Owen Burton, Nicole Dupuis, Allison Londregan,
Devan Moulton, Anna Stabler
Professor McKechnie
Group Research Paper
Due November 18, 2013
A Comparison of America and China: Intrinsic v. Extrinsic Motivation and Cultural Influences
Just Do It. Nike’s slogan makes it sound so simple, unfortunately humans generally need a little extra push when it comes to accomplishing a task. People are usually motivated by some type of reward. Rewards can be broken down into two major categories: extrinsic and intrinsic. Culture has a huge effect on the way people are motivated. Cultures, such as American and Chinese, are motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically in varying degrees. Both the Chinese and American populations respond better to intrinsic forms of motivation rather than extrinsic forms. The reasons each culture responds better to intrinsic motivation differs greatly between the two cultures. Determining these reasons is what makes the comparison between these two cultures so interesting.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Rewards are used to motivate employees to perform a given task in an efficient and effective manner. According to Edwin Locke and Gary Latham “rewards that self administered for goal approximation facilitate perceived self efficacy and ensure on going goal commitment”(Locke & Latham., 1990: 268).
Intrinsic motivation is a motivated behavior that a person becomes invested in for personal reasons. Intrinsic motivation causes a person to become internally invested in a task as it appeals to their interests. Completion of an intrinsically motivated task causes a person to obtain satisfaction from the activity itself. “If individuals do significantly better quality work or produce greater quantity of works as a result of trying for challenging goals, they may come to expect more intrinsic rewards in return for their better work.” Thus they may become dissatisfied if such rewards are not forthcoming. Thus, employees will be far more likely to exert full effort when they are given appropriate goals that are appropriate for the task at hand (Locke & Latham., 1990: 242).
“Extrinsic motivation is aroused when the pleasure comes from outcomes to which task performance leads” (Locke & Latham., 1990: 56). An example of this would be tangible rewards which come in the form of money, recognition, or promotion. When an employee is motivated by external rewards, they are not personally invested in the task, rather they are motivated by the recompense they are going to receive (Locke & Latham., 1990).
Motivations greatly differ based on societal values. American and Chinese societies both obtain a higher amount of motivation from intrinsic rewards, however the intrinsic rewards received in each culture differ greatly based on what is considered socially acceptable (Jiacheng, Lu & Francesco, 2010).
America
Culture can be defined as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another” (Jiacheng et al.,2010: 221). American culture promotes the individual; Americans are taught and influenced by this since childhood. Americans are highly intrinsically motivated as a means of reaching the highest level of personal performance possible. Along the way to achieving this goal, Americans seek recognition both in the intrinsic and extrinsic form. This is reflected not only in individuals but in America’s market economy as well (Jiacheng, et al., 2010).
In corporate America, promotions and pay-raises have become expected occurrences; because of this entitled mindset managers have had to go beyond traditional extrinsic motivational tactics, such as pay and bonuses, as a means of motivating their employees (Sonawane, 2008). When managers are determining how to reward their employees it is essential to take factors such as socio-economic conditions, educational background, and demographic subcultures into account (Kashifi, 2011). When taking these factors into account, managers have found the greatest amount of motivation comes from the implementation of intrinsic rewards in the workplace. American employees have ranked things such as security, interesting work, opportunity for advancement, appreciation, company and management, and other intrinsic aspects of the job over pay. Americans traditionally value their own happiness in the workplace over monetary incentives. Continually Americans place open communication, effects on family life, the kind of work, and the quality of management over wages (Sonawane, 2008). It is clear that America is a society that values recognition and comfort above simple monetary rewards.
Intrinsic motivators play a role in how much satisfaction an employee receives from a job. Employees who are intrinsically motivated are more satisfied in accomplishing a given task than those who are extrinsically motivated. Employees who receive extrinsic rewards tend to feel a lesser amount of satisfaction when completing a task. This can lead to a lower level of job happiness and can eventually lead to the employee seeking a different employment opportunity (Cho & James, 2012). It is important for businesses in the United States to keep their employees intrinsically motivated, otherwise they will have the inability to maintain talent in their workforce.
There is a direct correlation leading to job satisfaction when a job’s rewards are consistent with personal work values. This alignment also leads to a higher level of work commitment. As a well-developed society, the socio-economic status of America is reasonably high in comparison to other countries. Because of this, children are raised to value intrinsic rewards over extrinsic rewards. The majority of Americans do not face an urgent worry that their basic human needs will not be met. The reason American’s are able to place such a high value on intrinsic rewards is because extrinsic rewards have already fulfilled the basic needs of most of the population. Meeting basic needs through extrinsic rewards is a prerequisite for intrinsic rewards to have an effect (Kashefi, 2011).
While those in corporate America are most powerfully motivated by intrinsic rewards, when looking at lower level occupations, extrinsic rewards such as monetary benefits become more important to workers in that sector. Overall, formal rewards have a better impact on Americans than informal ones. A formal reward may or may not be monetary but the primary foundation for any reward program is recognition. Praise and appreciation by themselves are considered informal recognition and are useful in motivating employees to sustain their performance between formal rewards but are mostly insufficient motivators when not used in conjunction with formal rewards (Sonawane, 2008).
