Herzberg's claim is that the things that make work satisfying and the things that make it miserable are two different lists, not two ends of one scale.
The two lists
- Motivator (growth) factors are intrinsic to the job: achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility, and growth or advancement. Those five, in that wording, are the keyed answer.
- Hygiene (dissatisfaction-avoidance, KITA) factors are extrinsic to the job: company policy and administration, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status and security.
The dividing line is where the factor arises. Motivators come from the work content. Hygiene factors come from the surroundings the organization applies from outside the job.
The traps in the lists
- Salary is a hygiene factor. Calling it a motivator is the most common error on this model.
- Status and security are hygiene; recognition for achievement and responsibility are motivators. Wrong-list items are how the distractors are built: a hygiene list that slips in recognition, responsibility or advancement is wrong.
- The split is not financial against non-financial. Salary is financial and hygiene; recognition is non-financial and a motivator.
- It is not a split by organizational level either. Herzberg draws no manager-versus-individual-contributor line.
Two continua, not one
The opposite of job satisfaction is no job satisfaction, not job dissatisfaction. The opposite of job dissatisfaction is no job dissatisfaction, not satisfaction. A question asking for the opposite of job satisfaction is testing exactly this: pick "no job satisfaction", not "job dissatisfaction" and not any invented neutral midpoint.
If you confuse Herzberg with another model, check the vocabulary. Autonomy, competence and relatedness are self-determination theory's three basic psychological needs, not Herzberg's motivators.
Carry this: five motivators, intrinsic; seven hygiene factors, extrinsic; salary sits with the hygiene factors.