Impact of globalization on work ethics: A review of existing literature

Abstract

Globalization as a concept surpasses a mere openness to symbiotic economic relationship. Globalization refers to the level of openness and positive attitude towards the products, values and ideologies of other people and cultures. The study reviews existing literature on the impact of globalization on work ethics across the globe and tries to observe possible trends of convergence of work ethics among several countries. Most of the reviewed studies revealed a significant impact of globalization on work ethics. The more recent studies also showed trends of convergence among some countries that are geographically far apart and initially had different cultural orientations to work. Since globalization is a continuous process, the degree of this convergence may vary as time goes on.   Key words: Globalization, global openness, capitalist work ethics, Islamic work ethics, socialist work ethics.