INTRODUCTION:

Value Orientation at workplace has gained a lot of attention of management thinkers due to its inevitable role in employees’ performance. Organizations in the present competitive scenario have identified value system to be the element of their success.

Examples of such big conglomerates which are known for value orientation to be a part of their culture are Tata Group, Motorola Corp, Hindustan Times, Infosys, Wipro, etc. Various other corporate giants like Starbucks, The Times of India, etc. also emphasize on the importance of value congruence at workplace in their HR policy.

As per the corporate historic diaries of India there have been many scams in recent years, like, Satyam Scam, Coal Scam, Harshad Mehta Scandal, etc. These scams reveal that employees subside the values and look for personal gains. They illustrate value degradation at work leading to downfall in organizational performance. As a consequence, leaders align their culture with valuesand look for long term stability due to values being nurtured at workplace. One such organization that depicted a zero tolerance towards values being subsided is Tata Group, where the newly appointed chairman was dismissed by the board because of value degradation during his tenure. Though, all his policy initiatives were aligned with the bottom line of the business, but promoters of the group demonstrated no forbearance towards values and the he was dismissed with immediate effect.

Based on these instancesin past, management thinkers have conceptually supported the role played by values in grooming the work performance in terms of performance appraisal, job satisfaction, job commitment, career progression, team effectiveness, etc. Various studies also relate to the factors that undermine an individual’s value system. Certain authors have determined personal factors like age group, gender, family, society, etc. as the contributor towards values imbibed. Such demographic studies have limited applications and have been tested on different cadres of employees. Behavioural constructs that act as precursors to value orientation have not been much discussed in the literature. There are a few conceptual studies that identify individual religiosity as an important antecedent of value orientation. However, this relationship is not yet confirmed empirically.

This paper is an attempt to validate an integrated framework consideringreligiosity as a contributor towards value orientation and its impact on work performance of employees in higher education sector. The objective of this research was to gain useful insights on possible connection between religiosity, value orientation and work performance. This section covers the literature review under the heads of – values and value orientation, value orientation affecting employee performance at education sector and religiosity as a contributor towards value orientation.

Values and Value Orientation: Implication at Workplace:

Value is a psychological as well as a sociological construct which creates a distinction between right and wrong for a particular act. A decision regarding a situation is set within the mind of an individual through the values being nurtured and sustained. Each individual acquires a different sort of value system; thereby everyone reacts in a different manner in the same situation. This different reaction in a particular situation is due to the different ordering state of various values being upheld in an individual. Accordingly, Rokeach 1973¹defines values as a belief system that guides an individual’s behaviour to be personally and socially acceptable. He further elaborates it as an end state of conduct which directs a person in a societal setting. Similarly, Sakin 2011² relates values to be imbibed from the culture and norms being guided by the parents. He states that the social norms and cultural background have a strong relationship with the values being possessed. It also affirms that family act as an exemplar to set values and beliefs that ultimately form a part of personality. Various other authors do affirm the role of parents and family, their cultural norms and society as precursors to values being held and sustained Moore 1987³and Hill and Taylor 2004⁴.

Individuals spend a large part of their day at work, thereforehuman values imbibed play a major role in defining their performance at work. Even organizational behaviour theories have emphasized on the role of value and belief system at workplace. Leadership in Administration by Philip Selznick 1956⁵and Theory Z by William Ouchi 1981⁶reveal that organizations out perform with the help of human behaviour, which is exercised through shared value system.

There have been several researches in recent times also, which study the relationship of values and its implication at work. But it is important to note here that these studies are found to be generic in nature. This implies that value orientation as a subject of inquiry has not been studied exhaustively and many parameters/areas are yet to be explored. Studies discussed below highlight a positive association of values and impact on workplace, but specific factors of performance parameters need to be further examined. A study by Senger 1971⁷ affirms a positive relationship of value system with the managers’ decision-making ability and subordinates’ performance. It concludes that decision objectivity is directly influenced by the subordinates’ level of performance. The study comprehends a significant relationship between the value orientation of top management, their decision enactment and performance of juniors. Similarly, a study by Singer 1975⁸establishes a relationship between value imbibed and successful employers. This study reveals important insights about the role of human relation skills and beliefs on the success of managers. It states that human relation skills are effective among those employers who are high on value integration at workplace.

