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Cultural ManagementInternational Journal of Cross

DOI: 10.1177/14705958080966742009; 9; 51International Journal of Cross Cultural Management

K. Praveen Parboteeah, Yongsun Paik and John B. CullenHinduism, and Islam

Religious Groups and Work Values: A Focus on Buddhism, Christianity,

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Religious Groups and WorkValuesA Focus on Buddhism, Christianity,

Hinduism, and Islam

K. Praveen ParboteeahUniversity of WisconsinWhitewater, USA

Yongsun PaikLoyola Marymount University, USA

John B. CullenWashington State University, USA

ABSTRACT Although the existing literature contends that religious beliefs have a strong

impact on work values, few studies have examined the relationship. Given the sustained

importance of religion in most societies and the growing diversity of the US population,

companies are finding an increasing need to understand religion in the workplace. The

current research uses data from 44,030 individuals in 39 countries to investigate the

influence of the worlds four major religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam

on extrinsic and intrinsic work values. Controlling for important variables such as age,

gender, and education, results generally support the posited hypotheses, confirming that

religion is positively related to work values. Specifically, we find that all religions exceptChristianity show a positive relationship with extrinsic work values. Furthermore, we find

that all four religions show a positive relationship with intrinsic work values. We also find

that those who report no religious affiliation also view work values positively. We suggest

that these results are perhaps a result of the converging effects of globalization. This article

makes an important contribution to the literature by examining a large sample covering the

worlds major religions. The findings suggest that most religions view work in a positive

light. Such findings are important as more multinationals attempt to manage an increasingly

diverse workforce worldwide.

KEY WORDS extrinsic work values intrinsic work values religions

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DOI: 10.1177/1470595808096674

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Religions, the sets of beliefs, activities, and

institutions based on faith in supernatural

forces (Stark and Bainbridge, 1985), continue

to play important roles in peoples lives in

most societies (Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008;

Davie, 2007). Past research from the varioussocial science fields has related religions to a

number of key variables including, among

others, economic attitudes of individuals

(Iannaccone, 1998), enterprise (Dodd and

Seaman, 1998), volunteering behaviors

(Parboteeah et al., 2004), and ethics

(Parboteeah et al, 2008a; Weaver and Agle,

2002). The underlying theme of most of this

research is that religion plays a very impor-

tant role in society in all aspects of life.Management researchers are also

acknowledging this importance as they exam-

ine the role of religion in the workplace (e.g.

Dean et al., 2003; Gould, 1995; Kriger and

Seng, 2005; Niles, 1999; Parboteeah et al.,

2008a, b; Vinten, 2000). People practicing

different religions tend to have different val-

ues and norms that influence the way people

are managed in the workplace. Respected

journals have had special issues on religion,further underscoring the importance of the

subject (Boal, 2000; Dehler and Neal, 2000).

Research examining the role of religion

in the workplace is not new (e.g. Hrebiniak

and Alutto, 1972; McClelland, 1961; Weber,

1930). For instance, Weber (1930) proposed

that the Protestant work ethic was the main

reason why many Protestant countries were

successful. Webers (1930) main argument

was that Protestantism encouraged its adher-ents to value their social and economic

environment (Niles, 1999), particularly

emphasizing the value of work in their daily

lives and the disciplined and austere pursuit

of gain, and the attitude appropriate to the

growth of capitalism (Preston, 1987: 119).

Although this research was pursued at the

country level, it nevertheless provided some

possible explanations for the role of religion

at an individual level in encouraging hardwork and an environment conducive to cap-

italism and economic prosperity (Weber,

1930).

In addition to research on religion and

work ethic (e.g. Niles, 1999), religions have

also been linked to other aspects of work. For

instance, Harpaz (1998) has linked religion tovariables such as societal norms regarding

work, work outcomes and importance of work

goals. Additionally, research by Chusmir and

Koberg (1988) has also examined the link

between religious affiliation and conviction

and various work attitudes. Furthermore,

scholarship has also addressed the role of reli-

gion and its relationship to work outcomes

within a cross-national setting (e.g. Harpaz,

1998).However, despite the scholarship examin-

ing religion and work aspects, no studies have

yet examined how specific religious groups

are linked to work values. Compelling argu-

ments can be easily made as to why we need

to understand how specific religions are relat-

ed to work values. First, globalization, with its

increased information and communications

access, has made people aware of conditions

and opportunities abroad. As people see bet-ter opportunities in other parts of the world,

international migration will continue on an

unprecedented scale (Vance and Paik, 2006).

