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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 differ- ences in the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) as measured by psychometric question- naires. Second, it reported on a study of adolescents in Barbados, where over four hundred children completed eight different measures of the PWE. The different mea- sures were shown to be modestly significantly correlated, suggesting that they were measuring different dimensions of the PWE. Whereas there were no clear relation- ships between age, class position, and urban-rural residence in PWE scores, girls tended to have higher scores than boys. Overall, this sample of Barbados adoles- cents 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 so- ciety 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 be- tween 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 con- trol 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 differ- ence, independent variable PWE beliefs have been found to be powerful pre- dictors of work-related behavior (Greenberg, 1977, 1978, 1979; Merrens & Garrett, 1975).
Although it remains unclear how or indeed whether PWE beliefs are re- lated 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 re- main 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 sig- nificant 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 asso- ciated 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 hav- ing 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 be- liefs 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) ques- tionnaire, 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 sig- nificantly correlated and that the pattern of correlations would match the con- tent analysis of the various measures (Furnham, 1990). Second, it was pre- dicted 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 dif- ferent 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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36 The Journal of Social Psychology
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 sig- nificant 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 po- sition 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 sub- jects 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 cor- relations. Number of siblings yielded four significant correlates, indicating that the bigger the family, the more the subjects endorsed the PWE as mea- sured 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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38 The Journal of Social Psychology
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 ef- fects 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 sub- jects in the present study had higher scores.
Discussion
This study set out to examine PWE beliefs in Barbados by using a question- naire derived from seven different measures supposedly tapping the same be- lief system. The first aim was to examine the relationships between the vari- ous measures, which turned out to be positively and significantly correlated as predicted (Furnham & Koritsas, 1990). However, the size of the correla- tions was modest (ranging from . 10 to .44), suggesting that the shared vari- ance 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 signif- icant, 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 exam- ined 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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40 The Journal of Social Psychology
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, al- though 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 attain- ment, 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 be- cause Barbados is a conservative, religious country, the scores reflect its con- servatism. Second, the testing situation may have led to the operation of so- cial 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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