Similarly, a study by Soares et al. 1981⁹ reports about the high inclination that managers exhibit towards work ethics like, sincerity, dedication, trust, loyalty, affection, etc. The study concludes that leaders/managers focus upon their relationship with employees for better effectiveness in business operations. And this strong relationship between employer and employee manifests through value-based mindset at workplace. Another study by Warrier 1983¹⁰analyses the need of ethics in business organizations of today’s scenario. He concludes that Indian managers depict a high urge towards ethics to be nurtured in business operations. According to the study, managers give more importance to relationship building and team associations rather than the power and politics in the organization. Later a study by Mulvey et al. 1994¹¹ states a positive relationship between value orientation of employees and their attitude towards work. The authors affirm that employees with high value congruence tend to be more happy, motivated, satisfied and committed towards their job and organization.

Meglino and Ravlin 1998¹²conclude a positive significant relationship of human values with the work attributes like job involvement, satisfaction and commitment of employees at work. An association- based model has been represented by the authors stating values as a central variable of organizational cultural. A recent study by Hallinan 2008¹³ states about individual behaviour to be guided by the values nurtured in a social setting. He describes it as a cognitive process of judging a particular situation to be correct or erroneous, thereby influencing the behaviour with others at workplace. A study by Twenge et al. 2010¹⁴ investigates the relationship of work values and employee performance by bifurcating work values into two broad categories of intrinsic values belonging naturally, like, trust, respect, affection, etc. and extrinsic values coming from environment, like, rewards, recognition, power, etc. The study concludes that employees’ performance improvises with intrinsic work values. It leads to the positive impact on work attitude of employees, ultimately leading to effective organizations. Such significant contributions have also been provided by various other authors England and Raymond 1974¹⁵, Denhardt 1993¹⁶ and Masibigiri and Nienaber 2011¹⁷.

Thus, the above intensive literature review reveals a positive impact of value orientation at work, but these studies are found to be general in nature. These studies do not connect employees’ values with some specific parameters of their performance.

Value Orientation Affecting Employee Performance at Education Sector

In this section, we would like to discuss the studies that focus on understanding employee value orientation at education sector. There are a few researches that exhibit the prominent values among the employees and their impact on work performance. Pal 1969¹⁸investigates the hierarchical order of values imbibed in the educators at college/university. The study concludespolitical value as the most prominent value amongst the educators. This indicates an individuals’ urge towards power to rule. This research also highlights that identified employees are high on theoretical and economic values too. This implies that monetary gains and success in long run are their prioritized values too. The values that are least preferred as per the study are religious and social values. Similar results are confirmed by Anderson 1966¹⁹who conducts a comparative analysis of value orientations of employees at secondary schools and higher secondary colleges. The study reveals that college teachers score high on power value whereas; school teachers prioritize the economic value. It is of a particular interest to note that teachers of secondary schools and colleges were indifferent towards religious and social values. Other researchers also report similar findings. After political and economic values, other values in priority are aesthetic, theoretic and democratic values. Least preferred values are religious and social values Kakkar 1971²⁰, Nelson 1971²¹.

In another study, Kulshrestha 1979²²divides values in two broad categories i.e., professional and non-professional values. This study reveals that employees score high on professional, radical and progressive values. Educators rank traditional, social and communal values with low importance. And the least preferred values are found to be non-professional and indulgent values.