For example, the US population is seeing

tremendous growth in terms of diversity

through immigration and this has meant that

more people of different religious back-

grounds are now interacting in companies

(Cash and Gray, 2000). How do companies

effectively manage these diverse groups ofpeople? For example, if what Christians

believe to be important is not considered im-

portant by either Buddhists or Muslims in a

workplace, how do managers harmonize such

differences? Cash and Gray (2000) further

argue that there is increasing legal and soci-

etal pressure on companies to accommodate

religious beliefs and preferences. It is there-

fore becoming increasingly important to under-

stand how religions relate to work values.Second, as more multinationals expand

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management9(1)52



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beyond their domestic boundaries, they are

encountering the need to improve their

management of religiously diverse work-

forces. There is sufficient evidence to suggest

that religions are very important in peoples

lives in most societies (Iannaccone, 1998),and most multinationals now realize that, to

manage these workers more effectively, they

need to improve their understanding of

workers religious orientations (Cullen and

Parboteeah, 2008).

Finally, many scholars also argue that

societies and their respective workplaces are

seeing dramatic changes that are making reli-

gions more important. For instance, Kriger

and Seng (2005) note the breakdown in socialstructures in many areas of the world where-

by religions are becoming critical for dealing

with such breakdowns. Others (Bell and

Taylor, 2004; Cash and Gray, 2000) have

discussed workplace changes such as down-

sizing, rise in the use of technology at work,

job insecurity, loss of meaning in jobs.

Religion is seen as an important means of

dealing with these workplace challenges. As

such, providing an understanding of howreligions link to work values may also provide

some understanding of how peoples reli-

gions affect their work lives.

Given the lack of studies examining the

relationship between religion and work

values, we use data from the World Values

Survey (2004) and examine the relationship

between religions representing the majority

of people around the world (Buddhism,

Christianity, Hinduism, Islam) and workvalues. Although there are a relatively large

number of religions, a large percentage of

people around the world actually practice

only four (Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008). Hill

(2008) mentions that the two major religions,

namely Christianity and Islam, have around

1.7 billion and 1 billion adherents respec-

tively. The other two religions researched,

Hinduism and Buddhism, have around 750

million and 350 million followers (Hill, 2008).Thus, by examining the four major religions,

we provide a potential understanding of

approximately 71% of the worlds popula-

tion (Fisher, 2005).

In examining the relationship of religious

groups with work values, we consider extrin-

sic and intrinsic work values, two of the mostimportant work values identified by researchers

(Ros et al., 1999). In general, values refer to

desirable states, objects, goals or behaviors,

transcending specific situations and applied

as normative standards to judge and to

choose among alternative modes of behavior

(Sagie and Elizur, 1996: 573). When applied

to the work setting, work values represent the

different work outcomes people expect they

can obtain in that location (Van Vianen etal., 2007). Given that values are socially

defined expressions of human needs (Rokeach,

1973), extrinsic and intrinsic work values are

derived from need theories of motivation.

Extrinsic work values are similar to

instrumental work values and refer to exter-

nal outcomes pertaining to the job and

include work benefits, work security and

success at work (Van Vianen et al., 2007:

190). Extrinsic work values or material valuesthus express conservation values (Ros et al.,

1999: 55); that is, preferences for income, job

security, and less demanding work. In con-

trast, intrinsic work values refer to the intrin-

sic or self-actualization outcomes gained

from working. Intrinsic work values are simi-

lar to cognitive work values and pertain to

appropriate work behaviors aimed at broad-

ening ones horizons, contributing to society,

and having meaningful work (Van Vianen etal., 2007: 190). As such, intrinsic work values

directly express preference for openness to

change values (Ros et al., 1999: 55) as

reflected in the pursuit of autonomy, growth,

creativity and the use of initiative at work.

