The Protestant Work Ethic in Barbados

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The Protestant Work Ethic inBarbadosAdrian Furnham aa Department of Psychology, University CollegeLondonPublished online: 30 Jun 2010.

To cite this article: Adrian Furnham (1991) The Protestant Work Ethic in Barbados,The Journal of Social Psychology, 131:1, 29-43, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1991.9713822

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The Journal of Social Psychology, 131(1), 29-43

The Protestant Work Ethic in Barbados

ADRIAN FURNHAM Department of Psychology University College London

ABSTRACT. This study first reviewed previous research on the cross-cultural differences in the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) as measured by psychometric questionnaires. Second, it reported on a study of adolescents in Barbados, where over four hundred children completed eight different measures of the PWE. The different measures were shown to be modestly significantly correlated, suggesting that they were measuring different dimensions of the PWE. Whereas there were no clear relationships between age, class position, and urban-rural residence in PWE scores, girls tended to have higher scores than boys. Overall, this sample of Barbados adolescents appeared to have higher PWE scores than comparable groups from developed countries.

WHETHER ADHERENCE to the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) as described by Weber (1905) by individuals or groups in a specific society or country actually predicts or in some sense leads to economic development in that society is an issue that has fascinated academic and lay people alike. Mc- Clelland (1961), for example, attempted to demonstrate how need-for- achievement beliefs were consistently related to numerous economic variables in various societies at different points in history.

Psychological research on the PWE has been concerned mainly with de- vising psychometric questionnaires, investigating the relationship between PWE beliefs and work-related behaviors, and examining the relationship between PWE beliefs and other individual differences measures of personality, values, and social attitudes (Furnham, 1982, 1983, 1984a,b,c,d, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988). Since PWE questionnaires were first developed over 15 years

1 would like to thank Monica Payne and Earl Newton of the Faculty of Education, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. Barbados, both for help in data collection and great hospital@ during my visit.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Adrian Furnham, Department of Psy- choLogy, University College, London, 26 Bedford Way, London WCI . Great Britain.

29

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30 The Journal of Social Psychology

ago, over 50 empirical studies have been published on the topic (Chusmir & Koberg, 1988; Engel, 1988; Furnham, 1984a, 1990).

People who believe in the PWE tend to have high internal locus of control beliefs (Furnham, 1987; Lied & Pritchard, 1976; MacDonald, 1972; Mir- els & Garrett, 1971; Waters, Bathis, & Waters, 1975); conservative attitudes and beliefs (Furnham & Bland, 1982; Joe, 1974; MacDonald, 1971); high need for achievement (Furnham, 1987; McClelland, 1961); and individual- istic attribution styles (Furnham, 1982). Furthermore, as an individual difference, independent variable PWE beliefs have been found to be powerful predictors of work-related behavior (Greenberg, 1977, 1978, 1979; Merrens & Garrett, 1975).

Although it remains unclear how or indeed whether PWE beliefs are related to economic development, both academic and lay people have been par- ticularly concerned with the PWE beliefs of young people (Schab, 1978). Harris and Stokes (1978), for instance, found evidence that certain groups of Black youth had lower PWE beliefs than Whites, paradoxically because the Blacks had higher self-esteem as a function of being able to fulfill lesser am- bitions.

Studies from numerous countries appear to show that young people remain optimistic, highly motivated, and work oriented. In Belgium, Rosseel (1986) found they were instrumental and pragmatic in their choice of school subjects and that those who manifested an enterprising attitude, self- confidence, and optimism about the future developed an orientation to indi- vidualistic careerism. Similarly, in Australia in a study of nearly 1,000 young workers, Williams (1985) found strong adherence to the PWE. She argued that the PWE, measured by commitment to work, was stronger than ever because it provided ideological support for a system that still requires the discipline to labor. No doubt, until that changes, PWE beliefs are likely to remain high. In Great Britain, Breakwell and Fife-Schaw (1987) attempted to find which of a range of psychographic and demographic variables best predicted levels of motivation to use new technology in young people: The PWE came first, self-esteem second, year of school third, and father’s job fourth, with sex trailing behind and accounting for only a small, barely significant portion of variance in motivation.

