Work Values in European Countries: Empirical Evidence and Explanations

This exploratory study mapped work values in European countries and examined socio-economic and cultural explanations of between-country differences in the relative importance of various work values. The data from the latest wave of the European Values Study (EVS) covered 45 European countries. Exploratory factor analysis was used in order to capture the information of initial indicators into a reasonable number of dimensions. It was confirmed that extrinsic (instrumental) work values have more importance in countries with a lower level of socio-economic development. Regarding cultural explanations, no effect of individualism-collectivism was found, but uncertainty avoidance turned out to be positively correlated with affective work values and negatively with self-actualisation.work values, Europe, Maslow’s hierarchy, cultural dimension.

Majandusteaduse matemaatilised alused

Kopeerimine ja printimine lubatudhttp://www.ester.ee/record=b1740725*es

Level of Living and Well-being as Measures of Welfare: Evidence from European Countries

The aim of the present study is to elaborate generalized indicators describing objective and subjective aspects of welfare and analyze the relationships between them based on the sample of European countries. While applying the quality of life approach we differentiate economic, human capital, social capital and emotional aspects of welfare. With help of confirmatory factor analysis generalized objective level of living and subjective well-being indicators to measure all mentioned aspects will be composed. Our results show that in countries with objectively lower positions the subjective assessments on welfare tend to be higher. Although an ideal situation could be imagined where objective and subjective assessments were equal, there are deviations from the equilibrium to both directions

Creativity and security as a cultural recipe for entrepreneurship

We posit that societal cultural values of creativity and security are associated with the likelihood that a person will engage in a business start-up. Creativity supports the opportunity identification and security the opportunity exploitation aspects of entrepreneurship. In contrast, both emphasis on performance and acceptance of risk-taking may not play the role that is typically assumed. To verify our hypotheses we construct a multilevel dataset, combining Global Entrepreneurship Monitor individual-level data with country-level data from the World Values Survey. We use a multilevel logit model to address the hierarchical structure of our data. We found that odds of start-up engagement are higher if people in a society value security, yet also appreciate thinking up new ideas and being creative. Our results support McCloskey’s distinction between aristocratic and bourgeois values, and John and Storr’s proposition that different cultural traits support different aspects of entrepreneurship

Sissejuhatus majandusteooriasse

Kopeerimine ja printimine lubatudhttp://www.ester.ee/record=b2073058*es

Intangible factors and productivity: Evidence from Europe at the regional level

This study investigates how a region’s labour productivity could be influenced by intangible factors such as social capital, government quality, cultural dimensions and religion - factors that have not received much attention in the previous literature. As another novelty, regional-level data (78 regions of 22 European countries) were analysed. In order to take into account the relationships between various factors of productivity, the structural equation modelling approach is used enabling to find out both direct and indirect effects. The results showed institutional trust and civic participation to be the most important for productivity. Individualism appeared to have a positive and masculinity and power distance a negative total effect on labour productivity

Culture, religion and productivity: Evidence from European regions

This study investigates how a region’s labour productivity could be influenced by cultural dimensions and religion - factors that have not received much attention in the previous literature. As another novelty, regional-level data (78 regions of 22 European countries) were analysed. Correlation and regression analysis was performed. The results showed individualism to be positively and masculinity and power distance to be negatively related to labour productivity. When cultural dimensions were included, both general religiosity and the achievement motivation indicator capturing the values of a strong work ethic turned out to be insignificant