We believe that this study makes impor-

tant contributions to the literature on religion

and work. First, although many studies have

examined the relationship of religious groups

with work (e.g. Harpaz, 1998; Niles, 1999),such studies have focused mainly on one or

Parboteeah et al.: Religious Groups and Work Values 53



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two religions within a small number of coun-

tries. Furthermore, those studies that have

examined religion within the management

field have focused mainly on religious dimen-

sions rather than specific religious groups

(Parboteeah et al., 2008a, b). Our study,however, examines all four major religious

groups irrespective of nationality. Our main

premise is that the specific religious teachings

will influence individuals similarly regardless

of where they live. This study thus provides a

more robust understanding of religion of

over 40,000 individuals from 39 countries.

Second, with globalization, more multina-

tionals are interacting with individuals from

different religious backgrounds (Cullen andParboteeah, 2008). As religions play an

important role in peoples work life (Fisher,

2005; Harpaz, 1998; Ludwig, 2001; Niles,

1999) in most societies (Iannaccone, 1998),

the results of our study provide a better

understanding of how religions influence

peoples outlook on work. As reported in

Kriger and Seng (2005), around 82% of the

world believes in some form of religious or

spiritual tradition, with the rest being atheistsor non-religious. If similar percentages apply

to multinationals, it is critical to understand

the role of religions in such contexts. Thus

our findings can be useful to multinationals

and their human resources departments in

finding ways to tailor HR programs to adapt

to peoples views of work. Finally, by exam-

ining important arguments linking religion

and work, we provide empirical support for

our research questions and answer recentcalls to highlight important empirical research

in religion (Dean et al., 2003).

In the next section, we discuss the link

between religion and work values. We then

develop and present hypotheses relating the

worlds four major religions and work values.

In the methods section, the data used in

the article are presented and appropriate

methodological issues are discussed. Finally,

we discuss our results and the practical andtheoretical implications of our work.

Religion and Work Values

Harpaz (1998: 143) argues that work and

religion and their interrelationship are part

of the foundations of human society. It is

therefore undeniable that religions play avery important role at work. Past research

has provided strong evidence of a link

between religion and various work attitudes

(Harpaz, 1998; Niles, 1999) and specifically

with motivation (McClelland, 1961), job

satisfaction (Vecchio, 1980), and even orga-

nizational commitment (Hrebiniak and Alutto,

1972). Religions provide adherents with prin-

ciples by which to live (Dodd and Seaman,

1998) and these principles are also appliedwithin the work setting. Religious faith thus

provides people with the means to deal

with societal expectations as they face work

activities. Furthermore, research provides

evidence that people may often turn to God

and religion when making difficult work deci-

sions (Madlin, 1986). Most practitioners thus

recognize that it is imperative to understand

the prominent role of religion as it affects

business and organizational life (Cullen andParboteeah, 2008). As examples, religion can

have an important impact on productivity

(e.g. the month of Ramadan in Islamic coun-

tries) and even sales (e.g. during the Christian

holidays).

In the next few paragraphs, we consider

four of the worlds major religions and the

likely relationship with the selected work

variables. We summarize these relationships

in the forms of testable hypotheses.

Buddhism

Buddhism refers to the wide and multi-

faceted religious tradition that focuses pri-

marily on the reality of world suffering and

on the ways one can be freed from such

suffering (Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008:

115). The basic premise of Buddhism is that

craving and desires are the cause of suffering.

For instance, people may not necessarily behappy on achieving their goals, instead striv-




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ing to achieve loftier goals. Such insatiable

craving is seen as a major source of suffering.

Similarly, in business, greed can jeopardize

the firms activity. To remove the suffering,

Lord Buddha proposed the noble eightfold

path or principles (Ludwig, 2001), whichprovide guidance for Buddhists as they oper-

ate in society. However, the ultimate goal for

Buddhists is nirvana, or enlightenment,

achieved through meditation.

Interpretations of Buddhist teachings

have shown a likely link with work elements

(Gould, 1995; Nanayakkara, 1992). Specific-

ally, Lord Buddha saw poverty as the main

decline of ethical behavior in society (Nana-

yakkara, 1992) and laziness as a very nega-tive trait that must be discouraged (Cullen

and Parboteeah, 2008). Buddhism therefore

prescribes a work ethic that encourages

workers to put forward their best efforts

(Niles, 1999). Qualities such as taking initia-

tive, striving, and persistence are also encour-

aged.

