Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2023.2167222
The stimulus of European Union accession on the personal values formation process: a study of Croatia and Slovenia
Marina Dabić
Carolyn P. Egri
Vojko Potocan
Zlatko Nedelko
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the change in
the personal values orientations of individuals in Croatia and
Slovenia resulting from the countries’ accession to the European
Union (EU). We examined business managers’ and professionals’
value orientation by using four individual-level higher-order
dimensions of self-transcendence, self-enhancement, openness to
change and conservation, as defined in Schwartz’s value theory.
To capture the effect of EU accession, we examined employees’
values orientation before accession to the EU (Croatia N¼276;
Slovenia N¼389) and after each country’s accession (Croatia
N¼223, Slovenia N¼336). This study reveals a substantial impact
of this major socio-political change on the individual value-formation
process. The value-formation of Croatia and Slovenia poorly
follows manifested EU common principles and shared values,
where Slovenians have more aversive look at the EU integration,
then Croatians, what can be assigned to ‘initial enthusiasm’, as
Croatia entered almost decade later. The identified ‘EU integration
gap’ warns that accession to the EU is more associated with reaping
economic benefits than with aligning the country’s values
with those emphasized by EU integration. The findings have
important implications for value management in the EU, single
countries, and organizations.
Keywords
Croatia; European Union; personal values; Schwartz value theory; Slovenia; value formation process; business managers; professionals
Hrčak ID:
306480
URI
Publication date:
31.3.2023.
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