Journal of Organizational Behavior

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/job.186

Where intrinsic job satisfaction fails to

work: national moderators of intrinsic
motivationy
XU HUANG1* AND EVERT VAN DE VLIERT2
1
2

Summary

Department of Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

This study sought for national characteristics that moderate the individual-level relationship
between job characteristics and job satisfaction. Data from two distinct questionnaire surveys
administered to 107,292 employees in 49 countries was analyzed by employing multilevel
modeling. Results showed that the link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is stronger in richer countries, countries with better governmental social welfare programs, more individualistic countries, and smaller power distance countries. By contrast,
extrinsic job characteristics are strongly and positively related to job satisfaction in all countries. In addition, we found that intrinsic job characteristics tend to produce motivating satisfaction in countries with good governmental social welfare programs irrespective of the
degree of power distance, while they do not tend to work so in countries with poor governmental social welfare programs as well as a large power distance culture. Socio-economic and
cultural approaches to explaining cross-national variation in work motivation are discussed.
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction
In poorer countries (e.g., Adigun & Stephenson, 1992; Kanungo, 1990), in less individualistic countries (cf. Diener & Diener, 1995), and in countries with larger power distances (e.g., Earley &
Stubblebine, 1989; Eylon & Au, 1999), intrinsic job characteristics such as challenge, recognition,
autonomy, and the work itself are less closely related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic job characteristics such as pay, job security, and working conditions are more closely linked with job satisfaction.
Despite the great contribution of these pioneering studies to our understanding of cross-national differences in intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, two questions remain unsatisfactorily addressed. The first
* Correspondence to: Xu Huang, Department of Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon,
Hong Kong. E-mail: mshuangx@polyu.edu.hk
y
The pilot study was carried out while Xu Huang was a visitor at the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) in Bergen,
Norway, under the Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme funded by the European Union. The main study was
conducted while Xu Huang was a PhD student at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, under the Ubbo Emmius
Fellowship Program.

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Received 3 August 2001

Revised 30 January 2002
Accepted 18 October 2002

160

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

question pertains to how to explain the cross-national variation in the link between job characteristics
and job satisfaction, if any. Based on the World Values Survey, a three-wave (1981, 19901991, 1995
1998) worldwide investigation of sociocultural and political values and beliefs of publics in more than
65 societies containing almost 80 per cent of the worlds population, Inglehart (1997, p. 329) suggested
that cross-national differences in peoples values and in how they evaluate their environments, lives,
and work might lie in differences in economic development in conjunction with cultural inertia. Building on this assertion, we attempt to shed light on how both socio-economic factors and cultural factors
predict cross-national variation in the relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and extrinsic
job characteristics, on the one hand, and job satisfaction, on the other. The second question is how the
above explanations should be scientifically tested. The conclusions of early comparative cross-national
studies were largely based on inferences instead of direct statistical testing. For example, when comparing workers behaviors in the USA and Britain, the researchers merely attributed the stronger link
between supervisors feedback and work performance in the USA to the fact that the USA has a smaller power distance culture than Britain does (Earley & Stubblebine, 1989). Adopting a multilevel
approach, the current paper statistically tests the link between national characteristics and observed
cross-national differences in individual-level relationships.
In the following section, we formulate eight hypotheses about the influence of national characteristics on how people perceive and evaluate their work environments. In a pilot study, we tested the
hypotheses by using a relatively small sample of nations and respondents. Based on the findings in
the pilot study, we then retested the hypotheses in the main study by using a much larger sample of
nations and respondents that allowed more refined model testing to rule out rival explanations at the
country level.

Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction Worldwide

In the second half of the past century, Herzberg, Mausner, and Snydermans (1959) pioneering work on
the model of motivational versus hygiene factors inspired countless studies on the relationship between
intrinsic as well as extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction (Locke, 1976). The weight of evidence from previous research seems clear: both intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics are positively
related to job satisfaction (cf. Dunnette, Campbell, & Hakel, 1967), but these relationships are also
dependent on third factors. A salient third factor is the extent to which workers value intrinsic job characteristics and extrinsic job characteristics (Mottaz, 1985). Almost automatically, the workers valuations draw attention to cross-national differences in peoples basic values in general (Hofstede, 1991,
2001; Schwartz, 1992), and work values in particular (Harding, Philips, & Fogarty, 1986; MOW International Research Team, 1987). It has indeed been shown that the values workers attach to intrinsic job
characteristics and to extrinsic job characteristics vary substantially depending on nationality (Clark,
1998). Past studies have also demonstrated that the link between job characteristics and job satisfaction
varies across nations (Adigun & Stephenson, 1992; Earley & Stubblebine, 1989; Eylon & Au, 1999;
Kanungo, 1990).

Socio-economic and cultural explanations

In essence, we assume that the cross-national variation in the relationships between intrinsic as well
as extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction may be systematically tied to certain national
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

161

Figure 1. National wealth, social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distance as countrylevel moderators of the individual level relationship between intrinsic/extrinsic job characteristics and job
satisfaction

characteristics that predispose how the inhabitants value these job characteristics. In the cross-national
research literature, there are two sets of overarching explanatory frameworks in which socio-economic
factors and cultural factors seem to be paramount in explaining the cross-national variation in workrelated values and attitudes (e.g., Aycan, Kanungo, & Sinha, 1999; Davis, Schoorman, & Donaldson,
1997; Hofstede, 1991, 2001; Inglehart, 1997; Smith, 1992; Trompenaars, 1993). Before laying out
hypotheses on the basis of the socio-economic perspective and the cultural perspective, it should be
noted that, recently, research exploring the cross-national differences in peoples affective outcomes,
such as life satisfaction and job satisfaction, has been on the increase. Socio-economic factors (e.g.,
Veenhoven, 1991; Veenhoven & Ehrhardt, 1995), cultural factors (e.g., Hui, Yee, & Eastman, 1995;
Arrindell et al., 1997), or both (Van de Vliert & Janssen, 2002) were related to life satisfaction or
job satisfaction at the country level. However, the focal interest in the current paper is to examine
the moderating effect of national characteristics on the individual level link between job characteristics
and job satisfaction instead of the main effects of national characteristics on job satisfaction (see
Figure 1).
Socio-economic perspective
The major theoretical principle underlying the socio-economic perspective is firmly welded to
Maslows (1954) well-known need-gratification theory of well-being, which postulates that higher
needs become salient as lower needs are gratified. Prior studies suggested that lower needs are less
potent for predicting happiness in rich countries than in poor countries (Veenhoven, 1991; Veenhoven
& Ehrhardt, 1995). Moreover, Adigun and Stephenson (1992) found that British workers were motivated more by intrinsic job factors such as achievement, the work itself, and recognition, whereas
Nigerian workers were motivated more by extrinsic job factors such as pay, fringe benefits, and working conditions. Kanungo (1990) revealed that Indian workers seemed to be indifferent towards challenging jobs. Inglehart (1997, p. 31) explained that, in economically developed countries, people tend
to take survival for granted. Such societies have experienced a gradual but phenomenal value change in
the course of economic development. Over time, values related to economic achievement have become
less salient than values related to enhancing self-expression (Inglehart, 1997, p. 33). Workers in richer
countries may attach more value to the intrinsic aspects of work and, therefore, may be motivated more
by intrinsic rewards, because they have taken survival for granted. By contrast, workers in poorer
countries may be motivated more by extrinsic rewards, because the lower needs (e.g., food, money)
are still more salient than the higher needs (e.g., self-esteem, self-actualization). Therefore, we
expected that:
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

