An examination of employee culture-based perceptions as a predictor of motivation.

Emery, Charles R. ; Oertel, Simon

ABSTRACT

As worldwide competition continues to increase, corporations are feverishly seeking ways to increase productivity. A critical element to increasing productivity is employee motivation. This task of understanding and influencing the employee's motivation is often made easier, if the company attempts to select employees with specific values, beliefs and needs that align with those of the company. This study explores the relationship between the Hofstede cultural dimensions (as a predictor of values) and Vroom's expectancy theory (valence, expectancy, instrumentality) for the purpose of determining whether Hofstede's instrument can be used to predict an individual's motivation potential in a given organizational environment. A variety of hypotheses were tested using a web-based survey of US and German workers. Although the hypotheses concerning the relationship between culture-based perceptions and expectancies and instrumentalities were not heavily supported, several of the relationships between an employee's cultural values and valences were supported. This suggests that motivation, to some extent, can be predicted by knowledge of an employee's culture-based values. Additionally, this research presents some interesting findings on motivation across various demographic categories (e.g., nationality, gender) and suggests some issues for future research on selecting for motivation.

INTRODUCTION

As worldwide competition continues to increase, corporations are feverishly seeking ways to increase productivity. A critical element to increasing productivity is employee motivation. Most researchers believe that to enhance employee motivation, one must understand the motivation process. In other words, one must understand how an employee processes his or her environment to make choices. The most popular of the motivation process theories is Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory (1995). The Expectancy Theory suggests that a person's motivation is based on the product of his or her valence (the value of an individual goal), expectancy (probability of successfully accomplishing a task), and instrumentality (probability that the successful accomplishment of the task will result in achieving a desired goal). In practice, a manager should attempt to understand an employee's valences, expectancy, and instrumentality for each task in order to influence his or her motivation. This task of understanding and influencing the employee's motivation is often made easier, if the company attempts to select employees with specific values, beliefs and needs that align with those of the company. In other words, a good "cultural fit" may be an important prerequisite for motivation. More specifically, a company should consider the candidate's perceptions of expectancies, instrumentalities, and valences against the organization's environment for the best "motivational fit."

The most popular method used to select for productivity focuses on matching an individual's traits or characteristics with those required of the job (Cook, 1998). For example, many companies use all or portions of the "Big Five Personality Test Model" (McCrae & Costa, 1997) to screen applicants for extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, openness to change and conscientiousness. Another approach to screen for productivity, however, may be to assess an applicant's perceptions or value system. Recent research indicates that a person's perception (i.e. interpretation of environment) of an organization's operation (e.g., policies and procedures) is thought to be a major contributor to one's motivation and an excellent predictor of behavior (Andre et al., 2003; Henle, 2005; Hubbell & Chory-Assad, 2005). The perception construct is based on an individual's attitude, personality, values, beliefs and norms (Allport, 1955; Freud, 1963). While values, beliefs and norms are normally reserved to describe the culture of a society, organization or group, one can see that they might serve to describe an individual's culture or culture-based perceptions. If so, Hofstede's (1984) instrument for identifying a society's cultural dimensions may be an appropriate tool to describe an individual's culture-based perceptions. In other words, identifying an applicant's Hofstede profile might help predict an employee's potential motivation for a given organizational environment (e.g., policies and procedures). For example, an employee with high "uncertainty avoidance" might be more easily motivated in highly structured organizations (e.g., rules and procedures). An employee high in "power distance" might be less likely to speak out against inequities or to volunteer ideas. An employee high in "collectivism" might be more easily motivated with group-based financial rewards.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions and the elements of Vroom's Expectancy Theory (valence, expectancy, instrumentality). If a significant relationship exists between an individual's cultural characteristics and the way they perceive key motivational factors, it is logical to suggest that Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions may predict a person's motivational profile. Survey questions that provide a significant predictive power will be offered for future instrument development and testing.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Culture, Values and Perception

Culture is defined as collective programming of a society's mind or modal personality (Wallace, 1970). At the individual level, the components of culture are expressed as an individual's values and perceptions (Allport, 1955). Hofstede (1984) defines a value as "a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others. Because our values are programmed early in our lives, they are non-rational and determine our subjective definition of rationality or perception." Perception is the cognitive process by which an individual selects, organizes, and gives meaning to environmental stimuli (Andre et al., 2003). Through perception, individuals attempt to make sense of their environment and the objects, people, and events in it. In other words, the space between stimuli and response is occupied by perception. As such, knowledge of one's cultural-based or biased perception might be a strong predictor of motivation and behavior. An instrument that indicates a society's culture or work-related values might well be a predictor of a person's values and perceptions and therefore, motivation and behavior.

