Are Herzberg's motivators and hygienes unidimensional?

Abstract

To test the assumption that Herzberg's 2 classes of factors affecting job satisfaction and dissatisfaction (motivators and hygienes) represent unidimensional constructs, 187 female and male college students ranked the importance of 5 motivators and 5 hygienes. The unfolding technique in 1 dimension developed by Coombs was then applied to these preference orders. The results clearly indicate the absence of a unidimensional attribute underlying both the motivators and the hygienes and suggests that Herzberg's 2-factor theory may be an oversimplified representation of job satisfaction. A literature review also shows that these 2 factors may not be independent. Nevertheless, the basic distinction between intrinsic and environmental job characteristics seems to be a useful one for purposes of research. (21 ref.) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)