Abstract
Contemporary theories of work motivation are classified according to (1) those based on the underlying assumption that all individuals posses higher level need, are capable of satisfying and will indeed satisfy such needs provided the job situation incorporates the conditions or characteristics that make satisfaction possible and (2) those theories suggesting that an individual may or may not be motivated by certain job characteristics depending on whether he in fact has specific (higher level) needs to be fulfilled and whether he views the job situation as conductive to need satisfaction. 126 Subjects employed by a chemical industry took part in an experiment designed to test the basic assumptions underlying the aforementioned theories. Data relating to higher order need satisfaction, the psychological value of job content and job performance served as input to a 2X2 factorial analysis. Results indicate that only the psychological value of job content represented a significant source of variation (p is smaller as ,01) - a finding which favours category (1) theories to a large extent. No significant interaction between the latter source of variation and higher order need satisfaction could be found.