162

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

Hypothesis 1: The positive relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
stronger in richer countries.
Hypothesis 2: The positive relationship between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
weaker in richer countries.
Apart from national wealth, another socio-economic characteristic that affects the extent to which people take survival for granted is the degree of development of the national social welfare programs (or
social security system). Interest in the function of social security has heightened in the wake of the
emergence of welfare states in the last century (Ashford, 1986). The nub of the arguments is that a
fully developed social security system serves as a vehicle to secure the fulfillment of basic human
needs (Taylor-Gooby, 1991). In countries with a well-developed social welfare system, people are
more likely to experience good physical well-being, economic autonomy, and emancipation from
the confinement of a particular social system (Doyal & Gough, 1984; Plant, 1985; Weale, 1983).
The development of a social security system may well engender a shift in social value norms towards
an emphasis on self-expression. Hence, it is plausible to argue that, in countries with a well-developed
social security system, workers may tend to place more emphasis on higher needs and are therefore
more likely to be motivated by intrinsic rewards. In countries without a well-developed social security
system, on the other hand, workers may be motivated more by extrinsic rewards that satisfy basic
needs. Thus, it followed that:
Hypothesis 3: The positive relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
stronger in countries with a better social security system.
Hypothesis 4: The positive relationship between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
weaker in countries with a better social security system.
Cultural perspective
It is intriguing that, compared to the socio-economic perspective, the cultural perspective takes a rather
different approach to the explanation of the cross-national differences in needs structure. People from a
particular country are seen as prone to placing more emphasis on higher needs, not simply because
their lower needs are gratified, but primarily because this is a culturally inherited trait (see Hofstede,
1991, pp. 7374). For instance, cultural individualism has been consistently found to be positively
related to self-esteem at country level (Chiu, 1993; Nevis, 1983; Page & Cheng, 1992). Moreover,
self-esteem is more strongly related to life satisfaction in more individualistic countries (Diener &
Diener, 1995; Oishi, 2000; Oishi, Diener, Lucas, & Suh, 1999). These findings are basically supportive
of Hofstedes (1991) observation that in individualistic cultures people tend to be self-reliant, be selfmotivated, and place more value on individual interests. If such culturally inherited values serve as a
criterion for evaluating the meaning of various management techniques and the valences of their behavioral outcomes, it should not come as a surprise that workers in individualistic countries value intrinsic job characteristics more than do workers in collectivistic countries. By contrast, in collectivistic
countries, economic and social security is often considered more important to life than freedom and
control in the work place (Kanungo, 1990), and economic as well as social goals are ranked higher than
individual goals (Alpander & Carter, 1995; Nevis, 1983). Put differently, in collectivistic countries,
higher needs such as self-actualization often give way to lower needs such as economic security
and social affiliation (Hofstede, 1991). Hence, workers in collectivistic countries are more likely to
place great emphasis on extrinsic aspects of their jobs than workers in individualistic countries.
Hypothesis 5: The positive relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
stronger in countries with a more individualistic and less collectivistic culture.
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

163

Hypothesis 6: The positive relationship between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
weaker in countries with a more individualistic and less collectivistic culture.
Culturally transmitted individualistic or collectivistic needs alone, however, may not provide a sufficient explanation of the cross-national differences in peoples evaluations of job characteristics. A closely related cultural variable, cultural power distance, defined and investigated by Hofstede (1980,
1991), may, in part, also explain such differences. For instance, frequent recognition of good work
and feedback, often regarded as desirable intrinsic rewards in small power distance countries, were
interpreted by employees in large power distance countries as undesirable and unnecessary
(Earley & Stubblebine, 1989). Hofstede (1991) argued that a small power distance culture is characterized by a more participative style of management and greater aspiration to autonomy among individual workers. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that intrinsic job characteristics, such as autonomy
and management feedback, are valued more by workers in countries with a smaller power distance
culture. By contrast, in countries with a large power distance culture, people take social inequality
for granted, and less powerful people are usually dependent on the more powerful people. Moreover,
in these countries, status, power, skills, and wealth are expected to go together. In other words, the
pursuit of more tangible rewards, such as pay, promotion, and good working conditions, may be the
primary goal of most people as they strive for more power and more privileges. Hence:
Hypothesis 7: The positive relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
stronger in countries with a smaller cultural power distance culture.
Hypothesis 8: The positive relationship between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is
weaker in countries with a smaller cultural power distance culture.

Explanatory competitors
Selecting the four most commonly used country-level predictorsnational wealth, national social
security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distanceas country-level moderators of the link
between job characteristics and job satisfaction in the current research was complicated by the fact that
all four national characteristics are potential explanatory competitors. Therefore, it is desirable to identify which one is the ultimate country-level explanatory variable, if any. In a broader sense, it is intriguing to see whether the socio-economic variables or the cultural variables have more explanatory power.
We trust that the above problem can be mitigated by controlling for potential confounds. In this vein,
we sought to control for as many of the hypothesized moderating effects as possible by allowing the
four moderatorsnational wealth, national social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power
distanceto control for each other. Therefore, taking the above arguments together, we attempted to
explore whether controlling all other predictors will disconfirm some of the eight hypotheses.

