The accuracy of the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory: a construct validity study

White, P.R.

doi:10.1108/shr-07-2023-0041

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 3 publications

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“…Comprised of 30 paired statements in a forced choice format, the MBAI identifies the respondents’ primary language, secondary language and least valued language of appreciation. The psychometric properties of the MBAI have been verified, including test-retest reliability (White, 2016), internal consistency of items (White, 2023c) and the construct validity of the appreciation languages assessed (White, 2023b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How appreciation preferences compare across employees who speak different languages

White

2024

SHR

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Purpose Research has demonstrated that employees desire to be shown appreciation in various ways. The five languages of appreciation provide a model for exploring these differences. This study aims to explore whether individuals who speak different languages (and are from various cultures) differ in how they prefer to be shown appreciation. Design/methodology/approach The Motivating By Appreciation Inventory (MBAI) is an online tool that assesses each person’s preferences in how they desire to be shown appreciation at work. Initially developed in English, the MBAI has been translated into seven additional languages. Over 2,200 employees took the MBAI in their preferred spoken language: Mandarin (Chinese), Danish, French (Canadian), Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American), Thai and Turkish. The frequency of each group’s preferred appreciation languages was analyzed to determine similarities and differences across the languages spoken. Findings Given the non-normal distribution of the data, the Kruskal–Wallis test found that there was a significant difference in preferences for participants’ primary appreciation language across the seven groups of various spoken languages. One key theme was that words of affirmation were most frequently chosen by five of the seven language groups, whereas employees from Thailand and Turkey chose acts of service most frequently. Additionally, tangible gifts were the least frequently chosen appreciation language by all groups, and at rates below their US counterparts. In three of the languages, quality time was preferred significantly less compared with the other languages. Research limitations/implications Some of the groups’ findings (Portuguese, Thai) may be impacted by a confounding variable of the type of work setting (manufacturing) in which the employees worked – in comparison to office-based work settings. Practical implications One theme was, in comparison to other ways of receiving appreciation, tangible gifts are not highly valued by most employees across all language groups. Therefore, organizations using gifts as the primary way to communicate appreciation to employees may be wasting a lot of money. Similar to English-speaking employees, five of the seven language groups chose words as their preferred appreciation language. A wide range exists, however, across language groups with regards to the proportion who desire words, quality time or acts of service. Multicultural organizations should pay attention to employee preferences, lest they waste time and energy on undesired actions. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that has examined the preferences of how employees like to be shown appreciation across seven different language groups.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How appreciation preferences compare across employees who speak different languages

White

2024

SHR

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The accuracy of the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory: a construct validity study

White¹

2023

SHR

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Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the question: Does the Motivating By Appreciation (MBA) Inventory accurately identify the ways that individuals prefer to be shown appreciation by their colleagues at work? Design/methodology/approach Over 400 remote employees responded to an online questionnaire, answering an open-ended question regarding how they liked to be shown appreciation by colleagues. Their answers were coded according to the four languages of appreciation assessed by the MBA Inventory, and then a pairwise comparison was completed with their primary language of appreciation as identified by the MBA Inventory. Findings In total, 80% of the participants’ responses matched their preferred appreciation language from specific actions given with their primary language of appreciation on the MBA Inventory. A chi-square analysis was found to be highly statistically significant (p < 0.001) and the Cramer V effect size (0.61) indicated a strong relationship between the observed and expected number of matches. As a result, the MBA Inventory was found to be highly accurate in identifying individuals’ preferred appreciation language when comparing their primary language of appreciation to specific actions they identified as meaningful to them. Research limitations/implications Participants were remote employees, with a majority being 40 years old or older. Therefore, caution should be taken in generalizing these results to other populations. Practical implications HR practitioners can use the MBA Inventory with a reasonable amount of confidence that the results are accurate. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, no other research exploring the validity of an online assessment of appreciation is known.

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The accuracy of the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory: a construct validity study

Cited by 2 publications

References 3 publications

How appreciation preferences compare across employees who speak different languages

How appreciation preferences compare across employees who speak different languages

The accuracy of the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory: a construct validity study

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