A Cross-Cultural Study of Maslow's Motivation Theory in Industry

Abstract

This study assessed the utility of Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory for the work setting. Specifically, the predictive utility of each of the five needs was measured in terms of work motivation ( viz. promotional aspirations and the amount of effort expended) for 278 economically active individuals from various cultural groups in South Africa. Only the promotional aspirations index was used, however, as the effort expended index was totally unreliable. The physiological, safety and security, and love and belongingness needs predicted promotional aspirations for the Black group, while only physiological needs predicted promotional aspirations for the Indian subjects. On the other hand promotional aspirations were not predicted significantly by any of the needs for the White group. It was concluded that the results for the Black and Indian samples may be consistent with their socioeconomic position, while the results obtained for the White group may be explained by their lack of interest in promotional aspirations. The need for utilizing alternative measures of work motivation and work performance, and possibly adhering to a different philosophy of science in future research was indicated.

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