Personal investment in Japan and the U.S.A.: A study of worker motivation,

Abstract

The Inventory of Personal Investment (IPI) was administered to 522 Japanese and 746 American workers to compare their work motivation and self-concepts. Eleven subscales were formed based on the IPI model and were found through factor analysis to be appropriate for the samples in both countries. Discriminant analyses of scale scores by subjects' nationality, gender, occupational strata, and age are reported. Findings included: (1) Japanese and American workers sampled emphasized different aspects of meaning as they perceive work and self, (2) Japanese and American women sampled exhibited similar profiles to one another, as did the two male subsamples, and (3) motivational profiles for various age groupings differed between the two samples. The results are related to previous research on Japanese and American workers.