“Better than” Performance Motives as Roots of Satisfaction Across more and Less Developed Countries

Abstract

Individuals tend to want to better their own performance when they repeat the same tasks, and they want to perform better than competitors. These self- and other-referenced performance motives vary independently and lead to more and less satisfaction, respectively. A 42-nation regression study, based on indicators of aggregated performance motivation, work satisfaction, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being, shows that the independence of the two performance motives and the motivation-satisfaction links also hold across countries. Additionally, the positive self-referenced motivation-satisfaction link and the negative other- referenced motivation-satisfaction link are more pronounced across countries with higher levels of income, education, and life expectancy. Consequently, motivational methods that work well in one region may not be easily transferable to other regions.

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Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
DOI: 10.1177/00222102033004002
2002; 33; 380 Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Evert van de Vliert and Onne Janssen
Countries
"Better than" Performance Motives as Roots of Satisfaction Across more and Less Developed
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JOURNALOF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
vande Vliert, Janssen / NATIONAL MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION
Individuals tend to want to better their own performance when they repeat the same tasks, and they want to
perform better than competitors. These self- and other-referenced performance motives vary independently
and lead to more and less satisfaction, respectively. A 42-nation regression study, based on indicators of
aggregated performance motivation, work satisfaction, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being, shows
that the independence of the two performance motives and the motivation-satisfaction links also hold across
countries. Additionally, the positive self-referenced motivation-satisfaction link and the negative other-
referenced motivation-satisfaction link are more pronounced across countries with higher levels of income,
education, and life expectancy. Consequently, motivational methods that work well in one region may not be
easily transferable to other regions.
“BETTER THAN” PERFORMANCE MOTIVES
AS ROOTS OF SATISFACTION ACROSS
MORE AND LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EVERT VA N D E VLIERT
ONNE JANSSEN
University of Groningen
In industrialized nations, collectivities such as families, schools, and companies exist by
the grace of performance motives, that is, needs that prompt members to do tasks with a sense
of purpose. Performance motives are familiar to us as intrinsic and extrinsic motives (e.g.,
Herzberg, Mausner, & Bloch-Snyderman, 1959); achievement, affiliation, and power needs
(McClelland, 1961); and growth, relatedness, and existence needs (Alderfer, 1972). Largely
unknown is whether such performance motives are also an active window in developing
countries and whether they have similar meanings and consequences in those countries. To
address these issues, we departed from a Western dichotomy of performance motives that
highlights the core constructs of self versus other as motivational reference points. This
dichotomy contrasts the need to do one’s paid or unpaid work better than one did before or is
doing right now, or better than similar others (e.g., Duda, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988;
Kanfer, 1990; Nicholls, 1984; Roberts, 1992). Indeed, people are often motivated with their
own and others’ performance as surpassable target points. For readers of this journal, it goes
almost without saying that the motivational reference points tend to be the individual perfor-
mance of self and others in industrialized nations, but the performance of the enlarged self
(the ingroup) and the enlarged other (the outgroup) in developing nations. Self-referenced
people primarily want to demonstrate mastery and improvement; they are reinforced by
opportunities to engage in learning activities, irrespective of how comparable competitors
are doing. Other-referenced people primarily want to demonstrate superior capacity; they
are reinforced by competitive goal attainment, irrespective of how they themselves were or
are doing in an absolute sense.
Studying the manifestations and consequences of self- and other-referenced performance
motives within and across both industrialized and developing nations stands out as a
380
AUTHORS’ NOTE: We appreciate the assistance of Fop Coolsma and thank Ben Emans, José Heesink, Nico van Yperen, and two
anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and creative suggestions.
JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 33 No. 4, July 2002 380-397
© 2002 Western Washington University
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challenging set of tasks. The present article starts to report a four-part cross-national study
about the affective impact of aggregated self- and other-referenced performance motives
experienced by more than 14,000 native adults from 42 countries. The first part addresses the
two “better than” motives and is primarily descriptive. It maps each country’s relative posi-
tion on the dimensions of self- and other-referenced performance motivation. The second
part is primarily evaluative, addressing the affective consequences of performance motiva-
tion. Again, with countries as the level of analysis, it examines whether self-referenced per-
formance motives entail more satisfaction, whereas other-referenced performance motives
entail less satisfaction (for analogous associations at the individual level, see Duda, 1992;
Farr, Hofmann, & Ringenbach, 1993). The third part focuses on possible differences
between industrialized and developing countries. It brings national development into vision
as a possible explanatory rather than descriptive or evaluative factor. Across the 42 coun-
tries, it examines whether three clustered components of human development—higher
income, educational attainment, and life expectancy—influence the respective positive and
negative associations between self- and other-referenced performance motivation and sat-
isfaction. The fourth part finally attempts to rule out some rival explanations of the motivation-
satisfaction links by considering cultural individualism, pace of life, and two response
styles—acquiescence and extremity rating—as alternative roots of satisfaction.
THEORIES AND HYPOTHESES
PERFORMANCE MOTIVES
The viewpoint of self- and other-referenced performance motives is relevant for several
reasons. First, the proposed “better than” constructs are theory-based. They are rooted in
comparison theory (e.g., Albert, 1977; Suls, Marco, & Tobin, 1991), in which self-reference
is called temporal comparison because people compare their own present to their own past or
future, whereas other-reference is called social comparison because people compare them-
selves to others. Second, unlike earlier taxonomies (e.g., Alderfer, 1972; McClelland, 1961),
self- and other-referenced performance motives exclusively focus on inner drives to excel in
the execution of one’s tasks. Third, compared to the corresponding dichotomies of task and
ego orientation (e.g., Nicholls, 1984), learning and performance goals (e.g., Dweck, 1986),
mastery and ability goals (Ames, 1992), and mastery and competitive goal orientation (Rob-
erts, 1992), the proposed self-other terminology provides a more accurate description of the
fact that one’s own and others’ performance are used as motivational reference points. Last
but not least, the perspective of self- and other-referenced performance motives is also rele-
vant because these dimensions are two of a kind; they coalesce into a higher order, latent con-
struct of hierarchic self-interest (Hagan, Ripple, Boehnke, & Merkens, 1999).
