02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 181

CCM International Journal of

Cross Cultural
2004 Vol 4(2): 181–209 Management

Multinational Perspectives on
Work Values and Commitment

Dana Mesner Andols ek and Janez S tebe

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to show how different factors influence the
commitment of employees in an organization from an international comparative
perspective. Commitment is studied as affective and continuance commitment. Personal
characteristics, organizational and environmental factors are included as predictors that
have an impact on commitment. The role of values and insecurity is also examined. It is
proposed that these factors do not have the same impact on the two types of commitment in
different countries and that this might have important practical implications. The study,
which compared West Germany, East Germany, Japan, Hungary, Slovenia, the UK and
the USA, was performed using the data from Work Orientations II, gathered by the
International Social Survey Programme group (ISSP). The dataset is from 1997. The study
finds that there are some predictors that are universal, but their configurations depend
mainly on cultural background.
KEY WORDS • employee commitment • insecurity • multinational perspective • organization •
values

experiences also influence work attitudes.

Introduction
There is a significant tradition in cross cul-
tural research to examine the relationship
between values and work attitudes (Bennett,
1999). Deeply held, culturally derived values
have a powerful influence on the specific
cognition and behaviours that employees
develop (Hofstede, 1980), but the literature
also suggests that situational variables includ-
ing the employees’ daily activities and work
The present study examines the commitment
of employees in an organization from a com-
parative perspective. We are particularly
interested in values (mainly those related to
work), work experiences and job security;
and to see how these factors influence
employee commitment in different cultural
and institutional settings. Which of these fac-
tors have a stronger impact on different types
of commitment? The present study presumes

