Share:


Generation Z and ethicality of advancement in the workplace: a study of Slovenia and Lithuania

    Zlatko Nedelko   Affiliation
    ; Valentina Peleckienė Affiliation
    ; Kęstutis Peleckis Affiliation
    ; Kestutis K. Peleckis Affiliation
    ; Giedrė Lapinskienė   Affiliation
    ; Vojko Potocan   Affiliation

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine the ethicality of future employees’ attitudes toward advancement in the workplace in Slovenia and Lithuania. This study focuses on students representing young adults from Generation Z as future employees in organizations. Using a survey of work-related issues, we collected 212 answers from Slovenian and 159 from Lithuanian' students from business faculties. We used t-tests and regression analyses to obtain results. We found that the future employees in Slovenia see organizationally beneficial behavior and self-indulgent behavior significantly more acceptable for their advancement, than their Lithuanian peers. No differences exist in the perception of destructive behavior among participants from both countries. Substantial differences in the importance of personal values ​​among Generation Z members in both societies, provide a strong support for the divergence nature of Generation Z across cultures. The impact of personal values on the ethicality of different behavior for advancement in the workplace among future employees in both societies is substantial, but biased and follows different patterns. In Slovenia, the dominant role has power, followed by hedonism, benevolence, security, conformity, tradition, and universalism, while in Lithuania, the dominant role belongs to self-direction, followed by tradition, universalism, security, achievement, and power. This study will help us to understand Generation Z values and their perceptions regarding ethicality of advancement in the workplace and enable organizations to manage the behavior of future employees.

Keyword : Generation Z, personal values, Slovenia, Lithuania, unethical practices, ethicality, behavior, advancement in the workplace

How to Cite
Nedelko, Z., Peleckienė, V., Peleckis, K., Peleckis, K. K., Lapinskienė, G., & Potocan, V. (2022). Generation Z and ethicality of advancement in the workplace: a study of Slovenia and Lithuania. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 23(2), 482–506. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2022.16824
Published in Issue
May 4, 2022
Abstract Views
1406
PDF Downloads
1183
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Open University Press.

Bencsik, A., Shujahat, A., & Juhász, T. (2021). Y–Z in the labour market: Employee perceptions in different cultures (Hungary–Pakistan). Business: Theory and Practice, 22(2), 453–461. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2021.13819

Bulut, S., & Maraba, D. (2021). Generation Z and its perception of work through habits, motivations, expectations preferences, and work ethics. Psychology and Psychotherapy Research Study, 4(4), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.31031/PPRS.2020.04.000593

Buzza, J. S. (2017). Are you living to work or working to live? What Millennials want in the workplace. Journal of Human Resources Management and Labor Studies, 5(2), 15–20. https://doi.org/10.15640/jhrmls.v5n2a3

Cennamo, L., & Gardner, D. (2008). Generational differences in work values, outcomes and person‐organisation values fit. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(8), 891–906. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940810904385

Dabić, M., Stojčić, N., Simić, M., Potocan, V., Slavković, M., & Nedelko, Z. (2021). Intellectual agility and innovation in micro and small businesses: The mediating role of entrepreneurial leadership. Journal of Business Research, 123, 683–695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.013

De George, R. T. (1987). The status of business ethics – past and future. Journal of Business Ethics, 6(3), 201–211. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382865

Dimock, M. (2019). Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/

Egri, C. P., & Ralston, D. A. (2004). Generation cohorts and personal values: A comparison of China and the United States. Organization Science, 15(2), 210–220. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1030.0048

Egri, C. P., Ralston, D. A., Murray, C. S., & Nicholson, J. D. (2000). Manager in the NAFTA countries: A cross-cultural comparison of attitudes toward upward influence strategies. Journal of International Management, 6(2), 149–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1075-4253(00)00016-8

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104

Fratrieova, J., & Kirchmayer, Z. (2018). Barriers to work motivation of Generation Z. Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(2), 28–39.

Furrer, O., Egri, C. P., Ralston, D. A., Danis, W., Reynaud, E., Naoumova, I., Molteni, M., Starkus, A., Darder, F. L., Dabic, M., & Furrer-Perrinjaquet, A. (2010). Attitudes toward corporate responsibilities in Western Europe and in Central and East Europe. Management International Review, 50(3), 379–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-010-0034-3

Gabrielova, K., & Buchko, A. A. (2021). Here comes Generation Z: Millennials as managers. Business Horizons, 64(4), 489–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.02.013

Gino, F., Ayal, S., & Ariely, D. (2009). Contagion and differentiation in unethical behavior: The effect of one bad apple on the barrel. Psychological Science, 20(3), 393–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02306.x

Gomez, K., Mawhinney, T., & Betts, K. (2020). Understanding Generation Z in the workplace. New employee engagement tactics for changing demographics. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/understanding-generation-z-in-the-workplace.html

Goodpaster, E. (1992). Business ethics. In L. Becker & C. Becker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of ethics (pp. 111–115). Garland Publisher.

