Work Values Ethic GNPCOB

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Journal of Business Ethics ISSN 0167-4544Volume 116Number 3 J Bus Ethics (2013) 116:655-666DOI 10.1007/s10551-012-1450-z

Work Values Ethic, GNP Per Capita andCountry of Birth Relationships

Adela McMurray & Don Scott

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Work Values Ethic, GNP Per Capita and Country of BirthRelationships

Adela McMurray • Don Scott

Received: 9 April 2012 / Accepted: 9 August 2012 / Published online: 26 September 2012

� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Abstract Workplaces around the world have experienced

extraordinary changes to the composition of their workforces

and the nature of work. Few studies have explored workers

from multiple countries of birth, with multiple religious ori-

entations, working together within a single country of resi-

dence. Building on and extending the Work Values Ethic

(WVE) literature, we examine 1,382 responses from

employees working in three manufacturing companies. Dif-

ferences were found in the mean WVE scores of groups of

respondents from 42 countries of birth. Their WVE scores

were strongly associated with their birth countries’ per capita

Gross National Product (GNP), and the means of these scores

did not change with variations in the respondents’ length of

residence in a different country. These results have implica-

tions for developing cross-cultural management practices and

for improving relationships with employees, with opportuni-

ties for increased commitment and, potentially, productivity.

Keywords Work values ethic � Country of birth �GNP per capita � Immigrants

Introduction

Global diversity management represents an important issue

in international management research (Nishii and Ozbilgin

2007) as immigration increasingly diversifies the popula-

tions of many countries. The changes to the world of work

hold relevance for academicians, practitioners and policy-

makers (Hodgkinson and Starkey 2011). Identifying

changes in employee work orientations is becoming

important. Recent research into skilled migrant workers has

focused on central issues of human capital, holistic

understanding of career mobility and capitalization (Al

Ariss and Syed 2011), flexible work arrangements and

turnover (Stavrou and Kilaniotis 2010).

In pursuing contextual and translational research, our

study follows Tranfield and Starkey’s (1998) proposition

that management research should culminate in the inter-

action between theory and practice. In the manufacturing

context, we examine employees’ country-of-birth back-

grounds as a proxy measure of their culture and orientation

towards work performance through Work Values Ethic

(WVE). The context is within three automotive component

companies in the Australian manufacturing industry.

According to Ozbilgin (2011) contextual management

studies provide a deeper understanding of the concept

under investigation and more appreciation of the place in

which the study is conducted.

Specific to the manufacturing industry, three research

questions underpin this study:

RQ1: Is there a significant association between country-

of-birth wealth and immigrant workers WVE?

RQ2: Are there differences in immigrant WVE scores

from various countries of birth?

RQ3: Do immigrant WVE scores differ if they have

resided in a country for various periods of time?

These questions are pertinent to academe for theory

building and for consolidation of literature and to managers

who make decisions in manufacturing industry contexts

A. McMurray (&)

RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, VIC 3001,

Australia

e-mail: [email protected]

D. Scott

School of Commerce and Management, Southern Cross

University, Lismore, NSW, Australia

e-mail: [email protected]

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J Bus Ethics (2013) 116:655–666

DOI 10.1007/s10551-012-1450-z

Author's personal copy

that directly impact on their diversified country-of-birth

work forces. What follows is an analysis of literature

identifying issues in regard to WVE and country-of-birth

relationships, a description of the data collection method

and research design, the results of the data analysis and

finally, implications for academics and practitioners in

industry contexts.

Work Values Ethic (WVE)

Early scales of work ethic focused on developing measures

for the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE). Blood (1969) was the

first to develop a PWE scale relevant to the management

field with others following (Buchholz 1978; Hammond and

Williams 1976; Ho and Lloyd 1984; Ray 1982). All of

these measures, except those of Mirels and Garrett (1971),

were problematic and by 1983 experienced a decline in use

over the favored Mirels and Garrett (1971) 19-item mea-

sure (Morrow 1993).

The PWE is defined as ‘‘a dispositional variable char-

acterized by a belief in the importance of hard work,

rationality, and frugality which acts as a defense against

sloth, sensuality and religious doubt’’ (Furnham 1987,

p. 93). However, while the PWE is used as a measure of a

person’s dedication to work, it is associated with a Cal-

vinistic orientation (Jones et al. 2010; Willis 2008). As

Storr (2006) identified, a work-related ethic can occur in

non-Protestant countries. The WVE developed by

McMurray and Scott (2003) is based on the PWE and

encapsulates a similar orientation but without a necessary

Calvinistic connection. It is, therefore, a measure that can

be used in areas of many different religions, atheism or

agnosticism. Hence the WVE was considered a better

measure than the PWE for use in our study, which aimed to

better understand the differences to be taken into account

when dealing with mixed country-of-birth work forces.

