Achievement Motivation and its Structure in Middle and Top Managers in the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Czech Republic

The aim of the present study was to analyse the level of achievement motivation and its structure in middle and top managers in the business environment of the medical sector. Another objective was to compare the results with a similar domestic study of business and non-profit managers. The monitored sample includes leading employees at the level of middle and top management in production and business entities in the pharmaceutical and medical industry (N = 41; 38.2 ± 6.19 years). To establish the level of achievement motivation we used a standardized psychodiagnostic tool: Achievement motivation questionnaire - LMI. The study included a comparison of the differences in the values of the gross score of achievement motivation and its individual components with the values of Czech standard sample and the values of a similar domestic study by means of expressing the effect size based on Cohen’s d. The average value of the overall achievement motivation score in our sample of managers is 905.34 gross score points. In comparison with reference values the monitored managers show a significantly higher level of achievement motivation (d = 1.34). In terms of achievement motivation structure, significant differences were identified with respect to reference values in most LMI items at a middle and strong level of material significance. A comparison of our sample of managers with business managers shows positively higher values of achievement motivation and its components in our sample. A comparison of our sample of managers with non-profit managers indicates significant differences both in the overall level of achievement motivation as well as in most components. The results of the present study provide a specific motivation profile of the monitored individuals and are applicable in the area of personnel selection and corporate governance.