Even after three decades, Chaurasia et al. 2006²³reveal almost similar order of values among secondary school employees. This study concludes that teachers score highest on political and democratic values. Further to this, the study concludes that theoretical, economic and aesthetic values are the other preferred values in the order. Religious and social values are given least priority. Correspondingly, Saxena et al. 2008²⁴ also relate to the value orientation among the secondary school employees. This study reveals that teachers prefer social; aesthetic and power value the most. Democratic and economic values are their next preference. The least preferred values were religious value, preceded by health and family-status values.

Apart from understanding the preferred value system of education sector employees, there are limited studies that discuss its impact on their work performance. We would like to discuss the two important contributions that relate to the role of values on the performance of education sector employees. Long back Bowie and Morgan 1962²⁵analysethe relationship of values imbibed andtheir impact on work attitude. They conclude a positive significant relationship of religious and social values on the work attitude that emphasizes towards the school rules and regulations to be followed strictly. This further entails to the dedicated and focused workforce at organization. It also states that teachers high on economic and political values are not much concerned with the rules and regulations. The main priority for them is to attain more and more recognition and financial gains In a comparatively recentstudy, Maiti 2008²⁶ concludes that teachers high on social and power values perform more effectively at work as compared to the teachers that are high on democratic and aesthetic values.

Religiosity as a contributor towards value orientation:

In this section, we would like to discuss a few studies that identify possible relationship between religiosity and value orientation. Religiosity can be attributed as a contributor towards the values sustained and represented at work Saroglou et al. 2003²⁷. This relationship between the two behavioural constructs has been proven in the management literature in the various conceptual studies. In one of the prominent works by Haris and Crossman 2005²⁸, religiosity has been defined as the feeling of genuine care and affection for self and others. The authors further affirm that there is a direct relationship between value congruence of an individual and religiosity. It asserts that positive relationship with peers is due to the integrity and generosity being sustained and imbibed within individuals which is based on the religious attitude.

A study by Katz 1995²⁹ states a positive association between religious mind-set and attitude towards work. This relationship is found to be mediated by the work values being nurtured and encouraged by the leaders. The author affirms a strong positive relation between the religious quotient and work values, which in turn positively influences behaviour. The affirmative attitude at work further entails higher job satisfaction and commitment, leading to healthy environment at work.

Similarly, Hoge et al. 2002³⁰ state that the socialization practices and religious philosophy are the two important parameters that aid in transmitting the values from one generation to another. Values like love, care, serving society, responsibility towards others, affection to all, etc. are comprehended by all religious attitude of an individual irrespective to the nature of religion. The authors assert that message of all religion is same, i.e. to promote peace and harmony in the society. And all the beliefs and faith evolve around the basic social values to be imbibed and promoted among all individuals. Likewise, Zafar 2010³¹ also affirms a direct impact of religion on an individual’s work life. In his exploratory study, he concludes that peoples’ action and reactions are value driven. He further establishes a strong direct relationship between the religious attributes, values incorporated and actions. Such relationship between religious outlook and value orientation has also been supported by Astin et al. 2011³². They provide empirical evidences of a strong positive linkage between religiosity and religious values of an individual. The authors state that religiosity is nothing but the belief system or faith of an individual. And religious values guide an individual to live according to the faith. Thus, the researches affirm a strong conceptual relationship between the two behavioural constructs.

Broad Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses of The Study:

Based on the above discussion, a need was felt by the researchers to understand and further explore the possible connection between individual religiosity, value orientation and impact on work performance. This paper presents account of research attempted to investigate this relationship further. The conceptual framework based upon the above literature review is presented below.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of the Study

Figure 1 shows the conceptual framework of the present work. We identify employee religiosity as the contributing variable of employee value orientation. This is supported by literature as discussed in previous section also Fisher, Francis and Johnson 2002³³; Saroglou et al. 2003²⁷; McLauglin 2009³⁴.