Copyright © 2004 SAGE Publications

www.sagepublications.com
DOI: 10.1177/1470595804044749
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182 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
that only comparative research can answer
these questions. There were seven countries
included in the analysis: East Germany,
Hungary, Japan, Slovenia, the UK, the USA
and West Germany. All of them are different
with regard to their historical and institu-
tional developments, cultural traditions, and
political and economic circumstances. In
different cultural settings (individualistic, col-
lectivistic) culturally driven values will play a
different role. Institutional arrangement such
as industrial relations (conflictual, consen-
sual) could heighten or mitigate the influence
of the different predictors on commitment.
Changes in economic systems (transitional,
non-transitional) can strengthen predictors
that were previously unimportant. The
present study tries to shed light on these
relations.
When clarifying the issue of commitment,
most researchers agree that organizational
commitment is a complex phenomenon
(Steers, 1977; Angle and Perry, 1981;
O’Reilly and Caldwell, 1981; Mottaz, 1988;
Meyer and Allen, 1997). O’Reilly et al.
(1991) speak about the multidimensional
nature of commitment in the form of compli-
ance or identification with, or even internal-
ization of, organizational values. Meyer and
Allen (1997) accept a definition that excludes
compliance from commitment because of its
negative consequences. In their view, com-
mitment is divided into individual compo-
nents, such as affective commitment that
relates to emotions of adherence, identifica-
tion and inclusion in an organization; contin-
uance commitment that relates to awareness
concerning the costs associated with leaving
an organization; and finally normative com-
mitment that relates to the feeling of duty of
an individual to keep on working for an
organization.
For our purposes, we have defined com-
mitment as an employee’s orientation to-
wards an organization, which influences her
or his involvement in its current and future
operations. This orientation toward an orga-
nization is multidimensional. Although there
are different focuses that this orientation can
be directed toward (toward the top manage-
ment, working unit, work team, etc.) the
present study considers commitment to the
organization as a whole. We accepted Meyer
and Allen’s (1997) conceptualization of com-
mitment as composed of three dimensions:
affective commitment (AC), continuance
commitment (CC) and normative commit-
ment (NC). The dataset that was available for
this study included measures of only two of
these dimensions: AC and CC.
The study that follows tries to go beyond
the premise that a universal set of experi-
ences exists that employees find rewarding
and to which they will respond similarly.
The premise is implicit in the literature
on antecedents of commitment. Indeed, this
body of research suggests some themes that
might describe what people generally need in
order to become committed. The universal
approach, however, does not explain all the
variance in commitment. The present analy-
sis emphasizes the international perspective,
and could support the assumption that the
cultural dimension is important in the forma-
tion of commitment. First, in the sense that it
can be expected that predictors will play a
different role in different countries and,
second, that the nature of commitment can
differ from one country to another. An
attempt is made to find out what type of
commitment is stronger in individualistic
cultures in comparison to collectivistic ones.
For example, is it more an affective or a con-
tinuance commitment and what configura-
tions of predictors are dominant in different
cultures?
When comparing predictors of AC and
CC, special attention is given to the effect of
values, mainly those relating to work, and
emotions, such as job insecurity, which we
consider as a distinct category separate from
the larger category of quality of work and
other situational factors like working condi-
tions. Additional environmental factors that
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Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 183
may influence the development of commit-
ment were introduced. Among them were
types of industrial relations (Reed et al.,
1994), processes of economic transition or
changes in economic systems and national
culture (Hofstede, 1980) and unemployment
rate (Meyer and Allen, 1997). The purpose of
the analysis was to gather a survey of predic-
tors that proved to be universally important
in the countries included in the study. A com-
parative perspective was important to find
out if culture is a significant dimension in
developing commitment and if economic
situations and institutional arrangements
play a role in the developing process of com-
mitment. The cultural dimension is assumed
to be important in developing AC but
economic circumstances should be more
powerful regarding CC. The configurations
of AC and CC predictors should differ
among the countries and our study should
reveal which type of commitment is more of
a unified concept.
Why is the question of commitment
important? Research that measured per-
formance in an objective manner and on the
basis of self-perception has proven that
employees who are committed to their orga-
nization in an affective way achieve the best
results in terms of efficiency and citizenship
behaviour, and also show the least dysfunc-
tional behaviour (Meyer and Allen, 1997).
According to Barbalet (1996) the significance
of commitment for an organization increases
when performance (efficiency) of an organi-
zation decreases and trust in an organization
is less likely. He argues that people may feel
committed to a person, a relationship or an
institution even in the absence of their feeling
confident about themselves, and even in the
absence of trust in those they rely on. It is
precisely the feeling of commitment that
maintains relationships when they might
otherwise collapse, and which assumes,
implicitly, that irrespective of present circum-
stances, the thing to which one is committed
will be viable in the future (Barbalet, 1996).
The present analysis also has practical
implications. In the global economy manage-
ment needs to be aware of cultural differ-
ences, economic circumstances and the
impact of institutional arrangements to
properly design HRM policies and practices
that can accelerate or hinder the develop-
ment of commitment. Literature showed
that employees with strong AC are the most
valuable members of organization with
regard to their efficiency and citizenship
behaviour. Our study draws attention to
factors that are relevant in specific situation
and might exert an influence in the process of
‘managing for commitment’.
Antecedences of
Commitment
Most research on commitment so far has
been based on a measure developed by
Porter et al. (1974) Organizational Com-
mitment Questionnaire (OCQ). But this
measure has been criticized mainly because
of the overlap between some of its items with
desired organizational outcomes such as
turnover and performance (Cohen, 1996). As
a result, new trends have emerged in the
definitions and measurements. O’Reilly and
his colleagues (1991) argued that the psycho-
logical bond between an employee and an
organization could take three distinct forms:
compliance, identification and internaliza-
tion. They combined the identification and
internalization items to form a measure of
what they called ‘normative commitment’.
Meyer and Allen (1984) first proposed a two-
dimensional concept of commitment (AC
and CC) and then developed a multi-
dimensional construct (AC, CC and NC).
O’Reilly’s concept of normative commit-
ment corresponded more closely to AC in
Meyer and Allen’s model. After the middle of
the 1990s Meyer and Allen’s conceptualiza-
tion received considerable attention from
both academics and practitioners.
The literature on antecedence is rich and
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184 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
bears witness that a lot of research has dealt
with the problem of how to develop commit-
ment in an organization. Steers (1977) cate-
gorized different factors in two categories of
antecedents. He defined personal character-
istics as variables concerning an individual
(e.g. age, sex, race, personality and attitude).
Among the situational ones, he included
organizational atmosphere, culture and envi-
ronment. Much research that analysed the
impact of personal characteristics proved
their weak influence (the absolute values of
the coefficients of the correlation did not
exceed 0.15) (DeCotiis and Summers, 1987),
except perhaps age and tenure. Meta-
analytic studies (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990)
showed that these weak influences could
hardly be interpreted in just one manner
(Meyer and Allen, 1997). Meta-analytic evi-
dence suggests that age and AC are signifi-
cantly, albeit weakly, related (Mathieu and
Zajac, 1990). Moreover this relation exists
even when variables that are often con-
founded with age (e.g. tenure) are controlled
(Meyer and Allen, 1997). It is difficult to
interpret this relation as unequivocal evi-
dence that growing older influences one’s AC
because it might be a result of differences
among the particular generational cohorts
that have been studied. Additionally, older
employees might actually have more positive
work experiences than do younger em-
ployees. The same goes for positive relations
between organizational tenure and AC
(Mathieu and Zajac, 1990).
Among the situational variables, research
has most often dealt with organizational
atmosphere and human resource practices,
and less often with organizational structure
(DeCotiis and Summers, 1987) and organiza-
tional environment (Meyer and Allen, 1997).
The latter is supposed to have an impact only
on CC and even this only through the per-
ception of employees concerning different
employment possibilities (marketability of
employee skills). However it has been deter-
mined that the perception of insecurity of
employment has negative effects on AC
(Ashford et al., 1989). We included in a single
variable both cognitive (e.g. subjective evalu-
ation of personal job security) and emotional
(e.g. fear or worry about the possibility of
losing the job) aspects of job insecurity. In the
present study we are concerned with job
insecurity and try to test the following
hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Increased feelings of job insecurity
perceptions and emotions will have a negative
impact on affective commitment and positive
impact on continuance commitment.
Most research reveals that job satisfaction has a
strong influence on commitment (Steers,
1977; Marsh and Mannari, 1977; DeCotiis
and Summers, 1987; Gunz and Gunz, 1994;
Meyer and Allen, 1997; Arciniega and
Gonzalez, 2002; Jernigan et al., 2002). We
are concerned with the effect of satisfaction
on AC and CC and test this hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: The higher the level of job satis-
faction, the higher the affective commitment
and continuance commitment.
Most of the studies were oriented to
the set of variables that we can call ‘work
experience’, such as scope of work, level of
autonomy (Steers, 1977; DeCotti and
Summers, 1987; Mottaz, 1988), participation
in decision-making and support from man-
agement (Stafford, 1991; Ongwela, 1986;
Zaffane, 1994). A wide range of studies has
focused on the impact of task characteristics
that were conducive to subjective well-being
(Hackman and Oldman, 1980). It has been
seen that there is remarkable consensus
about the importance of the quality of work:
variety of tasks, level of personal initiative,
degree of participation at work, and the
extent to which the job permits personal self-
development. More recently this has been
complemented by a growing emphasis on the
importance of the opportunities for career
development (training and promotion) and of
job security (Gallie, 2003), but there are rela-
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Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 185
tively rare examples of comparative research
that did point to important societal and cul-
tural effects with respect to both work and
labour-market structures (Gallie, 2003).
The present study draws on a dataset that
provides at least some information relevant
to different dimensions of work quality. The
quality of work is composed of three distinct
dimensions of subjective evaluation regard-
ing the job: (1) job quality, materialistic (repre-
sented by a single item of high income as a
perceived characteristic of respondent’s job,
and opportunities for advancement), (2) job
quality, individual (an item about interesting
work as a characteristic of one’s job), and
(3) job quality, post-materialistic (an index of two
items of job characteristics: helping other
people, usefulness of the job to society). See
also Braun’s analysis of the impact of work
characteristics and work values on job satis-
faction (Braun, 2000). Another dimension of
quality of work was measured as job experi-
ences with the work environment (Sirgy et
al., 2001: 250): job exhaustion, hard work,
and dangerous work. Thus we propose the
following:
Hypothesis 3: Job quality (in all dimensions) has a
positive impact on affective commitment and
continuance commitment.
Hypothesis 4: Bad conditions at work (exhaus-
tive, hard, dangerous work) have a negative
impact on affective commitment and continu-
ance commitment.
Perception of justice proved to be a pre-
dictor of commitment (Steers, 1977; Meyer
and Allen, 1997; Otto, 1993) with regard to
individual procedures, policies and awards in
an organization. Most of this research estab-
lished that previously mentioned variables
have an important additional impact on the
development of AC (Mathieu and Zajac,
1990). Attitudes on meritocratic principles of
distributive justice could be used as indirect
measures of perception. For the present
study, we propose:
Hypothesis 5: A positive perception of distributive
justice (support for justice, pay for job perform-
ance and education) is positively correlated to
affective commitment and continuance com-
mitment.
The literature on commitment speaks in
favour of the explanation that claims that
situational variables are more important and
therefore better predictors of commitment
than personality characteristics of employees.
Nevertheless, some research has shown that
individual differences are important and in
particular, values (Meyer and Allen, 1997;
Kidron, 1978), which were better predictors
of AC than CC. Values are presumed to
embody the aspirations of individuals and
society: they pertain to what is desirable, to
deeply engrained standards that determine
future directions and justify past actions
(Robinson et al., 1991). Putti et al. (1989)
found out that values concerning work are
connected to commitment, yet this connec-
tion is stronger for intrinsic values than
extrinsic ones. The idea here is that if
employees have intrinsic orientation toward
work they will develop AC toward the orga-
nization. On the other hand, CC refers to the
employees’ awareness that costs are asso-
ciated with leaving the organization.
Employees who have strong CC stay with the
organization because they believe they have
to do so. Conceptually CC can develop as a