We hypothesize that Buddhism is nega-

tively related to extrinsic work values. It is

unlikely that devout Buddhists prefer extrin-sic work values since they abhor secular

desires and material needs. As mentioned

earlier, extrinsic work values refer to instru-

mental aspects of work as manifested through

such work outcomes as pay and work bene-

fits. A business or person seeking material

gains, wealth, and power goes against the

essential teachings of Buddha. In other

words, it is unlikely that Buddhists prefer

material outcomes (extrinsic aspects) of theirwork. Furthermore, Kriger and Seng (2005)

also discuss that Buddhism sees suffering and

unhappiness emerging from attempts to

satisfy the egos desires. As such, it is unlikely

that those following Buddhist traditions pur-

sue extrinsic work values as such values may

reflect satisfaction of ones selfish desires (i.e.

income).

We argue that it is more likely that

Buddhists prefer jobs that have intrinsic ele-ments, such as contributing to society as well

as to each other. Intrinsic aspects of work,

which refer to self-actualization work out-

comes such as creativity or contributing to

society, seem more consistent with Buddhist

philosophies (Kriger and Seng, 2005). Fur-

thermore, the new approach to managementcalled Buddhist economics shows how

Buddhism should be the middle path

between capitalism and socialism (Inoue,

1997). A Buddhist approach involves under-

standing that economics and a moral and

spiritual life are neither separate nor mutual-

ly exclusive. Buddhist economics avoids con-

flict with nature and operates in a way that is

spiritually rich, socially beneficial, as well as

environmentally friendly. Additionally, in itsmost basic form, Buddhism advocates, at a

minimum, helping and not harming others

(Gould, 1995). When applied to the work-

place, we expect Buddhists to seek to help

their co-workers. Such actions seem more

consistent with intrinsic work values. Thus,

based on these Buddhist doctrines, we pro-

pose the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1a: There is a negative relationshipbetween Buddhism and extrinsic work values.

Hypothesis 1b: There is a positive relationshipbetween Buddhism and intrinsic work values.

Christianity

Although there are many divisions in Chris-

tianity, all Christians share the same belief

that Jesus is the incarnation of God who was

sent to clean humanity of sinfulness (Cullen

and Parboteeah, 2008: 110). It is clearly oneof the most practiced religions today around

the world (Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008;

Hill, 2008). Christianity, through the Ten

Commandments, provides the basis for what

people consider appropriate and ethical

behaviors (Ludwig, 2001).

The basic premise of Christianity is that

there exists an affinity between the overall

motivation in Calvinism with respect to daily

work, including the disciplined and austerepursuit of gain, and the attitude appropriate




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to the growth of capitalism (Preston, 1987:

119). Although Webers (1930) Protestant

work ethic was seen as the major reason why

Protestant countries were economically suc-

cessful, more recent evidence suggests that all

forms of Christianity tend to see work simi-larly. In Webers essay, the term Protestant

ethic was coined and defined as diligence,

punctuality, deferment of gratification, and

primacy of the work domain. Accordingly,

one must work to do Gods will, which means

working hard in whatever field God chooses.

In general, Christian religious teachings sug-

gest that religion can interface smoothly with

ones work and business (Ibrahim et al.,

1991) where economic success, hard workand biblical values are seen as capable of

existing together (Ibrahim et al., 1991: 124).

Given the above, we argue that there is a

positive relationship between extrinsic work

values and Christianity. Christianity clearly

supports private property and freedom to

accumulate wealth (Ludwig, 2001). The

Protestant work ethic leads to the spirit of

capitalism. Weber (1930) argued that the

modern spirit of capitalism sees profit as anend in itself, and pursuing profit as virtuous.

Being profitable and working towards the

glory of God in ones work was one way of

determining if ones salvation was secure.

However, seeking materialism only as an

end is not meaningful to Christians unless

one uses wealth to support the plan of God.

Therefore, the nature and context of work

are equally important to Christians since

they are expected to satisfy their spiritualaspiration through work and to fulfill their

responsibility to contribute to society. As

such, we also expect Christians to view the

intrinsic aspects of work positively as the lat-

ter are also valued. Thus:

Hypothesis 2a: There is a positive relationshipbetween Christianity and extrinsic workvalues.