Cultural Dimensions

Geert Hofstede's 1980 study is one of the most frequently cited research efforts regarding the relationship between societal culture and work-related values (Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996). His research has been instrumental in furthering an understanding of cross-cultural management theory and practice, revealing that members of different societies hold divergent values concerning the nature of organizations and interpersonal relationships. Recently researchers have begun to use Hofstede's model of culture as a framework for testing the affect of cross-cultural differences on behavior (e.g., consumer behavior). Hofstede's study yielded a structure consisting of four dimensions on which societies differ: individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity. Later, a fifth dimension of time was added (Hofstede, 1994).

Hofstede explained that the dimension of individualism is the degree to which individual decision-making and actions are encouraged by a society. This dimension reflects the way people live together. In a collectivistic society, the lower end of the individualism-collectivism continuum, individualistic behavior may be seen as selfish. In some cultures, like for example the US, individualism is seen as a blessing and a source of well being. In other cultures like the Mexico, it is seen as alienating. In general, employees with a lower Individualism Index (IDV) have lower career aspirations and tend to have a high emotional dependence and a high moral involvement in the company. Employees with higher individualism scores have a higher career orientation and egoistic working style and often tend to reject follower ideas and initiatives. In low IDV countries, group decisions are considered much better than individual decisions, while in high IDV countries the opposite is true. Finally, in high IDV societies there exists a high social mobility across occupation and more working hours per month are common.

The power distance dimension indicates the degree to which power differences are accepted and sanctioned by society. In other words, it indicates how different societies have addressed basic human inequalities in social status and prestige, wealth, and sources of power. The societal norm in a country with a high score on the PD dimension is for powerful people to look as powerful as possible. People with power are considered to be right and good. Powerful people are expected to have privileges. In countries with high power distance, the exercise of power gives satisfaction and powerful people try to maintain and increase power differences. Within companies, disparities in power are often essential and functional. In countries with high Power Distance Indexes (PDI) people don't believe in the chance of career opportunities based on, for example, advanced training. Examples of countries with a high PDI are Mexico and India. In India people are born into castes, which influence their whole life and the chances of getting promoted. Also, in high PDI countries, (e.g., China) people are raised with a high value of obedience. As such, people in high PD cultures put a high value on authority and compliance becomes an attitude or social norm (Hanisch, 2003). The managers in high PDI countries make their decisions on their own without any feedback from the followers. The employees in these countries are scared to disagree with their bosses. Additionally, high PDI societies are characterized by tall organization pyramids. Managers usually rely on formal rules and there is little defense against power abuses by a supervisor (Hofstede, 1994). Another distinctiveness of high PDI countries is that many managers are dissatisfied with their careers and feel underpaid.

The uncertainty avoidance dimension represents the degree to which a society is unwilling to accept and cope with uncertainty. People use laws, rules, rituals, religion, and technology to address uncertainty. This dimension is related to anxiety, need for security, dependence on experts, and the application of information (Hofstede, 1984). The higher the uncertainty avoidance index (UNC) in a country, the more a high authority is required and the more the society believes in and relies upon experts. In high UNC countries the citizens tend to feel less able to participate in political decisions at a local level. In many case, a high UNC seems to provide a positive job stress that gives employees a stronger achievement motivation. On the other hand, a high UNC reduces the desire for creativity because of the possibility of failure. In work situations, employees with a high UNC have a higher loyalty and a longer average duration of employment (Hofstede, 1994). The power of a supervisor in a high UNC country depends on his ability to manage or avoid uncertainties. Finally, in high UNC employees have a high degree of task orientation along with precision and punctuality. Low UNC employees have a lower anxiety level and a greater acceptance of change and failure. Lastly, employees in low UNC countries are more likely to be optimistic about the reaching company goals (Hofstede, 1994).

The masculinity (MAS) dimension indicates the degree to which traditional male values (assertiveness, performance, ambition, achievement, and materialism) are important to a society. The opposite end of this continuum has been labeled femininity. The societal norm in a country with a high score on the MAS dimension is to try to be the best--typical values include achievement, productivity and "machismo". In these countries, big and fast are considered beautiful. Further, in a high MAS society (e.g., Japan), the managers have higher ideals of leadership, independence, and self-realization than countries with a low MAS (e.g., Sweden). Also, High MAS means a higher work centrality, the belief in individual decision, higher stress on job, a strong achievement motivation, and a focus on money and material goods. On the other hand, low MAS societies suggest an organizational culture with lower job stress and that the managers have a work attitude of being service providers for their followers. Employees from low MAS countries are more relationship oriented and usually see work as a means rather than the end. In other words, they work to live rather than the more masculine focus of living to work (Hofstede, 1984).