Pilot Study
We conducted a pilot study using the data retrieved from the International Social Survey Program
(ISSP). Nineteen of the ISSP members took part in the 1997 Work Orientation Survey. After dropping
all respondents who were not full-time workers or who had missing values, we finally based our
analysis on a sample of 8,506 full-time employees nested within 19 countries. In this pilot study,
job satisfaction was measured using a 7-point Likert scale item (1 Disagree to 7 Agree): How
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

164

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

satisfied are you in your (main) job? Intrinsic job characteristics (IJC) and extrinsic job characteristics
(EJC) were measured using five 5-point Likert scale items (1 Disagree to 5 Agree). Two items
were predominantly IJC (My job is interesting; I can work independently) and three items were
predominantly EJC (My job is secure; My income is high; My opportunities for advancement
are high). National wealth was the Gross National Product per capita (GNP) retrieved from a statistical reference book, National Cultures of the World (Parker, 1997). Social security level was measured
using a dummy variable retrieved from the same statistical reference book with 1 and 0 referring to a
country with or without a full social security system, respectively. Hofstedes (1991) individualism
index and his power distance index (both ranging from 1 to 100) were used as the operationalizations
of cultural individualism and cultural power distance.
In order to distinguish IJC from EJC, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis using the Lisrel
8.14 computer package (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) on the five items at the individual level. The multiple indicators of model fit indicated that the two-factor model of two IJC items versus three EJC items
achieved the maximum model fit among the three hypothetical models. Following the procedures used
by Mullen (1995), Singh (1985), and Peterson et al. (1995), we performed a multi-sample factor analysis to examine whether the factor structures of job characteristics are equivalent across nations. The
results showed a modest equivalence of the constructs across 19 countries (CFI 0.95;
RMSEA 0.07; for the meaning of the indicators, see Byrne, 1994).
Employing multilevel analysis (see the Method section for a detailed description of multilevel analysis), we tested whether the relationships between IJC and EJC, on the one hand, and job satisfaction,
on the other, vary across nations. We found that the link between IJC and job satisfaction significantly
varied across nations (residual variance 0.01, p < 0.05), while the link between EJC and job satisfaction did not vary across nations (residual variance 0.00, n.s).
We also found that the cross-national variation in the link between IJC and job satisfaction could be
explained by the four national characteristics (national wealth, social security, individualism, and
power distance), but to varying degrees. Plots of the results showed that, in support of Hypotheses
1, 3, 5, and 7, the positive relationship between IJC and job satisfaction was stronger in richer countries, in higher social security countries, in more individualistic countries, and in smaller power
distance countries (see Figure 2).

Context

The Surveys and the Timeframe

The data of the pilot study was retrieved from the Work Orientation Survey 1997, part of International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), which is a voluntary grouping of study teams in 27 nations.
The purpose of the survey was to investigate work-related attitudes such as job satisfaction and job
stress across the nations. Two waves of the Work Orientation Survey were conducted in the 1990s.
Work Orientation Survey 1997 was the second wave. Nineteen of the ISSP members have taken
part in this survey, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, West Germany, East
Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal,
Russia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
The data of the main study was drawn from a survey conducted in 2000 in a multinational
company. The survey was conducted by the company and was aimed at studying the differences in employees work-related attitudes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment,
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

165

organizational trust, perceived organizational effectiveness, perceived management competence,

acceptance of change and so forth, across the companys business units in different countries.
We took a small part of the above two surveys to test our hypotheses in this research. The data used
in our study was obtained from employees located in 41 countries, including Argentina, Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Salvador, South Africa, South Korea,
Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA, and Venezuela.
The Sample
The sample of the pilot study was selected on the basis of random sampling and thus included
respondents from different industries and professions. The demographic breakdown of the sample
was 61 per cent male (N 5,218), 39 per cent female (N 3,288), 41 per cent lower class
(N 3,493), and 59 per cent middle or higher class (N 5,013). The mean age was 39.5, and the
mean year of education was 13.9.
A detailed description of the sample of the main study can be found in the Methods Section. A
prior agreement with the multinational company largely restricts our description of the nature of the
organizations work. However, we can indicate that the respondents performed production, maintenance, clerical, professional, or managerial work.

Figure 2. National wealth, social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distance as moderators of the
relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in the pilot study
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

166

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

Method
Compared to the pilot study, there were several methodological improvements in the main study. First,
we used a larger sample, which is more likely to minimize the problem of multicollinearity when
building more complex multilevel models (Kreft & De Leeuw, 1998; Snijders & Bosker, 1999). Second, we used a 7-item measure of job satisfaction instead of the single-item measure used in the pilot
study. Third, compared to the pilot study, the sample of the main study covered a wider range of countries, thus enhancing the cross-national generalizability of the findings.

Sample
The data was drawn from a survey conducted in 2000 in a multinational company. Questionnaires were
administered to employees through the management. All items were translated into the languages of
the countries under investigation by professional translation agencies. Employees were told that the
questionnaires would be kept completely anonymous so that the management would not be able to
identify the individual respondents. The response rate was about 76 per cent. The analysis was based
on a sample of 98,786 respondents from 41countries (see the Appendix): 62 per cent male, 51 per cent
blue-collar workers, and 49 per cent white-collar workers. The average age was 36, and the average
tenure period was 10 years.

Dependent variable: job satisfaction

Job satisfaction was measured using the average of seven items: How satisfied are you with the following aspects of your current job: Being treated with fairness and respect; Your pay; Recognition for performance; Your benefits; Career opportunities; Job security; The training you
have received (1 Very dissatisfied to 5 Very satisfied: Cronbachs
0.83).

Independent variables: job characteristics and national characteristics

In the literature, intrinsic job characteristics (IJC) often refer to job content and tasks that lead to selfexpression and self-actualization, while extrinsic job characteristics (EJC) refer to the job context or
the environment in which the work is done or to job features determined by external events or other
people (Voydanoff, 1978). However, there are two problems with such definitions. First, job features
determined by external events or other people could also cause intrinsic motivation (e.g., Bandura,
1988; Lindenberg, 2001). For example, recognition for ones work was regarded as an intrinsic job
factor in classical work (Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Herzberg et al., 1959), although this job characteristic inevitably involves another person: the boss. In this paper, we defined intrinsic job characteristics as job features that are more likely to enhance self-expression and self-actualization, whereas we
defined extrinsic job characteristics as job features that tend to meet workers lower-order needs, such
as security needs and social affiliation needs (Maslow, 1954). The second problem in distinguishing
intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics is that a job characteristic may contribute to both intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation, depending on the workers perceptions (Lindenberg, 2001). For example, promotion is regarded as an extrinsic job factor (e.g., Mottaz, 1985; Spector, 1996). Yet, promotion is clearly
related to an intrinsic job factor: growth or advancement (Herzberg et al., 1959). Similarly, it was
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