While there appears to be a general understanding of

Weber’s (1905) idea of the PWE, Weber did not provide a

precise definition that was easily measured. Consequently,

many characteristics associated with the PWE have led to

inconsistencies in the measurement of the construct (Rob-

ertson 1985) although it has been used to justify entrenched

beliefs about other cultural and ethnic groups (Levy et al.

2006). A reason for this measurement inconsistency could

be the significant overlap between individual differences in

areas such as world beliefs and locus of control (Furnham

1982). Another explanation by Kelvin and Jarrett (1984)

contends that work is a norm which has no moral signifi-

cance attached to it and that there is no such thing as a

PWE; and that PWE should be labeled a ‘‘wealth’’ ethic.

Bellah (1963), in their Japanese study, found evidence for

work beliefs and concluded by questioning whether the

term ‘‘Protestant’’ was appropriate. The effect was also

noted in many cultures where Protestantism is not a feature

(Aygun et al. 2008; Ryman and Turner 2007; Storr 2006).

Weber’s original 1920 document used the term ‘‘Prot-

estant Ethic’’ but researchers in the 1970s included the term

‘‘work’’ and started to refer to the original concept as the

PWE (for example, Albee 1977; Greenberg 1977, 1978,

1979; Macdonald 1972; Mirels and Garett 1971; Stone

1975). One could question the justification for this inclu-

sion. Perhaps researchers viewed the PWE as a situational

variable that could be renamed and appropriately applied to

a particular point in time and context. Aygun et al. (2008)

studied work values in terms of the influences of various

factors on work, which include ethics, and they suggested

that the PWE is an aspect of work values.

Work ethic based on religious foundations continues to

be of research interest, with recent research into an Islamic

work ethic (IWE) (Kumar and Rose 2010; Uygur 2009) and

Arab Work Ethic (Sidani and Thornberry 2009). Even

within Christian-based Western societies where PWE is

viewed as universally ‘‘capitalistic’’, differences in social

ethic between Protestants and Catholics has been found to

impact PWE tendencies toward wealth creation (Arrunada

2010). The correlation between PWE and Intrinsic Reli-

gious Orientation (IRO) was re-confirmed by Jones et al.

(2010) with Zulfikar (2012) recently uncovering Muslim

Turks reporting greater scores on four of the five PWE

characteristics than Protestants or Catholics. This points to

the need for other measures when investigating work ethic,

particularly among global economies where work forces

are progressively multi-cultural and multi-religious.

Few studies have explored workers from multiple

countries of birth, with multiple religious orientations,

working together within a single country of residence.

Research by Miller et al. (2002) and Woehr et al. (2007) in

developing and testing of a Multidimensional Work Ethic

Profile (MWEP) posit that work ethic is multidimensional,

secular and learned, rather than based on religious foun-

dations. Further, MWEP differences are found in cross-

cultural (i.e. Korea, Mexico, U.S.) and intergenerational

(i.e. Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomer) work for-

ces, pointing to complex differences in work ethic (Meriac

et al. 2010; Woehr et al. 2007). Ahlstrom et al. (2010)

noted complex and dynamic relationships among global

Chinese businesses, with differences in workplace appli-

cation of the Eastern value of ‘‘supplication’’ and the

Western value of ‘‘self-esteem’’ noted by Lai et al. (2010).

When studying people with the same work ethic, Porter

(2011) found they may behave differently in respect to

ethical work.

Consequently we used a secular WVE measure that was

valid and reliable (McMurray and Scott 2003). While a

secular WVE was not previously studied in relation to

country of birth differences among co-workers within a

656 A. McMurray, D. Scott

123


single country, the PWE has been extensively studied

cross-culturally. A literature review revealed a consensus

(Furnham 1984; Furnham et al. 1993) in these cross-cul-

tural studies findings, which consistently uncovered lower

PWE scores in countries with higher Gross National

Products (GNPs), including Australia, Britain, Germany,

New Zealand and USA. Countries with lower GNPs, such

as India, West Indies and Zimbabwe, scored higher on the

PWE scale. Hong Kong had a middle range score and

Israeli PWE scores were similar to countries with high

GNPs. However, GNP values do not necessarily signal the

wealth of people in a particular country. This is better

indicated by GNP per capita. Therefore, we examine the

GNP per capita relationship to the WVE for immigrants

from different countries of birth. This examination tests

whether WVE = f(GNPper capita) and leads to the

hypothesis:

H1 There is a significant relationship between WVE and

GNP per capita values for different groups of immigrant

workers.

