2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 242
Another unique trait of this study was that this study included individuals who were literate in Spanish. A
new version of the survey was created for Spanish literate supervisors and Spanish literate employees. This was an
important element to this study since the workforce has become more diverse. The development of a Spanish survey
served to better accommodate diversity.
In this study supervisors’ and employees’ highest frequency ranking among motivating factors indicated
that hospital food service supervisors agree with hourly employees that financial compensation is critical. Both
chose “good wages” as the most important motivating factor for employees. The selection of “good wages” as the
most important motivating factor and “interesting work” as the least important motivating factor suggests that
Maslow’s lower level needs are most important to this population. Further research using a diagnostic tool such as
Hackman and Oldham’s (1975) Job Diagnostic Survey might investigate the nature of core job dimensions to
identify which elements serve as intrinsic motivators and which might be redesigned to improve motivation and
further challenge workers (Lee-Ross, 1998).
In this study hourly hospital food service employees ranked “good wages,” “good working conditions,”
“full appreciation of work done,” and “promotion and growth in the organization” as the top three most important
motivating factors. In other words, hourly hospital food service employees found these three motivating factors to
comply with their values (Verplanken & Holland, 2002). Such choices would indicate financial compensation and
working condition values as identified by Furnham et al. (2005) to be of greatest relevance.
Although this study found an overall difference in how hospital food service supervisors and employees
ranked employee motivation factors, in contrast to Kovach’s results, hospital food service employees and
supervisors both ranked “good wages” as most important. This implies a possible difference in employee-supervisor
perceptions based on job environment. Interestingly, hospital food service supervisors seem more aligned with their
employees about what motivates employees than do industrial personnel.
Across all previous studies as well as this one, supervisors consistently ranked “good working conditions”
as the fourth most important motivating factor. In Kovach’s studies, employees ranked it as one of the least
important motivating factors, but hospital food service employees ranked it as the second most important motivating
factor. A food service environment can be chaotic and stressful. Employee responses in this study may reflect the
effect of such an environment on morale. Hospital supervisors should take note of this discrepancy in perception.
Supervisors have consistently underestimated the importance of “full appreciation of work done”, ranking
it as the eighth most important motivating factor. That changed in this study. Hospital food service supervisors
seem to understand that employees like to be appreciated for the work they do. Although “interesting work” was
ranked as the most important motivating factor for industrial employees, it was least important for hospital food
service employees. A food service employee’s job is often routine. Managers are therefore challenged to enhance
or modify jobs to further motivate their employees.
Supervisors are not always aware of the values or opinions of their employees (Isaac et al., 2004). In this
study, there was a significant difference in how supervisors and employees ranked motivating factors. Because the
effect size of the difference was low, results may indicate that supervisors are more sensitive to employee needs than
in the past. The majority of employees in food services are female and the majority of participants in this study
were female (versus Kovach’s findings). Gender representation could have affected this study’s results. Hospital
food service supervisors may consider motivation techniques more relevant to a female audience, such as free
daycare services for employees’ children or the implementation of flexible work shifts.
This study’s results reflect opinions of younger hourly workers. The ten-year mean age difference between
Kovach’s employees and this study’s employees implies that hospital food service supervisors might consider
motivation techniques that appeal to younger workers. For example, younger employees may be more interested in
long-term, career-based factors such as advancement in the organization.
There are several areas that may be considered for future research regarding this study, including: other
language version beyond English and Spanish; larger sample; including other motivating factors; matching data
