Does culture affect why we work: a comparative study between ghana and Turkey

Abstract

Work values are the one of the most fundamental antecedents for various critical organizational and individual outcomes. Investigating the dynamics behind the values people attribute to work is essential for understanding nature of work values and how they differ among individuals. This paper aims to investigate the links between culture and work values through a cross-cultural research. Using questionnaires measuring collectivism and individualism dimensions of culture and work values, study analyzed the effects of culture on work values in Turkish and Ghanaian samples. Reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis are used for testing the power and fit of the measurement model. Findings indicated adequate reliability and fit for the measures used in the study. We utilized correlation analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for revealing the links and effects between variables. Results indicated significant association between variables and significant differences between two countries regarding culture and work values. Results of the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) provided supportive evidence for the positive effect of individualism on normative and self-oriented work values, and positive effect of collectivism on normative work values. Results indicated no significant effects of collectivism on self-oriented work values. Ghanaian participants were significantly higher on both normative and self-oriented work values. Turkish participants were significantly higher on collectivism.