Research at the individual level of analysis demonstrated that self- and other-referenced
performance motives are mutually independent, or orthogonal, dimensions (Button,
Mathieu, & Zajac, 1996; Duda, 1992; Duda & Nicholls, 1992; Hagan et al., 1999). Ortho-
gonality of the two performance motives remains equally relevant when one shifts from a
cross-individual to a cross-national perspective. If national populations do indeed differ in
the aggregated degrees to which individuals have self- and other-referenced motives, it is still
an open question whether these motives at such a high level of aggregation and analysis are
mutually independent as well. Beyond the academic intrigue of learning each country’s pos-
sible horizontal and vertical position on such a doing-better-than map, this knowledge may
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help international researchers and interventionists, expatriates, and migrants to anticipate a
focal country’s predominant performance motivation. Mainly for the advanced scientific
mapping of nations, but also to explore whether the individual-level orthogonality of the two
“better than” motives is isomorphic at the country level, we formulated the following
hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Cross-nationally, self-referenced performance motives vary independently
of other-referenced performance motives.
MOTIVE-BASED SATISFACTION
Within the salient triangle of work motives, performance, and job satisfaction, consider-
able attention has been given to the motive-performance and performance-satisfaction
relationships (for overviews, see Erez, 1997; Kanfer, 1990) at the expense of the motivation-
satisfaction relationship. Helping to fill this void, we departed from the individual-level obser-
vation that self-referenced performance motives are positively whereas other-referenced
performance motives are negatively related to satisfaction (Duda, 1992). There is no simple
explanation for this observation in that self- and other-referenced performance motives
would be operating as opposite poles of one and the same dimension having opposite effects
on satisfaction. What is it, then, that makes self-referenced individual performers happier
than other-referenced individual performers? Step by step, Nicholls (1984; Nicholls &
Miller, 1984), Dweck (1986; Dweck & Leggett, 1988), and Duda (1992; Duda & Nicholls,
1992) have developed the following sensible line of reasoning.
Major implications of the self- versus other-referenced performance motives are that the
workers involved experience task situations differently, assess their competence differently,
and develop different affective outcomes. Specifically, a person’s self-referenced perfor-
mance motive is experienced more as an end in itself (i.e., to demonstrate mastery and
improvement; e.g., Nicholls, 1984), activates a predominantly internal locus of perceived
control and causality (e.g., Dweck & Leggett, 1988), and therefore produces relatively high
levels of intrinsic interest in and satisfaction with the task at hand (e.g., Duda, 1992). By con-
trast, a person’s other-referenced performance motive is experienced more as a means to an
end (i.e., to compete and demonstrate superior capacity), activates a predominantly external
locus of perceived control and causality, and therefore produces relatively low levels of
intrinsic interest in and satisfaction with the task at hand.
The possible cross-level generalizability of these motivation-satisfaction relationships
from individuals to national populations seems to deserve attention. Scholars might want to
know whether the robust cross-national differences in work satisfaction (e.g., Inglehart,
Basañez, & Moreno, 1998) and nonwork satisfaction (e.g., Diener, Diener, & Diener, 1995)
can be partially traced back to self-referenced performance motives, other-referenced per-
formance motives, or both. International survey researchers, who often solicit responses in
terms of satisfaction, need to take into account the contaminating effect of performance
motives, if any. And practitioners might want to implement nation-specific changes in per-
formance motivation to influence the characteristic degree of collective satisfaction in
families, communities, or organizations. For all of these reasons, we decided to cross-validate
the known individual-level motivation-satisfaction relationships (e.g., Duda, 1992) at the
country-level by means of the following hypotheses:
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Hypothesis 2: Cross-nationally, self-referenced performance motives have a positive
relationship with satisfaction.
Hypothesis 3: Cross-nationally, other-referenced performance motives have a negative
relationship with satisfaction.
DOES NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
ALTER MOTIVE-BASED SATISFACTION?
The United Nations defined human development as “the process of enlarging people’s
choices” (Human Development Report, 1998, p. iii). Indeed, higher income, education, life
expectancy, and the like increase people’s discretion in deciding how to meet their daily task
demands, including their “better than” performance motives. Sociocultural scientists (e.g.,
Inkeles, 1997) as well as psychologists (e.g., Karasek, 1979) have paid attention to the affec-
tive consequences of people’s control over the execution of their tasks.
Strong evidence exists for the relative importance of broader sociocultural factors in
explaining differences in expressed satisfaction and well-being. Research based on the liv-
ability theory, for example, demonstrated that national feelings of happiness depend first and
foremost on the objective quality of a country’s living conditions (Veenhoven, 1993; Veen-
hoven & Ehrhardt, 1995). More in particular, living in a country that is more highly devel-
oped appears to be ego-enhancing—it gives a people a greater sense of competence, personal
worth, and satisfaction beyond what would be predicted from knowing only the nation’s
modal occupation (Inkeles, 1997). In a similar vein, Inglehart et al. (1998) reported that the
emergence of welfare states has given rise to a shift from survival values emphasizing hard
work and self-denial to well-being values emphasizing the quality of life, emancipation, and
self-expression. All such empirical findings make it abundantly clear that national human
development tends to elicit national satisfaction, but they leave aside the question whether
national human development has a main or an interactive effect. As will now be discussed, a
psychological theory suggests that human development and performance motivation are
necessary conditions for each other’s effect on satisfaction.
Performance motives are inherent demands of doing a better job. Viewed like this, the
demands-control model (Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990) predicts, among other
things, that satisfaction will result from high performance demands in conjunction with high
potential control over one’s task behavior, whereas dissatisfaction will result from high per-
formance demands in conjunction with low potential control; low performance demands will
result in intermediate degrees of satisfaction irrespective of the extent of potential control.