Hypothesis 2b: There is a positive relationshipbetween Christianity and intrinsic work values.

Hinduism

Hinduism refers to a broad set of religious

beliefs that are based on the Vedic scriptures

and the social class structure with its special

respect for Brahmans (Ludwig, 2001: 64).

Unlike most other religions, Hinduism doesnot place much significance on historical

events or the sequence of events of the

founders that gave rise to the religion.

Rather, Hinduism is more concerned with

Brahman, the ultimate reality and truth, and

the various gods and goddesses of Hinduism

are important because they are the models

of deep, eternal religious truth (Ludwig,

2001: 64). In addition to Brahman, Hindu-

isms moral philosophy is governed by theprinciples of karma and dharma(Gupta et al.,

2002). Both principles encourage Hindus to

be responsible for their own actions and con-

duct, as such behaviors and actions are seen

to have an impact on ones destiny and

rebirth.

We propose that there is a positive rela-

tionship between Hinduism and both work

values. Happiness can be attained through

the fulfillment of the desires; that is, extrinsicvalues. In fact, the latter has played a crucial

role in achieving business excellence (Sharma

and Talwar, 2004). Hindus have traditionally

viewed living the good life through four aims,

namely dharma (fulfilling ones duties), kama

(pleasure), moksa (achieving liberation), and

artha (material prosperity). As such, artha or

achievement of material prosperity plays an

important role in the Hindu good life

(Ludwig, 2001). It is thus likely that Hinduspursue extrinsic work values as they are

expected and encouraged to accumulate

wealth (Gold, 1989) as one of lifes stages.

However, it is also likely that Hindus look

for intrinsic values, such as a job that is inter-

esting and that contributes to society. For

instance, Hinduism relies on the caste sys-

tem, a hierarchical ordering of Indian society

based on occupational groups (Cullen and

Parboteeah, 2008). Although the caste sys-




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tem tends to be viewed negatively (Ludwig,

2001), it nevertheless provides a strong sense

of identity and belonging to people. Further-

more, although there have been strong regu-

latory measures banning the caste system,

empirical research suggests that this is still animportant force in the Indian workplace

(Pick and Dayaram, 2006). Under the caste

system, each person knows where he or she

belongs and how to fulfill his or her responsi-

bilities according to the caste. Given that

occupations tend to be a major part of the

caste system, it is feasible to expect that

Hindus are also likely to view their work as a

responsibility to their own caste and ulti-

mately to the collective interest. Further-more, the Bhagavad-Gita, one of Hinduisms

sacred texts, also exalts work as a duty to

enable Hindus to be connected with God

(Fisher, 2005). Thus:

Hypothesis 3a: There is a positive relationshipbetween Hinduism and extrinsic work values.

Hypothesis 3b: There is a positive relationshipbetween Hinduism and intrinsic work values.

IslamIslam, currently the worlds second largest

religion (Hill, 2008), is described in the Quran

as the submission to the will of Allah or God

(Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008). The origins

of Islam can be traced back to the Prophet

Muhammad who is seen as the final agent of

Gods revelation (Ludwig, 2001: 428). How-

ever, unlike Christianity, where Jesus trans-

mitted Gods message and is worshipped as

God, Islam sees Muhammad as the messen-ger.

We propose that Islam views extrinsic

aspects of work positively. It is clear that the

Islamic work ethic argues that engagement in

economic activities is an obligation (Yousef,

2000). Work is thus the source of indepen-

dence and the means to achieve a fulfilled

life. The Quran speaks in favor of free trade

and legitimate profit so long as it is consistent

with Islamic ethics and does not exploit

others (Ludwig, 2001). In fact, Islam encour-

ages prosperity through the appropriate use

of the resources given by God. Such resources

are seen as important to provide for basic

survival and physical needs as well as

accumulation of wealth (Kriger and Seng,2005). As such, it is clear that those employ-

