Defense mechanisms as an alternate explanation of Herzberg's motivator-hygiene results.

Vroom holds that Herzberg's motivator-hygiene results may stem from the tendency of individuals to react defensively under questioning, attributing favorable out-comes to their own actions and unfavorable ones to factors beyond their control. This study tests two hypotheses derived from the Vroom explanation on three groups of supervisors. Conditions evoking defensive reactions were applied to half of each group, and their responses were examined to determine if they varied in the manner predicted by Vroom from those of the control groups. Neither of the hypotheses was supported, indicating that Vroom's explanation is not a tenable alternative to that of Herzberg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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