Karasek’s demands-control model has been designed and supported as an intrapersonal the-
ory about how the combination of heavy task demands and low decision latitude is associated
with mental strain and dissatisfaction. Although the intrapersonal theory has stimulated a
fair amount of research (e.g., Schaubroeck & Merritt, 1997; Van Yperen & Snijders, 2000),
so far no attempt has been made to contrast self- and other-referenced performance demands,
let alone that attention has been paid to cross-national differences in the occurrence and
effect of self- and other-referenced performance demands. In an attempt to break new
ground, we therefore examined the generalizability of the demands-control model from the
individual level to the level of industrialized and developing nations for self- as well as other-
referenced performance demands. Based on the axiom that national human development
comes with potential control, the next paragraphs propose that this development-based con
-
trol forges “better than” performance demands into a two-edged sword producing
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satisfaction in case of self-referenced performance demands but dissatisfaction in case of
other-referenced performance demands.
Recall that self-referenced performance motives refer to personal improvement irre-
spective of how others are doing, activating a predominantly internal locus of control. The
country-level equivalent is an aggregation of the inhabitants’ demands to improve their own
performance. Higher levels of development reflected in higher per capita income, educa-
tional attainment, and life expectancy provide a variety of resources that increase a sense of
personal and collective competence or efficacy (for a review of cross-national evidence, see
Inkeles, 1997), which enables people to better control and meet self-referenced performance
demands. If the demands-control model (Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990) is
indeed generalizable from the individual to the national domain, the combination of high self-
referenced performance motives and high development will lead to more satisfaction than do
high-low, low-high, and low-low combinations of self-referenced performance motives and
development. Put differently, if the demands-control model holds for self-referenced perfor-
mance demands across countries, the performance motivation theory underlying Hypothe-
sis 2 will receive more support across more developed countries.
Hypothesis 4: Cross-nationally, higher levels of human development are associated with
a more positive relationship between self-referenced performance motives and satisfaction.
A somewhat different line of reasoning leads to a similar qualification of Hypothesis 3
that, cross-nationally, stronger needs to demonstrate superior capacity vis-à-vis others
decrease satisfaction. Higher levels of development will benefit a country’s mutually com-
peting inhabitants to roughly the same extent. Virtually everyone will get greater financial,
intellectual, and other means of control at one’s disposal to outdo others. As a consequence,
higher development will not increase the chances of a country’s inhabitants to perform better
than comparable competitors in the same country.
Self-evidently, in case of low other-referenced performance motives, this development-
based competitive stalemate will not or will hardly play a part. Due to higher income, educa-
tion, and longevity, the inhabitants of more developed countries will be more satisfied. How-
ever, higher other-referenced performance motives in combination with higher development
will boost investments in vainly mutual competition, impression management, and window-
dressing, most likely resulting in less satisfaction. If so, the performance motivation theory
underlying Hypothesis 3 does especially hold across more developed countries, not only for
self-referenced performance motives but for other-referenced performance motives as well.
By contrast, precisely the same line of argument is in flat contradiction to Karasek’s (1979)
demands-control model because the high-high match of other-referenced performance
demands and development-based control would lead to unpredicted dissatisfaction rather
than the predicted satisfaction. Therefore, we formulated a final hypothesis with two
research objectives in mind: first, to examine whether the isomorphic cross-national version
of the individual-level performance motivation theory does especially hold for aggregated
other-referenced performance motives across more developed countries; and second, to
examine whether the isomorphic cross-national version of the individual-level demands-
control model does not hold for aggregated other-referenced performance motives across
more developed countries.
Hypothesis 5: Cross-nationally, higher levels of human development are associated with a
more negative relationship between other-referenced performance motives and satisfaction.
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METHOD
SAMPLES
Sampling took place with regard to countries and respondents. The use of national units
for analysis is logical because national boundaries delineate the ecological, sociopolitical,
and cultural environments within which people operate (Georgas & Berry, 1995). We
included all countries listed in Lynn (1991) and in the appendix (Transkei was omitted
because of its semiindependent status and missing data). Although the 42 countries are cer-
tainly not representative with respect to all countries, they seem to represent a relevant range
of the kinds of nations on different continents that take part in global processes of perfor-
mance improvement and competition.
During the years 1986 to 1989, Lynn (1991) gathered questionnaire data on performance
motives for a minimum of 60 male and 60 female native university students drawn from
across all faculties in their respective countries. The number of respondents ranged from 126
in Norway to 898 in South Africa (M = 340 per country). In many countries, student samples
have the disadvantage that they disproportionately represent the upper class and may not
have the same understanding of improving performance and competing as paid workers and
unpaid homeworkers. However, this disadvantage is counterbalanced by the advantage of
better mutual comparability of students. Confounding cross-national differences in male-
female distributions can be avoided. Additionally, compared to the entire population, age
group, level of education, personal income, and work experience vary less among students
both within and between countries.
VARIABLES
Performance motives. We operationalized self- and other-referenced performance
motives in terms of Lynn’s (1991) aggregated measures of mastery and competitiveness,
respectively. Lynn measured mastery (8 items on a 5-point response scale ranging from
strongly agree to strongly disagree; cross-nationally for males/females: M = 19.25/18.79,
SD = 4.23/4.16, r = .89) and competitiveness (5 items on the same response scale; M = 12.44/
11.76, SD = 1.69/1.85, r = .90) with items from Spence and Helmreich’s (1983) Work and
Family Orientation Questionnaire. Illustrative examples of our operationalization of self-
referenced performance motives in terms of mastery are the following: “If I am not good at
something, I would rather keep struggling to master it than move on to something I may be
good at,” “I would rather do something at which I feel confident and relaxed than something
which is challenging and difficult” (reversed scoring), and “I more often attempt tasks that I
am not sure I can do than tasks that I believe I can do.” Illustrative examples of our
operationalization of other-referenced performance motives in terms of competitiveness are
the following: “I try harder when I’m in competition with other people,” “It is important to
me to perform better than others on a task,” and “I feel that winning is important in both work
and games.”
