What motivates Malaysian hotel employees: an exploratory study

and second, to investigate whether these perceptions vary according to demographic factors such as gender, marital status, age, ethnicity, education, and job tenure. Statistical analysis on a sample of 118 employees revealed that extrinsic (hygiene) factors were perceived to be more important for optimal motivation compared to intrinsic job factors. The choices of important job-related factors that are bound to motivate employees also differ according to their demographic variables. For instance, women viewed good salary as more important in motivating them whereas men emphasized job security. In terms of the intrinsic job motivators, women placed importance on interesting work as opposed to men. Married workers emphasized intrinsic factors rather than extrinsic factors in motivating them. As for age, older workers rated job security as more important compared to younger employees. On the other hand, younger employees considered interesting work to be more important compared to older ones. Workers who possessed higher educational qualifications emphasized intrinsic job factors compared to less educated workers. Implications of the findings are discussed