Country-based general cultural differences have also

been associated with the PWE (for example, Furnham et al.

1993; Goitein and Rotenburg 1977; Harrison and Hunting-

ton 2000; Niles 1994); other differences include political

preferences (Beit-Hallahmi 1979; Ghosh 2008; Mills 2009;

Tang 1992), assimilation of immigrants (Juffer 2008; Oboler

2008), job choice trade-off preferences (Isenhour 2006),

ethnic identity and social class (Cokley et al. 2007), eco-

nomic narratives (Storr 2006), social tolerance and intoler-

ance (Levy et al. 2006), group work (Abele 2008), and

cultural land ethic (Hardy 2006). However, some studies

have accepted the possibility of in-country group-based

differences and have studied aspects such as religious dif-

ferences between Protestants and Catholics (Chismir and

Koberg 1988; Ma 1986), and in the USA, the American

Hispanic underclass, which was found to be eroding the

traditional American Anglo-Protestant Work Ethic

(Brimelow 2007; Suter 2007), although Gomberg-Munoz

(2010, p. 295) found undocumented Mexican immigrants in

USA cultivate ‘‘a social identity as ‘hard workers’ to pro-

mote their labor and bolster dignity and self-esteem’’. A UK

study confirmed a strong work ethic among the unemployed

(Walker and Howard 2000); however, the more educated

unemployed preferred unemployment benefits to doing less

attractive jobs (Dunn 2010).

Such results suggest that with immigrant communities

from different countries of birth, host countries may be

faced with problems arising from variations in WVE. For

example, Sidani and Thornberry (2009) found that not all

religious-based work ethics support growth; and since

market-oriented strategies require positive work ethic,

understanding the work values context is important in

equipping multi-cultural workforces to work together

toward strategic development. Grosse (2010) found that

globalization prompts the need to explore these issues,

contrasting differences in the US work values of pragma-

tism, competition, risk-taking and communication with

Mexican work values of peace, harmony and risk aversion

in two countries that share both geographical borders and

strong economic interests. The existence of such potential

variations in WVE leads to the second hypothesis:

H2 There is a significant difference between immigrant

workers from different countries of birth in respect of their

mean WVE scores.

Country of Birth and Culture

A person’s culture is a learned set of core attitudes, values

and beliefs, which dictate their acceptable behavior within

a specific group (Schein 1985). Since cultures are learned

at birth from contact with family and the surrounding

environment, a country of birth would seem to be a rea-

sonable proxy for cultural differences. Values influence an

individual’s affective and behavioral responses (Locke

1976; Rokeach 1973; Scarborough 1998) in the workplace

(Nord et al. 1988), since these core values, attitudes and

beliefs differ from one cultural group to another and are

associated with the person’s learned behaviors (Miller et al.

2002; Woehr et al. 2007). It is logical to assume that cul-

tural background, and hence countries of birth, will reflect

different levels of work commitment. These shared attri-

butes based on values acquired in a person’s country of

birth, may influence a person’s approach to their work, the

job-life satisfaction relationship (Georgellis and Lange

2011) and, more specifically, to the WVE examined in this

study; hence, the question as to whether such country-of-

birth related orientations will change when a person moves

to a new country.

The relationship between country of birth and organiza-

tional value systems has been explored in a variety of con-

texts, including foundational differences among national

value systems (Hofstede 1985), shared international mana-

gerial cultures (Everett et al. 1982), and the application of

cross-cultural management approaches (Elenkov 1998).

Cross-cultural issues are historically relevant in globalized

organizations as they relate to strategic and functional

decision-making including offshoring, the fit of the local

cultural context, institutional environments in host coun-

tries, and governance complexity due to high cultural

diversity (Henisz and Delios 2002; Hutzschenreuter et al.

2011; Jensen and Pederson 2011; Myer et al. 2011).

For organizations in countries with blended migrant

work forces, high cultural diversity may impact organiza-

tional and collective identity, influencing seminal issues of

Work Values Ethic 657

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corporate identity, social identity, conformity, distinction,

shifting perceptual environments and change (Cornelissen

et al. 2007; Ravasi and van Rekom 2003; van Rekom et al.

2008), the use of cultural resources (Rindova et al. 2010)

and perceptions of social support (Amason et al. 1999).

The Relationship Between WVE and Country of Birth

Values, which are culturally derived (Scarborough 1998),

are antecedents to an individual’s communication and

behaviors. A goal of our study was, therefore, to examine

specific clusters of cultural groups, as indicated by their

countries of birth, and their relationship to the WVE.