The two questionnaires used to estimate first the individual level and then the nation level
of self- and other-referenced performance motivation are not ideal for cross-national
research. They were developed in the United States, thus expressing specific emic rather than
universal etic conceptualizations of the constructs measured (Berry, 1989). Therefore, spe-
cial attention was paid to the conceptual equivalence of the operationalizations across
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countries (Brett, Tinsley, Janssens, Barsness, & Lytle, 1997), that is, the cross-national simi-
larity of the meanings and measurement validity of the two performance motives.
The conceptual equivalence of self- and other-referenced performance motives was
assessed in several ways. Lynn (1991) started to ensure linguistic equivalence by having all
questions translated into the new language, having a different person translate them back into
English, and then having a third person correct distortions in the translations by comparing
the original and final English versions. To assess the cross-national equivalence of both per-
formance motives and 11 other work attitudes, he continued with a series of principal com-
ponents analyses followed by varimax rotation, first across all countries and then within
eight countries—four individualistic ones (Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the
United States) and four collectivistic ones (China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore). “The
conclusions from these factorial studies are that the factor structure of work attitudes across
countries and within the eight sample countries is closely similar” (Lynn, 1991, p. 101), that
self-referenced performance motivation invariably had its highest loadings on the first factor
(.82 across countries; M = .71 within countries), and that other-referenced performance
motivation invariably had its highest loadings on the second factor (.82 across countries; M =
.55 within countries). Much later, we also identified the cross-national equivalence with the
help of intercorrelation matrices of Lynn’s cross-national measures of self-referenced per-
formance motives (mastery), other-referenced performance motives (competitiveness),
achievement motivation, achievement via conformity, and work ethic. To assess the cross-
gender equivalence of the performance motivation measures, we compared the cross-
national matrices for men and women. The Spearman rank correlation between the two sets
of 10 Pearson correlations was .90 (p < .001), indicating that men and women conceptualize
self- and other-referenced performance motives equivalently in terms of a broader
nomological network of performance motives. Similarly, the Pearson intercorrelation matri-
ces and Spearman rank correlation computed for the 21 more and the 21 less developed coun-
tries (r
s
= .73, p < .01) indicated that the inhabitants of more and less developed countries also
conceptualize self- and other-referenced performance motives equivalently in terms of a
broader nomological network of performance motives.
Note that this evidence of conceptual equivalence of self- and other-referenced perfor-
mance motives mainly rests on convergent performance motives as validation criteria. Addi-
tionally, the construct validity of self-referenced performance motives is also apparent from
its positive relations to the more distinct criteria of internal locus of control (“freedom of
choice and control you feel you have over the way your life turns out”; World Values Study
Group [1994]: r = .44, n = 26, p < .05) and preference for the autonomous occupation of
country landowner and farmer (Lynn [1991]: r = .49, n = 41, p < .001). Likewise, the con-
struct validity of other-referenced performance motives is also apparent from its negative
relations to internal locus of control (r = –.25, n = 26, ns; after removal of the two outliers,
Korea and Mexico: r = –.38, n = 24, p < .05), its positive relations to hostile takeovers of firms
(World Economic Forum [1999]: r = .47, n = 34, p < .01), and its preference for the competi-
tive occupation of company director (Van de Vliert, Kluwer, and Lynn [2000]: r = .45, n = 42,
p < .001).
Satisfaction. Four estimates of averaged subjective appreciation of work and nonwork in
the 42 nations served as components of our operationalization of satisfaction. Although we
removed missing values by assigning to a country the average score of the other countries in
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its geographical or linguistic cluster (for country clusters, see Ronen & Shenkar, 1985), as
will be reported, we also analyzed the data without applying this missing value policy.
The first two measures were a 6-item job satisfaction index and a 4-item company satis-
faction index developed by International Survey Research (1995; 4-point response scales
dichotomized into percentages of favorable and unfavorable responses) on the basis of
nationally representative samples of the employed population. Illustrative examples of the
items used are the following: “I am doing something I consider really worthwhile in my job”
(job satisfaction), “My job is frequently dull and monotonous” (job satisfaction reversed), “I
would recommend my company as a good place to work” (company satisfaction), and
“Taking everything into account, how satisfied are you with your company as an employer?”
(company satisfaction). After applying the missing value policy described above to 8 coun-
tries, data on job and company satisfaction were available for 36 nations in the sample but not
for the 5 Arab countries and Israel.
The third estimate, predominantly dealing with life satisfaction, was constructed from
three cross-national indicators of satisfaction released by the World Values Study Group
(1994). On a 10-point scale of dissatisfied to satisfied, national random and quota samples
from 43 nations (N = 58.598, M = 1.363 per country) answered the following questions:
“Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your job?” “Overall, how satisfied or dis-
satisfied are you with your home life?” and “All things considered, how satisfied are you with
your life as a whole these days?” These indicators of life satisfaction constituted a homoge-
neous (Cronbach’s α = .94) and stable measure (r = .83 for a 22-nation test in 1981 to 1984
and retest in 1990 to 1993). After applying the missing value policy to 9 countries, data on
life satisfaction were available for the same 36 nations as in the cases of job and company
satisfaction.
The fourth estimate of satisfaction was obtained from Diener et al. (1995), who con-
structed a reliable index (α = .88) of subjective well-being in 55 nations based on three prob-
ability surveys (Veenhoven, 1993) and a large-scale survey of college students (Michalos,
1991). After applying the missing value policy to 9 countries, data on subjective well-being
were available for all 42 nations in the sample.
It has repeatedly been 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. As a result, it generally proves meaningful to develop a summary
index” (Inkeles, 1997, p. 335). We therefore used the mean standardized value of the above
four measures of work and nonwork appreciation as the final index of total satisfaction (α =
.87, N = 36 countries). The fact that different cross-national measures of different forms of
satisfaction experienced by different samples from the population at different points in time
show strong convergence suggests that these measures are valid. It also seems to reflect the
existence of general and robust cross-national differences in satisfaction (Diener et al., 1995;
Inkeles, 1997).