result of any action or event that increases
the costs of leaving the organization, pro-
vided that the employees recognize that they
have invested themselves in this way.
Because CC is about a rational calculation of
the investment an individual makes in an
organization and of the alternatives an
employee has on the labour market (Meyer
and Allen, 1997), the idea is that values
(intrinsic motivation toward work) cannot
increase CC, or might even lessen it. Putti et
al. (1989) also revealed that values are con-
nected with commitment not only in western
industrial countries but also in the Asian con-
text. Nevertheless, the majority of studies
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186 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
that analysed the effect of work value on the
development of commitment (Meyer et al.,
1998; Elizur, 1996) report low or moderate
influence. Thus:
Hypothesis 6: Intrinsic orientation toward work and
efficiency orientation increase affective commit-
ment and have no impact on continuance
commitment or even lessen it.
The vast majority of the research that has
been done in North America implicitly sug-
gests there are general needs which people
must fulfil in order to become effectively
committed to the organization. This univer-
sal approach, however, does not explain all
the variance in commitment. Given that
individuals differ in various ways (e.g. per-
sonality, values, needs, expectations), it seems
likely that these differences will have implica-
tions for which workplace experiences em-
ployees would find particularly rewarding or
fulfilling. Recently some comparative per-
spectives analysing values and their relation-
ship to commitment have emerged (Bae and
Chung, 1997; Black, 1999; Vandenberghe et
al., 2001) and, in particular, Black (1999)
found that values are among the predictors
and have a particular impact on AC.
Inglehart’s (1999) conceptualizations of
social values give us another perspective on
values. At one pole are the materialistic
values that arise in response to a need for
economic and physical security. The other
pole is defined by post-materialistic values
concerned with social and self-actualizing
needs. These values include quality of
life concerns such as life style issues, self-
expression and environmental protection.
During the period since World War II,
advanced industrial societies have attained
much higher real-income levels than ever
before. Coupled with the emergence of the
welfare state, this has brought about a
historically unprecedented situation: in these
societies most of the population no longer
lives in conditions of economic insecurity.
This has led to a gradual shift in values in
which needs for belonging, self-expression,
nonmaterial quality of life and a participant
role in society become more prominent.
Prolonged periods of prosperity tend to
encourage the spread of post-materialistic
values and discourage the importance of eco-
nomic and physical security. These changes
in values should also leave traces on the work
values and commitment of employees.
We thus differentiate materialistic (high-
income) value orientation, individualistic (mod-
ern) value orientation (work independently)
and post-materialistic value orientation (having
a job that allows helping others, being useful
to society), respectively. This conceptualiza-
tion overlaps with the differentiation of
extrinsic, intrinsic and social aspects of values
and job characteristics (e.g. Braun, 2000).
We reserved these terms for a related concept
of intrinsic orientation toward work (job not
money). The final aspect of job-related values
was efficiency orientation (doing the best work).
Thus:
Hypothesis 7: (a) Materialistic value orientation
decreases affective commitment and increases
continuance commitment; (b) individualistic
value orientation increases affective commit-
ment and continuance commitment; (c) post-
materialistic value orientation increases affective
commitment and decreases continuous com-
mitment.
International Perspective
This cross cultural study is more oriented
toward the structure of commitment or its
nomological network in multiple cultures,
and its design follows this type of compara-
tive research. We observe how much the
results obtained in an individual country can
be generalized and confirmed through
national and cultural contexts of different
countries. Most of the selected countries (the
US, the UK, West Germany and East
Germany) are developed western industrial-
ized countries, except Japan, Hungary and
Slovenia. Among the western countries,
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Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 187
however, there are differences in cultural
traditions, value orientations and political
systems. Although East Germany is grouped
with western countries, we feel that it is
important to treat it separately from West
Germany because of its 50 years of socialism
and because social research also considers it
separately. The design of the present analysis
generally follows the Ragin (1994) approach
to studying diversity using comparative
methods. The goal of our study was to
explain diversity within a particular set of
predictors. It should be mentioned that we
adopted Ragin’s approach and carried out
his procedures to the extent that matched
our goals: comparing configurations of
predictors in each country to establish the
differences between two types of commit-
ment. In cases when we come across differ-
ences among the countries in observing the
configuration of different factors, we try to
understand them in the sense that we exten-
sively search for sensible explanations on the
basis of the special features of each country
(see Ragin, 1994).
National environments may condition
the appearance of commitment in different
dimensions. We included broader value ori-
entations in our research; transitional pro-
cesses experienced by some of the former
socialist countries, the unemployment rate
(flexibility of the labour market) and the
nature of industrial relations. Among these
broader value orientations we included only
those factors that are directly and most
strongly related to commitment.
In the first section, we proceeded from
Hofstede’s definition of individualism versus
collectivism. Individualism assumes a social
framework in which people primarily only
take care of themselves and their own family.
A closely connected social framework is a
characteristic of collectivism. In collectivistic
cultures, people distinguish between in-
groups and out-groups, and expect an orga-
nization to take care of them. In exchange for
such care, employees owe their organization
complete group solidarity and adherence
(Hofstede, 1980). A sensible use of Hofstede’s
classification brings us to the following classi-
fication: (1) the US, Great Britain and
Germany (East and West) were categorized
among the countries with a high level of indi-
vidualism; (2) we included Japan, Slovenia
(Konrad et al., 1997) and Hungary in the
category of the countries with mostly collec-
tivist orientations. Thus we propose:
Hypothesis 8: In individualistic countries, indi-
vidualistic values and quality of work will have an
important effect on affective commitment and
continuance commitment, but this will not be
the case in collectivistic ones.
In an atmosphere of insecurity, commit-
ment will also be more dependent on rational
calculations than on the emotional attach-
ment of an individual to a collective. Thus we
also have to take into consideration the
process of transition and the changes in
the value orientations connected with it
(Mesner AndolSek and S tebe, 2001). Accord-
ing to the second criterion, Slovenia,
Hungary and East Germany are classified in
the category of transitional societies, and
the remaining ones in the group of non-
transitional societies. It can be expected that
transitional processes in the first three coun-
tries will have an unfavourable impact on AC
as the economic and social position of the
employees has worsened, but here important
differences among transitional countries
should be noticed. In Slovenia, for example,
the transition process has never developed
the strong liberal connotation that it did in
Hungary. Trade unions have kept a strong
position in companies and are influential
social partners in negotiating on the societal
level, which is not the case with Hungary.
Insecurity in Slovenia may in this sense be
more bearable. The collectivistic orientation
in Slovenia is gaining a more rational basis,
but also individualistic value orientation is becom-
ing stronger, especially among the younger
generations. In such circumstances it is
understandable that emotional attachment
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188 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
will weaken or perhaps even acquire negative
components. Therefore, contextual informa-
tion is also important in commitment, par-
ticularly the rate of unemployment, although
we cannot count this as a direct predictor
(Meyer and Allen, 1997).
The unemployment rate can influence
commitment through employees’ percep-
tions and their understanding concerning
their possibilities in the labour market. The
perception of job insecurity is connected
with feelings of insecurity (Ashford et al.,
1989; Barbalet, 1998). As we mentioned in
Hypothesis 1, job insecurity was negatively
connected to AC (Ashford et al., 1989). On
the other hand, an employed person who
believes that he or she has better alternative
employment options will have a weaker CC.
A high unemployment rate may thus raise
the value of the present job.
From the 1980s, with the greater turbu-
lence of labour markets in developed coun-
tries, there was increasing concern about the
stability of employment. Looking at the un-
employment percentage rates: US 4.4, Japan
4.7, the UK 6.3, Slovenia 7.7, Germany 9.0,
East Germany 18.1 and Hungary 9.7 in 1997
(OECD, 2003; Economist Intelligence Unit,
US, Germany, 1998) confirms that the situa-
tion continued throughout the 1990s. This
received its clearest theoretical formulation
in the labour-market segmentation theory
(Berger, cited in Piore, 1980), which devel-
oped the notion of the ‘primary’ job sector,
where jobs were of good quality, including
opportunities for career development and job
security, and the ‘secondary’ job sector, con-
sisting of low-paid jobs with a high unem-
ployment risk.
The nature of the present study is essen-
tially exploratory. It seeks to detect whether
the above-described factors from the self-
reported assessment of work characteristics
of representative samples of employees in
different countries have an impact on com-
mitment. In non-transitional countries job
insecurity should be the result of greater
flexibility in the labour market, and in transi-
tional countries insecurity has two major
causes: the introduction of a market econ-
omy and also greater flexibility in the labour
market. That is why job insecurity is treated
separately from other aspects of work quality.
Perception of job insecurity and its relation
with commitment was further explained by
the level of unemployment in each country.
Thus we propose that a high unemployment
rate can strengthen the effect of job insecur-
ity on continuance commitment, predomi-
nantly in transitional economies.
The nature of industrial relations may
also influence commitment, and the role of
trade unions is particularly interesting in this
respect. The meta-analytical study of double
commitment (Reed et al., 1994) showed that
correlation between commitment and an
organization and commitment and trade
unions is about three times higher in coun-
tries that have consensual industrial relations
in comparison with countries that have
adversarial or conflictual industrial relations.
In this regard, the role of trade unions is
seen as a predictor of commitment. The US,
United Kingdom and Hungary have been
included in the category with the adversarial
type of industrial relations, and Japan, East
and West Germany, and Slovenia in the
category with a consensual type of industrial
relations (Wheeler and McClendon, 1998;
Stanojevic et al., 1998). Thus we propose:
Hypothesis 9: Membership in a trade union has a
positive influence on affective commitment
and continuance commitment in the countries
with consensual industrial relations.
The hypotheses are summarized in Figure 1.
Method
Participants
The analysis was performed based on the
data from Work Orientations II, Interna-
tional Social Survey Programme (ISSP, 1997)
from the collaborative research carried out by
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Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 189
No. Hypothesis
1 Job insecurity
2 Higher job satisfaction
3 Job quality:
Material, individual, post-material
4 Bad work conditions
5 Positive perception of distributive justice
6 Value orientation toward work:
Intrinsic orientation (job not money)
Efficiency orientation (best work)
7 Job related value orientation:
Materialistic
Modern (individualistic)
Post-materialistic
8 Individual values & quality of work
9 Membership of trade union
AC = Affective commitment; CC = continuance Commitment
Figure 1 Summary of hypotheses
the International Social Survey Programme
group. The ISSP is a continuing annual pro-
gramme of cross-national collaboration on
surveys covering topics that are important for
social science research. The bulk of questions
from the Work Orientations I survey (ISSP,
1989) were replicated in the 1997 ISSP,
which assures that most of the indicators were
already tested in multinational settings. Only
the data from the 1997 survey were used in
the present analysis because of the larger cov-
erage of countries, and because some of the
crucial indicators were absent in ISSP 1989.
The research was performed in such a way
that each of the cooperating countries trans-
lated the original English version of the
questionnaire into their national language.
The goal of the translation was to ensure the
procedural equivalence of the measuring
instruments. At the same time, researchers
agree that functional equivalence was too
ambitious a goal for that kind of internation-
al collaboration. Further details on methodo-
AC CC Country
– + East Germany, Hungary, Slovenia
+ + ALL
+ + ALL
– – ALL
+ +
+ – ALL
– + ALL
+ + K, US, West, East Germany
+ – Japan, Hungary, Slovenia
+ + UK, US, West, East Germany
+ + Japan, Slovenia, West, East Germany
logical principles that guide an ISSP project
can be found on the ISSP home page (ISSP
Secretariat, 2003; http://www.issp.org).
The questionnaire was administered to
random representative samples of the adult
population in every country with N = 1000
respondents or more. The actual number of
respondents in our samples, reported in the
results section, is somewhat lower (above N =
500, except East Germany) due to the fact
that only the employed population was the
target of the present analysis. The fieldwork
was done in the same year (i.e. 1997) in dif-
ferent countries, except in the USA where it
ended in May 1998. The fieldwork methods
used include personal interviews performed
by trained interviewers in Slovenia and
Hungary, a supplementary self-completion
survey following the personal interview of the
General Social Survey in Great Britain and
the USA, and a postal survey in Germany.
The response rates were around 70%, except
in Germany and Great Britain, where they
02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 190