While researchers such as Aygun et al. (2008) and

Hofstede (1980b) have used nationality as a proxy measure

for cultural differences, we have used country of birth. The

notion of nationality as a pure measure of cultural back-

ground can be compromised by immigrant members of a

country blurring the cultural differences that were expected

to be defined by national differences. However, the use of

country of birth can help to identify cultural backgrounds

in a multi-cultural society.

For the purposes of this study, country of birth was

viewed as a classification of a membership group, often

referred to as either a cultural or ethnic group within which

people acquire their values, attitudes and beliefs. Country

of birth, in itself, was not a direct influence, but instead a

classification system for a set of influences identifying a

group of people with particular cultural features and

backgrounds that potentially influenced their behaviors.

From this perspective, country of birth is an aggregation of

a range of effects that are considered a ‘‘group’’ effect.

Country of birth can be viewed as a useful tool or variable

in examining a set of such influences.

A country’s inhabitants do not necessarily follow one

particular cultural orientation. In countries such as the

USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand with large immi-

grant communities, the examination of a WVE by country

of birth could present a very different picture because of

the association of peoples from different countries of birth

with each other. There is, therefore, a need for research to

be carried out that takes into account the existence of any

intra-country difference in WVE and explores whether

work values orientations gained at birth in a particular

country will endure when people have moved to another

country. Whether immigrants will change their work values

orientations once they become a member of a larger pool of

people with different WVEs is also a question worthy of

investigation and leads to the following hypothesis:

H3 There is a difference in the WVE scores of immigrant

workers who have resided in a different country for periods

of more or less than 10 years.

Research Context

Globalization is modifying Australian culture so that it is

becoming increasingly complex and culturally diverse.

From this perspective, Australia offered an ideal ‘‘research

design’’ for our study because many of the immigrants to

the country originated from various countries of birth,

which according to Hofstede (1980a) have been classified

as having different behavioral orientations to that of their

country of settlement.

National Policy

Australia’s multi-cultural society has one of the highest

proportions of multi-ethnic work force members in the

world. According to Storer (1981), Australian migration

policies were essentially economically driven, because

immigrants provided unskilled labor for those jobs that

Australian-born workers found undesirable. However, by

the twenty-first century, with a high proportion of skilled

immigrants, a points system directed migration intakes

based on skills most in need. Australia’s population has

depended on immigration, and in 1974 one Australian in

five was either a post-war immigrant or the child of one

(Branchevska 1974 cited in Krupinski and Stoller 1974). In

the 2006 census, the proportion of Australian citizens with

parents who were born in another country was recorded as

being 30 % (ABS 2006). In 2004–2005, Australia accepted

123,404 immigrants; 131,000 in 2005–2006; and 158,021

in 2008–2009 (ABS 2011). Storer (1981, p. 5) referred to

immigrants as migrants, whom he defined as ‘‘groups of

individuals who have either themselves been born in an

overseas country and have subsequently come to live in

Australia and/or those who have married such persons or

have been born to such persons and/or have been later

sponsored by such persons to join them in Australia’’.

Because of potential difficulties with the definition of

migrants, we have chosen to focus solely on the country of

birth of respondents and/or their parents.

Immigrants are not a homogeneous group. They differ

not only in their country of birth, but also in their cultural

and social backgrounds (Branchevska 1974). In other

words, immigrants consist of a variety of ethnic groups,

however, different countries may contain people of varying

ethnicities and again, to remove any potential for confu-

sion, we used country of birth as classification of the

respondent’s background (see Table 2 for details).

Forty-four percent of immigrants arriving in Australia in

2004–2005 came from Asian countries (ABS 2011) where

the work ethic is very different to Australia. A large pro-

portion of these are employed in manufacturing thus a

manufacturing environment was determined as being

appropriate to conduct our study, thereby contributing to


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Hodkinson’s (2011) assertions regarding research design

and relevance.

Method

Sample Selection

‘‘Manufacturing’’ broadly relates to the physical or chem-

ical transformation of materials or components into new

products, whether the work is performed by power-driven

machinery or by hand. The manufacturing industry is tra-

ditionally viewed as having strong WVEs, for example,

blue-collar workers (either tradespersons or unskilled

workers) are widely recognized as being trade union

members and highly belligerent in their approach to the

organization, management and work.

One of the reasons for this attitude may be historical, in

that various strategies were pursued during different eco-

nomic times due to international competition. In the 1970s,

Australian manufacturers faced intense competition from

low-wage Asian countries; in the 1980s, the growing

affluence of consumers and the example set by Japanese

manufacturers led to an emphasis on the improvement of

quality; and in the 1990s, the focus was on a reduction in

lead times and the diversification of product offerings in

order to be competitive.

