This paper compares people from former socialist countries with those of non‐socialist countries according to their attitudes toward society, trade unions, work and the organisations they work for ‐ based on empirical data from 15 countries. Results indicate that intrinsic factors of job satisfaction in the traditional capitalist countries have a greater correlation with feelings toward the company and general job satisfaction than extrinsic factors. The opposite is true of former socialist countries. Countries with a socialist past have to deal with the satisfaction of needs at a lower level than traditional capitalist countries and this consequently influences attitudes and expectations toward society, trade unions, organisations and work.
First Published Online: 14 Oct 201