Grunbaum, L. (1997). Attitudes of future managers towards business ethics: A comparison of Finnish and American business students. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(4), 451–463. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017909311756

Guerrero, M., Amorós, J. E., & Urbano, D. (2021). Do employees’ generational cohorts influence corporate venturing? A multilevel analysis. Small Business Economics, 57(1), 47–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00304-z

Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis with readings. Prentice-Hall.

Hochwarter, W. A., Pearson, A. W., Ferris, G. R., Perrewe, P. L., & Ralston, D. A. (2000). A reexamination of Schriesheim and Hinkin’s (1990) measure of upward influence. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60(5), 755–771. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131640021970880

Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Sage Publications.

Hofstede, G. (2018). The 6 dimensions of national culture. Retrieved June 7, 2018, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/

House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Sage.

Jaffe, E. D., & Tsimerman, A. (2005). Business ethics in a transition economy: Will the next Russian generation be any better? Journal of Business Ethics, 62(1), 87–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-0848-2

Janssen, D., & Carradini, S. (2021). Generation Z workplace communication habits and expectations. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 64(2), 137–153. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPC.2021.3069288

Jayathilake, H. D., Daud, D., Eaw, H. C., & Annuar, N. (2021). Employee development and retention of Generation-Z employees in the post-Covid-19 workplace: A conceptual framework. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 28(7), 2343–2364. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-06-2020-0311

Jenkins, R. (2015). 15 aspects that highlight how Gen Z is different from Millennials. https://blog.ryan-jenkins.com/2015/06/08/15-aspects-that-highlight-how-generation-z-is-different-from-millennials

Kaptein, M. (2008). Developing a measure of unethical behavior in the workplace: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of Management, 34(5), 978–1008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308318614

Kaptein, M. (2010). The ethics of organizations: A longitudinal study of the U.S. Working population. Journal of Business Ethics, 92(4), 601–618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0175-0

Kirchmayer, Z., & Fratričová, J. (2017, May 3–4). On the verge of Generation Z: Career expectations of current university students. In Proceedings of the 29th International Business Information Management Association Conference – Education Excellence and Innovation Management through Vision 2020: From Regional Development Sustainability to Global Economic Growth, Vienna, Austria.

Kirchmayer, Z., & Fratričová, J. (2018, April 25–26). What motivates Generation Z at work? Insights into motivation drivers of business students in Slovakia. In Proceedings of the 31st International Business Information Management Association Conference, IBIMA 2018: Innovation Management and Education Excellence through Vision 2020, Milano, Italy.

Kish-Gephart, J., Treviño, L., Chen, A., & Tilton, J. (2019). Behavioral business ethics: The journey from foundations to future. In Business ethics (Vol. 3, pp. 3–34). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2514-175920190000003001

Lu, J., Ren, L., Zhang, C., Liang, M., Abrhám, J., & Streimikis, J. (2020). Assessment of corporate social responsibility performance and state promotion policies: A case study of the Baltic states. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(4), 1203–1224. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.12738

Mahmoud, A. B., Fuxman, L., Mohr, I., Reisel, W. D., & Grigoriou, N. (2021). “We aren’t your reincarnation!” workplace motivation across X, Y and Z generations. International Journal of Manpower, 42(1), 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-09-2019-0448

Maloni, M., Hiatt, M. S., & Campbell, S. (2019). Understanding the work values of Gen Z business students. The International Journal of Management Education, 17(3), 100320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2019.100320

Minton, E., & Khale, L. (2014). Belief systems, religion, and behavioral economics. Business Expert Press.

Moore, C., Detert, J. R., Trevino, L. K., Baker, V. L., & Mayer, D. M. (2012). Why employees do bad things: Moral disengagement and unethical organizational behavior. Personnel Psychology, 65(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01237.x

Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. (1995). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations. Houghton Mifflin.

Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. McGraw-Hill.

Okoń-Horodyńska, E., Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz, A., Wisła, R., & Sierotowicz, T. (2020). New approach to create more effective teams in the innovation process in enterprises. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(3), 805–825. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.12221

Pichler, S., Kohli, C., & Granitz, N. (2021). DITTO for Gen Z: A framework for leveraging the uniqueness of the new generation. Business Horizons, 64(5), 599–610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.02.021

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 539–569. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100452

Potočan, V., & Mulej, M. (2007). Transition into innovative enterprise. Faculty of Economics and Business, Maribor, Slovenia.

