The values of Generation Y and their implications for management Study of the individual, organizational, and well-being values of a student population in a business school

Abstract

In a context marked by the decline of extrinsic values in favor of intrinsic values (Ester, Braun, & Vinken 2006; Riffault & Tchernia 2002; Tchernia 2005), it seems fundamental to pay attention to what the subject experiences internally: his/her values. In France, no management research has studied the values of Generation Y. Our approach is qualitative and exploratory in nature. A diverted projective technique (the letter to a friend) is proposed to twenty undergraduate students (Bac+1) belonging to Generation Y (born between 1985 and 1996). The aim is to identify their individual, organizational, and well-being values. At the theoretical level, the results show that Generation Y develops a particular motivation, to the detriment of organizational socialization and in favor of professional insertion. At the managerial level, the results nuance many of the stereotypes associated with Generation Y.