Entrepreneurs versus Employees Psychological Motivation Needs: A Gender Perspective

The subject of this research is entrepreneurial behaviour and how organisational psychology serves to explain what motivates and drives entrepreneurial behaviour amongst men and women. The theoretical framework of McClelland’s psychological motivation needs theory (1961) is applied (1) to examine entrepreneurs’ and employees’ needs for achievement, affiliation and power; (2) to determine to what extent psychological motivation needs, if at all, differ between established entrepreneurs and employees; (3) to explore the possible extension of motivation needs from entrepreneurs to employees; and (4) to compare motivation needs on a gender basis between employer and employees. The needs that motivate entrepreneurs and employees sometimes compete and hence the confrontational positioning between entrepreneur and employee and between genders, is taken for this study. The state of Malacca was selected as the site for a survey using the questionnaire technique. The sample size for study was 220 respondents comprising of employers and employees of both genders. 197 questionnaires were collected from 94 entrepreneurs (85.5 %) and 103 (93.6 %) employees. The research findings were: MacClelland s psychological motivation needs influences the local entrepreneur and employee just as it does in the West; entrepreneur motivational needs coincide irrespective of entrepreneurs’ gender; and finally, dissatisfaction with the working environment can also give rise to an employee’s motivation need of power to become an entrepreneur.