"Reality Shock": Understanding the Work Values of Young People Entering the Workplace

The stage at which young people transition into the workplace is a crucial yet turbulent time, often creating feelings of flux and chaos, as work values and career expectations can become less stable during socialisation processes. This thesis contributes to knowledge about work values, adopting a mixed methods approach to understanding of the stability of these guiding principles during an uncertain time. Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with young people working in organisations on a training scheme (e.g., placement, internship), and data were thematically analysed to add insight around work value preferences, career expectations and the identities of these individuals. Following this, a longitudinal survey was designed, gathering data at three time points: pre-entry (n=454), one to two months into employment (n=229) and three to six months into employment (n=171). Moderated mediation models were run to test the stability of work values and moderating effects from perceived organisational values, job satisfaction, organisational investiture, self-efficacy and age.

Drawing on the findings from both studies, it is clear that entering an organisation can be challenging, as it does not often match the high expectations held by young individuals, resulting in ‘reality shock’. There were high preferences found across all four work values dimensions: extrinsic, intrinsic, social and prestige, with a particular focus on progression and efficiency, resulting in impatience when these values were not felt to be met by the organisation. Higher work value stability was found during the first month upon entry to the organisation for all values except extrinsic, with these becoming less stable thereafter up to six months. Interestingly, social work values were more susceptible to perceived organisational work values (intrinsic and extrinsic), suggesting more social authenticity when these desired work values were being met by the organisation. This research adds insight to work values theory, particularly through the eyes of young people, questioning the hierarchical structure and meaning of their work values.