Cross Cultural Analysis of Work Goals Criteria for Millennial Students

This paper aims to analyse the cultural influence over the perception of work centrality among business students from 14 countries. The research is based on the empirical analysis of a database of 1,522 questionnaires adapted from the MOW International Research Team. The questionnaires were collected among business students coming from more than 30 countries, from 2011 to 2016. The paper provides empirical proof of a significant difference of perception of what constitutes attractive work goals among an otherwise homogenous cohort due to cultural influence. The main limitations of the study came from the lack of biographical data collected during the gathering of the material, as only the nationality was surveyed. The main results are that receiving a Good Pay is clearly the most important goal to the Millennials interviewed. At the opposite side of the priorities, a Good Job Security scores relatively low to those students. The paper includes implications primarily for the field of cross-cultural management studies and practice, in particular in international human resource management. It should be understood as an additional empirical proof of the influence of culture in management, despite a convergence of values due to globalization