The Australian Automotive Component Manufacturing

Industry, like other manufacturing industries, embraced

strategies to maintain positioning in world markets. In

particular, robotics, cellular manufacturing and quality,

together with ‘‘lean manufacturing’’ (Womak et al. 1990)

were prescribed to counter the competition posed mainly

by the Japanese. This industry within the manufacturing

sector, thus presented an opportunity to examine WVEs

using employee lists of internationally competitive manu-

facturing businesses as sample frames.

The Australian manufacturing sector employs the

highest number of people per industry from non English

speaking countries (Stephens and Bertone 1995). Approx-

imately, 60 % of employees in the vehicle manufacturing

industry are assembly and process workers.

The three companies chosen to provide the sample

frame for this study were similar: all were automotive

components manufacturers, multinationals, used technol-

ogy in their production processes, and their organizational

structure was hierarchical with top-down management. The

communication patterns, regulations and rules strongly

paralleled a bureaucracy along classic Weberian lines with

clearly defined hierarchy of roles; decision-makers

appointed not elected; each employee subordinate to the

authority of those in higher offices where centralized

decisions are dispatched (Swingewood 1984).

There were some important differences between the

three companies. Company A was more innovative in its

management and marketing practices. Evidence of this was

they consistently won national quality awards reflecting

characteristics of a Greenfield site. During the time the

researcher conducted the study, there were no work stop-

pages. The company continually showed it valued its

employees by supporting them through various training

programs—to the point one employee remarked, ‘‘Some-

times they [Company A] go overboard…and it’s a waste of

money…like two gals in ***** department…they got

trained to drive a forklift…they got their license and they

haven’t got to use it once yet…that was last year…’’

Companies B and C also won manufacturing awards but

less frequently than A and within the industry they were

not considered prestigious. Company B regularly experi-

enced employee strikes with staff walk-offs, which Com-

pany C also experienced, but to a lesser extent.

Research Design

In this contextual study, a survey was used to uncover the

relationships between country of birth, WVE and GNP per

capita of immigrant workers across the three Australian

manufacturers. The individual was the unit of measure to

study the WVE construct, with GNP per capita values

obtained from published data. Within all three companies,

the organizational culture respected empiricism and held it

to be credible, as evident in the language, bulletin boards

and newsletters that regularly cited workplace statistics.

Demographic information was an essential component

of the questionnaire as it contained items relating to the

respondent’s country of birth such as ‘‘birthplace’’ and

‘‘length of time living in Australia’’. An additional item

called for a tick in a Yes/No box if the respondent was born

in Australia; respondents ticking ‘‘no’’ were required to

write their country of birth. GNP per capita values for the

year 2005 were obtained from an internet listing of values

for all countries (GNP 2005).

WVE Measurement

Factorial invariance shows psychological constructs are

comparable across cultures (Little 1997). As our study was

cross-cultural, it was deemed appropriate to utilize the

McMurray and Scott (2003) WVE instrument that is valid

and reliable and accepts that a work ethic may not neces-

sarily be based on Protestantism. The WVE measure

comprises five items, producing an average score for

which, on a Likert-type scale of 1 = strongly disagree and

5 = strongly agree, constitutes the overall WVE score. The

WVE five measurement items are shown in Table 1.


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Data Collection

All three companies had Vietnamese and Cambodian shop

floor employees who were not proficient in the English

language and migrants from other countries who were

sufficiently proficient in English. Thus, the empirical data

collected for our study was by a questionnaire administered

in English, Vietnamese and Cambodian languages. In

preparation for the survey, a pre-test and pilot study were

conducted to ensure the instrument’s content validity and

reliability. The pilot study analysis uncovered a coefficient

alpha value of 0.81 for the WVE measure. Nunnally (1978)

states a reliability reading of 0.70 or greater is acceptable.

The Survey

A survey was administered to all the employees of three

manufacturing companies. Companies B and C employees

completed the questionnaire either in the first half-hour or

last half-hour of their shift. The managers, supervisors and

leading hands in each department decided which timeframe

was selected, as they were best informed on their produc-

tion line progress. The companies operated three shifts in

each 24-h period: 7.00 am–5.20 pm (day shift), 5.10 pm–

11.10 pm (afternoon shift) and 11.00 pm–7.00 am (night

shift). As the whole population of each company was tar-

geted, it was essential to set up rooms 30 min prior to

conducting the survey. Sekaran (1992) maintains that it is

advantageous to administer a survey personally because the

researcher is able to introduce the topic, motivate the

respondents to give honest answers and be present to

answer any questions. Company B respondents completed

their questionnaires in their departmental meeting room

and Company C provided an on-site training room.

