They’re joining the workforce in droves. And they have a set of ethics that’s uniquely their own. They’re the Millennials, individuals born between 1980 and 2000. And if you’re wondering what kind of influence they might have in the business world, consider this — they constitute roughly 80 million people, exceeding the population of the baby boomers by 4 million. In fact, there are a greater number of 23-year-olds today in the U.S. than any other age group. Millennials are surging into the workforce and quickly becoming the future leaders of business organizations, the largest population of consumers, and, as they accumulate wealth, the primary pool of investors.
So who are these people and what do they value? While many consider Millennials as the most educated and technology-savvy population in the history of humankind, little is known about what they believe in or how they view the world from an ethical perspective. Now thanks to Dr. James Weber, professor of Business Ethics and Management and executive director, Institute for Ethics in Business, that’s changing. In a recent journal article, Dr. Weber examined this issue, constructing an “ethical profile” of Millennials by identifying personal value orientations [see below].
“Duquesne University’s undergraduate business students provide a convenient sample of Millennials, with most current students having been born in the 1990s. Comparing Millennials’ data with that of the previously surveyed managerial groups revealed some interesting findings,” Weber said.
VALUE ORIENTATIONS
Personal Value Orientation: personal values tend to be self-centered or intrapersonal in focus. Examples include A Comfortable Life, Happiness, Inner Harmony, Self-respect and Mature Love.
Social Value Orientation: social values tend to be society-centered or interpersonal in focus. Examples include A World at Peace, Equality and National Security.
Moral Value Orientation: moral values tend to have an interpersonal focus which, when violated, arouse pangs of conscience or feelings of guilt for wrongdoing. Examples include Forgiving, Honest, Loving and Courageous.
Competence Value Orientation: competence values have a personal rather than interpersonal focus and their violation leads to feelings of shame about personal inadequacy. Examples include Capable, Independent, Intellectual and Logical.
On Millennials in general:
These findings indicate that Millennials overwhelmingly (3 to 1) place greater importance on values associated with themselves rather than a focus on others, and on values linked to competency skills rather than an ethical perspective.
Some differences are found within the sample of Millennials when accounting for demographic differences. The most significant is: females differed from males. Females emphasize a social, rather than personal, and moral, rather than competence, value orientation when compared to males.
Research also revealed that Millennials with more than six months of work experience demonstrate a preference toward a personal and competence value orientation than Millennials with less than three months of work experience. In addition, Millennials with a grade point average (GPA) above 3.30 are more likely to demonstrate a personal and competence value orientation than Millennials with a GPA below 3.20.
On Millennials in comparison to other generations:
When comparing Millennials’ value orientations to two different managerial populations: today’s managers (Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980) and managers from the 1980s (Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964) some interesting findings emerge. Despite only a small passage of time, Millennials are different in their value orientation than Generation Xers. Millennials also hold unique perspectives from the Baby Boom generation.
This self-focused emphasis is confirmed by previous Millennial research. The group’s orientation towards personal values corresponds to their lesser emphasis on social values. This might seem counterintuitive given the greater connectivity that social media and other communication devices afford to Millennials. But perhaps a lack of direct interpersonal connection affects their lack of a value preference toward a social value orientation.
A deeper dive into the data reveals additional important discoveries, Weber said.
“Millennials, as a group, appear to fit between the managerial groups from the 1980s and today. They place greater importance on competence values (59.9%) than today’s managers (48.8%) but not as much as shown by managers from the 1980s (75.3%). One might expect Millennials to have less emphasis on competency skills given their lack of business experience thus far, however, these students are immersed in an undergraduate business degree and are being taught these skills in their classes,” he concluded.
