Viewing the cultural value orientations of Austria, Poland, and Turkey through six cultural dimensions : an emphasis on Turkish cultural fit to European Union members

Abstract

This empirical study focuses on investigating the cultural value orientations of the Austrian, Polish and Turkish. As European Union (EU) expands, there is a strong need for comparative assessment of cultural values of the old, new and future EU member. The out-come of the study clearly indicates that there are significant value orientation (VO) differences among employees belonging to the three countries. Nevertheless, while Turkey culturally differs from Austria and Poland, the VOs of the latter two nations demonstrate significantly higher differences. The study also indicates that Turkey's VOs have relatively more cultural similarities with the Austrian than with the Poles. However, when one controls for age and professions, the differences in VOs diminish among the three groups. (original abstract)