...there is a wide safety net provided by the government through taxpayers to protect people from not having a roof over their head or food in their stomachs, schools for their kids or healthcare for anyone.

That's big government for you!

Or more seriously, I'm sure you're right about the motivations of the Nigerian community (I did know some members), and you can add to that a determination to send money home to help out family.

Mashka - Interesting!

Reminds me of a little tidbit I remember from diversity training long ago. 

In the US, it's commonplace for managers to single out employees for praise during staff meetings. "Thanks to Bill, who went above and beyond working late to sort out the inventory last Tuesday!" But in some cultures, it's considered bad to be singled out from the group for attention, so that kind of praise will backfire. 

Interesting, @Mashka. Without knowing anything about Nigeria in the 1980s, perhaps one reason that Nigerian managers were focused more on financial benefits was that there was a different baseline. In Britain, there's unemployment (the dole), things like Social Security in the US, national health insurance... in other words, although there are homeless people in Britain, there is a wide safety net provided by the government through taxpayers to protect people from not having a roof over their head or food in their stomachs, schools for their kids or healthcare for anyone. I'm guessing that, without income, that is not necessarily the case in Nigeria--or at least in the 1980s. If that's so, you'd obviously care a lot more about earning a lot of money while you can to ensure you and your family can survive for the rest of your life.

I have read a very interesting article about motivation of Nigerian and British  managers, who work in Britain- the article is not that new, the reaesrach was condacted in 80s I guess, or may be early 90sю

So the main poit was that Biritish managers were focused on such things as self development, job satisfaction, career opportunities, while the Nigerian managers were mostly motivated by material values such as salary, money bonuses- so the  basic idea of this article was that employees from the third world countries  were better motivated by material benefits, and for employees from Great Britain  were better motivated by life/work balance opportunities, some self realisation opportunities and so on.

Afterwards I talked to different people and it turned out that it's not that simple but I am sure that there should be cultural differences, or people are just people?

If you view job as keeping systems running than you have a myopic view of the business. In order to keep the business running you need to look outside IT like you say. 

@Mitch:

Working conditions are probably the primary reason that many people. If you are established in some part of your career there is a pay bracket that you will get irrespective of the company. 

@Mitch:

Working conditions are probably the primary reason that many people. If you are established in some part of your career there is a pay bracket that you will get irrespective of the company. 

We did post some results from preliminary data and to describe the project, an ongoing study of University of Miami students and their computer preferences/usage. Since it was based on college students, we worked around the university's schedule and it started well. Occasionally wonder what we might have found out, if allowed to continue!

Looking at IT as a technology rather than a business organization is a key mistake. If you view the job as keeping systems running, that's all the job will ever be, and business managers will look outside IT when they need innovation. 

Actually, pay is only one reason that people leave. Another reason -- really the main reason -- is working conditions. Give people challenging work and treat them respectfully, and they'll stick around even if the pay elsewhere is better.