ISSN: 2289-4519 Page 114 International Journal of Accounting & Business Management www.ftms.edu.my/journals/index.php/journals/ijabm Vol. 7(No.2), Nov, 2019 ISSN: 2289-4519 DOI: 10. 24924/ijabm/2019.11/v7.iss2/114.141 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Research Paper FACTORS INFLUENCING INDIAN SEAFARING OFFICER’S MOTIVATION Capt. Atul Wadhwa Lord Ashcroft International Business School Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK wadhwatul@yahoo.com Ananthlakshmi Mahadevan School of Accounting & Business Management, FTMS College, Persiaran Semarak Api, Cyber 4, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia lakshmi@ftms.edu.my Abstract The ability to motivate and retain Indian seafaring officers is a critical manpower issue in global shipping industry. The intention of this paper is to analyse the impact of Salary and fringe benefits, Psychosocial stress, Work-Life balance and Blame culture on the motivation of Indian seafaring officers. The study examined Indian seafaring officers´ views on motivational factors. The analytical research methodology of this study was quantitative and concluded by administering objective questionnaire to 235 licensed Indian seafaring officers. Completed data from 221 respondents was analysed using structural equation modelling to draw conclusions. The questionnaire was designed for the evaluation of impact of psychosocial stress, on their motivation. According to the results of this study, the most demotivating factors were salary and fringe benefits and blame culture. Reliability test was performed to check on the interrelatedness between the variables, and apart from work-life balance the remaining three variables showed a strong relationship with motivation. Similarly, a higher mean value in descriptive analysis showed a strong relation between blame culture and work-life balance on motivation of Indian Seafaring officers. Finally, regression analysis concluded that all four independent variables had a positive impact on dependent variable however salary and fringe benefits and blame culture had higher impact as compared to other two namely work-life balance and psychosocial stress. The paper was summarized by providing recommendations to address the motivational issues of Indian seafaring officers related to Salary and fringe benefits and blame culture. Keywords: Motivation, Stress, Work-Life Balance, Blame Culture 1.0 Introduction Seaborne trade forms about 90% of the total world trade, and there are close to 90,715 merchant ships plying on the high sea transporting goods between places, keeping the world economy rolling with precision and diligence. The people behind the scene