Assessing Lower and Higher Order Needs: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study

Clayton Alderfer proposed a framework of needs - existence, relatedness and growth – to simplify Maslow’s hierarchy and enable the concept to be empirically verified. Alderfer’s structure focuses on the individual and related individual needs to those things that a job or occupation could hope to satisfy. His framework was adapted and incorporated into the World Values Survey to measure respondents’ views on the meaning and purpose of work. Four value rankings in the survey assess the purpose of work in terms of the income, job safety and security, the value of associating with people the worker might like, and a sense of importance a job or occupation can provide. The question asked by this research is whether lower (income and security) or higher (association and job importance) order needs are the stronger motivators. It was determined that there was no significant difference in the level of work motivation between those people who are driven by lower order needs and those who are driven by higher order needs. The results were consistent across fifty-six national surveys. Self-assessed levels of work motivation, however, varied by country.