190 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)

Table 1 Means of demographic variables, general and employed population sample sizes, and
response rates by country (Source: ISSP, 1997)

West East Great

Variables Germany Germany Britain USA Hungary Slovenia Japan

General population sample means

Gender (1 = Male) .53 .49 .43 .41 .46 .48 .44
Age (years) 45.7 47.4 46.3 45.3 45.7 43.2 48.1
Education (years) 11.3 11.8 11.7 13.3 10.3 10.9 11.8
Employed (1 = Yes) .61 .54 .57 .70 .42 .54 .63
General population sample N 1215 531 1087 1228 1496 1005 1226

Employed population sample means

Trade union membership .23 .23 .29 .09 .20 .50 .20
Working for private company .68 .64 .73 – .54 .42 .84
Work, supervise .45 .40 .27 – .14 .29 .22
Employed population sample N 744 289 628 865 637 538 783
Response rate (%)a 51 47 50 67 81 72 73

a
Calculated as a ratio of achieved general population sample size divided by eligible sample size
(Source: ZA, 2001).

reached around 50% in each country (Table
1; see details in ZA, 2001).
Measurement
Measures of AC and CC, except the ‘change
work’ item, are selections from Mowday et
al.’s (1982) longer Organizational Commit-
ment Questionnaire that was used in another
comparative study (see Kalleberg and
Mastekaasa, 1994 for details). In the present
study we assumed that the considered vari-
ables are of an interval nature. In cases where
the content and empirical coherence of the
individual indicators allowed us, we com-
bined the variables into indexes. For both
dependent variables, AC and CC, we also
performed confirmatory factor analysis
(CFA) in order to test discriminant validity.
This analysis allowed us to test if the two
dimensions could be proved empirically. The
results in each country showed that χ2 for the
two-factor solution with each factor meas-
ured by two separate indicators obtained a
superior fit compared to a one-factor solution
measured by four separate indicators. For
example, in West Germany the two-factor
solution yielded χ2 = 1.933 (p = .164) and
RMSEA = 0.0357 compared to χ2 = 24.442
(p = .000) and RMSEA = 0.124 for the one-
factor solution. Fit statistics for other coun-
tries are available on request from the
authors. CFA supported the use of separate
AC and CC indexes, even if reliability rates
estimated by Cronbach’s alpha did not reach
the generally acceptable level of above 0.6 for
the AC in West Germany and Japan.
Although typically above 0.7 is the minimum
threshold, the threshold of alpha = 0.6 is
generally acceptable in situations where only
a few indicators are used for measuring each
construct, and where the survey is conducted
on a general population in selected countries.
Lower reliability of AC could be further
explained by the fact that inverse answering
scales were used. While they reduce the
acquiescence bias of a measure and therefore
02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 191
Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 191
increase its validity, they also usually tend to
lower reliability estimates.
For the independent variables, we per-
formed exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
(varimax rotation) separately for each coun-
try (the results are not shown, but can be
obtained on request). By doing so, we
reduced the complexity of the analysis,
obtained the reliability estimates of measur-
ing individual concepts, and avoided the
possible collinearity among the predictors in
the regression equation. As shown in Table
2, all variables considered in the analysis are
enumerated, with the corresponding coeffi-
cient of reliability, Cronbach’s alpha. The
same threshold of alpha = 0.6 was used to
select the items for indexes. We kept only
indexes that achieved a threshold alpha value
in all the countries. Where this could not be
achieved, we selected only one of the indica-
tors to represent the construct, arguing that
it was too specific to form a scale. The job
insecurity index was an exception to that
rule, again due to inverse answering scales.
High loading of two items on the same factor
(around 0.7, results not shown) in most of the
countries did not warrant the differentiation
of two aspects of job insecurity, cognitive and
emotional, even if this might be theoretically
sound (Borg and Elizur, 1992).
In order to allow the comparison of the
results, the variables and indicators chosen in
our analysis were the same in every country.
Measurement equivalence rests mainly on
the face validity of the same wording of ques-
tions for single item measures and provisional
structural invariance of the dimension that
follows from the preliminary EFA. One goal
of translation was to achieve procedurally
equivalent measures, but this could not pre-
vent culturally specific misunderstandings,
which was probably the reason for lower reli-
ability of some indexes in the case of Japan.
A formal test of measurement equivalence of
variables in an international setting is beyond
the scope of the present analysis.
The analyses were carried out separately
for every country for both the dependent
variables, thereby testing the construct valid-
ity of both of them in the specific conditions
of each country. We used simple analytical
techniques such as correlation and OLS
regression. The final regression equation
took into consideration all the factors at the
same time – and therefore showed the direct
effect of an individual factor, independent of
the other factors. In this last model it
becomes evident which are the strongest pre-
dictors and how many independent variables
there are in the total sum of the jointly
explained variance. Hierarchical stepwise
regression technique was used separately for
each country. At first, demographic control
factors were included in the analysis, fol-
lowed by the rest of the independent
variables. Only variables that satisfied the
inclusion or exclusion criteria to enter the
equation (change on the F-statistics and
tolerance criterion) were kept in.
Results and Discussion
From the descriptive survey of the results
(Tables 2(a)–2(g)) we can conclude that the
highest value of AC is in the US (7.87), with
Slovenia next (7.41) and then Japan (7.28).
Results should be interpreted cautiously
because measurement equivalence with
regard to cultural differences in understand-
ing of scaling units is not established (see
Smith and Mohler, 1997).1 For Japan and
the US, analysis shows high commitment of
employees (Lincoln and Kalleberg, 1990).
The highest level of AC is in the US and the
second highest is in Slovenia, although the
difference is not very big. Such results were
not expected, especially because of the fact
that Slovenia is a country in transition where
the insecurity of the employees and the
general difficulty of living conditions in com-
parison with the past have a strong influence
on commitment. Slovenia has at the same
time one of the highest levels of AC and the
lowest level of CC (5.24). From this point of
02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 192
192 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
view, it will be very interesting to analyse pre-
dictors. It is only through analysis that we are
able to discover the nature of commitment in
each country.
In the first step of the analysis, we were
interested in the impact of individual sets of
predictors on both kinds and components of
commitment (affective and continuance). For
this purpose, we performed the regression
analysis on predictors for each country sepa-
rately. Table 3 shows the results of the regres-
sion analysis for AC and CC according to the
individual sets of predictors in the different
countries. To make a comparison, Tables
2(a)–2(g) contain Cronbach’s alpha, means,
standard deviations and the values of the
correlation coefficients obtained by bivariate
analysis.
All the other predictors surpassed the demographic
characteristics in their importance concerning
the portion of the explained variance in CC.
However, demographic characteristics have
a particularly strong impact with regard to
CC in Japan (15%) and Hungary (7%) and
are almost without impact on AC in the US.
In Japan, age (r = .35) and position in an organi-
zation (supervisory work) (r = .22) also stand out,
as is the case in Hungary (r = .21). The size
of R2 for the individual sets of predictors of
AC shows that satisfaction and quality of work
have a significant impact everywhere. We
could say that both sets of situational vari-
ables are universally important predictors of
commitment as they also explain most of the
variance in CC.
Values as predictors of AC take only
fourth place according to the share of the
explained variance. Values dropped even
lower in their impact on CC. This can be
explained in such a way that, with CC, the
question of benefits that an individual has is
emphasized more in the case when he or she
decides to leave an organization, which is
according to his or her expectations, and
independent of any values. The insecurity
factor explains only a small share of the
variance of AC. This factor adds weight to
its impact on CC. The highest coefficients of
the correlation are in Hungary and East
Germany, where the rate of unemployment
is also the highest among all the countries
included in the analysis. Such a result was ex-
pected due to the nature of CC, which is esti-
mated through the perception of employees
with regard to their own investment in an
organization and the possibilities they have
in the labour market (Meyer and Allen,
1997): the more insecure an individual is, the
less he or she exhibits his or her AC.
Table 3 shows the regression equation
according to different countries for AC and
CC with regard to all the factors combined.
The model explains most of the variance of
AC in the UK (35%) and in Hungary (38%),
then follow West Germany (29%), the US
(28%) and Japan (34%). Slovenia is in last
place, where the model explains only 19% of
the variance. The greatest total variance of
CC is shown in the UK (33%), with 26% in
the US, 32% in Japan, 31% in Hungary,
28% in West Germany and 20% in Slovenia.
The model shows the net impact of each
individual variable on AC and CC in each
country by taking into account the impact of
all the remaining variables in the model. It
shows us the most important variables that
work as predictors in each individual coun-
try. Thus we are able to make a profile of
commitment that is determined by the most
important predictors (e.g. significance < .05)
for each country respectively. Insecurity is a
significant factor influencing CC in almost all
countries except the US and Slovenia. The
impact is negative, which means the higher
the perceived insecurity the smaller the CC.
However, insecurity lost most of its impact
on AC in nearly all the countries, except for
Hungary and the US. This is also evident
from the conclusion that the negative orien-
tation of the impact of insecurity in the pre-
vious descriptive examination of coefficients
can probably be explained through the
matrix of the performance of the remaining
factors of commitment.
 02_CCM 4_2
Table 2 Cronbach’s alpha, means, standard deviations (diagonal) and correlation coefficient for variables in analysis (Source: ISSP, 1997)

6/24/04
(a) West Germany (minimal pairwise, N = 568)

Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment

2:11 PM
index .65 6.98 1.56
2 Continuance commitment
index .51 5.90 .40** 1.88
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .73 4.51 –.07 –.24** 2.26

Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 193

Page 193
4 Satisfaction scale
(management, colleagues) .63 8.21 .31** .28** –.24** 1.29
5 Job quality, work
independently .... 4.13 .23** .33** –.19** .25** .86
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.82 .21** .25** –.31** .11** .20** 1.02
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .79 6.98 .06 .16** –.14** .09* .22** .06 2.10
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .62 10.61 .02 .18** –.16** .10** .01 .21** –.06 2.40
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 2.46 .29** .20** –.05 .09* .22** .09* .09* –.03 .63
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 3.60 .21** .19** –.02 .10* .09** .09* .08* .15** .17** .99
11 Job value, high income ... 3.83 .12** –.13** .07* .03 –.02 .09** –.13** –.09** .04 –.08* .75
12 Job value, work
independently ... 4.35 .03 .05 –.02 .04 .25** .09** .10** –.04 .15** .11** .11** .68
13 Job value, post-material .72 7.25 .05 .01 .00 .07 .07 –.04 .42** –.09* .07* .01 .04 .16** 1.67
14 Just pay (job
performance) ... 4.27 .17** .07 –.11** .07* .15** .12** –.07* .02 .13** .11** .19** .19** –.04 .68
15 Just pay (education) ... 2.79 .09* .04 –.00 .10** .03 .02 .10** –.00 .05 .08* .11** –.01 .21** .02 .99
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .59 .00 .02 .02 –.03 .04 .15** –.03 –.13** –.02 –.10** .02 .01 –.13** –.05 –.10** .49
17 Age (years) ... 40.73 .05 .13** –.02 .00 .09* .13** .11** .07* .14** –.02 –.03 –.01 .07* –.02 .09* .05 12.36
18. Education (years) ... 11.76 –.05 .05 –.13** –.02 .03 .29** .13** .34** .02 .18** –.02 .05 –.05 .02 –.04 –.00 –.02 3.11
19 Trade union membership ... .23 –.12** –.07 .00 –.06 –.01 .04 –.01 –.11** –.01 –.17** .03 –.01 .03 –.08* –.06 .19** .01 –.05 .42
20 Working for private
company ... .68 .14** –.07 .19** –.02 .06 .00 –.31** –.11** .07 –.01 .05 –.00 –.17** .07* –.07* .12** –.02 –.16** –.10** .46
21 Work supervise ... .45 .21** .12** –.08* .08* .19** .23** .06 –.05 .20** .11** .07* .07* –.04 .12** .01 .11** .08* .06 .00 .09** .49

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
194

6/24/04
Table 2 cont. (b) East Germany (minimal pairwise, N = 211)

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)

Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment

2:11 PM
index .71 7.06 1.51
2 Continuance commitment
index .65 5.62 .52** 2.01
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .70 6.31 –.04 –.24** 2.22

Page 194
4 Satisfaction scale
(management, colleagues) .64 8.04 .38** .31** –.04 1.30
5 Job quality, work
independently ... 3.99 .24** .26** –.09 .34** .95
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.32 .14* .16* –.27** .06 .17** .97
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .80 7.27 .26** .25** –.05 .24** .17** .17** 1.98
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .62 10.01 .02 .05 –.16* .07 .03 .18** –.08 2.47
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 2.61 .19** .16* .10 .15* –.02 .02 .22** –.01 .60
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 3.65 .17** .16* –.07 .07 .10 .12 –.00 .20** .20** .96
11 Job value, high income ... 4.03 .06 –.01 .14* .06 –.10 –.03 .00 –.17** .08 –.13* .64
12 Job value, work
independently ... 4.20 .15* .15* –.18** .10 .30** .05 .03 .01 –.02 .12* .02 .73
13 Job value, post-material .68 7.31 .18** .04 –.00 .12 .04 .09 .34** –.12 .13* .06 .00 .20** 1.59
14 Just pay (job performance) ... 4.43 .04 .12 –.02 .09 .21** .01 .02 –.04 .08 .04 .18** .22** .07 .61
15 Just pay (education) ... 3.16 –.03 .06 .06 .00 .00 .07 .12* .01 .03 –.13* .17** .03 .06 .06 1.08
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .54 .02 .00 .06 –.16** .02 –.01 –.02 –.33** –.15** –.19** –.05 –.01 –.07 –.07 –.05 .49
17 Age (years) ... 41.52 .15* .24** .04 .07 –.01 .07 .12* .08 –.00 –.04 –.05 –.05 .03 .01 .09 .01 11.51
18 Education (years) ... 12.84 .04 .02 –.04 –.07 .11 .26** .02 .41** .06 .16** –.02 .06 –.10 .06 –.02 –.06 –.01 3.26
19 Trade union membership ... .23 –.05 –.05 .05 –.04 –.10 .00 .05 –.03 –.02 –.02 .07 –.18** .00 .00 .07 .00 .00 –.00 .42
20 Working for private
company ... .64 .03 –.07 –.03 –.05 .05 –.09 –.34** –.10 –.10 .08 .05 .02 –.17** .05 –.12* .28** –.07 –.07 –.08 .48
21 Work supervise ... .40 .21** .21** –.13* .04 .22** .16** .10 –.00 .13* .01 .05 .14* –.10 .11* –.08 .12* .05 .15* –.08 .16** .49

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
Table 2 cont. (c) Great Britain (minimal pairwise N = 537)

6/24/04
Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment
index .75 7.21 1.54

2:11 PM
2 Continuance commitment
index .60 5.54 .55** 1.93
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .62 4.91 –.09* –.22** 2.12
4 Satisfaction scale

Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 195

Page 195
(management, colleagues) .66 8.21 .42** .38** –.18** 1.48
5 Job quality, work
independently ... 3.92 .28** .25** –.04 .19** .88
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.44 .25** .29** –.27** .15** .13** .99
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .80 7.32 .23** .27** –.10* .18** .29** .03 1.84
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .60 10.20 .13** .07 –.17** .17** –.06 .09* –.05 2.48
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 2.33 .29** .22** .14** .06 .15** .06 .06 –.07 .66
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 3.30 .27** .26** –.02 .16** .10* .09* .10* .10* .20** 1.08
11 Job value, high income ... 3.86 .00 –.08* .00 –.00 .06 .09* –.04 –.08* –.08* –.08* .76
12 Job value, work
independently ... 3.85 .15** .04 –.05 .05 .17** .09* .08* .05 –.01 .06 .12** .79
13 Job value, post-material .75 7.62 .14** .00 .04 .00 –.00 .01 .34** –.02 –.00 .13** .08 .33** 1.44
14 Just pay (job performance) ... 4.25 .14** .01 –.00 .10* .09* .04 .03 –.00 .09* .05 .15** .15** .07 .77
15 Just pay (education) ... 3.00 .04 .03 .06 .01 .06 –.08* .12** –.10** –.03 .02 .19** .16** .23** .08* 1.00
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .47 –.06 –.03 .08* –.13** .12** .07 –.09* –.25** –.03 –.13** .07 .00 –.15** .01 –.12** .49
17 Age (years) ... 39.42 .18** .13** .05 .03 .05 –.07 .15** .04 .26** .01 –.13** .04 .06 .11** .01 .04 12.20
18 Education (years) ... 12.26 –.02 –.00 .00 –.00 .00 .05 .05 .12** .06 .13** –.07 .03 .05 .00 –.02 .00 –.17** 2.70
19 Trade union membership ... .29 –.08* –.07 –.01 –.19** –.13** .01 .18** –.12** –.00 –.07 .01 –.01 .07 –.12** .06 .03 .05 .07 .45
20 Working for private
company ... .73 –.03 –.02 –.00 .01 –.00 .03 –.38** –.09* –.08* –.09* .10* –.00 –.16** .00 –.04 .26** –.13** –.16** –.29** .44
21 Work supervise ... .27 .08 .04 –.04 –.08* –.01 .17** .02 .05 .14** –.05 .02 .07 –.06 .03 –.06 .14** .03 .11** .11** –.04 .44

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
196

6/24/04
Table 2 cont. (d) USA (minimal pairwise, N = 737)

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)

Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment

2:11 PM
index .70 7.87 1.41
2 Continuance commitment
index .50 5.48 .42** 1.90
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .62 4.03 –.19** –.20** 1.86