Company A preferred a ‘‘down tools’’ day where groups

of day and night shift employees from various departments

would arrive every 35 min. A week prior to the adminis-

tration of the questionnaire, a roster was posted and man-

agers nominated a preferred time for their department to

complete the questionnaire in the canteen, the site chosen

because it could accommodate large groups.

Upon completing the questionnaire, the respondents

sealed it in an envelope and deposited it into a secure box.

In total, the study involved 1,413 respondents resulting in

1,297 usable responses, with an overall response rate of

92 %. This response rate was considerably higher than the

benchmark response rate of 35–40 % found in organiza-

tional management studies as identified by Baruch and

Holtom (2008). Contributing factors for this high response

rate were that the study was conducted over a 1-year period

involving the collaboration of the Companies in a pre-test

and pilot study in preparation for the main survey, hence

engendering a trusting relationship across the three

companies.

Results

The country-of-birth frequencies revealed 42 different

countries of birth with Australia being the largest category

and the UK the second largest category. Of the remaining

40 countries, several country sample populations were too

small to be individually analyzed by statistical methods.

Because Australia was a large category and was considered

‘‘local’’, whether by birth or naturalization, it was left as a

category on its own. For the remaining 41 countries, the

researcher created culture clusters based on the countries’

geographical areas and also taking into account similarities

in the Hofstede (1980a) universal four dimensional Value

Survey Module (VSM) framework which is a popular

cultural values measure and is used in many international

studies. The VSM consists of four dominant value

dimensions, which are culture specific. It is espoused that

these value structures facilitate the transfer of theories and

technology from one culture to another (Hofstede 1980b).

The four dimensions are summarized as individualism

versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, power

distance, and uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede 1997). This

resulted in seven different countries-of-birth categories

which, with Australia, created eight categories. These were

subsequently used in the analysis of country of birth and its

relationship to the GNP per capita and WVE variables (see

Table 2).

The categories were developed by recoding the data. A

new variable called ‘‘Country of Birth’’ was created. If

respondents answered ‘‘Yes’’ to the question as to whether

they were born in Australia, ‘‘Australia’’ was placed into

the Country of Birth variable. If the respondents answered

‘‘No’’, and gave a different country of birth, the following

group codes were placed into the Country of Birth variable

in accordance with the following country-of-birth

groupings:

Table 1 Work value ethic items

Item

number

Item

1 Most people who don’t succeed in life are just plain lazy

2 People who fail at a job have usually not tried hard enough

3 A distaste for hard work usually reflects a weakness of

character

4 Any person who is able and willing to work hard has a good

chance of succeeding

5 If one works hard one is likely to make a good life for

oneself

Source McMurray and Scott (2003)


123


South America Group, South East Asian Group,

Indian Subcontinent Group, Mediterranean Group,

Western European Group, Eastern European Group,

UK/UK extraction Group and Australian Group.

The GNP per capita values for these country groupings

were then determined as the weighted sum of the individual

country GNP per capita values.

The Country of Birth variable was then used as a cate-

gorical variable when examining an hypothesis by means

of a one-way ANOVA. The categorizations and their

respective countries are shown in Table 2.

A consolidated weighted WVE score was derived for all

of the respondents and was standardized to a range of 1–5.

This score was then used to test hypothesis H1, that there

was an association between GNP per capita values and

WVE. A single linear regression was used to examine the

whether the relationship WVE = f(GNPper capita) held. For

this test, the relationship was effectively converted into the

equation of WVE = g(GNPper capita) ? constant.

The regression analysis indicated that a significant

negative relationship did exist with R2adj ¼ 0:94 and

F(1,6) = 110.7 (p = 0.000) and that the relationship

between WVE and GNPper capita could be expressed in

terms of the following equation:

WVE ¼ �0:0000134 GNPper capita þ 3:736

Hypothesis H1 was therefore supported. It would appear

that immigrants from countries with lower individual

Table 2 Questionnaire population groupings and group GNP per capita

South America Group South East Asian Group

Total = 26 Argentina

Chile

Total 51 Asia

Cambodia

GNPper capita = 3238.3 Paraguay

Uruguay

GNPper capita = 1121.0 China

Lao PDR

Malaysia

Vietnam

Indian Subcontinent Group Mediterranean Europe Group

Total = 14 Fiji

India

Myanmar

Total = 25 Greece

Iran

Italy

GNPper capita = 1256.3 Pakistan

Sri Lanka

GNPper capita = 20450.3 Lebanon

Macedonia

Malta

Spain

Turkey

Western European Group Eastern European Group

Total = 43 Denmark

Europe

Total = 26 Croatia

Poland

GNPper capita = 36264.2 Eire

France

Germany

The Netherlands

GNPper capita = 6330.1 Serbia

Yugoslavia

UK/UK Extraction Group Australian Group

Total = 355 Kenya

New Zealand

South Africa

Total = 840 Australia

GNPper capita = 37153.9 UK

USA

Zimbabwe

GNPper capita = 32107.0

Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe could have been expected to create an ‘‘African’’ group. There were only four Caucasian respondents. They