167

found that extrinsic job characteristics such as pay (e.g., Tang & Gilbert, 1995) and security (Kuhnert
& Palmer, 1991) contribute to both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. To deal with this problem,
we adopted a strategy of using the factor scores of a number of IJC and EJC items so that each respondents perception of the degree of intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics could be estimated.
Predominantly IJC was represented by a 2-item 5-point Likert scale measure (1 Disagree to
5 Agree): My job offers little opportunity to use my skills and abilities; My immediate boss seldom gives me recognition for work done well. Predominantly EJC was represented by a 3-item
5-point Likert scale measure (1 Disagree to 5 Agree): From what I hear, our pay is as good as
in other companies in our industry; Overall the physical working conditions where I work are satisfactory (e.g., ventilation, temperature, space to work,); The people I work with are willing to help
each other, even if it means doing something outside their usual activities. Based on an overall pancultural factor analysis, each respondents five raw scores were multiplied by the corresponding loadings on the intrinsic and extrinsic job factors analysis, respectively. Next, to disentangle the individual
differences and the country differences, we centered the individual-level IJC and EJC on their country
means (individual score minus country mean, see Kreft & De Leeuw, 1998, pp. 106107). As in
the pilot study, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis and a multi-sample confirmatory factor
analysis. National wealth, social security, cultural individualism and cultural power distance were the
same as in the pilot study.

Control variables
Past research has shown that demographic variables, such as gender, age, job level, and tenure, also
affect the job satisfaction responses of individuals (e.g., Locke, 1976). Therefore, these variables were
controlled for with the help of dummy variables for gender (dichotomy), age group (five levels), job
level (five levels), and tenure group (seven levels). As mentioned earlier, national wealth, national
social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distance were strongly intercorrelated. In
order to identify the most powerful country-level explanatory variable, we let the four country-level
predictors control for each other. Because potential confounds among the national characteristics may
not only come from the main effects of competitors, but also from their interaction terms with other
variables (Anderson & Anderson, 1996), we adopted a very conservative approach by including all
four country-level variables and all possible two-way and three-way interactions of job characteristics
and national characteristics in the model.

Analyses
Data analyses were performed using Mlwin, a computer package for analyzing multilevel models
(Goldstein et al., 1998). Mlwin produces estimates comparable to the unstandardized regression coefficients in ordinary regression analysis. However, compared to ordinary regression analysis, multilevel
analysis allows improved model specification and more accurate estimation of standard errors (Snijders
& Bosker, 1999). Moreover, how well a given model fits the data can be tested by chi-square change.

Results
As in the pilot study, to distinguish IJC from EJC, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis at the
individual level. Similar to the results of the pilot study, the multiple indicators of model fit presented
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

168

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

Table 1. Goodness-of-fit indices for one- and two-factor models of intrinsic job characteristics and extrinsic job
characteristics
Model
Null model
One-factor model
Two-factor model

2

d.f.

GFI

AGFI

RMSR

CFI

20,738.42*
1,873.8*
905.07*

10
6
2

0.92
0.98
1.00

0.88
0.96
0.97

0.12
0.05
0.02

0.00
0.79
0.96

Note: GFI, goodness-of-fit index; AGFI, adjusted goodness-of-fit index; RMSR, root mean square of residuals; CFI, comparative
fit index. Two-factor model
one-factor model: 2(4) 908.73 ( p < 0.001).
*p < 0.001.

in Table 1 indicated that the two-factor model of two IJC items versus three EJC items achieved the
maximum model fit among the three hypothetical models. When we conducted the multi-sample confirmatory analysis to check the structural equivalence of job characteristics items using the entire sample, the Lisrel 8.14 computer program failed to generate any results on such a large sample. Therefore,
we split the sample into three parts. In each part, we randomly selected six countries and performed the
multi-sample confirmatory analysis. Again, the findings showed a modest equivalence across nations
(CFI ranging from 0.87 to 0.95, RMSEA ranging from 0.07 to 0.05). Table 2 provides an overview of
summary statistics and correlations between all the variables at the country level and the individual
level.
To test the hypotheses, we performed a stepwise multilevel analysis and tested the improvement of
model fit as shown in Table 3. Mlwin decomposes the variance of the dependent variable, job satisfaction, into two levels of variance: country-level variance and individual-level variance. As a rule (see
Kreft & De Leeuw, 1998), if the country-level variance accounts for 5 per cent or more of the total
variance, it will be worthwhile to conduct multilevel analysis to try to explain variances from both
levels. The results, not presented in the table, showed that 6 per cent of the total variance of job satisfaction had to be explained at country level. The analyses shown in Table 3 were conducted after controlling for demographic variables. We put IJC and EJC into the model in Step 1. The significant
positive coefficients (IJC:  0.18, p < 0.001; EJC:  0.35, p < 0.001) and a significant improvement of model fit (2 32,895.7, d.f. 2, p < 0.001) indicated that, at the individual level, IJC and
EJC were positively related to job satisfaction. In Step 2, we tested whether the links between IJC
and EJC, on the one hand, and job satisfaction, on the other, significantly vary across nations. A highly
significant increase of model fit in Step 2 (2 2,678.6, d.f. 5, p < 0.001) indicated that there was
considerable variation in the job characteristicsjob satisfaction links (or job characteristic slopes)
across countries. Mlwin also produces estimates of the residual variances of the slopes (Kreft & De
Leeuw, 1998) to indicate to what extent the IJCsatisfaction link and the EJCsatisfaction link vary
across nations, respectively. The results not presented in the table showed a significant variation in the
IJCjob satisfaction link across nations (residual variance of the IJC slopes 0.01, p < 0.001).
Although the residual variance of the EJCsatisfaction link also reached significance (residual variance of the EJC slopes 0.00, p < 0.001), the variance was too small to indicate any practically significant variation in the slopes. Thus, in line with the findings of the pilot study, Hypotheses 2, 4, 6, and
8, dealing with the explanations of the variation of the slopes in terms of EJC, were not confirmed.
Before moving on to Step 3 to let the four country-level variables control for each other, following
the same procedure as in the pilot study, we tested Hypotheses 1, 3, 5, and 7. The results, not presented
in the table, showed that the four interaction terms of IJC and wealth ( 0.05, p < 0.001), IJC and
social security ( 0.14, p < 0.001), IJC and individualism ( 0.08, p < 0.001), and IJC and power
distance (
0.07, p < 0.001), were all significant and there was a significant increase in model fit
(see Figure 3). Hence, the four hypotheses were supported.
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Intrinsic job characteristics

Extrinsic job characteristics
National wealth
Social security
Individualism
Power distance
Job satisfaction

Notes: *p < 0.05; y p < 0.01.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