The fifth dimension of national culture is a long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO/STO) of thought. According to Hofstede (1994), the dimension of time is based a society's adherence to principles of Confucius. For example, a society with a long-term orientation toward time would focus on future rewards and consider the family as the prototype of all social organizations. Virtuous behavior would consist of not treating others as one would not like to be treated oneself. One's task in life consists of trying to acquire skills and education, working hard, not spending more than necessary, being patient, and preserving resources (e.g., thrift). On the other hand, a short-term focus can be defined as the fostering of virtues related to the past and present, in particular, respect for tradition, preservation of "face" and fulfilling social obligations.

Motivational Theories

Research indicates that the validity of motivational theories is closely tied to the values, beliefs, and norms of the society, i.e. a society's culture (Gagne & Deci, 2005). Two of the most popular motivational theories which embody the notion that performance is related to one's perception and value system are McClelland's (1962) Learned Needs Theory and Vroom's (1964) Expectancy Theory. In other words, both theories suggest performance motives reflect persistent characteristics or perceptions of reality. The learned needs theory suggests that needs are acquired from one's culture, i.e. learned at an early stage through coping with one's environment. As such, learned needs become the focus of one's motivation and help create one's value system and vice versa. Three of these learned needs are the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power. When an employee's job does not allow needs to be fulfilled, he or she will reduce productivity and often become a behavior problem (McClelland, 1962).

The Expectancy Theory (Vroom, 1964) holds that people are motivated to behave in ways that produce the highest probability of desired outcomes based on their perceptions of the situation. Critical to the magnitude of motivation are the variables of expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Expectancy is defined as the probability that an individual believes he or she can successfully accomplish a particular task. Instrumentality represents a person's belief that successful completion of a particular task will lead to the individually desired outcome (goal). Valence is the value an individual places on the desired outcome. As such, the motivation potential of pursuing a particular behavior is calculated as expectancy (E) times instrumentality (I) times valence (V). This study proposes that an individual's E, I, and V and therefore motivation, may be influenced or moderated by culturally-biased perceptions.

RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES

The literature indicates that an individual's motives are influenced by his or her perceptions and value system (Hofstede, 1994; Maslow, 1987; Vroom, 1964). Specifically, Vroom (1964) indicates that motivational potential is the product of an individual's perception of expectancy times instrumentality times valence. Since a person's perception is influenced by one's value system, it seems reasonable to believe that culture-based values might moderate the values of an individual's expectancies, instrumentalities and valences and therefore have an effect on the individual's motivation. As such, an instrument that assesses cultural dimensions might be suitable for identifying an individual's culture-based perceptions and value system and therefore be suitable for predicting the motivational potential offered by various organizational policies and procedures.

Expectancy is an individual's perception of (the probability) whether he/she can successfully accomplish a task (Vroom, 1964). It is proposed that Hofstede's dimensions influence the expectancy of an individual in many ways. For example, individuals with a low power distance score have a higher expectancy for getting promoted than people with a high power distance score. Employees with a high score in the individualism dimension have a high expectancy regarding the truth of their own decisions. Individuals with a high uncertainty avoidance believe that there is only one way of doing things and therefore have reduced expectations of success under dynamic environments. Individuals with high masculine values are more likely to persist in the face of early task failures. Employees with a long-term view of time are more apt to exhibit patience when confronted with failure. As such, the following hypotheses are proposed:

1a. The employee's power distance index (PDI) will significantly predict the employee's expectancy.

2a. The employee's uncertainty avoidance index (UNC) will significantly predict the employee's expectancy.

3a. The employee's individualism index (IDV) will significantly predict the employee's expectancy.

4a. The employee's masculinity index (MAS) will significantly predict the employee's expectancy.

5a. The employee's time orientation index (LTO) will significantly predict the employee's expectancy.

Instrumentality is an individual's perception (of the probability) that the successful completion of a task will lead to desired rewards or valences (Vroom, 1964). For example, individuals with high masculinity are more likely to believe that hard work results in job promotion. Employees with high uncertainty avoidance require rules stating the relationship between accomplishments and rewards. The average worker with high power distance scores believes that he or she will be rewarded or not rewarded at the discretion of top management. Individuals with a long-term view of time are more likely to believe in the connection between task accomplishment and reward. As such, the following hypotheses are proposed:

1b. The employee's power distance index (PDI) will significantly predict the employee's instrumentality.

2b. The employee's uncertainty avoidance index (UNC) will significantly predict the employee's instrumentality.

3c. The employee's individualism index (IDV) will significantly predict the employee's instrumentality.

4d. The employee's masculinity index (MAS) will significantly predict the employee's instrumentality.

5e. The employee's time orientation index (LTO) will significantly predict the employee's instrumentality.

