| Ultimate motive is the single-most important motive that drives business decisions within an organization. While there may be many general motives that can take on a variety of forms, ultimate motive comes from one of two mutually exclusive sources: hedonism or altruism. Manifestations of hedonism and altruism as ultimate motives were reviewed within writings from prevalent business theories and mission statements, respectively. Attempts to knowingly or unknowingly mix the two ultimate motives can be a source of confusion and dissonance within organizations and can cause, among other things, low levels of job satisfaction among employees. Similarly, incongruence between an employee's ultimate motive and the perceived ultimate motive of the organization was hypothesized to negatively impact job satisfaction. Ultimate motive incongruence was therefore also hypothesized to predict job satisfaction.; To test these hypotheses, a new survey (Ultimate Motive Scale, UMS) was developed, statistically validated, and shown to be a reliable measure of ultimate motives. The UMS was used with an overall job satisfaction measure and a perceived person-organization fit scale to test the hypotheses. Two hundred fifty one respondents completed the on-line survey. Respondents rated the importance of twelve goals (ultimate motives) along three dimensions: personal, perceived organizational, and communication organizational. The twelve goals loaded onto 4 factors---2 altruistic factors and 2 hedonistic factors. Difference scores between: (a) personal and perceived organizational; and (b) personal and communication organizational were calculated to create two distinct incongruence scores. Perceived organizational incongruence was significantly and negatively correlated with both overall job satisfaction and perceived person-organization fit.; Perceived person-organization fit was significantly and positively correlated with overall job satisfaction. For the perceived organizational incongruence scores, the customer loyalty and satisfaction factor (altruistic) significantly predicted job satisfaction. No other factor (hedonistic or altruistic) or combination of factors significantly predicted job satisfaction. For the communication organizational incongruence scores, factors 1 and 2 combined (the altruistic factors) significantly predicted job satisfaction. Implications of the research findings and areas for further research were discussed. |
