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The purpose of this paper is to investigate employee values and work‐related attitudes in Chinese manufacturing companies in comparison with values and attitudes in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

The paper will investigate employee values at the societal level, attitudes toward the employing organization, work and the determinants of pay. A survey was conducted in two plants in the electronics industry in China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. A standardised questionnaire comprising 39 items was developed by the Denki Ringo research group.

The results of an empirical study in Asian manufacturing companies indicate significant differences, as well as similarities, among values at the societal level and job‐related attitudes in China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. It is argued that the differences in work‐related attitudes are influenced by the respective societies' historical legacy, and in particular differences in institutional development.

In order to draw broader conclusions, it is necessary to explore alternative explanations and conduct further empirical research in other industries.

Multinationals interested in developing manufacturing in China could benefit from information given in this paper about the work‐related attitudes of Chinese employees compared to employees in other Asian societies, where they may already have experience.

This study contributes to the understanding of factors influencing values and work‐related attitudes at the societal, organizational, and individual level.

The purpose of this study is to rely on the modernization theory to analyze and explain the cross-national differences in work-related values and attitudes (WVA).

First, the modernization theory and WVA are conceptualized, their relations are discussed and the hypotheses are formulated. Next, the data, measures, variables and empirical tests are presented. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, an integrative model is proposed and avenues for future research are suggested.

The empirical results confirm the explanatory strength of the modernization theory and provide valuable insights into the patterns of WVA across the world. It is found that the countries involved in the first phase of human development emphasize work centrality, extrinsic aspects of a job and material rewards and are likely to show noticeable discrimination against women and foreign workers. In contrast, post-industrial societies that are involved in the second phase of human development prefer emancipative WVA, such as low work centrality, tolerance of foreign workers, gender equality and hedonism at the workplace.

Despite the remarkable acceptance of the modernization theory, some of Inglehart’s propositions have been subject to criticism. Furthermore, human development, modernization and the subsequent cultural shifts are “path-dependent” as they are affected by the national, religious and civilization heritage of a country.

The findings of this study can help international mangers adopt the appropriate strategies for a wide range of issues, such as staffing, planning, job description and compensation policies.

The modernization theory is a suitable alternative to national cultural dimensions. This approach relies on the premise that socioeconomic development creates consistent patterns of values, beliefs and behaviors that ultimately shape WVA around the globe.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese managers' perceptions of work ethic (work‐related values and attitudes) and to provide insights on how managers interact with their workers.

This is a qualitative study using a series of in‐depth interviews to draw state‐owned enterprises (SOE) managers' perceptions of work ethic. The inquiry process led to a single‐case level of analysis where data are aggregated to incorporate a thematic approach. Underlining theoretical frameworks that guide the study are a combination of Western and Eastern work ethic frameworks and cross‐culture management understanding of the concept of guanxi.

Five themes that emerged from data analysis became the five dimensions of Chinese managers' work ethic profile. In addition, the study revealed four overarching themes that influence managerial behavior in Chinese SOEs: the absolute power of the boss; work is the center of life; social network ties to the workplace; and place hope in the hands of the boss.

The paper provides comprehensive understanding of the Chinese management work ethic profile. Future studies should expand to include managers from different generations and industry sectors.

The paper highlighted the importance of matching cultural values with management practices. It identified differences between the west and east of their work‐related values and attitudes, which have practical implications for developing effective management strategies and practices when working with Chinese SOEs.

The paper provides an indigenous description of Chinese managers' work ethic profile and provides suggestions for future research.

This paper aims to explore how the competence-based vocational education and training (VET) curricula facilitate shaping of work values of VET students. It discusses methodological and ideological orientations of competence-based VET in teaching work values and discloses the typical characteristics of teaching work values in the VET system of Lithuania.

A quantitative research approach leading to a survey method is adopted to investigate how VET students acquire and apply work-related values and attitudes to work.

The survey of the VET students has disclosed that students are open to accepting different values of work, including cognitive values, social prestige and altruist values. However, orientation of the VET curricula to and provision of instrumental values lead to relatively weak internalization of the work values related to societal and spiritual dimensions.

The paper provides empirical evidence regarding the implications of the competence-based curricula for teaching students work values in the school-based VET.

The purpose of the paper is to focus on personal and social background factors as potential channels for the transmission of work related attitudes in young adults. The paper aims to examine the extent to which gender, parental job type, job status, and education, as well as school experience, influence the development of attitudes towards work and family life.

The study comprised a quantitative (questionnaire based) survey with a sample of 782 final year undergraduate students attending various third level institutions in Ireland and the USA.

The results indicated that individuals who had grown up in traditional mixed families had more positive attitudes towards balancing work and home roles than did those who had grown up in traditional single earner families. Father's educational level also emerged as a significant factor in the career‐family attitudes of the participants.

The results of this research indicate that young people have developed attitudes towards managing the work/family interface on entering the workforce, which they acquire through a social learning process. Limitations included the cross‐sectional nature of the design and future longitudinal research is needed.

Organizations and managers need to be aware of the well‐developed attitudes of new entrants in order to address early issues of psychological contract and person‐organizational fit, which have an impact on career success and career management.

The findings of the paper break new ground on the role of social learning on the formation of attitudes towards managing the work‐family interface. Such attitudes proceed to inform behavioral patterns and decisions in the harmonious management of the two domains.

One of the main issues that many organizations will face in the coming years is the management of increasing diversity in the workforce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the levels of individualism and collectivism of managers in two different cultural environments, that is, Malaysia and Australia.

