NON-MONETARY INCENTIVES THAT MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES TO STAY LOYAL TO SME COMPANIES IN THAILAND

Abstract

The purpose of this thematic paper is to investigate the non-monetary incentives that motivate employees to stay loyal to SME companies in Thailand. In Thailand, SME businesses and start-ups are the main fuel to drive Thai’s economy forward. Therefore, the author perceives that there is a significant benefit that this topic should be explored. The data collection approaches of this study consist of two techniques which are quantitative method and qualitative method. 200 respondents participated in an online questionnaire and 10 participants joined a semi-structured interview in the qualitative section. The target group of this study refers to those who work for SME companies that they expose to SME cultures. The author believes that those who experience the SMEs environment will be the most suitable people to provide insightful information for this study. The findings reveal that employees seek ‘comfort’ in working conditions and are willing to give up higher salaries given that they can access factors that can generate desirable environments such as being supervised under good leaders and surrounding themselves with good colleagues. In addition, the companies should not be perceived to have undesirable conditions such as having a job that destroys both physical and mental health of employees in order to secure employees to the firm. However, this research still possesses some limitations. The author perceives that the gap between workers’ generations can shape their attitudes when it comes to organizational loyalty. Thus, further research can be conducted on the extent to compare between workers in different age groups.