were assumed to be of British extraction and were grouped accordingly resulting in a group with a total of 355 respondents

Iran and Lebanon could have been considered to be an Arabic group. There were only four respondents. They were assumed to be of a

Mediterranean type and were grouped accordingly resulting in a group with a total of 25 respondents

Fiji was an isolated group of one. The Fijian was of Indian extraction (parents Indian) and he was placed with the Indian subcontinent group. The

person of New Zealand origin was from a British background


123


wealth levels have a stronger WVE than people in more

wealthy countries. However, it should be noted that the

respondents in our study were people who decided to

migrate to a new country and might have been people with

a stronger motive to succeed than might be the case with

the general population. While our study showed a stronger

work ethic in the case of such immigrants, this finding does

not necessarily mean that a stronger work ethic would be

the norm for people living in their country of birth. In a

study examining the motivations of emigrants from South

Africa to Australia, Polonsky et al. (1988) found that

lifestyle was the major influencing factor in a decision to

change countries. Thus, it is likely that the immigrants

participating in this study were also aiming to improve

their lifestyle and might therefore have represented a subset

of the population of their country of birth with a

particularly strong work ethic.

The WVE score was also used to test hypothesis H2

where it was used in a one-way analysis of variance

(ANOVA). When applicable, a Tukey’s post-hoc test was

used to see where the differences occurred, i.e., which

individual elements were responsible for the significant

differences.

There was a significant overall difference between the

mean WVE scores at the 95 % level with F(7, 1317) = 4.13,

(p = 0.00). Thus hypothesis H2 was supported at the 95 %

level and it could be concluded that at this level, some

people originating from different countries did show dif-

ferences in the level of WVE that they exhibited. The

significant between group comparisons are shown in

Table 3.

A Tukey’s post-hoc test indicated that people originat-

ing from countries in the South East Asian subgroup had

significantly higher average WVE scores than those from

the UK Extraction group, the Western European group and

the Australian groups. The variations were due to the fol-

lowing mean value differences: UK/UK Extraction group

(mean = 3.31), Western European Group (mean = 3.18),

Australian group (mean = 3.32), South East Asian group

(mean = 3.69), and Indian subcontinent group

(mean = 3.79). However, smaller numbers of respondents

in some of the other groups meant that there were no sig-

nificant differences found, even though their mean values

had equal or similar levels of difference. The group’s mean

values are shown in Table 4.

In order to determine whether respondents changed their

WVE because of their move to a new country, two groups

drawn from the respondents were examined to see if there

was any difference in the mean values ethic scores of the

two groups. A time span of 10 years was estimated as

being sufficiently long for a change in orientation to occur

were it to do so, and the sample was split into those

respondents with 10 or more years residence in Australia

and those with fewer than 10 years residence. This pro-

vided two groups: 18 % of respondents’ resident for under

10 years and 82 % of respondents in the 10 years or more

grouping. Hypothesis H3, that there is a significant differ-

ence in the WVE scores for immigrant respondents with 10

or more years in Australia and those with less than

10 years’ residence, was supported, in that there was no

significant difference between the mean scores of the two

groups F(1,506) = 0.88, p = 0.35. The mean values for the

two groups are shown in Table 5.

Thus, immigrants appear not to change their WVE even

after they reside many years in a new country.

Discussion

The findings of our study addressed several gaps in the

literature. For example, administering the questionnaire in

the Vietnamese and Cambodian languages captured a

South East Asian group that is often underrepresented in

cross-cultural research in both Australia and elsewhere.

