What Motivates High-Achieving Women?

What Motivates High Achieving Women?

Joan Michelson1, William Aflleje2 and Steven Reiss used the Reiss Motivation Profile® (RMP) for Business to assess the core desires that characterize high-achieving women. They predicted that women who reported being mostly focused on professional success would score significantly higher on the RMP Power scale than women who reported being focused on other priorities.

Participants were 66 adult women from the world of work who responded to an invitation to complete a survey about the things that matter to them. The average age of the participants was 48 years. Fifty-seven of the respondents listed the United States as their place of residence, while the other nine participants were from Australia, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Romania, Singapore and Sweden.

Method Each participant completed the measurement questionnaire for the business version of the RMP anonymously and then answered the following forced-choice question:

This is how I see myself: ______ focused on priorities other than professional success.

______focused on high achievement in my professional career.

Results Thirty-four participants answered "focused on other priorities other than professional success", while 32 participants chose "focused on high achievement in my professional career".

Two statistical tests were used to compare the mean scores of the two groups on the 16 core desires assessed by the RMP: t-test and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. The t-test assumes that RMP scores are normally distributed (this is the assumption made by Professor Steven Reiss) and the Wilcoxon test is an alternative test used when there is uncertainty about how scores are distributed.

Compared to women in the "focused on other priorities" group, women in the "career-focused" group scored significantly higher on average on Desire for Power (p < .03 in the t-test and Wilcoxon test). This finding confirmed their predictions and provided evidence for the criterion validity of the Power scale in the RMP.

Status was the motivation that most strongly differentiated the two groups. The mean score for Status of the "career-oriented" women was more than six points higher than the mean score of the "other priorities-oriented" women (p < 0.003 in t-test and p < .002 in Wilcoxon test).

Curiosity motivation also distinguished the two groups, with "career-oriented" women scoring significantly higher on average compared to "other priorities-oriented" women (p < .03 in t-test and p < .04 in Wilcoxon test).

On the other 13 core desires assessed by the RMP, no statistically significant difference was found between the means of the two groups.

In the RMP, Power motivation describes the desire for willpower influence. This motivation drives hard work, determination, the need for achievement and the desire for leadership. People who score high in strength value competence, productivity and excellence. They seek challenges, work long hours to achieve their goals and are able to take on leadership roles. In short, the Power scale assesses how much an individual values achievement. Therefore, it was predicted that women who indicated that they were focused on high achievement in their professional careers would score significantly higher on Power desire compared to women who indicated that they were focused on other priorities, and this prediction was confirmed.

In the RMP, Status motivation describes the desire for respect based on social status. This motivates people to value wealth, fame and prestige. People who score high on status like to feel important. They often embrace material values and are therefore motivated to acquire symbols of wealth. Some place great value on their reputation and some choose a profession perceived to have a high level of prestige. Given that an individual's professional role often determines their social status, it is not surprising that "career-oriented" women score significantly higher for Status compared to women who "focus on other priorities".

In the RMP, the Curiosity motivation describes the desire to understand. People who score high on Curiosity value theoretical knowledge and ideas. They embrace intellectual pursuits, like to analyze complex issues and generally have a wide range of intellectual interests. In short, they like to think. Advancing within a profession often increases opportunities for analytical thinking and problem solving. Therefore, it is logical that women who focus on high achievement in their professional career score significantly higher on Curiosity desire.

Conclusion

The data provided evidence of criterion validity of the RMP Power motivation. The findings supported the utility of the RMP in assessing motivational differences between groups of individuals who report focusing on different life goals. We believe that we would find it interesting to assess the core desires that characterize high-achieving men using the RMP. This will allow to analyze if there are gender differences in the motivations of individuals focused on professional success.

1 Joan Michelson, MBA, CEO of Green Connections Media, Career Coach, Podcaster and Forbes Contributor 2 William Aflleje, M.S., Statistician, Reesh LLC