ABSTRACT
Cultural Values That Inuence Work Motivation ..................................... 502 Culture, Self-Motives, and Motivational Dispositions ............................. 505
Self-Enhancement ................................................................................. 506 Self-and Collective efcacy ................................................................. 507
Achievement Motivation .......................................................... 508 Self-Consistency .................................................................................... 509
Culture, Goals, Goal Orientation, and Self-Regulatory Focus ................ 509 Intrinsic Motivation, Self-Determination, Variety Seeking, and
Uniqueness ................................................................................. 511 Summary ................................................................................................ 512
Culture, Situational Factors, and Work Motivation .................................. 513 Externally Set Goals and Feedback .....................................................514 Rewards .................................................................................................. 515 Job and Organizational Characteristics ............................................. 518 Teams, Interpersonal Relations, and Work Motivation ................... 520 Summary ................................................................................................ 523
Motivation in the Context of the Cultural Interface.................................. 524 Culture and Work Satisfaction ..................................................................... 526 Summary ......................................................................................................... 528 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 530 References ....................................................................................................... 530
For decades the eld of work motivation has been shaped mainly by Western theories, overlooking the cultural factor and its potential effect on work motivation (Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan, 2007). The process of globalization has, however, created opportunities for new intercultural experiences;
attempts have been made to transfer motivational approaches developed in Western cultures to other cultures in the Far East, the Middle East, South America, and Africa. Such attempts have often resulted in failures because rather than being accepted by local employees and managers, the new practices were ineffective or met with resistance. For example, in Mexico, monetary rewards were found to be ineffective in motivating employees to reduce the turnover rate (Miller et al., 2001). In Morocco, implementing Western managerial practices to enhance performance quality was found to be ineffective (d’Iribarne, 2002). Yet, a successful implementation of total quality management occurred by relating it with Islamic norms and values, and using authority gures as role models. Similarly, in India empowerment did not motivate employees due to their ancient tradition of getting instructions from their boss and not taking any initiative (Merha & Krishnan, 2005). Further, merit-based performance was not well received in Japan, where seniority is the main criterion for promotion (Brown & Reich, 1997). Such difculties in the transfer of motivational approaches have brought into attention the cultural factor as a potential explanatory factor (Erez & Earley, 1993; Erez, 1994, 1997).
