Herzberg’s Own Research
To test the two-factor concept, Herzberg and his colleagues (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman,
1959) gathered their own original data (observations) from a sample of 203 engineers and accountants who worked for a variety of organizations in the Pittsburg area. Using a semi-structured interview technique (meaning that both the researcher and the interviewee influenced the direction taken during the interview), the researchers asked the employees, one at a time, to think of an occasion when they felt “exceptionally good” or “exceptionally bad” about their jobs. Interviewees were permitted to recall such critical incidents from their current jobs or from any held previously. They recorded two or three incidents of this sort, on average, from each employee. For each incident, detail was requested concerning three things: (1) a description of the objective conditions surrounding and causing the incident; (2) a description of the reasons why the employee felt a particular way at the time of the incident; and (3) a summary of the consequences of the incident for the employee and the job.