Work
Centrality, and Rewards
• Job Design
– A job’s content, the methods that are used on the job, and
the way the job relates to other jobs in the organization.
• Quality of work life (QWL) is not the same throughout
the world.
– Assembly-line workers in Japan work at a rapid pace for
hours and have little control over their work activities.
– Assembly-line workers in Sweden work at more relaxed
pace and have a great deal of control over work activities.
– U.S. assembly-line workers typically work somewhere in
between―at a pace less demanding than Japan’s but more
structured than Sweden’s.
– QWL may be directly related to culture of the country.
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Cultural Dimensions in Japan, Sweden,
and the United States
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Motivation Applied: Job Design,
Work Centrality, and Rewards
Socio-Technical Job Designs
• Sociotechnical designs
– Job designs that blend personnel and technology.
• The objective of these designs is to integrate new
technology into the workplace so that workers
accept and use it to increase overall productivity.
– New technology often requires people learn new
methods and in some cases work faster.
• Employee resistance is common.
– Some firms introduced sociotechnical designs for
better blending of personnel and technology without
sacrificing efficiency.
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Motivation Applied: Job Design,
Work Centrality, and Rewards
Work Centrality
• Work centrality
– The importance of work in an individual’s life relative
to other areas of interest
• Can provide important insights into how to
motivate human resources in different cultures
–
–
–
–
Japan has highest level of work centrality.
Israel has moderately high levels.
U.S. and Belgium have average levels.
The Netherlands and Germany have moderately low
levels.
– Britain has low levels.
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Motivation Applied: Job Design,
Work Centrality, and Rewards
Value of Work
• Work is an important part of people’s lives in the
U.S. and Japan.
– Americans and Japanese work long hours because the
cost of living is high.
– Most Japanese managers expect salaried employees
who aren’t paid extra to stay late at work; overtime
has become a requirement of the job.
– Recent evidence exists that Japanese workers may do
far less work in business day than outsiders would
suspect.
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Motivation Applied: Job Design,
Work Centrality, and Rewards
Value of Work
• There is a growing interest in the impact of
overwork on employees.
– In Japan, one-third of the working-age population
suffers from chronic fatigue.
• The Japanese prime minister’s office found the majority
of those surveyed complained of
– Chronic exhaustion
– Emotional stress
– Abusive conditions in workplace
– Karoshi (“overwork” or “job burnout”) is now
recognized as a real social problem.
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Reward Systems
• Managers everywhere use rewards to motivate
personnel
– However, significant differences exist between reward
systems that work best in one country and those that
are most effective in another.
• Many cultures base compensation on group membership
– Sometimes these are financial in nature such as salary
raises, bonuses, and stock options.
– Workers in many countries motivated by things other
than financial rewards
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Incentives and Culture
• The use of financial incentives to motivate
employees is very common.
– But, culture influences the types of incentives that
are considered to be important.
• Financial incentive systems vary.
– Individual incentive-based pay systems in which
workers paid directly for output
– Systems in which employees earn individual
bonuses based on organizational performance
goals
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Review and Discuss
1. Do people throughout the world have needs
similar to those described in Maslow’s need
hierarchy? What does your answer reveal
about using universal assumptions regarding
motivation?
2. Is Herzberg’s two-factor theory universally
applicable to human resource management,
or is its value limited to Anglo countries?
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Review and Discuss
3. What are the dominant characteristics of
high achievers? Using Figure 12–7 as your
point of reference, determine which
countries likely will have the greatest
percentage of high achievers. Why is this so?
Of what value is your answer to the study of
international management?
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Review and Discuss
4. A U.S. manufacturer is planning to open a plant
in Sweden. What should this firm know about
the quality of work life in Sweden that would
have a direct effect on job design in the plant?
Give an example.
5. What does a U.S. firm setting up operations in
Japan need to know about work centrality in
that country? How would this information be of
value to the multinational? Conversely, what
would a Japanese firm need to know about work
centrality in the United States? Explain.
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Review and Discuss
6. In managing operations in Europe, which
process theory―equity, goal-setting, or
expectancy―would be of most value to an
American manager? Why?
7. What do international managers need to
know about the use of reward incentives to
motivate personnel? What role does culture
play in this process?