14,286.552
0.69
55.41
54.63
3.23

8,282.50
0.46
26.78
19.85
0.75

SD

0.15y
0.18y
0.19y
0.20y

0.19y
0.27y

Table 2. Means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations (N 98,786)

0.41

0.00

0.05y

0.03y

0.04y
0.56y

2
y

0.59

0.30

0.72y
0.75y

0.68y

0.01y

0.58

0.37*
0.61y

0.72y

0.55y

0.05y

0.50

0.20
0.70y
0.51y

0.65y

0.01y

0.62
0.02
0.69y

0.41y

0.69y

0.04y

0.03
0.67y
0.04

0.15

0.01

0.26

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

169

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

170

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

Table 3. Summary of hierarchical multilevel analyses

Job satisfaction
Variables
fit

Entry

Entry

Final

Final

Increase in model

beta

SEa

beta

SE

Step 1
Intrinsic job characteristics (IJC)
Extrinsic job characteristics (EJC)

0.18z
0.35z

0.00
0.00

0.20z
0.36z

0.05
0.01

2(2) 32,895.7z

Step 2 (random slopes)

IJC
EJC

0.21z
0.36z

0.01
0.01

2(5) 2,678.6z

Step 3
National wealth (W)
Social security (SECU)
Individualism (IND)
Power distance (PD)

0.02

0.07

0.05

0.11y

0.03
0.07
0.04
0.04

0.03
0.03

0.10

0.06

0.10
0.17
0.11
0.08

2(4) 10*

Step 4
IJC  W
IJC  SECU
IJC  IND
IJC  PD

0.01
0.05*
0.02

0.04y

0.01
0.02
0.02
0.01

0.02
0.03
0.02

0.08z

0.03
0.05
0.03
0.02

2(4) 28.5z

Step 5
W  SECU
W  IND
W  PD
SECU  IND
SECU  PD
IND  PD

0.02
0.06

0.04
0.06

0.08
0.05

0.11
0.06
0.04
0.12
0.10
0.05

0.01
0.06

0.03
0.07

0.05
0.05

0.11
0.06
0.04
0.12
0.10
0.05

Step 6
IJC  W  SECU
IJC  W  IND
IJC  W  PD
IJC  SECU  IND
IJC  SECU  PD
IJC  IND  PD

0.01

0.01
0.01
0.02
0.06*

0.02

0.03
0.02
0.01
0.04
0.03
0.02

0.01

0.01
0.01
0.02
0.06*

0.02

0.03
0.02
0.01
0.04
0.03
0.02

2(6) 8.9

2(6) 13*

Notes:*p < 0.05; y p < 0.01; z p < 0.001.

a
SE, standard error.

In Step 3, we entered national wealth, social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distance, so that the four predictors would control for each other. Power distance stood out as the only
significant predictor of job satisfaction. In addition, two of the four interaction terms entered in Step 4,
IJC and social security ( 0.05, p < 0.05) and IJC and power distance (
0.04, p < 0.01), were
significant. In Step 5, six two-way interaction terms of the four country-level variables were entered
but none of them reached significance. Finally, we tested all cross-level three-way interactions
between IJC and the six combinations of two national characteristics in Step 6. It is worth noting that,
after controlling for all these effects, the two-way interaction effect of IJC and power distance on job
satisfaction was the only two-way interaction that remained significant. Another significant interaction
term was the three-way interaction of IJC, social security, and power distance ( 0.06, p < 0.05). The
plots in Figure 4 show that intrinsic job characteristics were linked to job satisfaction in all countries
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

171

Figure 3. National wealth, social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distance as moderators of the
relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in the main study

Figure 4. National social security and cultural power distance as joint moderators of the relationship between
intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in the main study

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

172

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

with high levels of social security, small power distance, or both, while there was no relationship
between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in countries with both low levels of social
security and large power distances (simple slope test:  0.01, n.s.).

Discussion
The results of the pilot study and the main study reported here show that, whereas the link between
intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction varied significantly from country to country, the positive relationship between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction remained more or less the
same across the 49 countries. Furthermore, the consistent results across the two studies show that the
cross-national variation in the link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction can be
explained by national wealth, national social security, cultural individualism, and cultural power distance. The relationship between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is stronger in richer
countries, higher social security countries, more individualistic countries, and countries with a smaller
power distance culture.
These findings are in harmony with the explanations drawn from the socio-economic perspective, on
the one hand, and the cultural perspective, on the other. The socio-economic perspective explains the
stronger link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in richer countries and in countries with better social security systems in terms of survival issues being less important and intrinsic
aspects of jobs being more important for workers (Inglehart, 1997). From the cultural perspective, on
the other hand, the stronger link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in more individualistic countries and in countries with a smaller power distance culture is attributed to cultural
norms. In those countries, people are more likely to be socialized to focus on intrinsic aspects of their
jobs (Hofstede, 1980). For example, it was found that people in individualistic countries tend to attach
more value to high-order needs, such as self-actualization, than people in collectivistic countries
(Alpander & Carter, 1995; Nevis, 1983). Recent research has also shown that empowerment (Eylon
& Au, 1999; Robert et al., 2000) and receiving recognition from a boss (Earley & Stubblebine, 1989)
were more likely to be accepted by employees in countries with a smaller power distance culture.
The findings also suggest that social security is a stronger moderator of the intrinsic job characteristicsjob satisfaction link than national wealth. It appears that the degree of development of social
security system is more likely to capture the degree of socio-economic development of a nation than
national wealth per se. In a high social security country, people are more likely to be able to fulfill not
only their basic human needs such as physical well-being and safety, but also their need for emancipation from the confinement of a particular social system (Taylor-Gooby, 1991). Besides, Hofstede
(1991) as well as Shackleton and Ali (1990, p. 111) observed that cultural power distance is more relevant for organizational structure and behavior in organizations than cultural individualism, for power
distance is closely related to dominant organizational phenomena such as sharing power and centralization. Similarly, our findings do suggest that cultural power distance was a stronger determinant of
how workers assess their intrinsic job characteristics than cultural individualism.
The remaining question is whether socio-economic factors or cultural factors determine the crossnational variation in the impact of intrinsic job characteristics on job satisfaction. Inglehart (1997)
pointed out that, since Marx and Weber, there has been an unresolved tension between socio-economic
determinism and cultural determinism in explaining social development. Whereas Marxists tend to
attribute social and cultural changes to economic development and improvement of productivity,
Weberians argue that it is culture that nurtures economic development and social change. Rejecting both
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

