Importance of Maslow-Type Needs to Business College Seniors: Blacks, Whites, Males, Females

Abstract

The present study examined the importance of various hierarchical needs, as described by Maslow, to black, white, male, and female business college seniors. Data support the Maslow postulate that the hierarchical needs he proposed are “more universal” for all cultures than are superficial behaviors or desires. The cultural differences between the races begin to be manifest in the magnitude of the individual needs. Data indicate that 58 blacks placed greater importance on most of the needs studied than did the 249 whites regardless of sex.