The valence is the value an individual places on a particular outcome or reward/need. One would expect that valences are significantly affected by one's learned or culturally-based value system. For example, employees high on masculinity generally favor pay increases, job titles and promotions over time off or better working conditions. Employees, with low uncertainty avoidance value autonomy and flexibility. Employees with a high degree of individualism value individual recognition. Individuals with a high sense of power distance are more comfortable with inequities of rewards. Individuals with a long-term orientation place a higher value on security and pension benefits. As such, the following hypotheses are proposed:

1a. The employee's power distance index (PDI) will significantly predict the employee's valences.

2a. The employee's uncertainty avoidance index (UNC) will significantly predict the employee's valences.

3a. The employee's individualism index (IDV) will significantly predict the employee's valences.

4a. The employee's masculinity index (MAS) will significantly predict the employee's valences.

5a. The employee's time orientation index (LTO) will significantly predict the employee's valences.

METHODOLOGY

The essence of this study was to determine whether culturally-biased perceptions influence or predict an employee's perceptions of motivational factors. As such, a three part, 61-question survey was developed to test the hypotheses. The first part was used to measure an individual's cultural-based perception. It consisted of 26 questions (5 MAS, 5 IDV, 5 UNC, 5 PDI, 6 LTO) and was taken directly from Hofstede's Value Survey Module (1994). The second part measured a worker's perception of typical organizational expectancies, instrumentalities and valences. This section consisted of 27 questions (6 valence-related, 11 expectancy, and 10 instrumentality) and was adapted from Vroom's (1995) listing of typical work-related perceptions of motivational factors. The third part consisted of 8 questions to measure various the samples various demographic characteristics (e.g., management level, gender, age, nationality, earnings, and work experience with their current organization). Additionally, it was believed that the questionnaire should be administered across two nationalities to control for and identify variations in work-related values that weren't captured by the Hofstede Value Survey Module. Further, any supportive evidence obtained across the two cultures would provide a stronger case for a generalization of the findings.

The questionnaire was developed in English and pilot tested using 10 employees of a local manufacturing firm. Adjustments were made to some of the wording and then the questionnaire was translated into German. The German version was back translated into English by the "Sprachdienst Gehring" company which specializes in translations of materials for the German business world. After comparing the back-translated version with the original English version, there were some wording adjustments made to the instructions within the final German questionnaire. Subsequently, the questionnaire was developed for administration via a website to ensure employee confidentiality.

Human Resource managers at 10 US and 8 German companies requested their employees voluntarily participate in this on-line survey as part of ongoing local industry-university research projects. Multiple companies were used to reduce the possible effect of organizational cultures. The survey/questionnaire was made available via two university websites for a two week period. Although the survey approach and sampling method is suitable for testing the hypotheses, the methodology presents some clear limitations regarding response rate and control. For example, since the questionnaire was administered via a website, it has an unknown response rate and therefore could be subject to various respondent biases. Further, since the questionnaire responses were recorded anonymously via a website, it was not possible to separate or control the results by organization and, as such the results might have an organizational bias. Also, because the questionnaire was administered to companies within two specific geographic areas, the responses might have a local bias.

RESULTS

The web survey/questionnaire approach to data collection resulted in 233 usable responses; 104 German workers (60 men and 44 women) and 129 US workers (55 men and 74 women). The individual scores for each of the cultural dimensions (e.g., MAS, LTO, IDV, UNC, PDI) exhibited equality of variance and were then partitioned into quartiles by nationality. The high and low quartiles were used for hypothesis testing. Although it significantly reduced the sample size, it is considered an appropriate approach for exploratory research when it is believed that character extremes might provide the most visible reactions (Judd et al., 1991). Also, the aggregated mean scores of the expectancy, instrumentality, and valence questions were used to test the hypotheses via correlation analysis. In addition, individual E, I, and V questions were examined for significance in an attempt to build a usable evaluation instrument.

The results of the hypothesis testing for the relationship between culture-based perceptions and expectancies revealed that none of the U.S. employees' expectancies were significantly related to culture-based perceptions and values. The German employees, however, had two culture-based value systems that related to perceptions of expectancies. The uncertainty avoidance dimension was significantly related to their perception of successfully accomplishing the tasks (r=.28 @ p<.05). Most striking in this area was the belief that organizational change was not a positive influence to increasing performance (-.50 @ p<.01). Also, the power distance dimension was significantly related to how they perceived their ability to successfully accomplish tasks (r=.31@ p<.06). The question that was the most striking in this area was that a close working relationship with their supervisor was important to successfully accomplishing tasks (.50 @ p<.01). There were, however, several other expectancy-related questions that provided some expected and unexpected results. As expected, the power distance dimension index was negatively correlated (.29 @ p<.06) with their willingness to voice dissatisfaction with unsatisfactory working conditions; this was only significant for US workers. Unexpectedly, however, the individualism dimension index was negatively correlated (-.27 @ p<.08) with the employees' belief that performance is best performed in groups; this, however, was only significant for the German workers. One might have expected this result for US workers, since the US has the highest cultural index of individualism in the world.