These results suggest that young people’s PWE beliefs are highly adap- tive in the modem world. Indeed, having low PWE beliefs seems to be associated with low self-esteem, poor well-being, and reactionary views. It is all the more important, then, according to numerous observers, that adolescents be inculcated with PWE beliefs. Nearly all the studies on PWE beliefs among young people have been conducted in developed countries, with two excep- tions. Munroe and Munroe (1986) found that school children in Kenya who were educated within the Quaker tradition held stronger PWE beliefs than those educated in nonreligious schools. Stones (1988), in his study of South

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Furnham 31

African school children, also emphasized the role of religion, in this case Calvinism, in the development of PWE beliefs. He found, as predicted, that Whites had stronger PWE beliefs than Blacks.

Some of the studies that have examined PWE beliefs in young people have looked at which demographic factors in socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and religion seem to determine PWE beliefs (Harris & Stokes, 1978; Schab, 1978; Stones, 1988), whereas others have looked at the consequences of having these beliefs (Breakwell & Fife-Schaw, 1987). However, these studies appear to have two major, significant drawbacks. The first concerns how the PWE is measured. Many studies purporting to measure the PWE have used highly diffuse and often unreliable and invalid measures. Indeed, it is only the minority of studies mentioned above that have used psychometrically val- idated questionnaires (Breakwell & Fife-Schaw; Stones), though as Furnham (1984a, 1990) pointed out, there are numerous self-report measures, all of which have slightly different psychometric properties. To measure PWE beliefs comprehensively, combining more than one measure, would seem ideal (Furnham & Koritsas, 1990).

Second, although the studies have been conducted in many different countries, few attempts have been made to compare results systematically. By far the most popular measure has been the Mirels and Garrett (1971) questionnaire, which has been used in Africa (Heaven, 1980; Philbrick, 1976; Vandewiele & Philbrick, 1976); America (Beit-Hallahmi, 1979; Dorst, Leon, & Philbrick, 1978; Eisenberger & Shank, 1985; Ganster, 1980, 1981; Goiten & Rosenberg, 1977; Gonsales & Bernard, 1983; Greenberg, 1977, 1978, 1979; Hooker & Ventis, 1982; Iso-Ahola & Buttimer, 1982; Kidron, 1978; Lied & Pntchard, 1976; MacDonald, 1971; Merrens &Garrett, 1975; Stake, 1983; Waters et al., 1975; Australia (Feather, 1982, 1983 a,b, 1984, 1985); Belgium (Rosseel, 1986); Britain (Breakwell & Fife-Schaw, 1987; Furnham, 1983, 1984 a,b,c,d, 1985, 1986, 1987; Wagstaff, 1983); Israel (Shamir, 1985, 1986); Malaysia (Furnham & Muhuideen, 1984); and Taiwan (Ma, 1986). Table 1 illustrates some of these studies, which by virtue of the fact that they provide some means and standard deviations allow for numerical comparison.

Less well-known and frequently used measures have also been used in different countries, such as the Blood (1969) measure in America (Aldag & Brief, 1975; Armerakis, Field, Bederan, & Ledbetter, 1977; Greenberg, 1978; Iso-Ahola & Buttimer, 1982; Wanous, 1974); Britain (Furnham, 1987); and Israel (Rim, 1977). Although there are clearly problems of comparison because of the unrepresentative nature of the sampling, problems with ensur- ing comparative samples, and the fact that the studies have been conducted at different points in time, comparing results allows one to test the hypothesis that PWE beliefs lead to capitalistic enterprise put forward by Weber (1905) and supported by McClelland ( 196 1).

