Past studies in U.S. work organizations have supported a model derived from self-determination theory in which autonomy-supportive work climates predict satisfaction of the intrinsic needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, which in turn predict task motivation and psychological adjustment on the job. To test this model cross-culturally, the authors studied employees of state-owned companies in Bulgaria, a country that has traditionally had a central-planning economy, a totalitarian political system, and collectivist values. A sample from a privately owned American corporation was used for comparison purposes. Results using structural equation modeling suggested that the model fit the data from each country, that the constructs were equivalent across countries, and that some paths of the structural model fit equivalently for the two countries but that county moderated the other paths.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, J. C. , & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 411-423.
2.
Baard, P. P. , Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Intrinsic need satisfaction: A motivational basis of performance and well-being in two work settings. Unpublished manuscript, Fordham University.
3.
Barrick, M. R. , & Mount, M. K. (1993). Autonomy as a moderator of the relationships between the Big Five personality dimensions and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 111-118.
4.
Baumeister, R. , & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497-529.
5.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238-246.
6.
Bentler, P. M. , & Wu, E. J. C. (1998). EQS for Windows 5.7a [Computer software]. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software, Inc.
7.
Blais, M. R. , & Brière, N. M. (1992). On the mediational role of feelings of self-determination in the workplace: Further evidence and generalization. Unpublished manuscript, University of Quebec at Montreal.
8.
Boas, S. (1991). Meaning, self, and motivation in organizations. Organizational Studies, 12, 405-424.
9.
Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: John Wiley.
10.
Bond, M. H. (Ed.). (1988). The cross-cultural challenge to social psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
11.
Bryk, A. S. , & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
12.
Connell, J. P. (1990). Context, self and action: A motivational analysis of self-system processes across the life-span. In D. Cicchetti & M. Beeghly (Eds.), The self in transition: Infancy to childhood (pp. 61-97). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
13.
deCharms, R. (1968). Personal causation: The internal affective determinants of behavior. New York: Academic Press.
14.
Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic motivation. New York: Plenum.
15.
Deci, E. L. , Connell, J. P., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Self-determination in a work organization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 580-590.
16.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985a). The general causality orientations scale: Self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 109-134.
17.
Deci, E. L. , & Ryan, R. M. (1985b). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.
18.
Gagné, M. , Senecal, C. B., & Koestner, R. (1997). Proximal job characteristics, feelings of empowerment, and intrinsic motivation: A multidimensional model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 1222-1240.
19.
Goldberg, D. P. , Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B., & Shepherd, M. (1970). A standardized psychiatric interview suitable for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 24, 18-23.
20.
Goldberg, D. P. , & Hillier, V. F. (1979). A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire. Psychological Medicine, 9, 139-145.
21.
Hackman, J. R. , & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170.
22.
Harlow, H. F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 673-685.
23.
Heine, S. J. , Lehman, D. R., Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999). Is there a universal need for positive self-regard. Psychological Review, 106, 766-794.
24.
Ilardi, B. C. , Leone, D., Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). Employee and supervisor ratings of motivation: Main effects and discrepancies associated with job satisfaction and adjustment in a factory setting. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 1789-1805.
25.
Kao, H. S. R. , & Sek-Hong, N. (1997). Work motivation and culture. In D. Munro, J. F. Schumaker, & S. C. Carr (Eds.), Motivation and culture (pp. 119-132). New York: Routledge.
26.
Kashima, Y. , Yamaguchi, S., Kim, U., Choi, S., Gelfand, M., & Yuki, M. (1995). Culture, gender, and self: A perspective from individualism-collectivism research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 925-937.
27.
Kasser, T. , Davey, J., & Ryan, R. M. (1992). Motivation and employee-supervisor discrepancies in a psychiatric vocational rehabilitation setting. Rehabilitation Psychology, 37, 175-187.
28.
Kasser, T. , & Ryan, R. M. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 410-422.
29.
Kishton, J. M. , & Widaman, K. F. (1994). Unidimensional versus domain representative parceling of questionnaire items: An empirical example. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54, 757-765.
30.
Little, T. D. (1997). Mean and Covariance Structures (MACS) analyses of cross-cultural data: Practical and theoretical issues. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 32, 53-76.
31.
Marsh, H. W. (1994). Confirmatory factor analysis models of factorial invariance: A multifaceted approach. Structural Equation Modeling, 1, 5-34.
32.
Marsh, H. W. , Balla, J. R., & McDonald, R. P. (1988). Goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis: The effect of sample size. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 391-410.
33.
Munro, D. J. (1977). The concept of man in contemporary China. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
34.
O’Brien, E. J. , & Epstein, S. (1989). The Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
35.
Pajak, E. , & Glickman, C. D. (1989). Informational and controlling language in simulated supervisory conferences. American Educational Research Journal, 26, 93-106.
36.
Ryan, R. M. , & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.
37.
Ryan, R. M. , & Lynch, J. (1989). Emotional autonomy versus detachment: Revisiting the vicissitudes of adolescence and young adulthood. Child Development, 60, 340-356.
38.
Ryan, R. M. , Rigby, S., & King, K. (1993). Two types of religious internalization and their relations to religious orientations and mental health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 586-596.
39.
Ryan, R. M. , Sheldon, K. M., Kasser, T., & Deci, E. L. (1996). All goals are not created equal: An organismic perspective on the nature of goals and their regulation. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 7-26). New York: Guilford.
40.
Satorra, A. , & Bentler, P. M. (1988). Scaling corrections for statistics in covariance structure analysis (UCLA Statistics Series 2). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology.
41.
Sheldon, K. M. & Kasser, T. (1995). Coherence and congruence: Two aspects of personality integration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 531-543.
42.
Skinner, E. A. (1995). Perceived control, motivation, and coping. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
43.
Steiger, J. H. (1990). Structural model evaluation and modification: An interval estimation approach. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 173-180.
44.
Tetrick, L. E. (1989). The motivating potential of leader behavior: A comparison of two models. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19, 947-958.
45.
Tucker, L. R. , & Lewis, C. (1973). A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 38, 1-10.
46.
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297-333.
