The proposed-research will explore issues related to the motivation and self-determination of individuals in Bulgaria and the U.S. The overriding aim is to understand better how cultures (i.e., economic, political, and sociological factors) affect motivational processes of individuals. There are two major projects in the proposed work. The first is a comparative study of the interactions of managers and subordinates in major Bulgarian and American office-machines firms. The questions of interest are whether, in the two cultures: (1) managers' orientations toward supporting subordinates' autonomy are differentially related to the perceptions, affects, importance rankings, and satisfaction of their subordinates; (2) individuals' work satisfactions are differentially predicted by their perceptions, affects, and importance rankings; and (3) individual differences in motivational orientations (e.g., autonomous self- regulation) will differentially predict perceptions, affects, importance rankings, and satisfactions. The primary focus will be on differences in patterns of relations among variables; however, mean-level differences on relevant variables will also be examined. The second major project is a 20-month longitudinal study within Bulgaria focused on changes in work-related perceptions, affects, needs, satisfactions, and managerial styles during the period of cultural transition that is currently in process in Eastern Europe. Of interest will be: (1) mean-level changes in these variables over time; (2) differences in the patterns of within-time correlations for Times 1 and 2; and (3) prediction of individual change on work-related variables, within the cultural context, from individuals' motivational orientations. In addition to the two main projects, there is a preparatory project of translating instruments, and a supplemental project of qualitative interviews. The work will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. George Kalushev of Bulgaria's Council of Ministers.
