Investigating Extrinsic and Intrinsic Employee Needs in Hospitality Workers

Maintaining employee motivation continues to be an important issue for most organizations, and improving motivation is especially important in the hospitality industry because more than half of the workers are unmotivated. The specific problem is that ongoing low motivation can impair success for both the worker and organization, but before effective motivational strategies can be developed, more information is needed about workers' needs. Previous research findings have contradictory outcomes about reward efficacy and the purpose of this qualitative, holistic case study was to explore extrinsic and intrinsic needs of employees in the hospitality industry. The participants for this study included 12 employees from four different restaurant settings on the East Coast of the United States. Purposive criterion sampling was used to collect data from participants with at least three years of experience in this industry via face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was done with NVivo 10.0 software in order to identify themes from the transcribed employee interviews. The themes for extrinsic needs were: (a) sufficient income and (b) customized incentives. The themes for intrinsic needs were: (a) autonomy (b) growth and (c) supportive supervisors. A third research question emerged from the data and two additional themes for absent extrinsic rewards identified were: (a) lack of sufficient income and (b) lack of fun at work. Based on the study findings about intrinsic needs it was recommended that hospitality managers aim to come across as supportive while they help workers fulfill needs by providing a variety of reward options that cater to the changing needs of workers. Based on the study findings about extrinsic needs it was recommended that managers customize rewards because not all workers value the same incentives. It was also recommended that managers use pay and tangible job perks (extrinsic activities) to prevent employee job dissatisfaction, and then use trainings, interesting work, and autonomous opportunities (intrinsic activities) to improve motivation. Suggestions for future researcher included focusing on the managerial perspective of reward management, exploring the needs of workers from different job sectors, and the use of quantitative inquiry to expand the current findings. This research contributed to the literature on work motivation and findings can be utilized to develop and improve incentive plans for restaurant employees.