Motivation is a major issue within management, organisational, psychological and behavioural research, and is known for having a significant bearing on the workplace. Various studies have indicated that motivation is essential to the overall performance, development and growth of organisations and employees (e.g. Demġr and Okan 2009; Grammatikopoulos et al. 2013; Van Iddekinge et al. 2017).
All organisations, whether public or private, comprise individuals who are managed towards the fulfilment of organisational objectives and responsibilities. The employee side of the workplace is often the focus of efforts on motivation to ensure an organisation ’s success. With regard to motivation , it is fair to say that employees take up employment for the sake of satisfying and fulfilling certain needs . Thus, the existence of these needs can be a source of motivation towards better work performance or, conversely, their absence can be a source of demotivation resulting in inefficient and ineffective work performance . This raises the questions of what are those exact needs that an employee seeks to satisfy, and what needs model can be suggested for employee satisfaction at work. Thus, how appropriate and universal are motivation theories designed and generally assessed and practiced in the West ?
Within the various theories that have been proposed in relation to needs that must be satisfied to sustain motivation (Mohan and Ahlemann 2011), the work of Abraham Maslow has been a major contribution. Indeed, many see Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory as a reasonable basis for explaining employee motivation and generally accept it to be widely applicable . As such, it is regarded as a valid model to understand human needs even almost four decades after Maslow’s death (Kermally 2005; Kohn 1988).
With this in mind, this book offers fresh empirical insights into contextualising motivation in Saudi Arabia , specifically within two universities that are known to differ in their approaches to religion : one seen as devoutly ‘religious’ and the other as relatively ‘moderate ’. The justification behind the selection of universities centres on the Saudi Government placing great emphasis on higher education as an enabler for modernisation and growth of the country (Saleh 1986). Thus, in this regard, issues pertaining to motivation of their employees are likely to affect the country ’s future.
The book is guided by two interlinked objectives derived from the literature review: (1) to critically evaluate’s Hierarchy of Needs and empirically test its applicability to a Saudi organisational context , and (2) to assess how Maslow’s model could be refined for the Saudi context . Related to these objectives, this research also investigates the extent to which employees ’ need in Saudi Arabia varies across gender and religious orientation . It explores and contrasts the relationship of Saudi culture and the motivational needs of employees in two diverse samples, i.e. devoutly religious versus moderately religious organisations.
The findings provide a fresh perspective on employee motivation by identifying the work needs that are specifically important employees in the higher education sector in Saudi Arabia . Such identification should assist with improving the level of work performance , which will eventually lead to improving the success of the concerned organisations. The identification may further help to extend the knowledge base of multinational corporations (MNCs) that are looking to invest in Saudi Arabia , as it may enable them to design their motivation strategies and policies to suit the Saudi context . This book may also help Saudi policy -makers in terms of how to refine their developmental goals related to growth and modernity of the nation.
The research instrument that was utilised in this research to yield empirical data was based on Porter’s needs satisfaction questionnaire (NSQ ). It has been validated in numerous previous studies and, as such, is considered to be a reliable instrument. Within the questionnaire , the respondents were asked to answer the following questions in respect of five specific motivational drivers: ‘How much of the motivational driver is present in your job?’; ‘How much of the motivational driver should be in your job?’; and ‘How important is that motivational driver to you?’ While the research is largely based on a quantitative approach, there is also a qualitative element based on an analysis of descriptive responses to some open-ended questions.
The data were divided into three dimensions, corresponding to the three NSQ statements. These were ‘Need Fulfilment ’ (to understand the present/current level of a motivational driver ), ‘Need Satisfaction ’ (to understand the ideal or desired level of a motivational driver ) and ‘Need Importance ’ (to understand the subjective importance of the motivational driver ). The NSQ was analysed based on Q-Sort methodology by using a weighted mean score technique to rank the motivational drivers from most important to least important. The open-ended questions were analysed thematically to supplement the quantitative findings.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) was an American psychologist who conducted extensive academic research on motivation , with several notable publications including Motivation and Personality (1954) and Toward a Psychology of Being (1964) (Maslow 2011; Kermally 2005). In academic and practitioner circles, he is held in high regard particularly for his Hierarchy of Needs model (Valiunas 2011; Whitlock 2011), which has been hailed as a pioneerin...