Job related attitudes and ethics in countries with different histories

This article compares people from different countries according to their job related attitudes and ethical values based on empirical data from 15 countries. The results indicate that 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, organisations and work. Attitudes toward society and facets of job satisfaction predict ethical values differently in countries with a different history as well. In traditional capitalist countries ethical values were influenced by attitudes toward society and almost not connected with facets of job satisfaction. In former socialist countries facets of job satisfaction better predicted ethical values of employees than in traditional capitalist countries.