Making a life or making a living? Cross‐cultural comparisons of business students’ work and life values in Canada and France

The contemporary managerial work place is changing; baby boomers, the globalization and an increased participation of females in the workforce is redefining what value systems future managers’ will hold. This paper aims to build upon the traditional research on work ethics which focused primarily on working individuals. It seeks to explore future managers’ value systems on life vs work, in a cross‐national context.

Previously validated questionnaires, containing 33 work–life values, were completed by business students in two French‐speaking regions of the world: Paris (France) and Quebec (Canada). Factor analysis was employed to examine the underlying value structure of work and life.

Five factors emerged, two pertaining to work context, two to life context and one general factor as following: Extrinsic and intrinsic work context, social/society and ego/self‐life context and creativity. Subsequently, a comparison along these values is made between the two regions. Gender differences were also tested along these values. Results show differences in the value systems of these future managers based on region and gender, despite their common French language.

The paper provides a discussion of implications of the findings, within a context of ethics and social responsibility in reference to the stakeholder model.