Page 196
4 Satisfaction scale
(management, colleagues) .75 7.99 .32** .28** –.22** 1.54
5 Job quality, work
independently ... 3.98 .26** .25** –.14** .22** .92
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.74 .27** .22** –.27** .12** .20** 1.02
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .82 7.91 .27** .24** –.18** .14** .23** .13** 1.64
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .63 10.07 .07* .19** –.15** .14** .13** .06 –.01 2.53
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 2.46 .22** .13** .00 .02 .06 .04 .12** –.02 .64
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 3.48 .14** .08* –.02 .03 .11** .03 .17** .03 .04 1.03
11 Job value, high income ... 3.98 –.03 –.14** .05 –.08* –.04 .11** .00 –.16** –.01 –.05 .76
12 Job value, work
independently ... 4.09 .02 –.00 .00 .00 .11** .02 .09** .01 .02 .00 .21** .75
13 Job value, post-material .74 8.13 .18** .08* –.02 .05 .09* –.00 .38** –.02 .03 .14** .08* .39** 1.46
14 Just pay (job performance) ... 4.43 .11** –.02 –.02 .04 .10** .06 .07* .10** .08* .00 .15** .11** .13** .61
15 Just pay (education) ... 3.60 .03 –.01 .04 .11** –.03 –.01 .11** –.08* –.05 .01 .13** .10** .17** .15** .99
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .45 .02 –.04 .04 –.07* –.01 .13** –.09** –.19** –.01 –.05 .06 –.02 –.15** –.04 –.10** .49
17 Age (years) ... 40.48 .08* .23** –.00 –.02 .01 –.03 .03 .16** .16** .00 –.11** .02 .03 –.02 –.14** –.02 12.31
18 Education (years) ... 13.74 .04 .07* –.00 –.06 .03 .14** .12** .23** .08* .04 –.07* .02 .07* .13** .04 .01 –.02 2.62
19 Trade union membership ... .09 .00 .05 .00 –.01 –.11** .00 .05 –.12** .01 –.03 .02 –.01 .03 –.04 .03 .06 .10** –.00 .29
20 Working for private
company ... – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
21 Work supervise ... – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
Table 2 cont. (e) Hungary (minimal pairwise, N = 574)

6/24/04
Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment
index .71 7.07 1.78

2:11 PM
2 Continuance commitment
index .68 5.52 .56** 2.11
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .66 4.78 –.31** –.28** 2.01
4 Satisfaction scale

Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 197

Page 197
(management, colleagues) .64 7.70 .34** .30** –.29** 1.38
5 Job quality, work
independently ... 3.84 .30** .27** –.25** .22** .93
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.33 .24** .29** –.34** .18** .25** .91
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .80 7.77 .37** .25** –.21** .17** .35** .06 1.58
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .61 9.22 .04 .03 –.13** .07 .11** .11** .02 2.86
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 2.24 .25** .19** –.02 .04 .14** .04 .19** –.07* .63
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 3.53 .27** .17** .03 .00 .17** .06 .21** .06 .15** 1.04
11 Job value, high income ... 4.51 –.05 –.12** .04 –.00 –.06 .01 .00 –.17** –.02 –.08* .60
12 Job value, work
independently ... 4.05 .10** .07 –.00 –.03 .21** .11** .08* .11** .07 .12** .08* .89
13 Job value, post-material .73 7.97 .20** .09* .03 .10** .07 –.03 .38** –.08* .13** .17** .11** .30** 1.52
14 Just pay (job performance) ... 4.38 .01 –.04 –.07 .01 .11** .02 .15** –.04 .07 .07 .05 .13** .07 .75
15 Just pay (education) ... 3.45 .04 .04 –.04 .01 –.04 .00 .02 .01 –.07 .02 .05 .00 .14** .03 1.07
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .56 .02 –.04 –.09* –.04 .02 .11** –.00 –.25** –.04 –.02 .03 –.00 –.11** .02 –.02 .49
17 Age (years) ... 37.50 .10* .11** .07 –.08 .06 –.05 .08* .11** .17** .18** –.08* .13** .11** .08* –.00 –.05 10.20
18 Education (years) ... 11.72 .16** .15** –.15** –.01 .20** .19** .10** .35** .08* .19** –.17** .21** –.03 .12** .03 –.01 .06 2.28
19 Trade union membership ... .20 –.02 .03 .10* –.09* –.02 –.07* .10* –.06 .04 .07* –.01 .03 .09* .08* .00 –.03 .14** .07* .40
20 Working for private
comapny ... .54 .07 .03 –.08* .07 .20** .28** –.08* –.04 .02 –.05 .03 .07 –.14** .10** –.07* .13** –.08* –.06 –.28** .49
21 Work supervise ... .14 .17** .20** –.09* .06 .15** .18** .00 .10** .08* .12** –.10** .11** –.02 .04 –.03 .05 .13** .24** .02 .06 .34

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
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Table 2 cont. (f) Slovenia (minimal pairwise, N = 474)

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)

Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment

2:11 PM
index .75 7.41 1.75
2 Continuance commitment
index .61 5.24 .40** 2.27
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .53 5.05 –.11* –.20** 2.27

Page 198
4 Satisfaction scale
(management, colleagues) .62 7.44 .26** .33** –.20** 1.56
5 Job quality, work
independently ... 3.99 .13** .19** –.25** .20** 1.06
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.95 .24** .31** –.31** .31** .22** 1.12
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .71 8.05 .25** .19** –.15** .19** .33** .18** 1.70
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .56 10.10 .11** .14** –.19** .21** .20** .20** .02 2.64
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 2.43 .15** .10* –.02 –.01 .08 .04 .13** –.02 .69
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 2.92 .12** .13** –.06 .06 .09* .13** .03 .08 .06 1.32
11 Job value, high income ... 4.43 –.04 –.13** .07 .00 –.11* –.15** .03 –.15** –.02 –.16** .65
12 Job value, work
independently ... 4.40 .13** .04 –.11* –.01 .20** .01 .15** .07 .05 –.03 .12** .74
13 Job value, post-material .66 8.45 .18** .06 .05 .00 .06 –.04 .39** –.07 .10* .03 .21** .36** 1.38
14 Just pay (job performance) ... 4.48 .06 .02 –.04 .03 –.02 –.08 .03 –.04 .06 .07 .19** .11** .17** .69
15 Just pay (education) ... 3.71 –.04 –.05 –.02 –.07 –.00 –.07 .08 –.10* –.03 .02 .13** .08* .15** .13** 1.05
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .54 .04 .05 .10* –.01 –.02 .12** –.02 –.16** .01 –.19** –.01 .00 –.10* –.04 –.16** .49
17 Age (years) ... 36.64 .14** .15** .03 –.10* .00 –.01 .18** .02 .12** –.05 –.06 .12** .15** –.00 .03 .06 10.54
18 Education (years) ... 11.86 .09* .13** –.15** .05 .14** .20** .05 .30** .07 .10* –.23** .07 –.12** .00 –.07 –.04 –.04 2.83
19 Trade union membership ... .50 –.04 –.04 .01 –.15** –.07 –.14** .13** –.03 –.04 –.03 .01 .03 .12** .03 .03 –.13** .19** –.04 .50
20 Working for private
company ... .42 .03 –.00 –.01 .14** .04 .07 –.16** .00 –.03 .01 .05 –.03 –.12** .04 –.03 .11** –.19** –.02 –.41** .49
21 Work supervise ... .29 .18** .17** –.14** .04 .15** .23** .14** .06 .12** –.00 –.05 .10* –.01 .02 –.04 .13** .16** .27** –.04 .06 .45

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
Table 2 cont. (g) Japan (minimal pairwise, N = 644)

6/24/04
Variables α Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 Affective commitment
index .64 7.28 2.04

2:11 PM
2 Continuance commitment
index .46 6.55 .37** 2.46
3 Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) .50 3.88 –.12** –.20** 2.03
4 Satisfaction scale

Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 199

Page 199
(management, colleagues) .71 7.69 .27** .30** –.17** 1.40
5 Job quality, work
independently ... 2.82 .10** .14** –.04 .05 1.56
6 Job quality, high income ... 2.59 .20** .17** –.22** .12** .08* 1.22
7 Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) .80 7.08 .39** .26** –.22** .14** .12** .14** 2.33
8 Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) .64 10.51 .00 .08* –.07* .18** .06 .00 –.06 2.47
9 Efficiency (best work) ... 1.91 .25** .07* –.02 .07 –.00 .08* .16** –.09* .67
10 Intrisic (job not money) ... 3.97 .15** .18** –.00 .06 .10** .05 .11** .04 .09* 1.28
11 Job value, high income ... 3.92 –.01 –.11** .02 –.03 .01 .01 .02 –.11** –.01 –.08* .79
12 Job value, work
independently ... 3.21 .07 .07* –.04 .01 .34** .07 .04 –.08* –.07 .01 .05 .95
13 Job value, post-material .77 7.63 .31** .19** –.14** .07 .07* .07* .43** –.07* .15** .13** .06 .16** 1.38
14 Just pay (job performance) ... 3.97 .15** –.00 .06 .06 .07 .05 .01 –.05 .03 .01 .13** .10** .03 .81
15 Just pay (education) ... 2.46 –.00 .03 –.03 .05 .09** .02 .06 –.02 –.01 .08* .07* .09* .02 .05 1.02
16 Gender (1 = Male) ... .53 .18** .06 .03 –.02 .02 .05 .03 –.18** .09** –.07* .05 .04 –.00 .11** –.06 .49
17 Age (years) ... 44.84 .15** .35** –.12** .07 .21** –.01 .24** .11** .04 .17** –.05 .11** .17** –.01 .05 .09** 14.18
18 Education (years) ... 12.39 .12** –.09* –.05 –.00 –.20** .05 .03 .06 .12** –.03 –.08* –.16** –.01 .06 –.04 .06 –.39** 2.58
19 Trade union membership ... .20 .01 –.06 –.05 –.14** –.17** .07* –.05 –.06 .00 –.10** .03 –.09* –.02 –.08* –.07* .12** –.21** .22** .40
20 Working for private
company ... .84 .04 –.03 .06 –.08* .06 –.05 –.05 –.08* –.00 –.03 .08* .04 –.11** .08* .02 .16** .05 –.13** –.00 .36
21 Work supervise ... .22 .23** .22** –.10** .14** .07* .09* .08* .06 .10** .04 .08* .02 .05 .06 .05 .15** .29** –.08* –.22** .18** .42

