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The main objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between work values and commitment. Suggests at the first stage a systematic definition of the work values domain based on two content facets: modality of outcome and system‐performance contingency. Based on this definitional framework, the 24‐item Work Values Questionnaire, constructed by Elizur and his colleagues in previous research, was applied. Included in the questionnaire was a non‐item measure of commitment. It was expected that commitment would be more strongly correlated with cognitive work value items than with instrumental ones. The results generally support the hypotheses. Moderate positive correlations were observed between commitment and independence, job interest, use of abilities and achievement. A positive correlation was also found, however, with pay, which was classified as an instrumental work value item. The meaning of the results and their implications for future research were discussed.

The major objective of the study was to analyze the structure of the Quality Management (QM) domain, as it is perceived by rank and file employees and middle management. A definitional framework for the QM domain was suggested based on two facets: behavior modality and organizational referents. Subjects were 208 employees in three industrial organizations in Israel, which were in the process of applying a QM program. Factor Analysis identified one of the facets defined – the referents. Guttman’s Smallest Space Analysis was applied next for testing the proposed hypotheses. An empirical double‐ordered system, a Radex structure, was obtained that reflects the facets of the definition: behavior modality (performance, satisfaction and evaluation) and referents (employee, colleagues, supervisor and management). Unlike previous studies on introducing other change programs, management comes nearer to the employees, reflecting the high involvement of the management in QM programs. The roles of the above facets in the present study as compared to other studies are discussed, as well as the possibility of applying the proposed definitional framework to other change programs.

Quality circles have recently been suggested as a technique for enhancing employees′ quality of work life and satisfaction with their work. This study attempts to analyse the relationships between employees′ participation in quality circles, their sense of quality of work life, perceived job reinforcement capacity and job satisfaction. One hundred and forty‐three employees of a large industrial corporation in Israel, half of them regularly participating in quality circles and half not participating, were surveyed. The results support the hypotheses of the study. A positive relationship was found between participation in quality circles and various aspects of quality of work life, perceived job reinforcement capacity and job satisfaction. Results are discussed in the context of the arguments concerning the effects of participation in quality circles.

The main objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between work values, gender, and organizational commitment. Research on the relationship between work values, in general, and commitment, in particular, has not identified clear trends. As recent work has shown that gender may be a moderator in predicting outcomes from work values, a model combining these variables was examined. The 24‐item Work Values Questionnaire, constructed by Elizur in previous research and an abbreviated version of the Porter et al., nine‐item organizational commitment questionnaire were used in the study. Data were collected from 204 students, all of whom work outside school. A moderated regression analysis showed that work values, especially cognitive ones, are positively related with commitment and the interaction of values with gender was also found to be a significant predictor of commitment. Some implications of the results were discussed.

Examines the relations between feelings of job insecurity (JI) and various attitudes and opinions of employees towards their work and the organization. Analyses survey data from 11 European high‐tech organizations with a total of 8,483 respondents. Shows that JI is associated with more negative evaluations of all aspects of the company and the job, including more objective variables such as the quality of products and services. Particularly high correlations are observed between JI and negative judgements on management and the company in general. Further presents the development of a questionnaire to assess JI. The questionnaire is then used to study differential effects of JI on persons with internal and external locus of control, and with high and low social support.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate changes in the relative importance to individuals of particular work values during the deterioration of external economic conditions.

The paper employed longitudinal field survey techniques, comparing the change relative work value priorities at an initial and two subsequent points in time during dramatic economic swings in Hong Kong. The paper also evaluate needs hierarchies such as Maslow's and Elizur's, minimally adjusted for a Chinese cultural context for a theoretical framework for assessing the shifting importance of work values resulting from changing local economic conditions.

The major contribution is the finding of statistically significant changes in the differing importance to individuals of particular work values during the deterioration of external economic conditions. The paper demonstrates that the needs hierarchy theories provide an appropriate framework for the shifting importance of work values resulting from local economic conditions.

The paper is in a single location, limiting generality of the results. All longitudinal studies are affected by panel attrition. Replication with larger samples and tracking of panel drop‐outs are needed for theoretical development.

These results have crucial implications for the effective management of business firms and their human resources in changing economic conditions, finding that work values of managers are not invariant but change with conditions.

The majority of studies on work values of employees have been performed, analyzed, and interpreted in a vacuum, in isolation from consideration of critically import variables, the current, historical, and expected future economic environment of the employee. The paper finds work values change due to environmental circumstances; this effect has rarely been studied.

THERE ARE WOMEN engineers in every facet of that ubiquitous motley of professions that claim (sometimes with but little justification) to that title. There are, too, women politicians, women surgeons and physicians, women accountants, architects and one was recently appointed as Editor of a national newspaper.

Work enthusiasm and organizational socialization (Training, Understanding, Coworker Support, and Future Prospects) were compared in two predominantly Chinese regions, i.e., Macau (a former Portuguese territory in China) and Zhuhai in the People’s Republic of China. Data were collected from 276 (96 Macau and 180 Zhuhai) full‐time, line‐level, ethnic Chinese employees in the two regions. Results revealed the Zhuhai employees to be much more enthusiastic at work. The Zhuhai employees also evaluated Training, Understanding, and Future Prospects more highly than did the Macau employees (no differences were found for Coworker Support). Regression analyses revealed Future Prospects to be the strongest predictor of work enthusiasm in Zhuhai, while education and years on the job explained most of the variance for work enthusiasm in Macau. The results of the comparisons are discussed in terms of the similarities and differences in the cultures and economic development of the regions.

Through a survey of 200 employees working in five of the thirty establishments analysed in previous research about the microeconomic effects of reducing the working time (Cahier 25), the consequences on employees of such a reduction can be assessed; and relevant attitudes and aspirations better known.