Ralston, D. A. (2008). The crossvergence perspective: Reflections and projections. Journal of International Studies, 39(1), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400333

Ralston, D. A., Egri, C. P., Casado, T., Fu, P., & Wangenheim, F. (2009). The impact of life stage and societal culture on subordinate influence ethics: A study of Brazil, China, Germany, and the U.S. Journal of International Management, 15(4), 374–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2009.02.004

Ralston, D. A., Egri, C. P., Reynaud, E., Srinivasan, N., Furrer, O., Brock, D., Alas, R., Wangenheim, F., Darder, F. L., Kuo, C., Potocan, V., Mockaitis, A. I., Szabo, E., Gutierrez, J. R., Pekerti, A., Butt, A., Palmer, I., Naoumova, I., Lenartowicz, T., Starkus, A., Hung, V. T., Dalgic, T., Molteni, M., Carranza, M. T. D., Maignan, I., Castro, F. B., Moon, Y. L., Terpstra-Tong, J., Dabic, M., Li, Y. J., Danis, W., Kangasniemi, M., Ansari, M., Riddle, L., Milton, L., Hallinger, P., Elenkov, D., Girson, I., Gelbuda, M., Ramburuth, P., Casado, T., Rossi, A. M., Richards, M., Van Deusen, C., Fu, P. P., Wan, P. M. K., Tang, M., Lee, C. H., Chia, H. B., Fan, Y. Q., & Wallace, A. (2011). A twenty-first century assessment of values across the global workforce. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0835-8

Rupp, D. E., Wright, P. M., Aryee, S., & Luo, Y. (2015). Organizational justice, behavioral ethics, and corporate social responsibility: Finally the three shall merge. Management and Organization Review, 11(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2015.8

Schenarts, P. J. (2020). Now arriving: Surgical trainees from Generation Z. Journal of Surgical Education, 77(2), 246–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2019.09.004

Scholtz, C., & Rennig, A. (2019). The Generation Z in Europe: Inputs, insights and implications (the changing context of managing people). Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/9781789734911

Schroth, H. (2011). It’s not about winning, it’s about getting better. California Management Review, 53(4), 134–153. https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2011.53.4.134

Schroth, H. (2019). Are you ready for Gen Z in the workplace? California Management Review, 61(3), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125619841006

Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values – theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6

Seibert, S. A. (2021). Problem-based learning: A strategy to foster Generation Z’s critical thinking and perseverance. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 16(1), 85–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2020.09.002

Terpstra-Tong, J., & Ralston, D. A. (2002). Moving toward a global understanding of upward influence strategies: An Asian perspective with directions for cross-cultural research. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 19(2), 373–404. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016299904532

Tolstikova, I., Ignatjeva, O., Kondratenko, K., & Pletnev, A. (2020). Generation Z and its value transformations: Digital reality vs. Phygital interaction. In D. A. Alexandrov, A. V. Boukhanovsky, A. V. Chugunov, Y. Kabanov, O. Koltsova, I. Musabirov (Eds.), Communications in computer and information science: Vol 1242. Digital Transformation and Global Society. DTGS 2020 (pp. 47–60). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65218-0_4

Tormos, R., Vauclair, C., & Dobewall, H. (2017). Does contextual change affect basic human values? A dynamic comparative multilevel analysis across 32 European countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(4), 490–510. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117692675

Trevino, L. K., den Nieuwenboer, N. A., & Kish-Gephart, J. J. (2014). (un)ethical behavior in organizations. Annual Review of Psychology, 65(1), 635–660. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143745

Trevino, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral ethics in organizations: A review. Journal of Management, 32(6), 951–990. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206306294258

Turner, A. (2015). Generation Z: Technology and social interest. The Journal of Individual Psychology, 71(2), 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1353/jip.2015.0021

Twenge, J. M., Campbell, S. M., Hoffman, B. J., & Lance, C. E. (2010). Generational differences in work values: Leisure and extrinsic values increasing, social and intrinsic values decreasing. Journal of Management, 36(5), 1117–1142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309352246

Vizcaya-Moreno, M. F., & Pérez-Cañaveras, R. M. (2020). Social media used and teaching methods preferred by Generation Z students in the nursing clinical learning environment: A cross-sectional research study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218267

Walters, R. (2020). 91% of Millennial professionals think career progression is a top priority. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://www.robertwalters.co.uk/career-advice/91-per-cent-of-Millennial-professionals-say-career-progression-is-a-top-priority-when-considering-a-new-job.html

Weeks, K. P., & Schaffert, C. (2019). Generational differences in definitions of meaningful work: A mixed methods study. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(4), 1045–1061. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3621-4

Zautraitė, J. (2009). Analysis of ethics management in organizations and possibilities of renewal [master thesis]. Faculty of Public Administration, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius.

Zhang, Y., Straub, C., & Kusyk, S. (2007). Making a life or making a living? Cross‐cultural comparisons of business students’ work and life values in Canada and France. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 14(3), 174–195. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527600710775739