Employee value orientation, in turn affects the performance of employees. This study focuses on the employees of higher education sector. Therefore, performance parameters of such employees are taken into consideration. We identify these performance indicators from the Performance Based Appraisal System PBAS governed by University Grants Commission UGC, India. It is an apex body governing and regulating higher education in the country. Performance Based Appraisal System by UGC, India identifies four broad parameters of effective performance of employees of higher education. These are- creativity in teaching, ability to take initiatives, innovation at work and excellence in performance.

These identified performance indicators are parallel to a few global benchmarked institutions of higher education like Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management, University of Waterloo, Canada, Harvard University, USA and so on. In order to hypothesize a connection between employee value orientation and his creativity, ability to take initiative, innovation and excellence, a literature review was conducted. It is important to discuss here that there are a few studies that indicate possibility of relationship between these variables.

Studies by William 1979³⁵ and Karami and Gururaj 2012³⁶ identify a direct relationship between value orientation and creativity of employees. Bryk et al. 1993³⁷ and Jeynes 2003³⁸ identify possible connection between value orientation of employees and their ability and willingness to take initiatives at workplace. Studies by Pfeffer 2003³⁹ and Radloff 2004⁴⁰ possibly associate value orientation and innovation capacity of employees. Ormell 1980⁴¹ and Oviada 2003⁴² also discuss that value-based approach of an individual works as a motivator to suitable behavior with others and help in achieving excellence in work. The above discussion reveals that the impact of value orientation on the identified parameters of employee performance has been marginally conceptualized in the literature.

Therefore, based upon the conceptual framework of the study Figure 1, we present following hypotheses:

H₁: Religiosity of an employee has a positive impact on his value orientation

H₂: Value Orientation of an employee has a positive impact on his creativity

H₃: Value Orientation of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to take initiatives

H₄: Value Orientation of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to innovate

H₅: Value Orientation of an employee has a positive impact on his performance excellence

In the following sections, we present research methodology and major findings of the study.

RESEARCH DESIGN OF THE STUDY

We would like to discuss three phases of the research in this section. As depicted in figure 2, phase 1 of the study includes determination of the sample size of the study, identification of various standard inventories to measure the variables of the study and data collection. In the phase 2, we identify prominent values of the respondents and this leads us to re-develop the framework for further testing. In phase 3, statistical analysis of the data collected and major findings are discussed.

Figure 2: Three Phases of Research

Phase 1 and 2 of the Research:

Determination of Sample Size:

The geographical scope of the study was restricted to Agra city. It is a representative non-metro city of north India. Currently, there are three institutions of higher learning in the city. One is a state funded university, other is a deemed university, an autonomous institute funded by central Government and the third is a private group of institutions. In this study, we could not include employees of state funded university due to lack of administrative approvals.

Therefore, present study was conducted taking into consideration Government funded deemed university and a private group of institutions. We calculated sample size by using Cocrans formula n= σ² Z²/D² for this purpose. The sample size computed for the study was 309. It was further corrected using Finite Population Correction FPC Malhotra 2011⁴³ using following formula: n_c= nN/N+n-1. Through this, the final sample came out to be 237 which were further rounded off. So, the final sample size of the study was 240. This was further bifurcated on the basis of the population size- 107 Employees of Government funded Deemed University and 133 Employees of Private Group of Institutions.

Preparation/Identification of Inventories for Data Collection

To measure the variables identified in the conceptual framework of the research, following inventories were used:

Table 1: Instruments Used for Data Collection

S. No.	Variable	Survey Instrument	No. of Items
1.	Employee Religiosity	Religiousness Measure Sethi and Seligman, 1993	17
2.	Value Orientation	Personal Values Questionnaire Sherry andVerma, 1998	40
3.	Performance Indicators	Self constructed, adapted from PBAS^* of UGC^**	4 each

Reliability and Validity of Instruments Used:

Personal Value Questionnaire:

In order to measure the value orientation among the target audience, Personal Value Questionnaire PVQ 1998 is used. PVQ examines the values imbibed through the prescribed set of questions, pre-determined by the authors. This scale consists of 40 items and composite score helps to determine the order of human values within an employee. The ten values being measured are religious value faith in God, social value service to mankind, democratic value absence of discrimination, aesthetic value appreciation of beauty, economic value desire for money, knowledge value attainment of theoretical principles, hedonistic value desirability of pleasure and avoidance of pain, power value desirability to rule over others, family prestige value importance to family status, and health value keeping the body fit. A brief description of each of these values is shown in the table 2 below.

