Searching for A Stronger Generational Understanding than Just Age: A Multi-Country Analysis of Millennials’ Personal Values and Moral Reasoning

ABSTRACT

Age group typically identifies millennials – those born between 1982 and 2004. Yet our research challenges the designation based on age group by considering this population in the context of an individual’s citizenship or culture. Based on tenets of social identity theory, we explore a citizen’s personal value orientation and cognitive moral reasoning to discover commonalities or differences across individuals from eight countries. We report wide variations among citizens’ personal value orientations and principled moral reasoning despite being borne within an identified age group. We conclude that an individual’s geographic context is a stronger classification descriptor based on values and moral reasoning than their age-based generational categories. Implications for business practice and scholarly research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Millennials
• generational differences
• personal value orientation
• moral reasoning
• culture
• global diversity