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Abstract
This study examined the motivational needs of Business and Computer Science secondary students. The survey instrument used was created by Turner (1996). The questionnaire measured motivational needs (e.g., need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power) from McClelland's (1987) theory of motivation.A convenience sample of 933 secondary students resulted in 472 respondents with 470 completed web-based questionnaires. A series of one-way ANOVAs was run to determine the influence of independent variables (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, grade level, and FBLA affiliation) on the three motivational needs (need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power).Results indicated that Business and Computer Science students had a stronger (i.e., the lower the mean score the stronger the need) mean score for need for affiliation (M=9.04) than need for achievement (M=11.06) or need for power (M=11.75). No statistical significance was found in this study based on motivational need for affiliation. Statistically significant differences on motivational need for power were revealed for the independent variables of gender (p=.000), grade level (p=.000) and FBLA membership (p=.000). Statistical significance was found in the independent variables of race/ethnicity (p=.011) and FBLA membership (p=.017) based on motivational need for achievement. The independent variable, FBLA membership, showed statistical significance in two dependent variables, need for achievement (p=.017) and need for power (p=.000).