Abstract

There has been general upsurge in cultures and managerial research in the last decades or so. Despite this fact, empirical studies on culture dimensions to management practices across cultures have been limited in numbers and scope. In Africa, for example, we have very limited knowledge about its cultural values and the consequences it poses for motivation. In order to address this very crucial and important issue, motivation-related values were studied in four European countries (France, Italy, Netherlands and Scotland) and one African (Nigeria) country through survey questionnaire. A major research question was whether the results could help to explain the disappointing economic development of African countries, including Nigeria. The findings do confirm profound differences in cultural values for motivation among the five countries with collective interest playing a more important role in Africa-Nigeria. In view of these differences, untrimmed Western management models may not be very appropriate for adoption in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general without recourse to the prevailing local cultural values. The suggestion is made to look for appropriate and suitable African management models by studying the relatively more successful local companies and institutions.

Key words: Motivation, management, cultures, values.