Background: Cultural differences provide challenges for multinational corporations, due to the differences in norms, values, and beliefs accompanying national cultures. Multinational corporations must adapt to the new environment to achieve optimal performance and attain competitive advantages. One of these challenges is motivation, which is crucial for employee performance and hence the pursuit of competitive advantage. Vietnam and Sweden, two cultural contexts having remarkable cultural distances, are the specific focus of this study.   

Purpose: This study aims to explain the effect cultural differences have on job motivation and satisfaction. The authors investigated six motivation factors deemed to lead to job satisfaction based on Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory. The study’s framework is constructed also by four cultural distance factors according to Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory to test the moderation effect of cultural differences on the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction.   

Method: A quantitative research was conducted on a sample of 79 employees from two MNCs: Samsung in Vietnam and Husqvarna in Sweden. An online survey was distributed to respondents to gather primary quantitative data. The survey questions were based on previous studies to ensure validity in measuring the scales. Finally, two main testing analyses namely multiple linear regression and moderation effect were undertaken in SPSS.  

Conclusion: The satisfying motivation factors included in Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory correlated positively to employees’ job satisfaction in both countries, although it was evident that each of the six factors contribute to job satisfaction at varying degrees. Furthermore, the finding of the culture dimensions as moderator variables showed that different levels of culture factors could either weaken, strengthen, or had no effect on the relationship between employee satisfaction and the six motivation factors.