In relation to country of birth and WVE, the analysis

showed that respondents in the South East Asian Group

differed from the Australian, UK/UK Extraction and Wes-

tern European groups. The finding supports the theory that

WVE could be attributable to a person’s cultural back-

ground, with South East Asian subcontinent group members

scoring the highest WVE scores as per the PWE-based

research of Furnham (1984) and Furnham et al. (1993). This

was previously explained in the literature as being due to

people’s religious backgrounds being aligned with the PWE

Table 3 Significant between group comparisons

Group Group p

South East Asian Group Western European Group 0.042

UK Extraction Group 0.007

Australian Group 0.027

Table 4 Group mean values

Group Mean value

South America Group 3.69

South East Asian Group 3.69

Indian Subcontinent Group 3.79

Mediterranean Europe Group 3.44

Western European Group 3.18

Eastern European Group 3.62

UK/UK Extraction Group 3.31

Australian Group 3.32


123


values; however, the WVE measure does not include reli-

gious connotations.

Factors that impacted on PWE, as shown by Furnham

et al. (1993) in their cross-cultural study, were societal

power, prestige and wealth as associated with First and

Third World countries. First World countries tended to

have lower PWE scores and Third World countries the

higher PWE scores. The results in this study support the

findings of Furnham et al. (1993). However, the very strong

negative association that was found between WVE and

GNP per capita, while it could have been ascribed to the

cultural backgrounds of the respondents, could also have

been that the respondents were motivated immigrants and

not typical of the normal on-going inhabitants of their

countries of birth. It is suggested that this aspect should be

explored in future research.

An important finding of our study is that the WVE of the

respondent groups conformed to Hofstede’s (1980a) cate-

gorizations of the cultural orientations of immigrants’ birth

countries, not their new home country, and these orienta-

tions did not change even after many years of residence in

their adopted country. Consequently employers and man-

agers of immigrants in manufacturing contexts need to

make adjustments to align people policies with the WVE

relevant to employees’ countries of birth.

Conclusions

The findings in our study illustrate the Ozbilgin (2011)

assertion that contextual management studies provide

deeper insights into a phenomenon under investigation: in

our case an employee’s WVE in the manufacturing

industry. Our findings facilitate cultural and temporal

relevance (Ozbilgin 2011) by contributing to both theory

and practice facilitating in translational research (Tranfield

and Starkey 1998) in the following ways.

Contributions to Work Commitment Theory

The notion of multiplicity in Australia’s work force now

takes on another dimension, with the findings in our study

shedding new light on the complexity of work commitment

in today’s multi-cultural settings. It shows that in an

immigrant-based, multi-cultural organizational setting,

where multiple countries of birth exist (in this case 42

different countries) with differences in WVE scores, the

WVE is significantly related to a person’s country-of-birth

GNP per capita value and does not alter even after many

years of residence in their adopted country of residence.

Figure 1 provides a theoretical model of the relationship

between WVE and country of birth based on the findings of

this study as shown in Table 3. This model shows an

association between the country of birth and the WVE.

Our study explored the interrelationships between

country of birth and the WVE, which, in turn, have

advanced the understanding of the existing work commit-

ment literature and of the potential value of immigrant

workers in maintaining a strong WVE.

Implications for Manufacturing Managers

Australia has started to recognize the importance of cross-

cultural issues both in society and in the workplace. Cope et al.

(1994) suggested that managing workplace communication

and culture, which are central organizational management

tools, may contribute significantly to an organization’s pro-

ductivity and competitiveness within the local, national and

international market place. Koot (1997, cited in Sackmann

(1997)) concludes that managers should take a pluralistic

approach, where differences are appreciated and recognized,

instead of an integrative approach, where differences are

ignored, in managing a multi-ethnic work force.

In order to gain the greatest advantage from the WVE of

employees from different countries of birth, organizations

Table 5 Length of residence in Australia and WVE score

Length of residence in Australia Mean WVE score

Less than or equal to 10 years 3.28

Greater than 10 years 3.27

Fig. 1 Model of the

relationship between country of

birth, GNP per capita and WVE


123


should implement context-specific communication training

strategies that relate to the specific workplace commit-

ments where verbal and nonverbal communication skills

are able to sensitively manage cultural and work commit-

ment diversity. Through practical application of these

communication skills, practitioners would learn to recog-

nize, understand and appreciate multi-ethnic contexts and

enhance their organizational member’s effectiveness and

innovation through synergistic ways (Dahler-Larsen (1997)

cited in Sackmann (1997)).

Extending research onto the shop floor has far-reaching

implications for the development of a better understanding

and hence improvement of relationships with employees. If

an understanding of cross-culture management theory is to

be effected, then practical research examining a person’s

cultural background and its relationship with work com-

mitment within the work place is essential. When applied,

these concepts offer new opportunities for improved

commitment and, potentially, productivity. A limitation of

this study is that definitions of validity and reliability

concepts in assessing psychology constructs are predomi-

nantly cross-sectional and that longitudinal studies may

reveal differing generalizations of validity and reliability

constructs.

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Work Values Ethic GNPCOB

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