MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS INFLUENCING SERVICE BRANDING COMMUNICATION TO TARGET CUSTOMERS AND BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

The multifaceted character of work motivation beyond conventional extrinsic incentives has long been a primary area of research in the field of human resource management. In the past, especially in the early stages of industrialization, financial pay was thought to be the main factor influencing employee motivation (Bailey & Lown, 1993). However, a paradigm change has occurred as a result of the workplace's transformation in the twenty-first century, and people today want a wider range of psychological and social demands, including autonomy, meaningfulness, and acknowledgment at work (Van, Biro & Fehér, 2016; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Even though there is a large amount of research on work motivation, most of it presents perspectives that are mostly Western-centric, which may cause it to ignore contextual and cultural variations in motivation among other people (Hofstede, 2001; Kim, 2015). With a comparative perspective on both Asian and Western international student workers in Melbourne, Australia, this study fills this knowledge vacuum by examining the motivating factors influencing frontline staff in the hospitality industry. The study looks at the connections between important motivational components using a quantitative methodology and statistical analysis using SPSS. The results show that intrinsic variables like workplace recognition and the sense of responsibility entrusted to them are highly valued by non-Western international students. However, among this group, extrinsic motivators—such as pay and alignment with the organization's long-term goals—were found to be relatively less significant. In increasingly varied hospitality workforces, these findings highlight the necessity of culturally sensitive motivational techniques (Gagné & Deci, 2005; Chiang & Birtch, 2010).