As Japan enters the new century, pending workforce shortages – a function of low birth
rates and an aging population – increase the need to address gender issues
in organizations. Throughout the past four decades, the number of female workers in
Japan has been growing, although full-time female participation in the Japanese
workforce remains below the levels of some other industrialized nations. Despite the
growing importance that the Japanese female labor force is expected to play, relatively
little is known about women’s attitudes toward work motivation in Japan. Using a twofactor,
Herzberg intrinsic/extrinsic approach to motivation, we examine the
applicability of such a model in Japan, and compare the attitudes of female and
male workers, as well as management and non-management. Our findings include:
(1) support for the applicability of a Herzberg, two-factor model in Japan; (2) Japanese
men in the workforce tending to value intrinsic motivators more than extrinsic factors;
(3) female workers in Japan rating extrinsic factors higher than their male counterparts;
and (4) managers’ opinions of what motivates employees not constituting a refined
match to those of female employees, especially with respect to extrinsic motivation. In
multi-gender Japanese organizations, management will potentially benefit from a better
understanding and functional integration of important gender nuances into their
motivation strategies