National human development. Since 1990, the United Nations have annually published
and improved a cross-national Human Development Index (HDI) that combines indicators
of per capita income, educational attainment, and life expectancy. We used the first index that
was based on standardized income, education, and longevity scales ranging from 0 to 1
(Human Development Report, 1994). After applying the missing value policy to Taiwan and
Yugoslavia, data on national human development were available for all 42 nations in the
sample.
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RESULTS
DESCRIPTIVE DATA
For each country, the scores for self- and other-referenced performance motives, work
and nonwork satisfaction, and national development are listed in the appendix. Table 1 pro-
vides the cross-national means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of all variables
studied.
PERFORMANCE MOTIVES
In Figure 1, each country’s performance motivation scores are marked off on a coordi-
nate system, with self-referenced motives on the x-axis and other-referenced motives on
the y-axis. Hypothesis 1 can be supported because national self- and other-referenced per-
formance motives are neither positively nor negatively interrelated (r = .07, N = 42, ns).
Instead, they constitute an elegant pair of dimensions for describing the levels of self- and
other-referenced performance motivation on a worldwide scale.
Visual inspection prompts some country cluster observations that can be buttressed by
significance tests. First, South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia,
Mexico, and Venezuela) are found to the right, as their inhabitants have relatively strong self-
referenced performance motives (Mann-Whitney U = 16, z = –3.31, p < .001). Second, Arab
countries (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and United Arab Emirates) having inhabitants with rel-
atively strong other-referenced performance motives (U =5,z = –3.40, p < .001) are found at
the top. Third, West-European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland,
Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland) are found at the bottom, as their
inhabitants have relatively weak other-referenced performance motives (U = 37.5, z = –3.80,
p < .001). The fact that the motivational country clusters in Figure 1 elegantly match geo-
388 JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
TABLE 1
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations
Variable MSD 12 3 456 7
Performance motives
a
1. Self-referenced 19.02 4.20
2. Other-referenced 12.19 3.70 .07
Satisfaction
3. Job
b
66.94 6.86 .38 –.57
4. Company
b
65.86 9.86 .51 –.24 .77
5. Life
c
7.39 5.97 .25 –.48 .62 .44
6. Well-being
d
.26 –.55 .68 .52 .75
7. Total
d
.41 –.53 .90 .80 .83 .87
National development
e
0.80 0.14 .04 –.64 .28 –.06 .37 .52 .32
NOTE: Correlation coefficients greater than .30 (N = 42; variables 1, 2, 6, and 8) or .33 (N = 36; variables 3, 4, 5, and
7) in absolute value are significant at p < .05.
a. Scale range from 0 to 32 for self-referenced and 0 to 20 for other-referenced.
b. Percentage of favorable responses per country.
c. Ten-point scale.
d. Standardized variable.
e. Human Development Index (Human Development Report, 1994).
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graphical regions inspires extra confidence in the validity of the measures of self- and other-refer-
enced performance motives.
MOTIVE-BASED SATISFACTION
The next question raised was whether performance motives predict satisfaction. To allow
comparisons between the corresponding test results of Hypotheses 2 and 4, as well as
Hypotheses 3 and 5, we report a series of unstandardized regression coefficients instead of
partial correlations. In support of Hypothesis 2, with other-referenced performance motives
controlled, self-referenced performance motives were positively related to job satisfaction
(the additionally predicted variance ∆R
2
= .20, B = .43, p < .001), company satisfaction
(∆R
2
= .38, B = .53, p < .001), life satisfaction (∆R
2
= .09, B = .30, p < .05), subjective well-
being (∆R
2
= .09, B = .29, p < .05), and total satisfaction (∆R
2
= .22, B = .46, p < .001). In sup-
port of Hypothesis 3, with self-referenced performance motives controlled, other-referenced
performance motives were negatively related to job satisfaction (∆R
2
= .38, B = –.68, p <
.001), company satisfaction (∆R
2
= .09, B = –.34, p < .05), life satisfaction (∆R
2
= .26, B =
–.57, p < .001), subjective well-being (∆R
2
= .33, B = –.57, p < .001), and total satisfaction
(∆R
2
= .33, B = –.64, p < .001). Note that despite the small sample sizes of 36 and 42 coun-
tries, each of the 10 regression coefficients (Bs) is significant. In supplementary analyses, we
found no influential outliers and no interaction effect of self- and other-referenced perfor
-
mance motives on satisfaction. We also made certain that the removal of missing values by
van de Vliert, Janssen / NATIONAL MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION 389
MEX
IRQ
UAE
ISR
CHL
FRA
NOR
SWI
GER
SWE
ARG
BRA
COL
POR
VEN
BAN
IND
KOR
SYR
BUL
HOK
SIN
TUR
AUL
BEL
CHN
JAP
POL
EGY
JOR
TAI
ROM
GRE
USA
CAN
ICE
SAF
SPA
IRE
NZL
GBR
YUG
Other-
Referenced
Performance
Motives
Self-Referenced Performance Motives
2
0
-1
-2
0-1-2 1 2
1
Figure 1: Position of 42 Countries on the Independent Dimensions of Self- and Other-Referenced Perfor-
mance Motives
NOTE: See the appendix for definitions of country acronyms.
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assigning to a country the average score of the other countries in its geographical cluster is a
justifiable procedure. Without this missing value policy, the average change in predicted
variance increased with 6% for self-referenced and with 10% for other-referenced perfor-
mance motives.
NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
MODERATES MOTIVE-BASED SATISFACTION
A series of hierararchical regression analyses with standardized variables showed, first of
all, that national development as such did not convincingly account for additional variance in
satisfaction, over and above both “better than” performance motives (job satisfaction ∆R
2
=
.00, B = –.10, ns; company satisfaction ∆R
2
= .08, B = –.35, p < .05; life satisfaction ∆R
2
= .01,
B = .12, ns; subjective well-being ∆R
2
= .03, B = .25, ns; total satisfaction ∆R
2
= .00, B = –.01,
ns). However, as represented in Table 2 and elaborated below, when the two-way interaction
terms of performance motives and development were then entered, development revealed
itself as a salient moderator of motive-based satisfaction.