173

socio-economic determinism and cultural determinism, Inglehart contended that value changes in
societies are linked to both socio-economic factors and cultural factors. Indeed, this socio-cultural
perspective has drawn much attention in recent cross-national studies (e.g., Arrindell et al., 1997;
Inglehart, 1997; Oishi et al., 1999), in which socio-economic and cultural factors were used simultaneously to explain cross-national differences in peoples values, attitudes, and behaviors. The findings
shown in Figure 4, too, are supportive of the idea that socio-economic factors and cultural factors reinforce and compensate each other in shaping peoples evaluations of their work. Specifically, intrinsic
job characteristics are associated with job satisfaction in countries with high social security and small
power distances, because in these countries (e.g., Denmark, Netherlands, and the USA) socio-economic
status and cultural norms predispose people to value intrinsic aspects of their jobs more. Moreover,
there is a significant link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction in countries with high
social security and large power distance (e.g., Malaysia, Colombia, and Venezuela). It seems that social
security alone is sufficient to shift peoples values towards self-expression, thus making them value
intrinsic aspects of their jobs more. In addition, compared to high social security countries, in low social
security countries people are unlikely to take survival for granted, but they may still value intrinsic job
characteristics if their country has a relatively small power distance culture (e.g., Argentina, Pakistan,
and South Africa). Although we were not in a position to include many Eastern European countries in
our sample, it makes a good sense to argue that many of the Eastern European countries may belong to
this category. Finally, if a countrys socio-economic status and cultural norms constitute an environment
in which intrinsic rewards from ones job are undermined, such as those countries with low social security and large power distances (e.g., Egypt, Mexico, and the Philippines), intrinsic job characteristics are
not related to job satisfaction. In a nutshell, intrinsic motivation might work in countries with higher
levels of social security irrespective of the degree of power distance, while it might not function in larger
power distance countries with lower levels of social security.

Limitations
The studies have three salient limitations. First, while job satisfaction was an overall measure in the
pilot study, we used a job facet approach to measure job satisfaction in the main study. At first glance,
all facets including pay, benefits, job security, career opportunity, training received, recognition for
performance, and being treated with respect seem to be external. The lack of a more straightforward
measure of intrinsic job satisfaction dealing with achievement or the work itself may explain why the
IJCsatisfaction link is whereas EJCsatisfaction link is not moderated. However, we argue that the
facets of recognition and respect are to some extent intrinsic in nature, not only because many psychologists believe they are (Dyer & Parker, 1975), but also because they were indeed treated as facets
representing intrinsic job satisfaction in some prior studies (Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Herzberg
et al., 1959; Simonetti & Weitz, 1972; Singer & Coffin, 1996; Wernimont, 1966). Moreover, it has been
repeatedly ascertained that subjective satisfaction measures tend to constitute a syndrome, so that
when satisfaction is expressed with one realm it is likely to be expressed in other realms as well
(Inkeles, 1997, p. 335). Workers general affective states of certain aspects of their jobs may well spill
over onto evaluations of other job aspects (cf. Bamundo & Kopelman, 1980; Judge & Watanabe,
1993; Near & Rechner, 1992). Furthermore, although job satisfaction was measured differently in
the pilot study and the main study, the patterns of moderating effects on the IJCsatisfaction link
are essentially the same as in both studies.
Second, since it was not intended that the two surveys used in the studies would be used exclusively
to examine the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction, intrinsic job characteristics were measured using two items in each study only, leading to a potential problem of construct
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

174

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

validity. However, this problem is mitigated by the fact that the confirmatory factor analyses of the
different job characteristic items in the pilot study and the main study revealed a similar two-factor
structure of intrinsic versus extrinsic job characteristics. Moreover, in both studies, we found that
the link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction varied from country to country, while
the relationship between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction remained nearly constant
across countries. Finally, although the two studies used completely different samples as well as different items to measure intrinsic job characteristics, the interaction effects of intrinsic job characteristics
and each of the four national characteristics showed remarkable convergence (see Figures 2 and 3).
A related third problem is that in the main study one of the two IJC items (my immediate boss
seldom gives me recognition for performance) and one of the job satisfaction measures (satisfaction
with recognition for performance) are closely linked conceptually. Likewise, the EJC item from what
I hear, our pay is as good as in other companies in our industry is conceptually linked to satisfaction
with pay. The closely related items may blur the empirical test of the theoretical relationships between
job characteristics and job satisfaction, the central concern of the paper. However, even though the IJC
item and the job satisfaction item are conceptually related, our findings still showed that in lower social
security countries with a large power distance culture, IJC was not related to job satisfaction. Though it
is not clear whether, in the main study, the consistently strong individual level link between EJC and
job satisfaction is due to the fact that satisfaction with pay may be closely related to the corresponding EJC items, at least in pilot study, we found that EJC was strongly related to job satisfaction across
nations as well.

Implications for cross-cultural researchers

In the past, most cross-national organizational research was conducted at country level. Despite the contribution of these studies to our understanding of cross-national variation in organizational behaviors,
little is known about how national contexts influence the impact of organizational variables on workers
attitudes and behaviors. Many prominent scholars (e.g., House, Rousseau, & Thomas-Hunt, 1995; Van
de Vijver & Leung, 1997; Rousseau, 1985) argue that it is essential to develop a multilevel approach to
organizational research in order to address cross-level phenomena. The current study is perhaps among
the first to use a multilevel approach to address national contextual influences on individual workers
attitudes. It is noteworthy that, as presented in Table 3, the main effect of cultural power distance on job
satisfaction disappeared after the cross-level interaction term was entered into the model. In other
words, the main effect of cultural power distance was an illusion as it was taken over by the cross-level
moderating effect of cultural power distance on the IJCsatisfaction link. Moreover, the multilevel
approach seems to be useful to examine how different national characteristics jointly influence the relationship between organizational variables and workers attitudes and behaviors.

Implications for management theorists

The notion that intrinsic rewards are more important than extrinsic rewards in producing job satisfaction has been deeply embedded in the imperatives of nearly every concept of modern management
ideas (e.g., Steers, Porter, & Bigley, 1996, p. 19; Thierry, 1998, p. 263). Nevertheless, some of the early
research has shown that the link between intrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction is not necessarily stronger than the link between extrinsic job characteristics and job satisfaction (e.g., Dunnette
et al., 1967; Waters, 1972; Wernimont, 1966). Although we did not test the relative impacts of intrinsic
job characteristics and extrinsic job characteristics on job satisfaction directly, we have made a strong
case that while intrinsic job characteristics are not related to job satisfaction in countries with low
Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

175

social security and a large power distance culture, extrinsic job characteristics are strongly and positively linked to job satisfaction in all countries.

