The impact of culture on work ethic

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of culture on work ethic. For this purpose, a survey which compares the work ethic values of Turkish and Canadian university students was carried out. The sample consists of 162 participants, 84 from Turkey and 78 from Canada. The Protestant Work Ethic scale which has 19 questions and developed by Mirels and Garret (1971) was used in this process.Research results demonstrate that culture is an effective variable on work ethic values and significant differences were found among work ethic values of two cultures. According to the research results Turkish students appeared to have more powerful work ethic values compared to Canadian students. In addition, significant differences about 5 underlying dimensions of work ethic that exist in the scale were found between two cultures. Turkish students had higher scores in ?necessity of working?, ?ascetism?, ?negative attitudes towards leisure? and ?use of money and time? dimensions compared to Canadian students. On the other hand Canadian students had higher scores in ?hard work brings success? dimension. The results tried to be discussed by using the Hofstede?s (1980) cultural dimensions model.This research presents the work ethic values of potential employees who are possibly going to be employed by the firms which are doing business in a global trade and labor environment. Results of this study is also important for defining the different point of views on work ethic concept in different cultures and in terms of it?s contribution to cross-cultural literature.