The results of the hypothesis testing for the relationship between culture-based perceptions and expectancies revealed that none of the German employees' instrumentalities were significantly related to culture-based perceptions and values. The US employees, however, had two culture-based value systems that related to perceptions of instrumentalities. The masculinity dimension was significantly related to their perception of the probability that successfully accomplishing the task would lead to rewards or desired outcomes (r=.34 @ p< .02). Most striking in this area was the belief that competition is more likely to result in better performance and rewards (r=.63 @ p<.01). Additionally, and most surprisingly, the individualism dimension was negatively related to the workers' perception that the successful completion of tasks lead to rewards (r=-.44 @ p< .01). The question that was most striking in this area was their belief that promotions were based on skills and abilities (r=-.53 @ p<.01). Also, interestingly, there was a significant disconnect between how the US and German workers' perceived the influence of power distance on instrumentality. The German workers believed that if they voiced dissatisfaction with unsatisfactory working conditions, the conditions would be changed (r=.39 @ p<.02). The US workers, however, had the opposite reaction (r=-.28 @ p<.07). In other words, the Germans believed that the higher the power distance, the more likely their voice would be heard. On the other hand, the US employees believe that the lower the power distance, the more likely their voice would be heard.

The results of the hypothesis testing for the relationship between culture-based perceptions and valences revealed that three of the culture-based perceptions were related for the US workers; uncertainty avoidance (r=-.26 @ p<.06), individualism (r=-39 @ p<.01) and masculinity (r=.55 @ .01). On the other hand, only one dimension of culture-based perceptions was related to the German's desire of valences; masculinity (r=.46 @ p<.01. Tables 1 and 2 indicate the significant relationships between the cultural dimensions and employees' valences by question and nationality. As expected, employee scores on power distance, individualism, and masculinity had the most correlation with their desire for certain outcomes. In addition, there were several interesting relationships worth noting. For example, higher scores on individualism were inversely related to the need for personal time in both cultures. Also, particularly noteworthy was that the need for personal time was negatively correlated for US workers on each dimension. As expected, both cultures had a negative correlation between the need for a good working relationship and power distance. Unexpectedly, however, the need for variety and adventure on the job were oppositely correlated for the cultures on the individualism dimension. In other words, the US employees high in individualism preferred not to have adventure on the job whereas the German employees high on IDV preferred to have it. One might expect this type of dichotomous result to occur in the relationship between the need for variety/adventure on the job and the uncertainty avoidance dimension. Hofstede's (1984) findings suggest that the US is significantly lower on the uncertainty avoidance dimension and therefore one might expect that they would have significant differences about adventure on the job; however, none existed. Lastly, the need for job security was surprisingly correlated with the masculinity dimension for both cultures.

The entire samples (non-partitioned) were used to evaluate the demographic factors. Importantly, the findings indicate that several of the culture-based values and perceptions varied significantly by demographic factors. For example, women were higher on uncertainty avoidance (r=.139 @ p<.03) and higher on long-term orientation (r=.139 @ p<.03). Also, as expected, age was positively correlated with uncertainty avoidance (r=.402 @ p<.01). Having a university degree was negatively correlated with uncertainty avoidance (r=.325 @ p<.02) and positively correlated with workers in the service sector and those exhibiting masculinity (r=.317 @ p<.03). Only one of the culture-based values systems varied significantly by nationality and that was the long-term orientation dimension; the US was significantly more short-term oriented than the German employees (p<.01). None of the results varied significantly by salary, supervisory position or years in the organization.

Although the Hofstede dimensions didn't vary much across the two country samples, several of the demographic factors were significantly different between the countries. For example, there were a number of significant gender differences. First, the US women were significantly higher on uncertainty avoidance (.177 @ .03), individualism (.166 @ p<.06) and were more long term oriented (.148 @ p<.04) than US men. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences between the German women and men. Further, there were significant demographic differences in the work-rated needs between employees of the two countries (Tables 3 & 4). For example, the German workers didn't significantly value time for a personal or family. On the other hand, the US workers had significant correlations between personal time, gender and the work sector. As expected more personal and family time was needed by women and those workers in the manufacturing sector. Also, the German workers didn't significantly value good working conditions. The US workers' value for good working conditions was negatively correlated with years in the organization. The workers of both countries seemed to value a good working relationship with their supervisor, but often on different demographic measures. For example, US workers had a positive correlation between the supervisor relationship and years in the organization and supervisor rank and a negative correlation with gender.

