the work values of 1st yr college students

8/4/2019 The Work Values of 1st Yr College Students

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The Work Values of First-YearCollege Students:Exploring Group Differences

Ryan D. Duflfy

William E. Sedlacek

A sample of 3,570 first-year college students were surveyed regarding the factorsthey deemed m ost importan t to their long-term career choice. Studen ts as a wholeidentified intrinsic interest, high salary, contributions to society, and prestige astheir 4 most important work values. Additional analyses found men more likely toespouse extrinsic values, women more likely to espouse social values, and studentsfrom median parental-income groups more likely to espouse intrinsic values. Inlight of these results, counselors are encouraged to place a greater emphasis onthe role of work values in the decision-making process.

Several major career development theorists have recognized that valuesplay an important role in career counseling and in the career decision-making process (Dawis, 2001; Holland, 1997; Super, 1980). Workvalues refer to what a person wants out of work in general and alsowhich components of a job are important to their work satisfaction

(Dawis, 2001; Elizur, 1984). Work values have been viewed as criticalto the career counseling process with college students (Luzzo, 2000).However, empirical studies examining college stu den t work values havebeen limited with respect to vocational skills and interests. In addition,specific groups of students, such as those in their 1st year who are at acritical point in the career process, have received surprisingly little at-tention. The purpose of the current study is, therefore, to explore thegeneral work values of lst-year college students; to de termine how thesevalues differ according to gender, race, parental income, and educational

aspirations; and to examine how the resulting findings may be appliedto career counseling.Recent factor analytic studies have supported a stratified approach to

measuring work values whereby values have been organized within fourbasic dimensions: intrinsic, extrinsic, social, and prestige (Ros, Schwartz, &Surkiss, 1999). Intrinsic valuesrekr to an importance placed on autonomyand interest; social values refer to an importance placed on working withpeople and making contributions to society; extrinsic values refer to animportance placed on making money and having job security; and finally,prestige values refer to an importance placed on having a prestigious and

respected occupation (Elizur, 1984; Ros et al., 1999). In general, workvalues have been shown to significandy predict career choice, and the



significandy predict job satisfaction and job performance (Guastello, Rieke,& Guastello, 1992; Judge & Bretz, 1992; Knoop, 1994; Schulenberg,Vondracek, & Kim, 1993; V odanovich, Weddle, & Piotrowski, 1 997) .

Research examining differences in work values among specific groupshas most often focused on gender, culture, and race. Numerous studieshave found that men typically rate values related to prestige, responsi-

bility, and pay as more im portant than do w omen. C onversely, wom enare more likely to rate social values, such as helping others and workingwith people, higher than do men (Abu-Saad & Isralowitz, 1997; Elizur,1994; Perrone, Sedlacek, & Alexander, 2001 ; Singh, 1 994). Work valuedifferences by race have also been examined in a limited num ber of stud -ies. Black adolescents tend to place a greater emphasis on extrinsic- andprestige-oriented values. White students tend to place a greater emphasison social values, and adolescent White men tend to report work valuesfocused on economic rewards and job security (Carter, Gushue, &

W eitzman, 1994 ; Johnson, 20 02) . In light of this previous research, wehypothesized that there would be significant gender differences and racialdifferences in work values, with men and Black students more likely toespouse extrinsic values, and wom en and White s tuden ts m ore likely toespouse social values. We also examined work value differences am ongparental income groups and educational aspiration groups.

M e t h o d

ParticipantsParticipants were 3,570 incoming lst-year students at a large mid-Atlantic university. Of the participants, 2,124 (59.1%) were White, 3 71(10.3%) African Am erican, 47 8 (13.3%) Asian American, and 189 (5.3%)Latino/a. There were nearly equal numbers of men (1,782, 50%) andwomen (1,78 8, 50%).

Procedure

The data were collected from the University New Student Census, a ques-

tionnaire addressing a variety of attitudinal, behavioral, and demographicvariables. With their informed consent, students were administered thesurvey during a 30-minute time slot during their summer orientationprogram. The purpose of the survey was to attain, for bo th research andadministrative purposes, a general understanding of the attitudes andbehaviors of incoming students at the university. Ninety-three percentof all incoming lst-year students completed this questionnaire.

instruments

Work values. W ork values were assessed by a single i tem on the que st ion -naire asking stud ents which of 10 w ork values was m os t imp or tan t in their



basis of the outcomes of these studies (Elizur, 1984; Ros et al. , 1999),students were presented with 10 work value choices: intrinsic interest,high ant ic ipated earnings, contr ibutions to society, prest ige , workingwith people, rapid career advancement, independence, availability of jobopenings, working with ideas, and the ability to avoid pressure. Thesevalues were then placed into four groups: Intrinsic (intrinsic interest,

independence). Extrinsic (high anticipated earnings, availability of jobopenings) . Social (contr ibutions to society, working with people) , andPrest ige (prest ige , rapid career advancement) . The la t ter two, workingwith ideas and the ability to avoid pressure, were not included in aspecific g ro up for analysis becau se fewer th an 2.5% of the total st ud en tgroup chose these values.

