Employee Motivation in Saudi Arabia: An Investigation into the Higher Education Sector

Front Cover

This book investigates the relevance of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a theory of motivation, whilst taking into account variances in culture and individual experiences and perspectives. Focussing on higher education, the book responds to the call for providing alternative conceptual models, other than those originating from the Anglo-Saxon world. The authors take a contextual approach and use the case of Saudi Arabia to understand motivation in a collectivist, highly religious and conservative society of the Middle East. Providing empirical findings from a study carried out at two Saudi universities differing in their religious outlook, this book reveals a hierarchy of needs that is significantly different from the theory proposed by Maslow. Religion, culture and gender are explored in detail as the authors investigate the relevance of Maslow’s theory in a region that is of growing interest to policy-makers and practitioners in North America and Europe, offering a truly insightful read to an international audience.

 

Contents

Contextualising Motivation
1
2 A Critical Review of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
19
3 Cultural Critique of the Hierarchy of Needs and the Saudi Context
60
4 Questioning the Applicability of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs in Saudi Arabia
103
Gender Religion and Other Demographic Patterns
134
In Depth Insights
213
7 The Primacy of Social Needs
254
The CrossCultural Complex
279
Index
295
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2017)

Rodwan Hashim Mohammed Fallatah is a research scholar, consultant and instructor in the field of international human resource management.

Jawad Syed is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Dean of the Suleman Dawood School of Business at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Bibliographic information