The German workers had a positive correlation with years in the organization, university degree and a negative correlation with the manufacturing sector. The US workers had a positive correlation between need for security and the manufacturing sector and a negative correlation with gender. Conversely, the German workers had a negative correlation between security and the manufacturing sector. US workers with university degrees believed that cooperation amongst fellow workers was important. Similarly, German workers with university degrees believed in the importance of cooperation. On the other hand, the importance of cooperation was inversely related to the supervisor's rank. The US workers' gender and age were negatively correlated with the need to be consulted by the superior in his or her decisions. For the German workers, only pay grade was negatively correlated with a need to be consulted. The US worker's had a number of factors that correlated with a need for advancement; gender was positively correlated while age, years in the organization and pay grade were negatively correlated. For the German workers, only the manufacturing sector was negatively correlated with the need for advancement. Lastly, the US workers' need for variety/adventure on the job was positively correlated with gender and negatively correlated with age, years in the organization, pay grade and manufacturing sector. The German workers' need for variety was negatively correlated with supervisor rank and pay grade.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an "employee-organization motivation fit" could be predicted using an instrument normally reserved for measuring dimensions of a society's culture. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between an individual's Hofstede's cultural dimensions (used as an indicator of individual culture-based perceptions and values) and the elements of Vroom's Expectancy Theory to determine whether one could predict motivation potential in various work-related settings. To test the hypothesis of this relationship a survey was developed and returned by 233 German and US employees.

The results of the survey data, aggregated across nationalities and partitioned by quartile, failed to support any of the five hypothetical relationships posited between an individual's culture-based values and his/her perception of expectancies. Only two of the individual's perceptions of instrumentalities appeared to have been influenced by culture-based values (masculinity and uncertainty avoidance). Similarly, only one of the individual's perceptions of valences appeared to have been influenced by culture-based values (masculinity).

Although there wasn't a lot of support for the hypotheses, a number of questions did provide expected and unexpected significance and implications for a culturally-based performance management system. For example, there were two questions that significantly related power distance to expectancy. The question that asked to what degree the employees agreed with the statement that best performance is accomplished in groups was correlated at r=.264 @ p<.01. It makes sense that people with a high PDI like team work ("together we are strong") and to work together with people and workers from the same level. Additionally, people from high PDI cultures do not see themselves as upwardly mobile and therefore are not in competition with their colleagues; this characteristics typically increases the group harmony. Similarly, the question that asked to what degree the employees agreed with the statement that group rewards will be more effective than individual rewards was correlated at r=.212 @ p<.01. This correlation also makes sense--people with a high PDI prefer to work in a team and think that team work and team rewards are more effective than single rewards.

In addition to the questions that correlated uncertainty avoidance with expectancy, there were several other motivational questions that correlated with uncertainty avoidance. For example, the question that asked to what degree the employees believed they could develop a close working relationship with their co-workers was negatively correlated at r=-.273 @ p<.01. This confirms Hofstede's (1994) notions that employees with a high UNC don't believe in their ability to develop close working relationships, while employees with a low UNC believe in their flexibility to develop closer working relationships. The question that asked the employees about their possibility of establishing a close relationship to their supervisor was also negatively correlated at r=.208 @ p<.01. Similarly, it is difficult for a high UNC employee to believe in the possibility of establishing a relationship with his or her superior because there are so many different uncertainties that might influence this relationship in a negative way. Also, high UNC employees have a strong belief in experts and require a high degree of formalization (e.g., titles and chains of command) which naturally create a gap between the supervisors and the employees. Also, the question that asked the employees the degree to which they preferred short-term over long-term results was significantly related to one's uncertainty avoidance r=.226 @ p<.01. Expectedly, people with a high UA prefer short-term results over long-term results, because the longer the time until the result of an action becomes measurable, the more anxiety and uncertainty there is about the success of the action. Lastly, there were a number of questions regarding instrumentalities that had negative correlations with the uncertainty avoidance dimension. For example, the degree to which the employee believes that if they exceeded job requirements their pay would increase correlated at r=-.221 @ p<.01. The degree to which the employee believes that if they exceeded job requirements they would be promoted correlated at r=-.332 @ p<.01. The degree to which employee believes their knowledge and skills lead to promotion correlated at r=-.287 @ p<.01. All of these relationships might have been expected because individuals high in UA prefer rules, law, contract and unions. In other words, these workers feel more comfortable if promotions or pay increases are based on something as easily quantifiable and predictable as seniority. The idea that a supervisor might have to subjectively judge their performance makes them feel uneasy.