Implications for managers

The main thrust of our findings is that the intrinsic job characteristicsjob satisfaction link is absent or
less discernible in low social security countries and large power distance countries. This finding is in line
with many prior studies. For example, Adigun and Stephenson (1992) found that intrinsic job factors are
less effective in motivating Nigerian workers than British workers, and Earley and Stubblebine (1989)
demonstrated that, in large power distance countries, workers considered boss recognition manipulative
and, thus, undesirable. Even more surprisingly, Eylon and Au (1999) contended, with some empirical
support, that workers in large power distance cultures may even perform better under disempowered
conditions where tasks are structured, information is more limited, and responsibilities are explicit
and few. These findings contradict conventional wisdom that intrinsic rewards, such as empowerment,
participation, more challenge, and more recognition from ones boss, are desirable for all workers.
Rather, our findings suggest that implementing management intervention techniques that overemphasize
the intrinsic rewards for workers in countries with poor social security systems and a large power distance culture could be ineffective, especially in manufacturing multinational companies.

Author biographies
Xu Huang is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University. He received his PhD from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and MA from
Lancaster University (UK). His research interests include cross-cultural organizational psychology,
psychological empowerment, organizational justice, and management issues in China. He has published in the Journal of International Business Studies and Applied Psychology: An International
Review.
Evert Van de Vliert is a Professor of Organizational and Applied Social Psychology at the University
of Groningen, the Netherlands. His research has been published in Academy of Management Journal,
Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of
Personality and Social Psychlogy. His key book publication is Complex Interpersonal Conflict Behaviour: Theoretical Frontiers (Psychology Press, 1997). Van de Vlierts current research interests focus
on cross-national organization psychology, with an emphasis on the impact of atmospheric thermoclimate on leadership and human resource management.

References
Adigun, I. O., & Stephenson, G. M. (1992). Sources of job motivation and satisfaction among British and Nigerian
employees. Journal of Social Psychology, 132, 369376.
Alpander, G. G., & Carter, K. D. (1995). Strategic multinational intra-company differences in employee
motivation. In T. Jackson (Ed.), Cross-cultural management (pp. 92109). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

176

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

Anderson, C. A., & Anderson, K. B. (1996). Violent crime rate studies in philosophical context: a destructive
testing approach to heat and southern culture of violence effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
70, 740756.
Arrindell, W. A., Hatzichristou, C., Wensink, J., Rosenberg, E., Van Twillert, B., Stedema, J., & Meijer, D. (1997).
Dimensions of national culture as predictors of cross-national differences in subjective well-being. Journal of
Personality and Individual Differences, 23, 3753.
Ashford, D. E. (1986). The Emergence of the welfare states. New York: Basil Blackwell.
Aycan, Z., Kanungo, R. N., & Sinha, J. B. P. (1999). Organizational culture and human resource management
practices: the model of culture fit. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 501526.
Bamundo, P. J., & Kopelman, R. E. (1980). The moderating effects of occupation, age, and urbanization on the
relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 17, 106123.
Bandura, A. (1988). Self-regulation of motivation and action through goal systems. In V. Hamilton, G. H.
Bower, & N. H. Fryda (Eds.), Cognition, motivation, and affect: A cognitive science view (pp. 3761).
Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.
Byrne, B. M. (1994). Testing for the factorial validity, replication, and invariance of a measuring instrument: a
paradigmatic application based on the Maslach burnout inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 29, 289
311.
Chiu, L. H. (1993). Self-esteem in American and Chinese (Taiwanese) children. Current Psychology: Research
and Reviews, 11, 309313.
Clark, A. E. (1998). Measures of job satisfaction: what makes a good job? Evidence from OECD countries. In
OECD Working Papers: Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers No. 34 (Vol. 6). Paris: OECD.
Davis, J. H., Schoorman, F. D., & Donaldson, L. (1997). Toward a stewardship theory of management. Academy of
Management Review, 22, 2047.
Diener, E., & Diener, M. (1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653663.
Doyal, L., & Gough, I. (1984). A theory of human needs. Critical Social Policy, 10, 633.
Dunnette, M. D., Campbell, J. P., & Hakel, M. D. (1967). Factors contributing to job satisfaction and job
dissatisfaction in six occupational groups. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 2, 143174.
Dyer, L., & Parker, D. F. (1975). Classifying outcomes in work motivation research: an examination of the
intrinsicextrinsic dichotomy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 455458.
Earley, P. C., & Stubblebine, P. (1989). Intercultural assessment of performance feedback. Group and
Organization Studies, 14, 161181.
Eylon, D., & Au, K. Y. (1999). Exploring empowerment cross-cultural differences along the power distance
dimension. International Journal of Intercultural Relation, 23, 373385.
Goldstein, H., Rasbash, J., Plewis, I., Draper, D., Browne, W., Yang, M., Woodhouse, G., & Healy, M. (1998). A
Users Guide to MlwiN. London: University of London.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory. Organizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 16, 250279.
Harding, S., Philips, D., & Fogarty, M. P. (1986). Contrasting values in western Europe: Unity, diversity, and
change. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York: Wiley.
Hofstede, G. H. (1980). Cultures consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills,
CA: Sage.
Hofstede, G. H. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, G. H. (2001). Cultures consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations
across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
House, R., Rousseau, D. M., & Thomas-Hunt, M. (1995). The MESO paradigm: a framework for the integration of
micro and macro organizational behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 17, 71114.
Hui, C. H., Yee, C., & Eastman, K. L. (1995). International replication note: the relationship between
individualismcollectivism and job satisfaction. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 44, 276282.
Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43
societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Inkeles, A. (1997). National character: A psycho-social perspective. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Joreskog, K. G., & Sorbom, D. (1993). New features in Lisrel 8. Chicago: Scientific Software International.
Judge, T. A., & Watanabe, S. (1993). Another look at the job satisfactionlife satisfaction relationship. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 78, 939948.

