Effects of work values on job choice decisions.

Work values have been receiving increased research attention. Ravlin, Meglino, and their associates have recently conceptualized and provided measurement of work values. Although the effects of work values on job satisfaction, commitment, and individual decision making have been studied, work values have not been explicitly linked to job choice decisions. Using a sample of professional degree students and a policy-capturing design, we examined the influence of organizational work values on job choice in the context of job attributes that have been shown to affect this decision process. Organizational work values significantly affected job choice decisions. Individuals were more likely to choose jobs whose value content was similar to their own value orientation. Values are intrinsic, enduring perspectives of what is fundamentally right or wrong (Rokeach, 1973). Work values represent these perspectives as applied to work settings. England (1967) suggested that individual value orientations affect how people behave on their jobs by demonstrating that managers with strong value orientations tended to act in accordance with what they thought was right, whereas managers with more pragmatic orientations tended to behave in ways that they thought were successful. Among individual work values, the work ethic (the belief that work is desirable and rewarding in its own right; Weber, 1958) has received considerable research attention (e.g., Wollack, Goodale, Wijting, & Smith, 1971), and some have suggested that a deteriorating work ethic has negatively affected both the way people feel about their jobs and their commitment to their organizations (Spence, 1985). However, in addition to the work ethic, other individual value orientations have been applied to work settings. For example, Cornelius, Ullman, Meglino, Czajka, and McNeely (1985) used a critical incident technique to elicit the work values of almost 1,000 employees in a variety of organizations. Subsequent work by Ravlin and Meglino (1987) revealed that achievement, concern for others, honesty, and fairness were the most salient work values to individuals. Achievement is descriptive of concern for the advancement of one's career and might be operationalized by willingness to work hard, seeking opportunities to learn new skills, taking on additional responsibilities, or sacrificing personal gratification for work-related objectives. Concern for others is descriptive of a caring, compassionate demeanor and might be operationalized by helping others perform difficult jobs, encouraging