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TABL

E 1

Mea

ns a

nd S

tand

ard

Dev

iatio

ns of

PW

E Sc

ores

in P

ublis

hed

Pape

rs

Scor

e Lo

catio

n St

udy

Subj

ects

M

SD

Quo

te

Afr

ica

East

Afr

ica

Philb

rick

(197

6)

Sout

h A

fric

a H

eave

n (1

980)

Wes

t Afr

ica

Van

dew

iele

&

Philb

rick

(198

6)

Am

eric

a M

irels

& G

arre

tt (1

971)

Mer

rens

& G

arre

tt ( 1

975)

60 B

lack

stu

dent

s (a

ge 2

0.7,

all

mal

es)

99 W

hite

stu

dent

s (a

ge 1

6.7,

all

mal

es)

163

Bla

ck sc

hool

chi

ldre

n (a

ge 1

9.6,

hal

f mal

es)

54 m

ale

stud

ents

55

fem

ale s

tude

nts

40 m

ale

and

fem

ale

stud

ents

103.

57

91.4

8

85.0

85.7

85

.5

86.5

7

1 1.0

3 A

n ex

amin

atio

n of

res

pons

es s

ugge

sts

a st

rong

iden

tific

atio

n w

ith h

ard-

w

ork,

ent

erpr

ise,

am

bitio

n, g

oal-

dire

cted

act

ivity

, com

petit

ion,

su

cces

s-or

ient

atio

n an

d ac

hiev

emen

t ne

ed. T

his

“Afr

ican

elit

e” a

re

man

ifest

ly o

ut-P

rote

stan

ting

the

Prot

esta

nt (

p. 1

75).

9.71

13.7

1 Ea

rlier

rese

arch

in w

hich

Uni

vers

ity

stud

ents

had

a v

ery

high

mea

n sc

ore

cann

ot b

e ge

nera

lized

to W

est

Afr

ica

(p. 4

46).

15.5

16

.2

Res

ults

for t

he fe

mal

e sa

mpl

e pa

ralle

l th

e fin

ding

s for

mal

es a

nd s

uppo

rt a

sim

ilar a

ttrib

utio

n of

cha

ract

eris

tics

to w

omen

who

are

incl

ined

to

acce

pt th

e Pr

otes

tant

Eth

ic (p

. 44)

. Th

e hi

gh P

rote

stan

t Eth

ic g

roup

spe

nt

sign

ifica

ntly

mor

e tim

e w

orki

ng o

n a

task

and

pro

duce

d si

gnifi

cant

ly

mor

e ou

tput

(p.

125

)

13.5

5

W

N

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Gre

enbe

rg (1

978)

D

orst

, Leo

n, &

Ph

ilbric

k (1

978)

Gon

sale

s &

Ber

nard

(198

3)

Hoo

ker &

Ven

tis

(1 98

4)

Aus

tralia

Fe

athe

r (19

84)

Feat

her (

1982

)

Taiw

an

Ma

(198

6)

128

fem

ale s

tude

nts

Stud

ents

12

6, C

alifo

rnia

Sta

te

184,

Ariz

ona

Stat

e 63

, Uni

vers

ity of

92, N

ew M

exic

o St

ate

Haw

aii

21- A

fro-

Am

eric

ans

20 A

fro-

Car

ibbe

ans

76 re

tired

peo

ple

(age

69.

6)

144

stud

ents

(a

ge 2

0.45

, 66

mal

es)

39 e

mpl

oyed

mal

es

32 u

nem

ploy

ed m

ales

39

em

ploy

ed fe

mal

es

37 u

nem

ploy

ed fe

mal

es

707

stud

ents

(age

20.

34)

3 12

mal

es

395

fem

ales

79.2

81

.3

79.0

82.3

86

.3

84.8

0 80

.46

92.1

2

82.2

8

82.7

2 72

.41

82.6

2 84

.65

70.7

3 69

.68

9.85

14

.6

15.1

14.6

15

.5

13.5

1 13

.40

13.3

3

Beh

avio

ur se

ems t

o be

situ

atio

n sp

ecifi

c-th

e su

bjec

t doe

s not

ap

pear

to ri

gidl

y m

anife

st a

pr

eocc

upat

ion

with

, pre

fere

nce

for

and

disp

ositi

on to

wor

k, a

nd to

al

low

this

tend

ency

to g

ener

aliz

e ac

ross

situ

atio

ns (p

. 19

0).

