Does Culture Play a Role at Work? Examining the Relationships Among Sociocultural Values, Job Satisfaction, and Social Support as a Mediator

Abstract

Current literature on employees’ work attitudes often fails to examine how employees’ specific sociocultural values influence work attitudes. This study of 211 bank managers examined specifically the cardinal sociocultural values (moral values, religious values, communal values, attitude toward others, and family values) within the Ghanaian society and how they influence job satisfaction. The study further tested the mediating role of social support on the relationship between sociocultural values and job satisfaction. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM)/partial least squares (PLS) to test for the relationships between sociocultural values (as the endogenous variable) and job satisfaction (as the exogenous variable) and the mediating role of social support. Based on the results, it is concluded that there exist a significant positive relationship between sociocultural values and job satisfaction. The strongest relationship observed is between moral values, religious values, and job satisfaction. Social support mediated the sociocultural values and job satisfaction relationships, sometimes fully and sometimes partially, depending on which specific sociocultural value was being examined. Theoretical and practical implications of the proposed research are discussed.