Work Values and Early Work Socialization among Nurses and Engineers

Abstract

Tom Hagström4 and Anders Kjellberg4 (4) ’National Institute for Working Life, Sweden Abstract The objective of the study was to gain knowledge of the early work socialization of 498 nurses and 307 engineers in the light of value changes and work experiences. The two groups were chosen to represent contrasting values and socialization conditions as well as typical and atypical gender influenced occupational choices. Questionnaires were completed at the end of their trainee period and about one and a half a year later. Results showed that nurses emphasized intrinsic qualities of work, e.g. self-realization and altruism higher than did the engineers, who, in turn, put more emphasis on extrinsic/instrumental aspects, e.g. benefits. Among male engineers and female nurses the results mainly conformed with the gender stereotypes, but male nurses showed comparatively high preferences for self realization and altruism. Post-materialistic values did not change much and the changes were not significantly related to the work conditions studied. Work values were less stable and the changes showed some relations to work experiences. Increased preferences for benefits were, e.g. related to mental strain at work among the nurses but not among the engineers. A need for a more differentiated perspective on work values beyond the intrinsic/extrinsic dimension and gender stereotypes is stressed.