Such

find

ings

und

ersc

ore

the

need

for

ad

ditio

inal

rese

arch

on

spec

ific c

lass

re

late

d en

dors

emen

t of t

he

Prot

esta

nt E

thic

thes

is a

nd la

rger

gr

oups

of

subj

ects

(p. 6

46).

13.7

Une

mpl

oyed

mal

e su

bjec

ts h

ad lo

wer

Pr

otes

tant

Eth

ic s

core

s and

rep

orte

d th

at g

ood

and

bad

outc

omes

acro

ss a

ra

nge

of s

ituat

ions

wer

e le

ss

impo

rtant

to th

em w

hen

com

pare

d w

ith e

mpl

oyed

mal

e su

bjec

ts.

The

lack

of

sign

ifica

nce o

f re

ligio

us

varia

bles

for t

he P

WE

scal

e is

in

terp

rete

d as in

dica

ting

that

the

Prot

esta

nt E

thic

is n

ot u

niqu

ely

Prot

esta

nt a

mon

g co

llege

stud

ents

in

Taiw

an, r

athe

r, it

may

rep

rese

nt a

ge

nera

l wor

k or

ient

atio

n se

tting

ac

ross

all g

roup

s, in

clud

ing

relig

ious

gro

ups (

p. 2

19).

7.95

7.

18

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34 The Journal of Sociul Psychology

The present study examined PWE beliefs among young people in Bar- bados in the West Indies. It had three major aims: The first was to examine the relationship between different measures of the PWE in the same sample, which has been reported elsewhere only by Waters et al. (1975) and Furnham and Koritsas (1990). It was predicted that all measures would be highly significantly correlated and that the pattern of correlations would match the content analysis of the various measures (Furnham, 1990). Second, it was predicted that various demographic factors, such as sex, age, religion, and urban-rural residence, would determine PWE beliefs. The literature on all four variables is equivocal, although it was predicted that PWE beliefs would be negatively correlated with age and urban residence and that girls would have stronger PWE beliefs than boys. Third, the results were compared with those of other comparable samples.

Method

Subjects and Questionnaire

In all, 439 subjects took part: 21 1 girls and 227 boys with a mean age of 16 years (SD = 3.21), ranging between 14 and 18 years. Data were also gathered on the subjects’ religion, birth order, number of siblings, occupation of mother and father, and whether the schools they attended were in rural or urban areas.

Seventeen different religions were represented. The majority of subjects (238) were traditional Protestants-either Anglicans or Free Church Protes- tants. The other large group was Roman Catholic (79). About two thirds of the subjects came from urban and one third from rural schools outside major towns. One hundred fifty students had two siblings or less; 154 had three or four; 63 had five or six; and 48 had seven or more. For just under half of the students it was possible to establish their average class position in terms of academic marks; low scores (i,e., 1st in class) indicate high positions, and high scores (i.e., 20th in class) indicate comparatively low positions.

Each subject completed a 77-item questionnaire derived from eight different measures of the PWE (Table 2). The items were printed in random order. Further minor adjustments were made on a few items to make them appropriate for Barbados.

Procedure

An ex-headmaster and an education inspector distributed the questionnaire to eight secondary schools in Barbados-four older, more established schools and four newer schools. Approximately 60 questionnaires were distributed to each. In approximately half the schools, position in class (expressed as a

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TA

BL

E 2

E

ight

Mea

sure

s of t

he P

WE

Scal

e N

umbe

r of

item

sa

Res

pons

e R

elia

bilit

y V

alid

ity

Stud

ies u

sing

the

scal

eb

Prot

esta

nt E

thic

4 (0

)

Prot

esta

nt W

ork

Ethi

c 19

(3)

(Gol

dste

in &

Eic

hhor

n,

1961

)

(Mire

ls &

Gar

rett,

197

1)

Pro-

Prot

esta

nt E

thic

8

(4)

Spiri

t of

Cap

italis

m

6 (0)

Atti

tude

s to

Leis

ure

8 (2

)

Atti

tude

s to

Wor

k 7 (0)

Ecle

ctic

Pro

test

ant E

thic

18

(9)

Aus

tralia

n W

ork

Ethi

c 7

(1)

(Blo

od,

1969

)

(Han

imon

d &

Will

iam

s,

1976

)

(Buc

hhol

z, 1

976)

(Buc

hhol

z, 1

976)

(Ray

, 198

2)

(Ho,

198

4)

Agr

eedi

sagr

ee

1 or

2

Agr

eedi

sagr

ee

7 to

1

Agr

eedi

sagr

ee

6to

1

Agr

eedi

sagr

ee

+3

to -

3

Agr

eedi

sagr

ee

7 to

1

Agr

ee-d

isag

ree

5 to

I

Agr

ee-d

isag

ree

4to

1

Non

e

SB, .

