What motivates workers in other countries?^[1]

Most motivation theories in use today were developed in the United States by Americans and about Americans. Of those that were not, many have been strongly influenced by American theories. But several motivation theories do not apply to all cultures. For example, Maslow’s theory does not often hold outside the United States. In countries higher on uncertainty avoidance (such as Greece and Japan) as compared with those lower on uncertainty avoidance (such as the United States), security motivates employees more strongly than does self-actualization. Employees in high-uncertainty-avoidance countries often consider job security and lifetime employment more important than finding a more interesting or challenging job. Also contrasting with the American pattern, social needs often dominate the motivation of workers in countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden that stress the quality of life over materialism and productivity.

When researchers tested Herzberg’s theory outside the United States, they encountered different results. In New Zealand, for example, supervision and interpersonal relationships appear to contribute significantly to satisfaction and not merely to reducing dissatisfaction. Similarly, researchers found that citizens of Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Republic of Panama, and the West Indies cited certain extrinsic factors as satisfiers with greater frequency than did their American counterparts. In other words, the factors that motivate U.S. employees may not spark the same motivation in employees from other cultures. Some of the major differences among the cultural groups include the following:

1. English-speaking countries such as England and the United States rank higher on individual achievement and lower on the desire for security.
2. French-speaking countries and areas such as France and the province of Quebec in Canada, although similar to the English-speaking countries, give greater importance to security and somewhat less to challenging work.
3. Northern European countries such as Sweden have less interest in getting ahead and work towards recognition goals and place more emphasis on job accomplishment. In addition, they have more concern for people and less for the organization as a whole (it is important that their jobs not interfere with their personal lives).
4. Latin American and Southern European countries find individual achievement somewhat less important; Southern Europeans place the highest emphasis on job security, whereas both groups of countries emphasize fringe benefits.
5. Germany ranks high on security and fringe benefits and among the highest on getting ahead.
6. Japan, although low on advancement, also ranks second-highest on challenge and lowest on autonomy, with a strong emphasis on good working conditions and a friendly working environment.

In our globalized business environment, these preferences make motivating workers more complex. Businesses need to recognize that even if their workforce is primarily located in the U.S., cultural differences may mean that workers have varied responses to motivation strategies.