How Do Javaneesee Employees Perceive About Their Job ? : A Study of Javanese Employees Work Value

Siti Nuzulia Siti Nuzulia

doi:10.25215/0204.029

Abstract

Work value refers to an individual‟s perception about work and relates to the meaning an individual assign to work. The brilliance of an organization very much depends on an individual‟s work value, as work value affects organizational behavior, performance, productivity, and organizational commitment. Work value also has its foundation on the cultural background that someone is exposed to, as different cultural values/norms have different influence on an individual‟s cognition, emotion, motivation, and behavior. Therefore, a cross-cultural study that compares relationships between work attitude and aptitude at various cultural levels is required. This research is aimed at finding out the definitions work values hold by Javanese employees, because Javanese is one of the ethnics in Indonesia with its unique and typical custom. This research uses Indigenous Psychology. The participants were 700 employees of Javanese descent. The sampling method used was snowball sampling, in which the researcher randomly sample respondents that met the criteria, and they were then given the questionnaires. Research findings suggest that respondents define work as activities to fulfill family welfare, do something meaningful, carry out religious teaching, apply knowledge and add new insight. The research found seven main Javanese work values, which are discipline, loyalty, honesty, responsibility, totality, good relationship with co-workers, and enthusiasm. Furthermore, the results showed that the most attainable values through working are keeping busy, gaining status and gaining freedom.

Highlights

Work value refers to an individual’s perception about work and relates to the meaning an individual assign to work
Research findings suggest that respondents define work as activities to fulfill family welfare, do something meaningful, carry out religious teaching, apply knowledge and add new insight
The research result shows that Javanese employees work for economic value but for another reason which highest than it; that are to do something meaningful, to carry out religious teaching, to gain self-actualization, to apply knowledge and to add new insight

Summary

Introduction

Work value refers to an individual’s perception about work and relates to the meaning an individual assign to work. Work value has its foundation on the cultural background that someone is exposed to, as different cultural values/norms have different influence on an individual’s cognition, emotion, motivation, and behavior. This research is aimed at finding out the definitions work values hold by Javanese employees, because Javanese is one of the ethnics in Indonesia with its unique and typical custom. The research found seven main Javanese work values, which are discipline, loyalty, honesty, responsibility, totality, good relationship with co-workers, and enthusiasm. Prior research indicates that value is strong motivational forces which influence someone’s behavior (Meglino & Ravlin, 1998). Value explains someone’s choice about what the right or wrong is and what he likes or dislikes

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Conclusion