China
Chinese culture promotes working towards improving their society as a whole. Culture can influence members of a society through various mediums such as the government. China’s culture is reflected in its government, which provides low wages and benefits since the population prides itself on community rather than individual advancement. Because of the government’s strong hold on businesses, pay and benefit, extrinsic motivation is almost non-existent. Government policy can reveal the traditions and morality of a society. China’s policies reflect a society contingent upon the betterment of it’s population. Though extrinsic motivation is nearly absent in the Chinese workplace, employees can still be satisfied in terms of cultural aspects related to their society (Buck, Liu & Skovoroda. 2008.).
In regards to job satisfaction, how Chinese employees view their work determines their happiness within their position. Chinese workers who view their employment as a career have overall higher job satisfaction compared to those who view their employment as a job. The value that the Chinese place the highest importance on for job satisfaction is job security that is reflected in cultural values such as harmony, stability of society, and relationships (Lan, Okechuku, Zhang, & Cao, 2013.). Satisfaction is not the only determinant of happiness, cultural ideals also influences employee happiness. Because of culture, Chinese employees do not readily welcome appreciation. Overall Chinese employees would rather be viewed as good contributors to a project but not publically receive recognition for their accomplishments. This unwillingness to receive praise stems from the cultural ideal of collectivism, which emphasizes the interdependence of every human. (Jiacheng Lu & Francesco, 2010). Chinese workers evaluate job satisfaction in terms of group welfare. This is reflected in what is needed to be satisfied with employment in a society in which jobs are controlled by the government.
The Chinese government not only reflects the motivators of its society but also enhances them. In China, most executive appointments within Chinese firms are made by the state and pay is calculated by seniority and job type. The government who focuses on equity rather than using money as a motivator will pay at most $12,000. This practice eliminates the possibility of using intrinsic motivation for individualistic intentions. Chinese employees rarely receive tasks which are driven by extrinsic motivation since firms are controlled by the government which does not offer incentives for performance in the pay of promotion or increased pay (Buck et al., 2008.). Because of this, extrinsic motivation is nearly eliminated from the Chinese workplace. Chinese employees instead find motivation within their society; they work hard to improve their society, which is underlined by government policy.
Chinese and American cultures are vastly different. America’s culture defines itself in individualistic ventures whereas China rallies around bettering their society. (Hofstede, 1993) The predominant reason for intrinsic rewards being the primary motivator for both Chinese and Americans differ greatly between the two cultures. The Chinese culture employs intrinsic motivation through the individual’s desire to improve the society as a whole, whereas American culture uses intrinsic motivation for personal gains (Buck et. al, 2013 and Kashifi, 2011). China almost solely relies on intrinsic motivation to drive its workers compared to America which uses a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators (Buck et al, 2013 and Sonawane 2008 and Kashifi 2011). This is reflected in their governments; America’s government heavily provides for the individual while China’s government favors groups within society. (Jiacheng wt. al, 2010) Differences in culture can greatly affect the values that people learn as they grow older. The way someone is brought up can either increase their level of intrinsic motivation or keep it the same. Therefore cultures that contribute to high level of increased intrinsic motivation will often be more successful (Ren, 2010).
References
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Cho, Y. J., & Perry, J. L. 2012. Intrinsic motivation and employee attitudes: Role of managerial trustworthiness, goal directedness, and extrinsic reward expectancy. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 32(4): 382-406.
Hofstede, G. 1993. Cultural constraints in management theories. Executive (19389779), 7(1): 81-94.
Jiacheng, W., Lu, L., & Francesco, C. A. 2010. A cognitive model of intra-organizational knowledge-sharing motivations in the view of cross-culture. International Journal of Information Management, 30(3): 220-230.
Kashefi, M. 2011. Structure and/or Culture: Explaining Racial Differences in Work Values. Journal of Black Studies 42(4): 638-64.
Locke, E., & Latham, G. 1990. A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance: 56. Englewood Cliff, NJ.: Prentice-Hall.
Lan, G., Okechuku, C., Zhang, H., & Cao, J. 2013. Impact of job satisfaction and personal values on the work orientation of chinese accounting practitioners. Journal of Business Ethics, 112(4): 627-640.
Li, W., Liu, X., & Wan, W. 2008. Demographic effects of work values and their management implications. Journal of Business Ethics, 81(4): 875-885.
Ren, T. 2010. Value congruence as a source of intrinsic motivation. Kyklos, 63(1): 94-109.
Sonawane, P. 2008. Non-Monetary Rewards: Employee Choices & Organizational Practices. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations 44(2): 256-71.
Zhou, Y., Zhang, Y., & Montoro-Sánchez, Á. 2011. Utilitarianism or romanticism: The effect of rewards on employees’ innovative behaviour. International Journal of Manpower, 32(1): 81-98.
Nicole Dupuis 