Parental income. Parental income was assessed by an item askingstudents to report their parents ' combined income based on six pos-s i b l e c a t e g o r i e s : $ 0 - $ 4 9 , 9 9 9 , $ 5 0 , 0 0 0 - $ 7 4 , 9 9 9 , $ 7 5 , 0 0 0 - $ 9 9 , 9 9 9 ,

$ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 - $ 1 2 4 , 9 9 9 , $ 1 2 5 , 0 0 0 - $ 1 4 9 , 9 9 9 , a n d $ 1 5 0 , 0 0 0 + .Educational aspirations. Educational aspirations were assessed by anitem asking students the type of degree they planned on pursuing. Stu-dents were separated into three g roups : bachelor 's degree only, m aster 'sdeg ree, and a doctora l /profession al degre e.

Re . s n l t . s

Descriptive statistics were used to examine what the total sample selectedas the work values most important to their long-term career choice, with

the four highest being intrinsic interest (29%), high anticipated earnings(20%), contributions to society (15%), and prestige (12%), followed byworking with people (6.7%), rapid career advancement (5.5%), indepen-dence (3.7% ), and availability of job ope ning s (3 .5%). Chi-S quare analyseswere used to assess work value differences in gender, parental income,race, and educ ationa l aspirations (see Tab le 1) . Significant differencesand small to medium effects sizes (a^; Cohen, 1988) were found in eachgroup: gender (^^ = 154.70, p < .0 0 1 , o^ = .2 12 ), parental incom e (x^ =3 9 . 0 3 , p < .0 01 , a2 = .127 ), race (x^ = 28. 92 , p < .0 01 , o^ = .09 7) , and

educational aspirations (x^ = 28.32, p < .0 0 1 , a^ = .092 ) . M en werem ore likely to espouse extrinsic values, wh ereas wo m en w ere m ore likelyto espouse social values. Students in the group with the median paren-ta l income ($75,000-$124,999) were more l ikely to indicate intr insicvalues, whereas students in the lower or higher income groups ( low,$0 -$ 74 ,99 9 ; h igh , $12 5 ,00 0-$ 150 ,000 +) were more l ikely to ind icateextrinsic values. African Americans and Asian Americans were morelikely to express extrinsic values, whereas Whites were more likely toexpress intrinsic values. Finally, students who sought advanced degrees(master 's or doctoral /p rofessio nal) were mor e likely to choose prest igevalues, while those seeking only a bachelor 's degree were more likelyto choose intrinsic values.



TABLE 1

Work Value Differences Between Gender, Parental Incom e,

Race, and Educational Aspirations Groupings

Grouping

GenderMen (n = 1,702)

Women(n = 1,745)

Parental income$0-$49,999

{n = 299)$50,000-

$74,999{n = 297)

$75,000-$99,999{n = 397)

$100,000-$124,999{n = 720)

$125,000-$149,999(n = 244)

$150,000+(n = 452)

RaceWhite(n = 2,041)

African American[n = 355)

Asian American(n = 464)

Hispanic( 0 = 1 8 4 )

Sociai

n

258

524

67

72

83

159

60

91

474

78

91

41Educational aspirations

Bachelor's degree(n = 613)

Master's degree(n = 1,439)

Advanced/Professional(n = 1,328)

120

297

34 7

%

15

30

22

24

21

22

25

20

23

22

20

22

20

21

26

Extrinsic

n

543

314

93

73

84

180

59

141

476

109

145

50

161

380

296

%

32

18

31

25

21

25

24

31

23

31

31

27

26

26

22

Prestige

n

338

302

70

51

68

137

47

93

364

72

85

42

94

279

261

%

20

17

23

17

17

19

19

21

18

20

18

23

15

19

22

intrinsic

n

563

60 5

69

101

162

244

78

127

727

96

143

51

238

483

424

%

33

35

23

34

41

34

32

28

36

27

31

28

39

34

32

Sig.

.000

.001

.001

.000

a'

.212

.127

.097

.092

Note. Students who chose not to answer these items or marked "I don't know" as aresponse were excluded from these analyses. Sig. = significant difference.

of the sample participants were seeking a career consistent with their

interests, 47% were seeking careers in line with their values, or outcomesthey desired from that career. This is an indication of the power that



men may be more prone to receiving messages that reinforce extrinsicallyoriented goals such as high anticipated earnings, while women may bemore socialized to go into careers related to the work values of work-ing with people and contributions to society. Similarly, students whoseparents had either lower or higher than average incomes may have beeninfluenced by both the negative and the positive effects of salary on a

family environment and thus would have had more extrinsically orientedgoals. For stu den ts wh o were seeking advanced deg rees, prestige may havebeen more of a driving force because careers that traditionally are viewedas prestigious often require advanced training. Finally, the tendency ofAfrican Americans and Asian Americans to espouse extrinsic work valuesand of Whites to espouse intrinsic values may have reflected family andenvironmental influences that students had prior to coming to college(Chung & Sedlacek, 1999; Perrone et al. , 2 0 0 1 ; Sheu & Sedlacek, 2 0 0 4) .If appropriate, counselors might explore with students how these work

values developed and the degree to which these values may be related totheir life experiences.

In s um , the results of the curr ent s tudy prov ide usefiil insights for careercounselors in their approach to working with incoming college students.The data indicate that a focus on work values in career counseling maybe useful for many incoming lst-year college students. However, impli-cations that can be drawn from these results are limited given that theme asurem ent of work values was don e with a single item instrum ent thatwe developed to conform to the space constraints of the entire survey.Similarly, the full range of variables in decision making, such as skills and

personality, were not assessed in the current study.

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the work values of 1st yr college students

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