To read this content please select one of the options below:

What workers want: a global perspective

Milton Mayfield (Division of International Business and Technology Studies, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, USA)
Jacqueline Mayfield (Division of International Business and Technology Studies, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, USA)

Competitiveness Review

ISSN: 1059-5422

Article publication date: 12 August 2014

438

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in global worker preferences for job attributes and incentives at the national cultural level, knowledge that is key to the architecture of effective human resource systems.

Design/methodology/approach

A Bayesian latent growth curve (LGC) model was used to test data from the World and European Values Surveys from the time periods 1981 to 2005.

Findings

Results (based on Bayesian LGC analysis) indicate that employee-related beliefs about what is attractive in a job do change considerably over time, with pay, then employment security having the highest priorities. Equally important, demand for good pay and a job that matches one’s abilities are the fastest growing global worker desires.

Originality/value

These findings of national culture’s active evolution in the workplace indicate a need for scholars, leaders in practice – especially human resource managers – to rethink our cultural conceptualizations for model building and global job design and reward systems.

Keywords

Citation

Mayfield, M. and Mayfield, J. (2014), "What workers want: a global perspective", Competitiveness Review, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 332-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/CR-01-2013-0006

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles