Job motivators in Russian and Polish retail firms

Success of retail firms is dependent on a motivated workforce, yet little is known about what job characteristics motivate employees from former command economies. Investigates 11 valent job motivators for Russian and Polish retail sales staff and their expectations of receiving these rewards. Retail sales managers rated the importance of these motivators to their employees. Data were collected in two Russian and two Polish cities. The most important motivators to Russian and Polish sales employees are pay and friendliness of co‐workers. In most cases, managers’ perceptions of job motivators were similar to their employees. The expectation of receiving incentives were measured and results show both Russian and Polish employees had significantly lower expectations of receiving all 11 job motivators relative to the importance they attached to them.