A cross-cultural longitudinal analysis of the meaning of work and the socialization process of career starters

This research examines the cultural variations in the socialization process of youth, from seven different countries during their transition into the world of work. It represents one of the very few longitudinal studies among young career starters and their work values. We study the extent to which work centrality is trans-national or culturally/nationally specific. The most significant increase in work centrality was found to occur during the second year of employment. At the national level, cultural differences were identified using Hofstede’s (1980) measures. Countries low in uncertainty avoidance were shown to have increased work centrality, while those high in masculinity–femininity appeared weakly influential.