Data were collected by questionnaire from middle managers in a total of 18 organisations in Malaysia and ten organisations in Australia. Individualism‐collectivism was measured using Singelis et al.'s 32‐item scale. The items in the scale are designed to measure the horizontal and vertical aspects of individualism‐collectivism. The items were answered on seven‐point scale where 1 indicates strong disagreement and 7 indicates strong agreement. In addition, the seven‐item job satisfaction measure, which is part of the Survey of Organizations questionnaire developed by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, was used.

The study reveals the existence of differences between Malaysian and Australian managers on the level of vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism. In addition, the Australian managers appear to have a significantly higher level of job satisfaction than their counterpart in Malaysia.

Overall, the findings of the present study suggest that there have been significant shifts in value classifications in Malaysia since Hofstede conducted his original study. This finding underscores the fact that, although a nation's work‐related values and attitudes are deep‐seated preferences for certain end states; they are subject to change over the years as external environmental changes shape a society. Therefore, researchers and practitioners should use caution before attempting to use work‐related values and attitudes to understand human behaviours in organizations.

The results of this study may be of interest and assistance to managers of multinational and international organizations who need to manage in global contexts and, therefore, need to understand cultural‐driven differences in personal and interpersonal work‐related conditions between and across nations.

The results of this study provide empirical corroboration of the theoretical perspectives of Singelis et al. on individualism‐collectivism and horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism respectively. In addition, they may be of interest and assistance to managers of multinational and international organizations who need to manage in global contexts and, therefore, need to understand cultural‐driven differences in work attitudes of employees between and across nations. Finally, the study's findings contribute to a growing body of research that illustrates the need to take a multidimensional approach to the study on individualism‐collectivism.

The purpose of this paper is to expand the burgeoning research, which provides evidence relating to the influence of religion upon work-related values.

The authors employed a survey methodology to collect data across seven countries and six religions.

The study provides evidence of differences as well as similarities in the way people belonging to different religions rank personal values. Thus, on the one hand, the authors can argue that religion helps shape our behavior and attitudes in the workplace, whilst at the same time, however, accepting the converging influence of globalization and/or the universality of some values that they include in their analysis. This finding leads the authors to focus upon a complex pattern of value variations and similarities across religions.

Overall, the findings provide a glimpse into what the paper interprets as (just one dimension of) plurality within contemporary organizations to support the paradox perspective, popularized by Lewis and Smith and Lewis, who contend that organizations embed multiple tensions and dilemmas in an ongoing cyclical process. Hence the paper argues that the similarities and differences across religious affiliations are not “either/or” choices but dualities that must be dynamically balanced in order to simultaneously meet multiple employee needs. The paper concludes that managers and employees need to articulate and embrace paradoxes related to religion, in order to create an awareness of the influence of religion that leads to being inclusive.

Examines the Japanese management philosophy in organizations, and develops a 15‐item, four‐factor (family orientation and loyalty, open communication, team approach, and manager knowledge) Japanese organizational culture scale (JOCS). Investigates the differences in JOCS and other work‐related variables between 156 non‐unionized employees of one Japanese‐owned automobile plant and 144 unionized employees of one US‐owned automobile plant in the USA. There were no differences in income and education. Employees in the Japanese‐owned plant had higher scores for family orientation and loyalty, open communication, team approach, manager knowledge, organizational commitment, organization‐based self‐esteem, organizational instrumentality, intrinsic satisfaction, and extrinsic satisfaction than those in the US‐owned plant. Results are discussed in light of organizational culture and enhancing quality and productivity in the global competitive market.

The purpose of this paper is to use international survey data to investigate the effects of religiosity, religious denomination, communist heritage, and socio-economic development on work values.

First, religiosity and work values are conceptualized. Next, the relationships among these concepts are discussed and the hypotheses, variables, and data are presented. Finally, the results of the empirical tests are presented and the theoretical and managerial implications, as well as avenues for future research, are discussed.

It is found that socio-economic development negatively, whereas religiosity and communist heritage positively, influence extrinsic work values. Further analysis reveals that religiosity has a quadratic relationship with intrinsic work values. Conspicuously, after controlling for the effects of religiosity, no significant association is found between religious denominations and work values.

The current analysis relies only on national/societal level data and overlooks the effects of independent variables (religiosity and communist heritage) at the individual level. Furthermore, the methodologies and measurements of religiosity and work values are of a limited scope. Thus, future studies may look into the effects of religiosity on work values at the individual level and apply other conceptualizations and measures to test the validity of the results.

Based on the findings of this study, it can be suggested that the use of intrinsic rewards might be less appropriate in the societies marked by communist heritage or high religiosity. On the contrary, these societies may embrace more extrinsic work values associated with direct, restrictive, and tangible aspects of work.

This study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing, measuring, and incorporating various variables into the research design and by providing original insights into the influence of religion on work values. Furthermore, this study suggests that, at least with regard to work values, religiosity (the strength of one’s conviction for their religion) is more important than religious denomination (Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Orthodox Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism).

It is well researched and reported that the culture of a nation has a major impact on employees’ work related values, attitudes and expectations. The objective of this study was to investigate if western research on the generation gap applies equally to generational groups in Taiwan’s workplaces, specifically in the higher education sector and manufacturing industry. The research found that groups in the manufacturing industry share generational differences with their western counterparts. However, the research has demonstrated that western research results in respect to generational differences do not apply to the generational workers in the Taiwan education sector. In addition to these findings, the reseach has uncovered some anomalies with specific research findings in the western literature.