67

KR

, .79

C

, .7

0

SB, .

70

Non

e

Non

e

C,

. 82

C,

.76

Non

e

Con

curr

ent

Con

curr

ent-

pred

ictiv

e C

oncu

rren

t

Con

curr

ent-

pred

ictiv

e C

onve

rgen

t - co

ncur

rent

Non

e

Mer

rens

& G

arre

tt (1

975)

; G

reen

berg

(197

7, 1

978)

; Kid

ron

(197

8); G

anst

er (1

980)

; Fu

rnha

m (1

982.

198

3, 1

984,

19

85, 1

986)

A

ldag

& B

rief

(197

5); A

rmer

akis

et

al.

(197

7); R

im (1

977)

N

one

Buc

hhol

z (1

976)

; Fum

ham

(1

984b

, 19

85, 1

986)

Ray

(198

2)

Ho

( 198

4)

No

te.

SB, S

pear

man

-Bro

wn;

KR

, Kud

er-R

icha

rdso

n; C

. Cro

nbac

h "P

aren

thes

es in

dica

te n

umbe

r of

reve

rsed

ite

ms.

T

his

list i

s no

t exh

aust

ive.

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rank) was recorded, along with the scholar’s age. Students appeared to have no difficulty with the task, and few questionnaires were returned incomplete.

Results

Relationship Among PWE Measures

As predicted, Table 3 shows that for all measures the correlations were significant and positive, with the predictable exception of the Buchholz (1976) Attitudes to Leisure Scale, with which correlations were negative. Positive correlations ranged from .15 to .47, with the mean about .30. The pattern and size of the correlations are comparable with those of Furnham (1990), although somewhat lower. The unimpressive size of the correlations indicates that the different measures of the PWE measure rather different aspects of this multifaceted concept.

Correlates of the PWE

Sex, age, religion, urban-rural residence, number of siblings, and class position were all correlated with the eight PWE measures as indicated by first- order and partial correlations, although the latter made very little difference to the overall correlation. Age and father’s occupation were correlated with the different measures, yet few yielded any significant differences. Older subjects tended to receive lower scores on the Attitudes to Leisure scale but higher scores on the Ray (1982) Eclectic Protestant Work Ethic Scale, which is in accordance with the previous literature. Father’s occupation correlated with the Ray scale, indicating that the higher the socioeconomic status of the father’s job, the lower the PWE scale score.

The analyses of variance (ANOVAs) concerning religion also yielded no significant differences, but three other factors showed some significant correlations. Number of siblings yielded four significant correlates, indicating that the bigger the family, the more the subjects endorsed the PWE as measured by the Blood (1969), Hammond and Williams (1976), Ray (1982), and Ho (1984) scales. Class position yielded only one significant correlate, but in the predicted direction: The better a scholar in the class record, the higher he or she scored on the Hammond and Williams (1976) Spirit of Capitalism Scale. Finally, the fact that children came from an urban or rural district did correlate with three of the PWE scales. Rural dwellers tended to have lower scores than urban dwellers on the Goldstein and Eichhorn (1961), Mirels and Garret (1971), and Buchholz (1976) scales. There were four sex differences, which were quite consistent: Girls showed significantly higher scores on the Protestant Work Ethic Scale (Goldstein & Eichhorn, 1961), the Pro- Protestant Ethic Scale (Blood, 1969), and the Eclectic Protestant Work Ethic