ees believing in Islam are likely to pursue

extrinsic work values as such values are con-

sistent with Islamic teachings. We thus

expect that Islamic employees will also view

the extrinsic aspect of their work positively as

for Muslims, economic life is thus seen as a

means to a spiritual end, where prosperity

means the living of a virtuous life (Kriger

and Seng, 2005: 777).Islamic teachings also suggest a positive

relationship between Islam and intrinsic work

values. As Islamic adherents approach work,

they are likely to view the intrinsic aspects of

work (i.e. having an interesting job or a job

useful to society, etc.) positively, as work is

considered to be a source of independence

and a means of fostering personal growth,

self-respect, satisfaction, and self-fulfillment

(Yousef, 2000: 515). Thus the Islamic workethic encourages adherents to view the

intrinsic aspects of work positively. As men-

tioned earlier, intrinsic aspects relate to

openness to change and the pursuit of initia-

tive and creativity at work. The Islamic work

ethic clearly emphasizes creative work as an

important source of accomplishment (Yousef,

2001).

Hypothesis 4a: There is a positive relationship

between Islam and extrinsic work values.

Hypothesis 4b: There is a positive relationshipbetween Islam and intrinsic work values.

Methods

All individual-level data for the present study

came from the World Values Survey (WVS)

(Inglehart et al., 1998; World Values Study

Group, 2004) as provided by the Inter-

University Consortium for Political and Social




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Research. The European Values Study Group

sponsored the WVS. Data were gathered by

universities or research organizations from

the countries studied.

The WVS collects data using face-to-face

interviews. Interviews in Eastern Europeancountries were conducted by national acade-

mies of science or university-based institutes,

while interviews in western countries were

carried out by professional survey organiza-

tions, typically the Gallup organization. The

World Values Study Group (2004) provides

more detail on the data gathering procedures

and a complete list of the organizations used

in each country.

Sample

The sample included individual-level data

from 44,030 individuals living in 40 nations

including Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia, Bul-

garia, Belarus, Canada, Chile, Croatia, the

Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,

France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ice-

land, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia,

Lithuania, Luxemburg, Montenegro, The

Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland,Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,

South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey,

Ukraine, the UK, and the USA. Around

55% of the individuals in the above societies

report Christianity as their religious affilia-

tion. Around 10% of the sample reported

affiliation with Islam. Finally, 4% of the

remaining sample indicated that they belonged

to Hindu or Buddhist religious groups.

Measures

Consistent with Parboteeah and Cullen

(2003) and other previous research (Ros et

al., 1999; Van Vianen et al., 2007), we mea-

sured work values with 10 response category

items, asking respondents to rate the impor-

tance of various job aspects. The World

Values Survey (2004) team asked respon-

dents How important in a job are the 10

items. Respondents then indicated theirpreferences with Mentioned and Not men-

tioned. This practice of asking respondents

their preference for work outcomes is accept-

able as a means of measuring work values

(Ros et al., 1999; Van Vianen et al., 2007).

For extrinsic work values, we used items

that reflect the security or extrinsic aspects ofwork (i.e. important to have good job security

or good holidays in a job). Consistent with

previous research (Ros et al., 1999; Van

Vianen et al., 2007), for intrinsic work values,

we used items that reflected a preference for

values related to self-actualization aspects of

work (i.e. important to have a job where you

can express initiative or a job where you can

achieve something). Furthermore, to demon-

strate the discriminant validity of our mea-sures, we ran a factor analysis on these 10

items measuring work values. The factor

analysis revealed two clear factors reflecting

intrinsic and extrinsic work values. Table 1

shows the factors and factor loadings.

To compute both factors, we relied on

procedures consistent with previous research

(Parboteeah and Cullen, 2003; Ros et al.,

1999). We added Mentioned responses to

all five items measuring each work value.Reliability (Cronbachs alpha) for extrinsic

work values is 0.70 while reliability for intrin-

sic work values is 0.73.

To measure religious groups, dummy

variables were created for each of the four

major religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hin-

duism, and Islam). The respondents were

asked to Do you belong to a religious group?

However, dummy variables were also created

for the major subdivisions of Christianity,namely Protestants, Roman Catholics, and

the Orthodox Church. We also created a

dummy variable for those who indicated that

they did not belong to any religion.

