Didier Vinot

If any country is interested in high scientific results, it should have highly motivated and satisfied researchers. The purpose of this study is to establish the national characteristics and differences in motivation and job satisfaction of researchers in two developed European countries – France and Norway. The management schools of French and Norwegian universities were chosen for this study. A five-stage research methodology, including surveys, in-depth interviews, and statistical testing, was used to test four hypotheses. According to the vast majority (16 out of 20) of motivators considered, the average scores in Norway are higher than in France. Only four motivators are exceptions, namely challenging work, interesting work, job security, and social benefits, for which the French are somewhat better motivated. In general, French researchers have lower job satisfaction than their Norwegian colleagues. The only exception is the dissatisfaction of Norwegian senior researchers with their professional learning conditions. The considered case study proves that each European country, having its own system of incentives and working conditions, provides different levels of satisfaction for different researchers working there. The results will allow one to improve national incentive systems by benchmarking and adopting best practices within the continent.

Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge: the COST Action CA19117 – Researcher Mental Health (ReMO) for short-term scientific mission grant and supporting this study; academic staff of observed universities for participating in the survey; and the Hauge School of Management of the NLA University College (Kristiansand, Norway) for supporting this publication.

Religious affiliation is one of the indicators of the internal personality and spirituality of an employee. Although it can increase organizational effectiveness through motivation and job satisfaction, managers have not yet implemented this indicator in their work for various reasons. The purpose of this study is to test whether religious affiliation has a significant effect on the motivation and job satisfaction of faculty members at management schools in Norwegian and French higher education institutions. A survey of 96 academic workers was conducted in the spring of 2023. The results were examined using a one-way ANOVA test. The findings revealed a significant disparity in motivation and job satisfaction among academics of different religious affiliations. Only 10% of the considered motivators turned out to be significantly equal for all surveyed academic workers, while the majority showed a significant difference. Representatives of Western religions and atheists in general are significantly less motivated and satisfied with their work than representatives of Eastern religions. Significant differences were also found between representatives of various Eastern religions, indicating the impact of religion on the motivation and job satisfaction of academic workers. These findings provide an opportunity for university management to better motivate and satisfy academic staff based on their religious affiliations. When forming the teams to perform work tasks, managers can consider these findings to achieve better interaction and quality and improve organizational effectiveness.