Employee Expectations And The National Cultural Factor

Based on the need to identify effective methods to increase work motivation and engagement of employees, this paper aims to identify Romanian employees’ work expectations, satisfaction and dissatisfaction sources, and to analyze the influence that the national cultural factor has upon these. The consideration of the cultural factor is given by the fact that for decades the field of motivation was shaped mainly by occidental theories, neglecting the cultural factor and its potential influence on human behavior. To achieve the goal of the paper, we conducted a qualitative research, using the focus group as research tool. Two focus groups were carried out, each with ten participants from different generations: young employees and employees with seniority. This paper focuses on the comparison of the two generations included in the survey. For example, interpersonal relationships with peers represent the most frequent source of work satisfaction for both generations considered. At the same time, salary is frequently a source of dissatisfaction for the younger generation, and aspects related to the policy and administration of the company seem to rather displease employees with seniority. This research is part of a broader research, however, is not without limitations. So, given that the research was conducted on a population consisting of individuals with higher education from urban areas we can not claim that these results are valid also for employees in rural areas or without higher education.