A comprehensive test of the values-as-moderator hypothesis: Work centrality (within nations) and cultural values (across nations) as moderators of the relationship between job and life satisfaction.

摘要

This dissertation tested the moderating effect of work centrality and cultural values on the relationship between job and life satisfaction in a large-scale, cross-cultural context. The theoretical premise was that respondents should place higher valence on life domains congruent with their values when evaluating their overall satisfaction with life. Individual- and country-level data from 33 countries were analyzed concurrently utilizing hierarchical linear modeling. I confirmed the presence of significant cross-national variance in the three major constructs of interest, as well as in the relationships between these variables. Work centrality failed to moderate the job-life satisfaction relationship within nations; however, several cultural values moderated this same relationship across nations. Cross-cultural values also served as direct predictors of work centrality. These results suggest that values act as mediators as well as moderators, and also as direct predictors of attitudes. Theoretical refinement is necessary to understand when each pathway prevails, and why.