The upper part of Table 2 relates to national human development as a moderator of the sat-
isfactory consequences of self-referenced performance motives. With other-referenced per-
formance motives controlled, self-referenced performance motives and development had
interactive effects on job satisfaction (∆R
2
= .05, B = .31, p < .05), company satisfaction
(∆R
2
= .07, B = .39, p < .05), life satisfaction (∆R
2
= .04, B = .30, p < .10), subjective well-
390 JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
TABLE 2
Hierarchical Regression of Country Estimates of Satisfaction on
Self-Referenced Performance Motives (S-RPM), Other-Referenced
Performance Motives (O-RPM), and National Human Development (HDI)
Satisfaction
Job
a
Company
a
Life
a
Well-Being
b
Total
a
Variable R
2
B
d
R
2
B R
2
B R
2
B R
2
B
Step 1: O-RPM .32*** .74*** .06 –.54** .23** –.49** .31*** –.38* .28*** –.64***
Step 2:
S-RPM .20** .41*** .38*** .52*** .10 .26* .12* .25* .22** .42***
HDI .06 –.14 .27 .38* .21
Step 3: S-RPM × HDI .05* .31* .07* .39* .04 .30 .04* .27* .09** .42**
Total R
2
.57 .51 .37 .47 .59
Step 1: S-RPM .14* .52*** .26*** .62*** .06 .35** .07 .33** .17** .55***
Step 2:
O-RPM .39***–.47** .17** –.32 .27** –.28 .36*** –.21 .33*** –.33*
HDI .36 .04 .48* .73*** .52*
Step 3: O-RPM × HDI .09** –.48** .07* –.40* .06* –.38* .11** –.47** .12** –.55**
Total R
2
.62 .50 .39 .54 .62
NOTE: HDI = Human Development Index (Human Development Report, 1994). Unstandardized regression coeffi-
cients shown are from the equation at the final step.
a. N = 36 countries.
b. N = 42 countries.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
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being (∆R
2
= .04, B = .27, p < .05), and total satisfaction (∆R
2
= .09, B = .42, p < .01). As illus-
trated in Figure 2A and in support of Hypothesis 4, only relatively high levels of development
are associated with a positive relationship between self-referenced performance motives and
satisfaction. That is, the empirical support for country-level isomorphism of the individual-
level performance motivation theory appears to be restricted to more developed countries.
The lower part of Table 2 relates to national human development as a moderator of the dis-
satisfactory consequences of other-referenced performance motives. With self-referenced
performance motives controlled, other-referenced performance motives and development
had interactive effects on job satisfaction (∆R
2
= .09, B = –.48, p < .01), company satisfaction
(∆R
2
= .07, B = –.40, p < .05), life satisfaction (∆R
2
= .06, B = –.38, p < .05), subjective well-
being (∆R
2
= .11, B = –.47, p < .01), and total satisfaction (∆R
2
= .12, B = –.55, p < .01). In sup-
port of Hypothesis 5, Figure 2B shows that only relatively high levels of development are
associated with a negative relationship between other-referenced performance motives
and satisfaction. Once again, the empirical support for country-level isomorphism of the
individual-level performance motivation theory appears to be restricted to more developed
countries.
ALTERNATIVE ROOTS OF SATISFACTION
We additionally checked whether cultural individualism, pace of life, and response styles
might account for the cross-national associations between the “better than” performance
motives and satisfaction.
Cultural individualism. In their 55-nation study, Diener et al. (1995) found cultural indi-
vidualism, income per capita, human rights, and societal equality to be strongly correlated
with each other and with subjective well-being. However, only individualism showed con-
sistently unique variance in predicting subjective well-being. It is therefore relevant to note
that Hofstede’s (1991) individualism index has negative associations with self-referenced
van de Vliert, Janssen / NATIONAL MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION 391
-1 0 1
-1.5
-1
-.5
0
.5
1
1.5
-1 0 1
Total
Satisfaction
Self-Referenced Performance Motives
Total
Satisfaction
Other-Referenced Performance Motives
High HDI
Low HDI
Low HDI
High HDI
-1.5
-1
-.5
0
.5
1
1.5
(A) (B)
Figure 2: Interactive Effects of Performance Motives and National Human Development (Human Develop-
ment Index [HDI]) on Satisfaction for Self-Referenced and Other-Referenced Performance
Motives
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(r = –.40, N = 29, p < .05) and other-referenced performance motives (r = –.42, p < .05), per-
haps because people in more individualistic societies are less sensitive to social norms held
for their performance. In addition, the same individualism index has no associations with
work satisfaction (job satisfaction r = .34, ns; company satisfaction r = .17, ns), and positive
associations with nonwork satisfaction (life satisfaction r = .50, p < .01; subjective well-
being r = .57, p < .001). Hence, given the sign and size of these coefficients, individualism
does not stand out as a potential determinant of work satisfaction, represses the positive
impact of self-referenced performance motives on nonwork satisfaction, and cannot explain
away the negative effect of other-referenced performance motives on nonwork satisfaction.
Regression analyses confirmed this.
Pace of life. Levine and Norenzayan (1999) reported that the rate at which people move
and the high pressure at which they work tends to be related to greater subjective well-being
in a sample of 15 nations. We failed to replicate this finding. Although Levine and
Norenzayan’s pace index has strongly positive associations with self-referenced (r = .53, N =
23, p < .01) and other-referenced performance motives (r = .68, p < .001), it does not have
positive associations with job satisfaction (r = –.04, ns), company satisfaction (r = .14, ns),
life satisfaction (r = –.36, ns), and subjective well-being (r = –.35, ns). Therefore, pace of life
cannot replace the “better than” performance motives as predictors of satisfaction.