With prior permission of the authors, this ranking scale was converted into a continuous scale for further analysis and average score of each value was calculated. Reliability of Personal Value Questionnaire PVQ is being checked using Pearsons’ correlation matrix. Table 3 presents the results of the same. These values depict the strength of closeness of items, i.e., all set of items within the group are closely associated. All the values are found to be above 0.50 depicting a good strength of relationship. Thus, the scale can be considered as reliable for further analysis.

Table 2: Brief description of v 1111111alues measured through PVQ Sherry and Verma 1998

1.	Social	Serving mankind- Charity, kindness, love and sympathy for the people
2.	Democratic	Respecting individuality- absence of discrimination based upon gender, religion, caste, creed, colour, etc.
3.	Aesthetic	Appreciation of beauty- love towards fine arts, music, painting, poetry, dance, etc.
4.	Economic	Monetary aspiration- Desire for money and material gains
5.	Knowledge	Discovery of truth- understanding the theoretical principles, hard work in studies
6.	Hedonistic	Present is more important than future- pleasure of the senses and avoiding pain
7.	Power	Desire to rule over others- exercising authority over others, concerned with prestige and status conscious
8.	Family prestige	Family status- behaviour, roles, functions and relationships with family members
9.	Health	Keeping body in a fit state- considers good physical health essential for development and use of abilities

Table 3: Reliability of PVQ

Variable	REL Value	SOC Value	DEM Value	AES Value	ECO Value	KNW Value	HED Value	PWR Value	FAM Value	HLTH Value
Religious REL Value	1
Social SOC Value	0.720	1
Democratic DEM Value	0.880	0.790	1
Aesthetic AESValue	0.650	0.640	0.785	1
Economic ECOValue	0.504	0.692	0.632	0.594	1
Knowledge KNW Value	0.860	0.713	0.856	0.632	0.824	1
Hedonistic HEDValue	0.640	0.633	0.704	0.792	0.709	0.890	1
Power PWRValue	0.519	0.850	0.629	0.650	0.868	0.710	0.785	1
Family Prestige FAMValue	0.620	0.880	0.722	0.724	0.819	0.841	0.682	0.820	1
Health HLTH Value	0.640	0.756	0.683	0.894	0.644	0.703	0.723	0.747	0.893	1

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level 2-tailed.

Identification of Prominent Values of the Respondents:

The scoring of these ten values depicts some of the values to be prominent on the basis of the average scores. The average scores of ten values for 240 respondents is represented in the Table 5 below.

Table 5: Average Score of Values among the 240 Employees

Type of Values	Average Values Score
Religious Value	2.14
Social Value	2.87
Democratic Value	2.76
Aesthetic Value	1.87
Economic Value	2.69
Knowledge Value	2.43
Hedonistic Value	2.13
Power Value	2.58
Family Prestige Value	1.69
Health Value	1.46

*These definitions have been framed by the researchers as per Performance Based Appraisal System PBAS, UGC, India

Based on the average scoring of the respondents on the mentioned ten values, respondents scored significantly higher on only four values highlighted with green colour. These are- social, democratic, economic and power values. In this paper, we take into consideration and discuss these four values for further analysis. Therefore, the proposed conceptual framework as depicted in Figure 1 is re-developed for further investigation. This modified conceptual framework is presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Modified Conceptual Framework of the Study

In light of the modified framework of the study, we would like to present modified hypotheses of the study. These hypotheses are much more elaborated now.

H_1A: Religiosity of an employee has a significant relationship with his social value.

H_1B: Religiosity of an employee has a significant relationship with his democratic value.

