A cultural perspective on autonomy and employee motivation

Abstract

Human resource managers confront a global workplace where one size does not fit all. They thus need information about what does fit: Research-based findings on the exact nature of cultural variations and their implications for the workplace. I wish to extend my research with VRSP scholarship from IIMB. The question I address is one for which HR professional needs good answers: What motivates employees? In the past, OB researchers and HR professionals have, in fact, attempted one-size-fits-all-answers. Researchers in Western industrialized nations formulated theories, developed measures, and applied them to the non-Western world. Recent advances in cultural psychology reveal the limits of this approach. People of non-Western cultures may possess psychological qualities that are obscured by Western theories and methods. In particular, there may exist cultural variations not only in the level of a given psychological quality, but in the nature of that quality. Research provides initial evidence of this with regard to the variable of achievement motivation (Tripathi & Cervone, 2008). I propose to extend these initial findings as follows.