Response styles. Relying on the main response sets observed in prior cross-national
research (for a recent overview, see Cheung & Rensvold, 2000), we finally checked whether
acquiescence and extremity rating might account for our findings, without assuming that
national response styles produce biased rather than valid data. Acquiescence was opera-
tionalized as the sum of the self-referenced and other-referenced performance motives,
whereas extreme scoring was operationalized as the sum of the squared self-referenced and
squared other-referenced performance motives.
Self- and other-referenced performance motives were related to acquiescence (r = .73, p <
.001) but not to extreme scoring (r = .25, ns, and r = –.14, ns, respectively). However, whether
self-referenced performance motives are or are not controlled for acquiescence hardly makes
a difference (r = .68, p < .001), and the same holds true for other-referenced performance
motives (r = .68, p < .001). Thus, acquiescence and extreme scoring hardly influenced the
two-dimensional position of the 42 countries on the performance motives in Figure 1.
Furthermore, with acquiescence or extreme scoring controlled, self-referenced perfor-
mance motives were still positively related and other-referenced performance motives were
still negatively related to the estimates of satisfaction. Compared to the findings when
response style was not controlled, the average change in predicted variance was negligible
(from 18% to 19% and from 28% to 26% for self- and other-referenced performance
motives, respectively). In an even more rigorous attempt to eliminate response style effects,
we used the difference score between self- and other-referenced performance motives as a
composite predictor of satisfaction. In that case, the highly significant proportions of pre-
dicted variance were 48% for job satisfaction, 34% for company satisfaction, 28% for life
satisfaction, 35% for subjective well-being, and 48% for total satisfaction. Taken together,
we feel confident to conclude that national response styles cannot account for the observed
motivation-satisfaction relationships.
392 JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
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DISCUSSION
This article examines whether some goal orientation propositions about individual com-
parisons of performance (e.g., Ames, 1992; Button et al., 1996; Duda, 1992; Dweck &
Leggett, 1988; Farr et al., 1993; Nicholls, 1984; Roberts, 1992) also hold for aggregated per-
formance attitudes in nations. The upshot is a resemblance between individual-level and
country-level differences in performance motives and their affective consequences, in sev-
eral respects. First, just like single individuals, the populations of countries differ in the over-
all degrees of self- and other-referenced performance motives, that is, the need to execute
tasks better than one did before or is doing right now, better than competitors, or both (see
Figure 1 and, for a prior two-nation comparison, Xiang, Lee, & Solmon, 1997). Second, cross-
nationally, the differences in self-referenced performance motives are independent of the
differences in other-referenced performance motives (for isomorphic cross-individual evi-
dence, see Button et al., 1996; Duda, 1992; Xiang et al., 1997). Third, national self-referenced
performance motivation is positively associated with aggregated satisfaction, whereas
national other-referenced performance motivation is negatively associated with aggregated
satisfaction (for an overview of isomorphic associations among individuals, see Duda,
1992). Fourth, relatively developed countries account for this country-level isomorphism of
the individual-level theory of motive-based satisfaction.
The current cross-national study is correlational and used convenience samples and
variables, offering no conclusive evidence for causality and for generalizations. Moreover,
it is restricted to the national level of analysis. This study does not simultaneously analyze
individual-level effects, country-level effects, and cross-level person-nation interaction
effects of the “better than” performance motives on satisfaction. However, these weaknesses
are counterbalanced by the strengths that (a) the study is based on descriptive theory of two
orthogonally related performance motives and explanatory theory proposing positive versus
negative affective consequences of these two motives; (b) the dependent variable of satisfac-
tion was broadly yet reliably operationalized, covering job satisfaction, company satisfac-
tion, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being; (c) the independent variables of self- and
other-referenced performance motives were measured years before the dependent variable
of satisfaction was measured (quasi-longitudinal design) by different researchers and among
different national samples of respondents (multimethod design); and (d) cultural individual-
ism, pace of life, national response styles, and the main effect of national human develop-
ment that might have rendered the motivation-satisfaction links spurious can be dismissed on
empirical grounds covered here. By controlling national development, we also partially con-
trolled strongly development-related variables including human rights and social equality
(Diener et al., 1995), population size (Van de Vliert, Schwartz, Huismans, Hofstede, & Daan,
1999), and atmospheric temperature (Van de Vliert & Van Yperen, 1996; Van de Vliert et al.,
2000).
The present study revealed that the cross-national applicability of the demands-control
model (Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990) may be restricted to self-referenced per-
formance motives. In case of other-referenced performance demands, the performance
motivation theory (e.g., Button et al., 1996; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Nicholls, 1984) and
the demands-control model lead to rival predictions of unconditional dissatisfaction and
development-based satisfaction, respectively. Interestingly, neither the performance motiva-
tion theory nor the demands-control model won this contest. Instead, the two frameworks
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seem to merge into a three-factor theory of reference point (self-other), performance
demands (low-high), and human development as a basis of control (low-high). The resulting
referenced demands control theory can be summarized in two propositions. First, higher
self-referenced performance demands in conjunction with higher development-based con-
trol produces more satisfaction. Second, higher other-referenced performance demands in
conjunction with higher development-based control produces less satisfaction. This revised
theory deserves to be tested at various levels of aggregation (individuals, families, and orga-
nizations) other than nations, whereby the explanatory mediating variable of experienced
internal control deserves to be explicitly measured.
If the findings are correct, they also qualify the livability theory that posits that national
feelings of subjective well-being and life satisfaction depend first and foremost on the objec-
tive quality of a country’s living conditions (Veenhoven & Ehrhardt, 1995). Recall that our
study failed to observe main effects of national human development on satisfaction when the
“better than” performance motives were controlled. In addition, our research suggests that
national human development is a two-edged sword that produces now satisfaction, then dis-
satisfaction, depending on self versus other as the predominant reference point of the inhabit-
ants’ performance motives. Indeed, contrary to common belief (Diener et al., 1995;
Veenhoven, 1993), affluence, education, and longevity might be of secondary importance to
work and nonwork satisfaction. The social psychological conditions of performance motiva-
tion investigated here might influence national satisfaction to a larger extent than the eco-
nomic, educational, and medical conditions defining human development (Human Develop-
ment Report, 1998).