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

177

Kanungo, R. N. (1990). Work alienation in developing countries: western models and eastern realities. In A. M.
Jaeger, & R. N. Kanungo (Eds.), Management in developing countries (pp. 193208). London: Routledge.
Kreft, I., & De Leeuw, J. (1998). Introducing multilevel modeling. London: Sage.
Kuhnert, K. W., & Palmer, D. R. (1991). Job security, health, and the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of work.
Group and Organization Studies, 16, 178192.
Lindenberg, S. (2001). Intrinsic motivation in a new light. KYKLOS, 54, 317342.
Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial
and organizational psychology (pp. 12971349). Chicago: Rand McNally.
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row.
Merritt, A. C. (2000). Culture in the cockpit: do Hofstedes dimensions replicate? Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 31, 283301.
Mottaz, C. J. (1985). The relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards as determinants of work
satisfaction. Sociological Quarterly, 26, 365385.
MOW International Research Team. (1987). The meaning of working. London: Academic Press.
Mullen, M. R. (1995). Diagnosing measurement equivalence in cross-national research. Journal of International
Business Studies, third quarter, 573596.
Near, J. P., & Rechner, P. L. (1992). Cross-cultural variations in predictors of life satisfaction: an historical view of
differences among West European countries. Social Indicators Research, 29, 109121.
Nevis, E. C. (1983). Using an American perspective in understanding another culture: toward a hierarchy of needs
for the Peoples Republic of China. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 19, 249264.
Oishi, S. (2000). Goals as cornerstones of subjective well-being: linking individuals and cultures. In E. Diener, &
E. M. Suh (Eds.), Culture and subjective well-being (pp. 87112). London: MIT Press.
Oishi, S., Diener, E. F., Lucas, R. E., & Suh, E. M. (1999). Cross-cultural variations in predictors of life
satisfaction: perspectives from needs and values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 980990.
Page, R. C., & Cheng, H. (1992). A preliminary investigation of Chinese and American perceptions of the self.
Psychologia, 35, 1220.
Parker, M. P. (1997). National cultures of the world: A statistical reference. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Peterson, M. F., Smith, P. B., Akande, A., et al. (1995). Role conflict, ambiguity, and overload: a 21-nation study.
Academy of Management Journal, 38, 429452.
Plant, R. (1985). The very idea of a welfare state. In P. Bean, J. Ferris, & D. Whynes (Eds.), In Defence of welfare
(pp. 330). London: Tavistock.
Robert, C., Probst, T. M., Martocchio, J. J., Drasgow, F., & Lawler, J. J. (2000). Empowerment and continuous
improvement in the United States, Mexico, Poland, and India: predicting fit on the basis of the dimensions of
power distance and individualism. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 643658.
Rousseau, D. M. (1985). Issues of level in organizational research: multi-level and cross-level perspectives.
Research in Organisational Behaviour, 7, 137.
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests
in twenty countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 165). San
Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Shackleton, V. J., & Ali, A. H. (1990). Work-related values of managers: a test of the Hofstede model. Journal of
Cross-Cultural Psychology, 21, 109118.
Simonetti, S. H., & Weitz, J. (1972). Job satisfaction: cross cultural effects. Personnel Psychology, 25, 107118.
Singer, M. S., & Coffin, T. K. (1996). Cognitive and volitional determinants of job attitudes in a voluntary
organisation. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 11, 313328.
Singh, J. (1995). Measurement issues in cross-national research. Journal of International Business Studies, third
quarter, 597619.
Smith, P. B. (1992). Organizational behavior and national cultures. British Journal of Management, 3, 3951.
Snijders, T. A. B., & Bosker, R. J. (1999). Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel
modeling. London: Sage.
Spector, E. S. (1996). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice. New York: Wiley.
Steers, R. M., Porter, L. W., & Bigley, G. A. (1996). Motivation and leadership at work. New York: McGrawHill.
Tang, T. L. P., & Gilbert, P. R. (1995). Attitudes toward money as related to intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction,
stress and work-related attitudes. Personality and Individual Difference, 19, 327332.
Taylor-Gooby, P. (1991). Social change, social welfare and social science. New York: Harvester Weatsheaf.
Thierry, H. (1998). Motivation and satisfaction. In P. J. D. Drenth, H. Thierry, & C. J. De Wolff (Eds.), Handbook
of work and organizational psychology (pp. 253289). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

178

XU HUANG AND E. VAN DE VLIERT

Trompenaars, F. (1993). Riding the waves of culture: Understanding cultural diversity in business. London:
Nicholas Brealey.
Van de Vijver, F., & Leung, K. (1997). Methods and data analysis for cross-cultural research. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Van de Vliert, E., & Janssen, O. (2002). Better than performance motives as roots of satisfaction across more and
less developed countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 380397.
Veenhoven, R. (1991). Is happiness relative? Social Indicators Research, 24, 134.
Veenhoven, R., & Ehrhardt, J. (1995). The cross-national pattern of happiness: test of predictions implied in three
theories of happiness. Social Indicators Research, 34, 3368.
Voydanoff, P. (1978). The relationship between perceived job characteristics and job satisfaction among
occupational status groups. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 5, 179192.
Waters, L. K. (1972). An empirical test of five versions of the two-factor theory of job satisfaction. Organizational
Behavior and Human Performance, 7, 1824.
Weale, A. (1983). Political theory and social welfare. London: Macmillan.
Wernimont, P. F. (1966). Intrinsic and extrinsic factors in job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 50,
4150.

Appendix: Country-Level Variables and Sample Sizes

for Two Studies Covering 49 Countries
GNP
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Czech
Denmark
Egypt
Finland
France
Germany W.
Germany E.
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Israel
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand

6,800
17,000
20,200
23,950
2,680
1,140
20,800
2,550
1,500
2,710
24,400
730
26,000
20,400
22,300
22,300
8,200
14,600
3,350
369
680
12,100
18,600
26,900
2,960
3,660
18,300
14,900

Social security
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
1

Individualism Power distance

46
90
55
75
38

49
36
11
65
69

80
23
10.5

39
63
72.5

74
38
63
71
67
67
35
25

18
80
33
68
35
35
60
68

48
14
54
76
46
26
30
80
79

77
78
13
50
54
104
81
38
22

Pilot study
N

Main study
N
504
441
3,847
4,469
5,039

351
329
358
136
434
483
378
431
161

132
59
234
6,063
7,227
169
3,266

571
3,089
1,303
573
379
437

417

563
310
1,252
7,913
17,269
134
Continues

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)

NATIONAL MODERATORS OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

179

Appendix: Continued
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.

Norway
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Salvador
S. Africa
S. Korea
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
UK
USA
Venezuela

44,000
410
1,430
860
2,260
9,000
2,340
1,190
2,960
6,650
16,500
6,490
13,200
25,100
33,200
10,000
1,940
3,670
16,700
23,400
3,400

1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

69
14
16
32

31
55
64
94

27

63

8
65
18
20
27
51
71
68
17
20
37
89
91
12

66
49
60
74
76
57
31
34
58
64
66
35
40
81

892
337
264
746
480

98
392
55
2,010
905
124
327
362
4,090

415
290
467

680
201
311
6,887
4,208
280
3,931
9,626
193

J. Organiz. Behav. 24, 159179 (2003)