Cullen, John G. (2013) Beliefs about work and beliefs about groupwork: Exploring the relationship. Unpublished working paper. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Smrt & Karau’s (2011) finding that the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) influences individual behaviour towards groups, emphasized that individuals who have a stronger PWE are less likely to socially loaf. This note aims to contribute to this research by exploring the influence which a key component of the PWE, the vocation, has on individual beliefs about groupwork. An online questionnaire based on Wrzesniewski et al.’s (1997) research on personal relationships to work and Karau & Elsaid’s (2009) research on beliefs about groupwork was deployed amongst a cohort of business undergraduates at an Irish university. It was hypothesized that students who sought a ‘vocational’ relationship to their work would harbour more positive dispositions to groupwork than students who sought ‘jobs’ or ‘careers’. The results refuted this hypothesis. Possible explanations for this are considered, limitations of the study are discussed and avenues for future research are signposted.

Item Type:	Other
Keywords:	Vocation; Beliefs; Groupwork; Work Ethic;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	4361
Depositing User:	Dr. John G. Cullen
Date Deposited:	13 May 2013 16:13
Publisher:	Unpublished working paper
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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