* p < .05; ** p < .01

 02_CCM 4_2
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6/24/04
Table 3 OLS stepwise regression coefficients of predictors on affective and continuance commitment (Source: ISSP, 1997)

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)

Affective commitment Continuance commitment
West East Great West East Great
Variables Germany Germany Britain USA Hungary Slovenia Japan Germany Germany Britain USA Hungary Slovenia Japan

2:11 PM
Constant .939* .735 .350 2.172** .628 1.514* –2.094** .609 2.923** –1.650* –1.483* 2.588* .780 .132
Insecure job (job loss,
job insecure) ... ... ... ... –.117** ... ... –0.091* –.179* –.121** ... –.130** ... –0.096*

Page 200
Satisfaction scale
(management, colleagues) .362** .355** .302** .250** .290** .241** .241** .294** .441** .291** .278** .315** .406** .361**
Job quality, work
independently ... ... .172* .182** ... ... ... .442** ... .190* ... ... ... ...
Job quality, high income .194** ... .270** .267** .175* .281** .175** .220** ... .350** .297** .336** .342** .152*
Job quality, post-material
(help, useful) ... ... .086* ... .235** ... .166** ... ... .177** .174** .191** ... .171**
Job experience (exhausted,
physical, danger) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 0.087* ... ... 0.071 ... ... ...
Efficiency (best work) .596** .489** .530** .404** .453** ... .338** .280* ... .450** .235* .476** ... **
Intrisic (job not money) .194** .273** .182** .123** .300** .138* .157** ... ... .263** ... .174* ... .274**
Job value, high income ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... –.247** –.411** –.365* –.237*
Job value, work independently ... ... ... –.179* ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Job value, post-material ... .145* ... .182** .104* .212** .226** ... ... ... ... ... ... **
Just pay (job performance) ... ... ... ... –.262** ... .235** ... ... ... ... –.319** ... **
Just pay (education) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Gender (1 = Male) ... ... ... ... ... ... .474** ... ... ... ... ... ... **
Age (years) ... ... .014** 0.0063 ... 0.025** 0.005 0.014* ... 0.016* 0.031** ... 0.041** 0.048**
Education (years) ... ... ... ... 0.049 ... .107** ... ... ... ... 0.028 0.035 **
Trade union membership ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Working for private company .449** ... ... ... ... ... ... –.170 ... ... ... ... ... ...
Work supervise .205 .675** ... ... .495** .354* .692** 0.05 .653* ... ... .698** .314 .479*
R2 .287** .334** .355** .277** .382** .190** .337** .272** .176** .330** .258** .279** .204** .305**

* p < .05; ** p < .01

02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 201
Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 201
Here, we would particularly like to point
out the situational variables associated with
employment, work experience and relation
to work. It is shown that satisfaction and quality
of work (material, high income) have universal
impact; they are significantly and strongly
connected to AC everywhere. Two of the
components of quality of work, namely job qual-
ity, work independently, have a significant impact
only in the UK and the US, while job quality,
post-material is significant in Hungary and
Japan and also has a significance in Slovenia,
although it is somewhat lower. It is interest-
ing that among the three countries that we
originally classified as collectivistic, the post-
materialistic component shows an indepen-
dent impact that does not diminish through
the remaining variables. We can ask our-
selves if different work ethics are involved
here, for which it is not so important how
much one earns by doing the job, but if and
how much one can contribute to the com-
mon welfare (offer assistance to others and
give a useful contribution to the whole).
Work experiences do not demonstrate any
especially strong impact that would be con-
sistent among the countries. The exceptions
we notice cannot be interpreted by any of the
points written in the introduction.
Values are universally important only in
the dimension of efficiency motivation,
which is positive everywhere and is mostly
significant. This holds true for the orientation
towards work (these results are expected
according to previous research). The orienta-
tion toward autonomy at work significantly
influences AC only in the US, while the
orientation towards the post-materialistic
nature of work is significant in Japan,
Slovenia, Hungary and, surprisingly, the US
(but there the influence is not strong (r = .19).
Black (1999: 401) found the same result.
However, distributive justice (just pay) proved to
be an important predictor in Hungary (AC
and CC), and to a certain extent also in
Japan (AC). People in the US expect to be
rewarded for their commitment to a com-
pany (although the influence is weak). Demo-
graphic characteristics have a different impact on
AC in individual countries and this can be
summarized as follows: only in the UK are
managers equally emotionally attached to
an organization as other employees, while
in Japan they adhere more emotionally to an
organization, which again can be a sign of
cultural differences. An important factor
influencing AC in Slovenia, the US, Japan
and the UK was age.
Age, satisfaction and quality of work (material
dimension) proved to be the universal predic-
tors for CC. The significance of age is some-
what remarkable – it should be understood as
a positive predictor of commitment, which is
probably connected with tenure. This expla-
nation is in accordance with literature and
research (Meyer and Allen, 1997). Also, a
stronger significance of autonomy at work (work
independently) in individualistic countries is
expected. Autonomy at work as a condition of
CC is important in all individualistic coun-
tries, while good post-materialistic conditions
for the development of CC are only impor-
tant in the UK, the US, Hungary and Japan.
Autonomy at work (work independently) is an
important element in the calculation of the
advantages that employment brings for an
individual in comparison with the accessible
alternatives on the labour market. In Japan
and Hungary, the possibility that employees
can offer assistance to others at their work-
place and that they feel the benefit that
this work brings to society, means a lot to
them.
Work experiences have a negative influence
on CC in Hungary, West Germany and the
US. Values have an impact on CC, particu-
larly in West Germany. Employees rely on
the realization of their materialistic expecta-
tions and demand autonomy at work. If an
organization meets these expectations, such
employees will establish a correct relation-
ship with this organization, especially those
employees who are intrinsically oriented
towards work. The value of autonomy (job value,
 02_CCM 4_2
202

6/24/04
International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
No. Hypothesis AC Country CC Country
1 Job insecurity – Hungary, US – East Germany, Hungary, Slovenia
2 Higher job satisfaction + ALL + ALL

2:11 PM
3 Job quality:
Material, + ALL + ALL
individual, + UK, US + US, UK, West, East Germany

post-material
4 Bad work conditions
5 Positive perception of distributive justice
6 Value orientation toward work:
Intrinsic orientation (job not money)
Efficiency orientation (best work)
7 Job related value orientation:
Materialistic
Modern (individualistic)
Post-materialistic
8 Individual values & quality of work
9 Membership of trade union
Demographics:
Age
Work supervise
Page 202
+ Hungary, Japan, Slovenia + Hungary, Japan, UK, US
– – Hungary, West Germany, US
+ Hungary, Japan + Hungary, Japan
+ ALL + Japan
+ ALL (not Slovenia) + ALL (not Slovenia)
– + US, Japan
+ US + West Germany
+ Japan, Hungary, Slovenia, US, –
East Germany
+ US, UK + UK, US, West, East Germany
+ +
+ US, Slovenia, Japan, UK + ALL
+ Japan

