Effective Factors in Enhancing Managers’ Job Motivation: Cross-Cultural Context

Motivating people to perform is a continuous and interesting research problem investigated by experts from different fields. A particular attention is focused on the issue of line managers/ superiors motivating their subordinates; still a research niche is identified when analysing factors motivating managers to work. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said “With a good general there are no bad soldiers" which, metaphorically, can be transformed into "There is no such thing as bad employees with poor motivation for work if there is a good, motivated manager", so the key question is- what motivates contemporary managers, which motivators are particularly appreciated by them? This paper focuses on presenting some results from the empirical research designed by the author and carried out among lower and top level managers employed in 28 countries around the world. In total, respondents assessed 47 motivating tools divided into three groups: tangible cash, tangible non-cash and intangible tools. The research was aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the impact each tool had on the managers’ motivation, taking into consideration cross- cultural context. The collected factographic material was subject to statistical analysis based on Kruskal-Wallis' Anova test. The research results are a source of valuable information both for theorists and practitioners of management.