Validation of the International Engineering Motivation Construct with Multigroup Analysis

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the study aimed to validate multicultural workforce motivation construct engineering. Second, it aimed to perform a subgroup analyses of the identified model to determine if the theoretical model is valid across demographics. Data were collected from a total of 268 employees working in the United States either as a natural citizen or with an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The theoretical framework used in the study was Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, which is suggested by many (Ben Slimane, 2017; Shuck and Herd, 2012; Singh & Bhattacharjee, 2019). The instruments used were Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) suggested by Weiss et al. (1967) and the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) suggested by Ryder et al. (2000). Data were collected using crowdsourcing agency. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used in the study. The model was tested with a specific bias test and for model invariance at both the global and local levels. A multi-group difference test was conducted on the participants’ industry, position, birth country, ethnicity, gender, age group, and educational background to confirm or deny configural, metric and scalar invariance. The study validated the results from prior research that reported different number of factors for the motivation construct. The results of the study suggest that even old theories from a western country, such as Herzberg’s MotivationHygiene Theory, still could be valid in multicultural organizations. Recommendations for future research are provided.