Analyses

Previous research (Harpaz, 1998; MOW

International Reseach Team, 1987; Niles,

1999) suggests that there are a number of

important control variables. We thereforeincluded four controls, namely gender (dummy




10/18

variable), age (coded to indicate range of

years such as 1 = 1524 years, 2 = 2534

years, etc.), education (coded to indicate

highest degree achieved ranging from inade-

quate elementary education to complete uni-

versity degree) and income (country specific

scale ranging from lowest to highest income).We used regression analysis to test our

hypotheses. Dummy variables representing

religious groups contrasted the effects of each

religion on work values with a hold-out

group for respondents who reported no reli-

gious affiliation. In addition, we used effects-

coded dummy variables to contrast each

religious group with the grand mean for the

work values of all respondents outside each

religious group. The results for the effects-coded analysis were substantively identical to

the simple dummy variable analysis and, as

such, we do not report them here.

Results

Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics and

correlations for all variables used in this

study.

Table 3 reports the results of the regres-sion analyses for the controls and religious

groups extrinsic work values and intrinsic

work values. We ran three models to test our

hypotheses. Model 1 included only the con-

trol variables. In Model 2, we added all of the

religious groups and one combined variable

for Christianity. This was necessary in order

to test how the four religions related to workvalues. However, because we had access to

different forms of Christianity, we also ran

Model 3 where we included Buddhism,

Hinduism, and Islam but separated Christian-

ity into Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman

Catholic.

Hypothesis 1a posited a negative relation-

ship between Buddhism and extrinsic work

values. Results from Table 3 reject Hypoth-

esis 1a, as a positive relationship was foundbetween Buddhism and extrinsic work values.

Results, however, supported Hypothesis 1b

as Buddhism was positively related to intrin-

sic work values.

Hypothesis 2a proposed a positive rela-

tionship between Christianity and extrinsic

work values. Results from Table 3 (Model 2

for extrinsic work values) show that the

hypothesis was rejected if the various off-

shoots of Christianity are combined. Resultsshowed a significant and negative relation-


Table 1 Factor analysis of work values

Intrinsic Extrinsic

Work Values Work Values

Important in a job: an opportunity to use initiative .767Important in a job: you can achieve something .745

Important in a job: a responsible job .710

Important in a job: a job respected by people in general .553

Important in a job: a job that is interesting .515

Important in a job: good hours .699

Important in a job: generous holidays .674

Important in a job: good pay .639

Important in a job: good job security .590

Important in a job: not too much pressure .589

Factor loadings less than 0.5 are not shown.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.



11/18


Table

2

Descriptivestatisticsand

correlations

Mea

n

S.D.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

1.Gender

0.45

.50

2.Age

44.4

16.9

.0

2

3.Ed

ucation

4.42

2.2

5

.07

.2

1

4.Income

4.57

2.4

8

.06

.1

4

.3

2

5.Ex

trinsicworkvalues

2.94

1.5

6

.01

.1

4

.0

7

.0

2

6.In

trinsicworkvalues

2.82

1.7

1

.06

.1

3

.0

9

.08

.53

7.Bu

ddhist

.02

.14

.01

.04

.0

3

.0

1

.08

.04

8.H

indu

.03

.18

.04

.0

4

.0

5

.07

.07

.08

.03

9.Is

lam

.13

.34

.04

.1

5

.1

7

.0

7

.29

.23

.05

.0

7

10.C

hristianity

.70

.46

.0

7

.15

.0

7

.02

.2

9

.2

2

.21

.2

8

.5

9

11.Pr

otestant

.15

.36

.0

1

.04

.0

2

.0

1

.1

4

.0

3

.06

.0

8

.1

6

.28

12.RomanCatholic

.40

.49

.0

3

.10

.0

2

.03

.0

9

.0

9

.11

.1

5

.3

2

.54

.35

13.Orthodox

.14

.35

.0

5

.02

.1

0

.0

1

.1

2

.1

3

.06

.0

8

.1

6

.27

.17

.3

3

14.Nogroup

.07

.26

.04

.0

7

.0

9

.09

.07

.04

.04

.0

5

.1

1

.4

3

.12

.2

3

.1

1

N=44

,030.

Valuesgreaterthan.0

2aresignificantatp

religious groups and work.pdf

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