An Application of McClelland's Need Theory to the Casual Dining Industry

Abstract

It should be understood that to date there has been a plethora of motivational research addressing employee needs, expectations, and motivational systems that have by-and-large expounded upon the merits of various motivational theories; however, the work by McClelland is devoid in the hospitality literature and especially so concerning restaurant personnel. This latter observation is interesting in that McClelland's Need Theory is considered seminal in the broader context of understanding human behavior on personal and professional levels. In applying McClelland's theory, the present research study sought to determine if front of the house restaurant workers were motivated by (a) need for achievement, (b) need for affiliation, (c) need for power, or a combination thereof. For the purpose of this study, data were collected from three free-standing units for a national branded restaurant chain located in the southeastern US. The exploratory factor analysis results indicates that these front of the house personnel are strongly motivated by two of McClelland's postulates; those being the Need for Achievement (nAch) and the Need for Affiliation (nAff).