Guttman Scale Test for Maslow Need Hierarchy

Summary

This study employed the Guttman scale to test the order of needs suggested by Maslow. The job context was defined as the universe, and 10 items of this universe were categorized into five needs. Managers and professionals (N = 101) employed in an industrial organization in Israel responded to a Porter type questionnaire (NSQ). The responses were re-coded and dichotomized. A Guttman scale consisting of five needs according to Maslow's theory was obtained. The scale provided the expected hierarchy with .94 coefficient of reproducibility. The test of Maslow's theory by the Guttman scale provided that the needs are scalable, regarding the universe of the job context. The scale is offered as evidence that some kind of hierarchy exists. It is, however, concerned with only one aspect of the theory, the order, and with only one of the regions that the theory attempts to explain.