Toward discovering a national identity for millennials: Examining their personal value orientations for regional, institutional, and demographic similarities or variations

• Author: Jessica McManus Warnell,Vanessa Hill,Jeffrey Loewenstein,James Weber,Dawn R. Elm,Patsy Lewellyn
• Date: 01 September 2019
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12177

Bus Soc Rev. 2019;124:301–323.

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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/basr

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INTRODUCTION

Defined as individuals born between 1980 and 2000, the millennial generation is the largest in U.S.

history, surpassing the population of the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) by four mil-

lion and accounting for more than 83 million workers according to 2015 U.S. Census data. In 2016,

DOI: 10.1111/basr.12177

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Toward discovering a national identity for

millennials: Examining their personal value

orientations for regional, institutional, and

demographic similarities or variations

JamesWeber1

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JeffreyLoewenstein2

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PatsyLewellyn3

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Dawn R.Elm4

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VanessaHill5

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Jessica McManusWarnell6

© 2019 W. Michael Hoffman Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden,

MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK.

1Department of Management,Duquesne

University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

2Department of Business

Administration,University of Illinois,

Champaign, Illinois

3Department of Accounting,University

of South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, South

Carolina

4Department of Ethics and Business

Law,University of St. Thomas,

Minneapolis, Minnesota

5Department of Management,University of

Louisiana – Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana

6Department of Management and

Organizations,University of Notre Dame,

South Bend, Indiana

Correspondence

James Weber, Duquesne University,

Rockwell Hall, 600 Forbes Avenue,

Pittsburgh, PA 15282.

Email: weberj@duq.edu

Abstract

Millennials are a powerful workforce group and are quickly

becoming established business leaders, consumers, and in-

vestors. Yet, millennials are often described as a uniformly

homogeneous generation, despite mounting evidence of

variances across their private and workplace behaviors, at-

titudes and preferences, and personal values. This article

examines the personal value orientations of millennials in

the Unites States, reporting consistencies, variations, and

contrasts based on a large sample drawn from seven diverse

universities. Results of this article suggest more similarities

across a national population of millennials than differences,

suggesting a national identity among American millennials.

Practical implications of our findings and future research

are discussed.

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WEBER Et al.

millennials became the largest generation in the U.S. labor force. In order to understand if there is a

common national identity of the U.S. millennial generation, we posit that it would be useful to con-

sider consistencies, variations, and contrasts in their values based on a national sampling.

The millennial population is often described as a uniformly homogeneous generation (see Deal

& Levenson, 2016) despite mounting evidence of variances across their private and workplace be-

haviors, attitudes and preferences, and personal values (Costanza, Badger, Fraser, Severt, & Gade,

2012; Parry & Urwin, 2011). Earlier investigations reported that millennials were interested in so-

cial and sustainability issues and connecting or interacting with others (Murphy, Mujtaba, Manyakb,

Sungkhawanc, & Greenwood, 2010). Yet, Weber (2017) and Weber and Urick (2017), using different

populations of millennials from the United States, found that the subjects tended to exhibit a stronger

orientation toward self‐interested or personal, rather than social values. Moreover, millennials seemed

more interested in values that supported their interests in being competent, successful, or productive

in the workplace, rather than values oriented toward ethical or moral values, a concern for others, or a

social focus. These conflicting findings raise the question of a consistent national identity across this

generation. When Deal, Altman, and Rogelberg (2010) set out to explore millennials at work, they

began with the assumption that “the relatively sparse empirical research published on millennials is

confusing at best and contradictory at worst” (p. 191). While there has been an increase in millen-

nial research published in recent years, it appears as conclusions drawn from this work are no less

contradictory.

This article will review generational research and values theory as foundations for our investigation

of research questions to guide us in our search for a national millennials identity. Specifically, we will

explore if personal value orientations (PVOs) are consistent among millennials in the United States,

despite regional, institutional, and demographic differences.

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GENERATIONAL THEORY AND IDENTITY

Who are millennials, as a generation, and does this generation have a single identity? Sociologist

Karl Mannheim (1970) is widely credited with introducing the “generation” concept as a variable for

systematic study. He described members of a generation as people who share a common perspective

because of common experiences of significant events occurring during their formative years (Kertzer,

1983). Yet, there is disagreement regarding the definition and subsequent operationalization of the

construct, resulting in significant obstacles in the study of generations and generational differences

(Macky, Gardner, & Forsyth, 2008).

Previous organizational research has pointed out the inconsistency in categorization of generations

identifying multiple generations in the twentieth century using different ranges in their review of gen-

erational research: World War II (1909–1933); Swingers (1934–1945); Matures (before 1940); Baby

Boomers (1946–1960, but as late as 1964); Generation X (as early as 1961, and ending in 1975, 1980,

1981, or 1982); and finally Millennials (1979–1994) (Smola & Sutton, 2002, pp. 364–365.) The in-

ability to agree on consistent ranges for generational cohorts makes replicating studies to differentiate

the impacts of various generations difficult.

Researchers cite further problems with interpreting the results of generational research due to the

difficulty in distinguishing generational effects from age, life stage, and historical period (Lyons,

Duxbury, & Higgins, 2007). Macky and his colleagues (2008) note that that even if there is agreement

on the membership of a generational group it is not clear that all members of that generation will ex-

perience the same significant cultural and/or economic events in the same way due to differences in

social class, gender, ethnicity, or national culture. Furthermore, the authors point out that differences