Gazi University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Abstract

Management can be defined as a process of motivation directing people to
certain objectives. Some questions can be derived from this definition. For
example why people make an effort to achieve some objectives determined by
management? Furthermore, is there a universal answer to this question? When
theorists make an effort to exhibit some motivation techniques that can be
applied in different cultures, Hofstede (1980) claims that people from different
cultures can be motivated in different ways. The purpose of the study, which has
derived from the idea that different cultural backgrounds have different effects
on relative importance of motivational needs, is to examine the relationship
between Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs and cultural structures of Turkish
employees. Despite the importance of cultural studies to test theories, there is a
lack of empirical evidence examining the relationship between dimensions of
national culture and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. When the relationship is
modeled, researchers will be able to obtain a deeper understanding about
whether and how national cultures affect motivational needs. In addition to its
theoretical appeal, the findings of this study have some important managerial
implications. If managers know more about cultural background of the
motivational process, they can exhibit more flexible motivational strategies. In
this context, two sets of variables have been used in the study model. Maslow’s
(1943) stages of hierarchy of needs are dependent set of variables in the
research. The needs were identified in four stages which include security, social,
self-esteem, autonomy and self actualization on the basis of Porter’s (1961)
model. As for the independent set of variables, they consisted of Hofstede’s
(1980b) cultural dimensions. National culture was identified in six dimensions
which include uncertainty avoidance, power distance, femininity, masculinity,
individualism, collectivism. The next section of the study is intended to establish
a theoretical foundation of the relationship. On the basis of the theoretical
background, hypothesis is developed and tested. Data were obtained from 200
blue collar employees from big companies which are getting active in Trabzon
and have more than 50 employees. A questionnaire method was used in the
study as the data collection tool thanks to its capacity to collect standard data
and to enable detailed data analysis. The questionnaire developed by Porter to
analyze hierarchy of needs was used in the present study. As for the questions of
the national culture, the questionnaire was adopted from the studies conducted
by Hofstede and Hofstede (2005). Canonical correlation analysis was
conducted on the data obtained from 200 employees. The main purpose of using
this analysis was to explore whether there is a correlation between national
culture and needs and determine which sets of variables contribute the
relationship. The results of the analysis supported the hypothesis that there is a
relationship between dimensions of national culture and motivation. On the
other hand, because of the fact that only one canonical correlation computed
between two groups of variables is significant, it is difficult to match subdimensions
of national culture and hierarchy of needs. In this point, to choose
appropriate determinative variables subset which can explain needs which are
dependent variables of the study was conducted a stepwise regression analysis
on the data set. The results show that our national cultural dimensions of
individualism and collectivism are connected with security, esteem and self
actualization. The results confirm that motivational content which is lead to
higher level performance is shaped under the effect of national culture. Results
also have a place in terms of using human resources. Because of the fact that
human resources are very important to gain competitive advantage, cultural
values of the employees have to be considered.