Generational Differences in Work Values: Leisure and Extrinsic Values Increasing, Social and Intrinsic Values Decreasing

Abstract

Organizations are currently facing the retirement of many older workers and the challenge of recruiting and retaining young talent. However, few studies have empirically substantiated generational differences in work values. This study examines the work values of a nationally representative sample of U. S. high school seniors in 1976, 1991, and 2006 (N = 16,507)

Generational Shifts in Managerial Values and the Coming of a Unified Business Culture: A Cross-National Analysis Using European Social Survey Data

“…Twenge et al 2010) (which, in turn, and as just stated, would be due to different socialization experiences deriving from the societal circumstances that reigned during the pre-adult formative years of a given birth cohort). For actual convergence, mere heterogeneity in socialization experiences or even intergenerational value shifts are not sufficient, however.…”

“…For individuals from a given birth cohort, we may add to this the experience of a certain societal environment, Generational Shifts in Managerial Values and the Coming of a Unified Business Culture: A… such as critical life-history events (e.g., a war) and socioeconomic circumstances that they share with others in their cohort (e.g., the Great Depression). A concrete example is the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the USA on the values of teenagers (Murphy et al 2006 (Joshi et al 2011;Lyons and Kuron 2014;Twenge et al 2010). The basic idea behind these value influences is that people's values continue to evolve also during adulthood because the specific decisions that individuals make in their personal and professional lives further define their adult identities.…”

“…Studying convergence/divergence therefore means studying the evolution of cultural values. Only by employing time-series data can researchers distinguish between genuine cultural convergence/divergence and confounding factors, specifically age (or life stage) effects and period effects (Hofstede 2001;Lyons and Kuron 2014;Twenge et al 2010). Notwithstanding, cross-sectional comparisons of mean values scores of countries are the norm in this literature, and time-series research is scarce (Ralston 2008) (column 1 in Table 1).…”

“…Values differences between birth cohorts have, in fact, been shown to be important (Joshi et al 2010(Joshi et al , 2011Lyons and Kuron 2014;Twenge et al 2010). However, not many studies explicitly recognize the importance of birth cohorts, which are also sometimes called generations and can be straightforwardly defined as a group of people born in the same period, when studying converging or diverging business cultures (column 2 in Table 1).…”

“…However, not many studies explicitly recognize the importance of birth cohorts, which are also sometimes called generations and can be straightforwardly defined as a group of people born in the same period, when studying converging or diverging business cultures (column 2 in Table 1). Studying birth cohorts, in turn, requires that we are able to distinguish properly between cohort effects and confounding age and period effects (Hofstede 2001;Lyons and Kuron 2014;Twenge et al 2010), further highlighting the need for time-series data that involve more than one birth cohort, each of which is measured at multiple points in time.…”