In combination, the observed differences in performance motives and their affective con-
sequences suggest that motivational methods that work well in one region may not be easily
transferable to other regions without first taking into account the needs of the inhabitants.
The findings also prompt various novel research problems, including the following mutually
related cross-level questions: Do typical South Americans, with strong self-referenced per-
formance motives, react in similar ways as atypical Japanese and Chinese with strong self-
referenced performance motives? Do typical Arabs and inhabitants of the Indian subconti-
nent, with strong other-referenced performance motives, react in similar ways as atypical
West Europeans with strong other-referenced performance motives? and Do typical Ger-
manic peoples, with weak self- and other-referenced performance motives, react in similar
ways as atypical South Americans with weak self-referenced performance motives, as atypi-
cal Arabs and inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent with weak other-referenced perfor-
mance motives, or both? The last question is also relevant because the surprisingly weak per-
formance motives of Germans and Swiss might reflect a taboo to express the need to excel in
the execution of one’s tasks.
A bird’s-eye view of the study reported and discussed here highlights the conclusion that a
country’s population is relatively satisfied if it pursues its own performance improvement but
is relatively dissatisfied if it seeks to outperform others. Additionally, this twofold conclu-
sion holds better across more developed countries.
394 JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
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APPENDIX
Scores of 42 Countries on Performance Motives,
Satisfaction, and Human Development
Performance Motives
a
Satisfaction
Self- Other- Well-
Country Referenced Referenced Job
b
Company
b
Life
c
Being
d
Total
d
HDI
e
ARG Argentina 20.43 8.51 72 75 7.60 0.22 0.62 .85
AUL Australia 18.10 11.42 68 66 7.81 1.02 0.59 .93
BAN Bangladesh 17.33 14.25 64 72 6.99 –0.29 –0.16 .31
BEL Belgium 19.13 10.75 71 66 7.82 0.51 0.54 .92
BRA Brazil 21.29 11.17 74 79 7.71 0.57 0.96 .76
BUL Bulgaria 16.46 12.33 64 54 5.82 –0.97 –1.32 .82
CAN Canada 19.53 12.03 71 74 8.06 0.97 0.99 .93
CHL Chile 19.70 11.54 72 75 7.83 0.13 0.69 .85
CHN China 18.06 12.37 60 60 7.37 –1.92 –0.96 .64
COL Colombia 21.50 12.97 72 75 7.66 0.82 0.84 .81
EGY Egypt 20.10 15.66 –0.78 .55
FRA France 18.32 10.19 69 64 7.00 –0.38 –0.20 .93
GER Germany 17.48 9.10 75 68 7.28 0.18 0.41 .92
GBR Great Britain 17.54 10.64 60 55 7.71 0.69 –0.13 .92
GRE Greece 20.07 13.83 61 73 6.28 –0.89 –0.73 .87
HOK Hong Kong 16.95 12.64 52 50 7.07 –0.88 –1.30 .88
ICE Iceland 21.22 12.99 76 75 8.05 1.11 1.24 .91
IND India 19.03 14.48 64 72 6.99 –1.13 –0.42 .38
IRQ Iraq 17.62 14.04 –0.78 .61
IRE Ireland 17.75 10.99 66 69 8.08 0.57 0.56 .89
ISR Israel 21.04 11.59 –0.18 .90
JAP Japan 17.01 12.21 61 48 7.04 –0.86 –1.03 .93
JOR Jordan 18.70 14.77 . . . –0.77 .63
KOR Korea 18.71 13.66 53 42 6.77 –1.15 –1.68 .86
MEX Mexico 20.51 13.82 72 74 7.55 –0.28 0.42 .80
NZL New Zealand 18.49 11.13 68 66 7.81 0.82 0.53 .91
NOR Norway 19.01 9.60 78 79 7.84 0.77 1.22 .93
POL Poland 17.24 12.00 64 54 7.82 –0.90 –0.46 .82
POR Portugal 21.24 11.94 69 73 7.52 –0.41 0.23 .84
ROM Romania 20.64 13.68 64 54 6.42 –0.97 –1.06 .73
SIN Singapore 18.19 11.38 61 57 7.07 0.43 –0.39 .84
SAF South Africa 19.66 12.50 64 67 7.20 –0.63 –0.30 .65
SPA Spain 17.78 10.45 69 68 7.26 –0.41 0.00 .89
SWE Sweden 19.64 9.05 75 71 8.17 1.03 1.12 .93
SWI Switzerland 18.54 8.99 82 76 8.45 0.94 1.60 .93
SYR Syria 18.64 14.03 –0.78 .73
TAI Taiwan 20.49 13.39 55 52 7.07 –0.88 –1.14 .76
TUR Turkey 18.41 12.78 61 73 6.28 –1.02 –0.77 .74
UAE United Arab
Emirates 18.57 14.35 –0.78 .77
USA United States 19.46 12.76 67 66 8.00 0.91 0.60 .93
VEN Venezuela 22.09 10.99 72 75 7.66 0.22 0.65 .82
YUG Yugoslavia 18.28 11.23 64 54 6.96 –0.81 –0.79 .78
a. Average raw scores; scale range from 0 to 32 for self-referenced and 0 to 20 for other-referenced.
b. Percentage of favorable responses per country.
c. Ten-point scale.
d. Standardized variables.
e. Human Development Index (Human Development Report, 1994).
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Evert van de Vliert is a professor of organizational and applied social psychology at the University of
Groningen. He is interested in cross-cultural organization psychology and conflict management at the indi-
vidual, organizational, and national levels.
Onne Janssen received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Groningen and is currently an assis-
tant professor of organizational psychology at the same university. His research interests include innovative
behavior and social conflict in organizations.
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