AC = Affective commitment; CC = continuance Commitment

Figure 2 Summary of results

02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 203
Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 203
work independently) shows an impact especially
in the UK and the US.
The value of distributive justice (just pay)
proved similarly as before to be an important
predictor of CC in Hungary and Japan.
Employees in Hungary are convinced that
fair payment does not mean that payment is
according to merit. Or, in other words, we
could say that merit is not the criterion of
justice for those who have developed the
most CC towards their organization. See
Figure 2 for a summary of the results.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can confirm that each
country has developed some special predic-
tors of commitment, and three of them are
universal: good quality of work, satisfaction with
an organization and intrinsic orientation toward
work. However, in most countries, these three
factors do not explain the whole story.
Material quality of work (job quality, high income) is
important predominantly in individualistic
countries, while in collectivistic countries
post-material quality of work is decisive. Also in
these countries, the development of AC
probably conditions some specific work ethic,
which gives employees the feeling that their
work is important for the community and
they also feel that through it, they can con-
tribute to the community in a meaningful
way. If this can be realized on the job, indi-
viduals are emotionally attached to an orga-
nization with all the positive consequences
that such attachment creates. An individual-
istic perspective, be it in the form of quality of
work or as the value, is absent in collectivistic
countries. In the countries with a mostly indi-
vidualistic orientation, the experience that an
individual has with an organization is more
important. If this is positive (especially in the
sense of material remuneration and level of
autonomy), the employee will be prepared to
develop the feeling of attachment – while
values do not play an essential role here, the
US may be an exception. However, an indi-
vidual will not become committed to an
organization if it does not meet his or her
material expectations. Material expectations
also play a certain role as the ‘hygienist’ with
regard to commitment.
Insecurity was shown to be the predictor
of AC only in Hungary and the US, but not
in any other transitional country (Slovenia or
East Germany) as we had assumed. Insecur-
ity is significant as a predictor of CC in
nearly all countries, except for the US and
Slovenia. This is congruent with the seg-
mentation theory of the flexible market. The
study showed a negative impact of insecurity
on CC and AC, which is congruent with the
literature. People with higher job insecurity
are less committed (AC and CC) and they do
not appreciate their present job any more
because of the job loss threat. The regression
equation that we used in the research ex-
plained a considerable part of the total vari-
ance of commitment in the UK, Hungary,
West Germany and Japan. However, it
has an insignificant explanatory value for
Slovenia where we have one of the highest
levels of commitment but the lowest level of
explained variance. In Slovenia there are
probably very strong predictors of AC, which
we did not include in this model.2
The purpose of the analysis was to gather
a survey of the predictors of commitment
that proved to be universally important in the
countries included in the study. We can ask
ourselves if we can talk about a universal
model of commitment at all. Commitment is
present in all the countries but its level, its
content and the factors that influence its
appearance differ substantially.
A comparative perspective in the study
was important in order to find out if culture
is an important dimension in developing
commitment (AC predominantly). It was
important to show whether the economic
situation can affect the formation of com-
mitment (AC and CC). Culture (collectivist
or individualistic) will impact how people are
oriented in their evaluation of quality of work
02_CCM 4_2 6/24/04 2:11 PM Page 204
204 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)
and what is important for them in developing
feelings of adherence to their organizations.
Economic circumstances are important in
the understanding of why people are less
committed to an organization in spite of the
fact that they have fewer chances in the
labour market. Economic transition means
greater insecurity, but also changes in value
orientations toward greater instrumentality
(weaker CC). The present study showed that
economic circumstances unify commitment
configurations in different countries (CC);
there are more similarities observed in pre-
dictors influencing CC across different
countries. The study also showed that CC is
a more unified concept than AC, while cul-
ture (values) on the other hand diversifies
commitment configurations (AC) across
countries.
Notes
1 ANOVA (Bonferroni test) showed that mean
differences were statistically significant.
2 The model was more successful in the
explanation of CC, but this portion is still the
lowest of all. It does not say much about the
nature of commitment in this country. One
possible explanation goes in the direction
that currently, a high level of commitment is
more a consequence of contingent impacts
and should these be absent, the AC can
rapidly erode. In this case, management
cannot count on the support of employees in
critical situations, which, of course, is not
very promising for the future.
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Appendix: Variables Used in the Analysis with Indicators and

English Question Text
The following variables are in the format:
Variable name [values range] (indicators)
Question text
Affective commitment index [2 . . . 10] (work harder for firm)
I am willing to work harder than I have to in order to help the firm or organization I work
for to succeed. [Inverse scale: 1 Strongly agree, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4
Disagree, 5 Strongly disagree]
+ (proud to work for firm)
I am proud to be working for my firm or organization. [2 . . . 10]
Continual commitment index [2 . . . 10] (change work)
Given the chance, I would change my present type of work for something different. [1
Strongly agree, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4 Disagree, 5 Strongly disagree]
+ (stay with organization)
I would turn down another job that offered quite a bit more pay in order to stay with this
organization. [Inverse scale: 1 Strongly agree, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4
Disagree, 5 Strongly disagree]
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Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 207

Insecure job index [2 . . . 9] (job loss)

To what extent, if at all, do you worry about the possibility of losing your job? [Inverse scale:
1 I worry a great deal, 2 I worry to some extent, 3 I worry a little, 4 I don’t worry at all]
+ (job insecure)
How much do you agree or disagree that it applies to your job. My job is secure. [1 Strongly
agree, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4 Disagree, 5 Strongly disagree]
Satisfaction index [2 . . . 10] (management)
In general how would you describe relations at your workplace . . . between management and
employees. [Inverse scale: 1 Very good, 2 Quite good, 3 Neither good nor bad, 4 Quite bad,
5 Very bad]
+ (colleagues)
In general how would you describe relations at your workplace . . . between workmates/col-
leagues. [2 . . . 10 ]
Job quality, material [1 . . . 5] (high income)
How much do you agree or disagree that it applies to your job. My income is high. [Inverse
scale: 1 Strongly agree, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4 Disagree, 5 Strongly disagree]
Job quality, individual [1 . . . 5] (work independently)
I can work independently. [1 . . . 5]
Job quality, post-material index [2 . . . 10] (help others)
I can help other people. [2 . . . 10 ]
+ (useful)
My job is useful to society. [2 . . . 10]
Job experience index [3 . . . 15] (exhausted)
How often . . . do you come home from work exhausted. [1 Always, 2 Often, 3 Sometimes, 4
Hardly ever, 5 Never]
+ (physical) [1 . . . 5]
. . . do you have to do hard physical work. [1 . . . 5]
+ (danger) [1 . . . 5]
. . . do you work in dangerous conditions. [1 . . . 5]
Efficiency (best work) [1 . . . 3]
What best describes feelings about job. In my job [1 I only work as hard as I have to, 2 I work
hard, but not so that it interferes with the rest of my life, 3 I make a point of doing the best
work I can, even if it sometimes does interfere with the rest of my life]
Intrinsic (job not money) [1 . . . 5]
I would enjoy having a paid job even if I did not need the money [Inverse scale: 1 Strongly
agree, 2 Agree, 3 Neither agree nor disagree, 4 Disagree, 5 Strongly disagree]
Job value, material [1 . . . 5] (important: high income)
. . . high income [Inverse scale: 1 Essential, 2 Important, 3 Neither important nor unimpor-
tant, 4 Not important, 5 Not important at all]
Job value, autonomy [1 . . . 5] (important: independent work)
. . . a job that allows someone to work independently. [1 . . . 5]
Job value, post-material index [2 . . . 10] (important: help others)
. . . a job that allows someone to help other people. [2 . . . 10]
+ (important: useful)
. . . a job that is useful to society. [2 . . . 10]
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208 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 4(2)

Just pay, job [1 . . . 5] (job performance)

In deciding on pay for two people doing the same kind of work, how important should be
. . . how well the person does the job. [1 . . . 5]
Just pay, education [1 . . . 5] (education & qualifications)
. . . the person’s education and formal qualifications. [1 . . . 5]
Gender [1 . . . 0]
[1 Male/0 Female]
Age (years)
Respondent: Age
Education (years)
Respondent: Years in school
Trade union membership [1 . . . 0]
[1 Member/0 Not a member]
Working for private company [1 . . . 0]
[1 Private/0 Other]
Work, supervise [1 . . . 0]
[1 Yes, supervise/0 No, do not supervise]
Source: ISSP (1997).

DANA MESNER ANDOLS EK is an Assistant JANEZ S TEBE is an Assistant Professor in the

Professor, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva Faculty of Social Sciences, University of
ploScad 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana, Kardeljeva ploSCad 5, 1000 Ljubljana,
[email: dana.mesner@uni-lj.si] Slovenia.
[email: janez.stebe@uni-lj.si]

Résumé
Perspectives multinationales sur les valeurs associées au travail et sur
l’engagement professionnel (Dana Mesner Andols ek and Janez S  tebe)
Le but de cet article est de montrer, à partir d’une perspective internationale comparative,
comment différents facteurs influencent l’engagement des employés dans une organisation.
L’engagement est étudié sous l’angle affectif et de la continuité. Les caractéristiques
personnelles, les facteurs organsiationnels et environnementaux sont pris en compte comme
prédicteurs qui impactent sur l’engagement. Le rôle des valeurs et de l’insécurité est aussi
étudié. Les auteurs proposent que ces facteurs n’ont pas le même impact sur les deux types
d’engagement dans différents pays, et que cela peut avoir des implications managériales
importantes. L’étude compare l’Allemagne de l’Ouest, l’Allemagne de l’Est, le Japon, la
Hongrie, la Slovénie, le Royaume Uni et les USA en utilisant les données du Work Orientation
II collectées par le groupe de recherche International Social Survey Programme group (ISSP) en 1997.
Les résultats montrent que certains prédicteurs sont universels, mais que leur configuration
dépend principalement du contexte culturel.
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Mesner Andolsek & Stebe: Multinational Perspectives on Work Values and Commitment 209

Dana Mesner AndolSek and Janez S tebe