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TABL

E 3

Cor

rela

tes A

mong

the

Eig

ht Measures

of t

he P

WE

and

Dem

ogra

phic

Var

iabl

es

~ ~~

Mea

sure

and

var

iabl

e A

B

C

D

E

F G

H

A. P

rote

stan

t Et

hic

B. P

rote

stan

t Wor

k Et

hic

C. P

ro-P

rote

stan

t Eth

ic

D. S

pirit

of

Cap

italis

m

E. A

ttitu

des

to L

eisu

re

F. A

ttitu

des

to W

ork

G. E

clec

tic P

rote

stan

t Wor

k Et

hic

H. A

ustra

lian

Wor

k Et

hic

(Gol

dste

in &

Eic

hhor

n, 1

961)

(Mire

ls &

Gar

rett,

197

1)

.24

(Blo

od, 1

969)

.2

0 .4

4

(Ham

mon

d &

Will

iam

s, 1

976)

.2

2 .3

9 .3

8

(Buc

hhol

z, 1

976)

-.

I9

- .4

0 - .2

5 -.I5

(Buc

hhol

z, 1

976)

.I

8 .2

5 .2

0 .I

0 - .0

1

(Ray

, 19

82)

.20

.40

.33

.20

- .2

7 .I5

(Ho,

198

4)

.21

.47

.34

.44

- .09

.27

.27

Age

a .04

.01

.05

.02

- .w

* .oo

.07*

-.04

Fath

er’s

occ

upat

iona

(1 =

high

) .oo

.02

.03

- .0

1 .04

.oo

.lo*

.0

7 Si

blin

gsb

.06

.06

.12*

* .1

2**

-.0

6

.oo

.08*

.09*

Cla

ss p

ositi

onc (

I =hi

gh)

.01

.03

.09

-. 1

2**

.06

-.09

.oO

-.05

2 =

rura

l) - .1

5**

-.I]

* - .0

1 .0

8 .0

2 -.

14*

-.09

-.07

U

rban

-Rur

alc

(1 =

urba

n,

Not

e. A

ll co

rrel

atio

ns of

.I0

are

sign

ific

ant a

t p <

.01.

* Con

trol

ling

for s

ex, r

elig

ion,

soci

al c

lass

, and

sib

lings

(N

= 4

32).

C

ontr

ollin

g fo

r se

x, r

elig

ion,

soc

ial c

lass

, and a

ge (

N=

432)

. C

ontr

ollin

g fo

r sex

, re

ligio

n, s

ocia

l cla

ss, a

nd a

ge (

N=

198

).

*p <

.05.

**

p <

.Ol.

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Scale (Ray, 1982), but lower scores on the Attitude to Leisure Scale (Buch- holz, 1976). (See Table 4.)

Comparison With Other Studies

A comparison of the scores from this Barbados sample with those from other studies is fraught with problems because of the possibility of confounding factors like social class, educational equivalence, and social desirability effects rather than actual cultural differences accounting for the differences. However, when these results are compared with those from other samples (see Table l ) , there is a striking and obvious difference: The Barbadian children had significantly higher scores. Only the Black students from Philbrick’s East African sample showed a higher mean score on the well-known Mirels and Garrett (1971) scale. Similarly, when comparing the other scores with means from previous studies (Furnham, 1990), it is nearly always the case that subjects in the present study had higher scores.

Discussion

This study set out to examine PWE beliefs in Barbados by using a questionnaire derived from seven different measures supposedly tapping the same belief system. The first aim was to examine the relationships between the various measures, which turned out to be positively and significantly correlated as predicted (Furnham & Koritsas, 1990). However, the size of the correlations was modest (ranging from . 10 to .44), suggesting that the shared variance was between only less than 1% and 19%. This result implies that the measures tap rather different dimensions of the PWE and hence are not inter- changeable.

It is not surprising that the pattern of correlations with the independent demographic variables was not consistent: Some PWE measures correlated significantly with the demographic variables, whereas others did not, because different aspects of the PWE were emphasized. Ray’s (1982) scale correlated with age, father’s occupation, sex, and number of siblings, yet Ho’s (1984) scale showed only one significant correlation. When correlations were significant, they tended to be in the predicted direction and/or in accordance with previous findings. For instance, there were a few correlations between age and PWE, despite the age range being restricted to under 5 years.