Although the hypothesis testing of the aggregate sample didn't reveal much in the way of significance, the testing of the individual national samples revealed some interesting relationships. For example, the US employees (N=129) showed a significant relationship between instrumentality and the dimensions of masculinity and individualism (negative). The German employees (N=104) showed a significant relationship between expectancy and the dimensions of power distance and uncertainty avoidance (negative). The employees of both countries had significant relationships between valence and a number of the culturally-based questions (Tables 1 & 2). Particularly significant for US employees were those valence questions relating to the masculinity, individualism and power distance dimensional values. On the other hand, the German employees' perception of valences demonstrated more of a significant relationship with the power distance and individualism dimensional values. Additionally, there were a number of significant relationships between the valences and several of the demographics by nationality (Tables 3 & 4). Again, these findings present some interesting insights to how work-related needs vary by demographic and as such, must be taken into consideration when motivating individuals.

Lastly, the findings present an interesting puzzle. Some of the results were significant by country, but not by Hofstede's cultural dimensions. This seems to suggest that some other national influences are being picked up that aren't measured directly by the Hofstede dimensions. Likely candidates might be the country's views on labor (e.g., unions) or various organizational cultures. For example, the German sample had a much higher regard for the purpose of labor unions than the US (South Carolina-a right to work state) sample. Additionally, the sample of 18 organizations (10 US and 8 German) may not have been large enough to reduce the effect of organizational culture on employee perceptions. In any case, the study points out that the Hofstede instrument isn't 'fine grained' enough to have much of a value in predicting motivation.

CONCLUSIONS

Most managers will agree that the essence of management is to influence employees to accomplish organizational goals. In other words, the job of motivating one's employees to satisfy the needs of internal and external customers. This task is even more important in today's highly competitive, globalized environment where an employee's daily performance is often the difference between success and failure. As such, there is an increasing need for organizational research on employee motivation.

Over the last decade, the research on methods to improve employee or organizational motivation has taken two general paths: (1) creating motivation, and (2) selecting motivation. The notion of creating motivation suggests that a supervisor understand each employee's needs (extrinsic and intrinsic) and then provide opportunities so that he or she can satisfy those needs. While this research approach is the most popular, it has provided little new information or improvement to organizational productivity, satisfaction, and learning over the last several years. The biggest organizational improvements appear to becoming from new research on better selection methods. Specifically, "getting the right people on the bus" (Collins, 2001) or getting a maximum of "emotional intelligence" (Goleman, 1995). A key factor in "getting the right people on the bus" is to insure the employee's fit with the organization's motivation systems. In other words, select only those employees that will be motivated by the company's existing motivational systems. This approach has several advantages over trying to tailor motivational techniques to each worker. First, and foremost, it isn't dependent upon the manager's skill at understanding the employee's needs and the skill at providing opportunities to satisfy those needs. Second, it allows the company to focus on being the best at providing a smaller array of rewards. In turn, this permits the company to become the employer of choice for a certain type of employee.

This study was designed to examine the question of whether Hofstede's cultural dimensions can predict an individual's preference for certain motivational environments. If an individual's motivational needs can be accurately profiled using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, it would be a significant advancement to employee selection methods. Unfortunately, most of the hypothesize relationships between culture-based value systems and expectancies and instrumentalities were not supported. At first glance, this suggests that the Hofstede survey is not a particularly good instrument for predicting an individual's motivation within an organization. However, one's motivation is the product of three factors (E * I * V = Mp) and many of the relationships between culture-based values and valences were supported. This is important because it suggests that an organization that has knowledge of an individual's valences can create a better employee-organization fit through selection and improve motivation and productivity by offering a tailored or cafeteria style rewards system. As such, this research underscores the role that culture-based selection might play in improving motivation (Tables 3 & 4).

Future research should continue to examine the relationship between culturally-driven values and perceptions and the factors of motivation. While the Hofstede instrument proved ineffective at predicting an employee's motivation, the notion of predicting motivation through a candidate's expectancies, instrumentalities and valences remains sound. As such, future research might develop an instrument that measures an employee's Es, Is, and Vs in various work scenarios.

REFERENCES

Albers-Miller, N. D. & Gelb, B. D. (1996). Business advertising appeals as a mirror of cultural dimensions: A study of eleven countries. Journal of Advertising, 25(4), 57-71.

Allport, G. W. (1955). Becoming--Basic considerations for a psychology of personality. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Andre, J., D.A. Owens & L.O. Harvey (2003). Visual perception. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap ... and others don't. New York: HarperCollins

Cook, M (1998). Personnel selection (Third Edition). Chichester: Wiley.

Freud, S. (1963). The problem of anxiety. New York: The Psychoanalytic Quarterly Press and W.W. Norton & Company Inc.

