Work Orientations in Flux? Comparing trends in and determinants of subjective work goals in five European countries

In this article, subjective work goals are studied comparatively among employees in five European countries: Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and Sweden. Inglehart (2008), West European Politics 31) has claimed that a cultural shift from survival values to self-expression values also brings changing values concerning work in advanced western societies. Inglehart's thesis is tested empirically in this article by using pooled data from World Values Surveys and European Values Studies collected in 1990–1999/2000. The results do not show a clear shift from survival values to self-expression values in work goals, which contradicts Inglehart's thesis. However, there was some support for Inglehart's claims in the data. The results also pointed to differences, as well as some similarities, between these European countries regarding work goals. Advanced western countries should not then be treated as a homogenous category in future research on work goals.

The support for intrinsic work goals was also analysed using four independent variables: birth cohort, gender, social class, and job satisfaction. Social class was the main individual determinant of intrinsic work goals in most of the research countries. Higher social classes valued intrinsic work goals more than lower social classes did.