The Impact of Cultural Values on Worker Satisfaction: A Potential Explanation for Observed Racial Differences in Job Satisfaction

• Main Author: Sanders, Christopher T.
• Other Authors: Psychology
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Virginia Tech 2021
• Subjects: Worker satisfaction; Job satisfaction; Racial differences; Cultural Values
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/103121

The present study examined how cultural values impacted the job satisfaction of 75 Caucasian-American and 80 African-American students currently working while attending college. Past research examining racial differences between Caucasian-Americans and African- Americans show the latter tend to measure significantly lower on reported measures of job satisfaction. The dispositional perspective argues that one explanation for this occurrence is that each group (because of their distinct cultural background) enters the workplace with specific needs and values. Because of this, the work experience will vary for each group. To date, the cause of the distinctive needs of each group has been attributed to race. Recently, researchers have begun to examine the possibility of such racial differences being partially due to cultural differences that exist between these two groups. The present study examines the impact of cultural values on worker satisfaction to help explain observed racial differences in job between Caucasians and African-Americans. Using communalism and spirituality as cultural variables, hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine whether culture would significantly impact job satisfaction above and beyond race. Culture was not found to significantly impact satisfaction beyond race (which showed no significant impact). Control variables in this regression accounted for over 21% of variance in job satisfaction. When testing at the dimension level, culture was found to significantly impact supervisor and co-worker satisfaction beyond race and controls. Implications for using more complete approach to studying racial differences in work values are discussed. === M.S. === The present study examined how cultural values impacted the job satisfaction of Caucasian- American and African-American college students. Past research examining racial differences between Caucasian-Americans and African-Americans show the latter tend to measure lower on reported measures of job satisfaction. One explanation for this occurrence is that each group enters the workplace with a specific set of needs and values different from one another. Because of this, the work experience differs for each group. Past studies have attributed the distinctive needs of each group to race but recently researchers have begun exploring the possibility of such differences being partially due to the cultural differences (rather than racial differences) existing between these two groups. For this reason, the present study examines the impact of cultural values on worker satisfaction in helping to explain observed racial differences in mean job satisfaction scores between Caucasian and African-Americans. Using communalism and spirituality as cultural variables, the current study looked at how these variables were able to account for racial differences in job satisfaction after accounting for race. Culture was not found to significantly impact satisfaction beyond race (which showed no significant impact). Instead, it was the characteristics of the job (including a person’s supervisor and the work itself) and a person’s general mood (either positive or negative) that accounted for the majority of the racial differences in job satisfaction. When looking at specific aspects of the job, culture was found to significantly impact supervisor and co-worker satisfaction beyond race, job characteristics, and general mood. These findings help to broaden our understanding of the relation between culture and race and their impact on what employees will value and experience on the job.