Gagne, M. & E. L. Deci. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 331-363.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. 29

Hanisch, D. A. & Q. Han. (2003). Fuhrungsverstandnis chinesischer Manager im Wandel. Personal, 1, 100-23.

Henle, C. A. (2005). Predicting workplace deviance from the interaction between organizational justice and personality. Journal of Managerial Issues, 17(2)247-64

Hofestede, G. (1984). Culture's Consequences (Fifth Edition). London: Sage Publications.

Hofstede, G. (1994). Cultures and organizations--intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (software for the mind). London: Harper Collins Business.

Hubbell, A. & P. R Chory-Assad (2005). Motivating factors: perceptions of justice and their relationship with managerial and organizational trust. Communication Studies, 56(1), 47-71.

Judd, C. M., E. R. Smith & L. H. Kidder (1991). Research methods in social relations (Sixth Edition). Chicago: Holt, Rinehard & Winston, Inc.

Maslow, A. H. (1987). Motivation and Personality. New York: R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company.

McClelland, D. C. (1962). Business drive and national achievement, Harvard Business Review, July-August, 99-112.

McCrae, R. R. & P. T., Costa, Jr. (1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, 509-516.

Merton, R. R. (1968). Social theory and social structure (Second Edition). New York: Free Press.

Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Wallace, A. (1970). Culture and personality. New York: Random House.

Charles R. Emery, Erskine College Simon Oertel, University of Applied Sciences Trier

Table 1: The correlation between cultural-based values and work-related
needs of the US workers

Needs Question PDI UNC IDV

Time for personal -.37 ** -.37 ** -.83 **

Good physical working -.26 *
conditions

Good working relationship -.42 **
with direct superior

Employment security .47 **

Cooperation amongst
fellow employees

Consulted by your superior .68 **
in his/her decisions

Opportunity for .34 *
advancement

Variety and adventure -.41 **
on the job

Needs Question MAS LTO

Time for personal .52 **

Good physical working .51 **
conditions

Good working relationship .71 **
with direct superior

Employment security .61 **

Cooperation amongst .80 **
fellow employees

Consulted by your superior
in his/her decisions

Opportunity for .26 * .41 **
advancement

Variety and adventure
on the job

* Correlation is significant at p<.05

** Correlation is significant at p<.01

Table 2: The correlation between cultural-based values and work-related
needs of the German workers

Needs Question PDI UNC IDV

Time for personal -.75 **

Good physical working .61 **
conditions

Good working relationship -.74 ** .43 **
with direct superior

Employment security .48 **

Cooperation amongst -.30 * .28 *
fellow employees

Consulted by your superior .59 **
in his/her decisions

Opportunity for advancement

Variety and adventure on the job .33 *

Needs Question MAS LTO

Time for personal

Good physical working
conditions

Good working relationship
with direct superior

Employment security .33 *

Cooperation amongst .65 **
fellow employees

Consulted by your superior
in his/her decisions

Opportunity for advancement

Variety and adventure on the job

* Correlation is significant at p<.05

** Correlation is significant at p<.01

Table 3: Correlation between demographic variables and
work-related needs of US workers

Needs Question Gender Age Yrs Univ
 Org. Deg.

Time for personal or family life .30
Good physical working conditions -.24
Good working relation with direct
 superior -.17 .28
Employment security -.18
Cooperation amongst fellow
 employees .26
Consulted by superior in his/her
 decisions -.22 -.25
Opportunity for advancement .20 -.23 -.23
Variety and adventure on the job .23 -.28 -.29
Correlations are significant at p<.01

Needs Question Supv Pay Mfg
 Rank Grade

Time for personal or family life .29
Good physical working conditions
Good working relation with direct
 superior -.27
Employment security .23
Cooperation amongst fellow
 employees
Consulted by superior in his/her
 decisions
Opportunity for advancement -.26
Variety and adventure on the job -.33 -.27
Correlations are significant at p<.01

Table 4: Correlation between demographic variables and
work-related needs of German workers

Needs Question Gender Age Yrs Univ
 Org Deg
Time for personal or family life
Good physical working conditions
Good working relationship with direct 0.32 0.33
superior
Employment security
Cooperation amongst fellow employees 0.22
Consulted by your superior in his/her
decisions
Opportunity for advancement
Variety and adventure on the job
Correlations are significant at p<.01

Needs Question Supv Pay Mfg
 Rank Grade
Time for personal or family life
Good physical working conditions
Good working relationship with direct -0.2
superior
Employment security -0.3
Cooperation amongst fellow employees -0.26
Consulted by your superior in his/her -0.27
decisions
Opportunity for advancement -0.19
Variety and adventure on the job -0.31 -0.29
Correlations are significant at p<.01