Three individual differences variables relating to the PWE were examined in this study that had not been considered previously. First was number of siblings, which was a fairly consistent correlate of PWE scores. Barbadian families-with siblings and half-siblings-tended to be large, and it appears that family size was positively correlated with PWE scores. It is not clear why this is the case, unless family size is related to socioeconomic class, religious

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TABL

E 4

Sex

Diff

eren

ces o

n th

e E

ight

Scales

Scal

e

Fem

ale

Mal

e O

vera

ll (n

= 21

1)

(n = 22

7)

M

SD

M SD

M

SD

F

Prot

esta

nt E

thic

Prot

esta

nt W

ork

Ethi

c

Pro-

Prot

esta

nt E

thic

Spiri

t of

Cap

italis

m

Atti

tude

s to

Lei

sure

Atti

tude

s to

Wor

k

Ecle

ctic

Pro

test

ant W

ork

Ethi

c

Aus

tralia

n W

ork

Ethi

c

(Gol

dste

in &

Eic

hhor

n, 1

961)

18

.62

4.53

19

.27

4.21

18

.00

4.75

8.

72**

(Mire

ls &

Gar

rett,

197

1)

95.8

2 11

.56

96.4

1 12

.38

95.2

9 10

.77

I .O1

(Blo

od,

1969

) 39

.12

5.59

39

.71

5.14

38

.58

5.94

4.

55*

(Ham

mon

d &

Will

iam

s, 19

76)

32.4

4 4.

80

32.7

2 5.

21

32.1

7 4.

50

1.39

(Buc

hhol

z, 1

976)

29

.03

7.49

28

.35

7.31

29

.68

7.63

3.

46*

(Buc

hhol

z, 1

976)

33

.31

5.21

33

.68

5.37

32

.97

5.13

1.

96

(Ray

, 198

2)

89.8

4 9.

26

90.7

2 9.

38

88.9

6 9.

09

3.38

*

(Ho,

198

4)

42.2

9 4.

99

42.2

5 5.

27

42.3

4 4.

72

0.03

***p

< .0

01.

**

p <

.01.

*p

< .0

5.

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beliefs, or educational opportunities. If poor families have more children, the PWE scores of these young people at school may reflect a belief that one can transcend poverty by hard work. Urban-rural residence of subjects also yielded some clear differences, with urban having higher PWE scores than rural dwellers, consistent with the findings of Goldstein and Eichhorn (1961).

Class position yielded only one significant difference, indicating that the better subjects did academically, the higher they scored on the Hammond and Williams ( 1976) scale. This variable-academic achievement-has not been examined systematically as it relates to the PWE. Some have argued that there is a consistent relationship between the PWE and educational attainment, although the relationship is probably curvilinear. However, various problems arise: Class position may be neither a reliable nor valid measure of academic attainment; there may be other more powerful predictors of academic attainment, such as simple intelligence, that obliterate any possible relationship between the PWE and achievement; the PWE may be related to academic achievement, but no so much in secondary school as at tertiary levels, where a less structured environment shows greater individual differences.

The results of this study also show that by and large, when meaningful comparisons were possible, subjects in this sample endorsed PWE beliefs more than many other groups that have been examined. There are a number of different explanations, not all mutually exclusive, that may account for these results. First, PWE scores are correlated with conservativism, and because Barbados is a conservative, religious country, the scores reflect its conservatism. Second, the testing situation may have led to the operation of social desirability effects, which in turn lead to high PWE scores. Third, these subjects were a few years younger and educated to a less advanced level than some of the subjects from developed countries, and the high PWE scores may reflect a naivety on the part of the young subjects about the world of work. Whatever the explanation, cross-cultural studies of the PWE have certain in- evitable problems associated with interpretation (Furnham, 1989). One way of coping with cross-cultural equivalence and interpretation is to devise a PWE measure specific to each culture, as has been done by Ali (1988), who scaled an Islamic work ethic. Yet to devise culture-specific measures for each population means that ultimately, they are not comparable.

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Documents

The Protestant Work Ethic in Barbados