H_1C: Religiosity of an employee has a significant relationship with his economic value.

H_1D: Religiosity of an employee has a significant relationship with his power value.

H_2A: Social Value of an employee has a positive impact on his creativity.

H_2B: Democratic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his creativity.

H_2C: Economic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his creativity.

H_2D: Power Value of an employee has a positive impact on his creativity.

H_3A: Social Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to take initiatives.

H_3B: Democratic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to take initiatives.

H_3C: Economic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to take initiatives.

H_3D: Power Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to take initiatives.

H_4A: Social Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to innovate

H_4B: Democratic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to innovate

H_4C: Economic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to innovate

H_4D: Power Value of an employee has a positive impact on his ability to innovate

H_5A: Social Value of an employee has a positive impact on his performance excellence.

H_5B: Democratic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his performance excellence

H_5C: Economic Value of an employee has a positive impact on his performance excellence

H_5D: Power Value of an employee has a positive impact on his performance excellence

Phase 3: Hypotheses Testing and Analysis of Data

In the third stage, we present empirical validation of hypotheses framed during conceptualization stage of the research. Let us discuss them briefly.

H_1A+B+C+D: Religiosity of an employee has a positive impact on his value orientation

Table 6: Regression Result Set of Religiosity of an Employee

Predictor	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standard Coefficients
	B	B SE	Beta β	t	p	R	R Square	R Square Adj.	F	p
Value 1: Social Value
Religiosity	0.125	0.032	0.315	3.935	0.000	0.386	0.149	0.142	20.737	0.000
Value 2: Democratic Value
Religiosity	0.061	0.031	0.164	1.985	0.048	0.300	0.090	0.082	11.732	0.000
Value 3: Economic Value
Religiosity	-0.165	-0.031	-0.372	-5.264	0.000	0.579	0.335	0.330	59.781	0.000
Value 4: Power Value
Religiosity	-0.116	0.028	-0.329	-4.142	0.000	0.400	0.160	0.153	22.508	0.000

H_2A+B+C+D: Value Orientation of an employee has a positive impact on his creativity

Table 7: Multiple Regression Result Set of Creativity

Predictor	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standard Coefficients
	B	B SE	Beta β	T	p	R	R Square	R Square Adj.	F	p
Social Value	0.495	0.188	0.164	2.630	0.009	0.627	0.394	0.370	16.589	0.000
Democratic Value	0.897	0.218	0.277	4.113	0.000
Economic Value	-1.153	0.157	-0.429	-7.324	0.000
Power Value	-0.044	0.244	-0.013	-0.179	0.008

Table 13: Post Hoc Analysis for Age groups and Social Value

Age Group	Mean	Age Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	Sig.	Remarks
25-35	0.993	36-45	-0.033	0.049	Least at the age group of 25yrs to 35 yrs
		46-55	-0.115	0.012
		56 above	-0.411	0.000
36-45	1.026	25-35	0.033	0.849
		46-55	-0.083	0.178
		56 above	-0.379	0.000
46-55	1.110	25-35	0.115	0.012
		36-45	0.083	0.178
		56 above	-0.296	0.000
56 above	1.401	25-35	0.411	0.000	Highest at the age group of 56 yrs and above
		36-45	0.379	0.000
		46-55	0.296	0.000

Table 14: Post Hoc Analysis for Age groups and Economic Value

Age Group	Mean	Age Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	Sig.	Remarks
25-35	1.105	36-45	0.285	0.000	Highest at the age group of 25yrs to 35 yrs
		46-55	0.271	0.000
		56 above	0.619	0.000
36-45	0.820	25-35	-0.285	0.000
		46-55	-0.014	0.984
		56 above	0.334	0.000
46-55	0.834	25-35	-0.271	0.000
		36-45	0.014	0.984
		56 above	0.349	0.000
56 above	0.486	25-35	-0.619	0.000	Least at the age group of 56 yrs and above
		36-45	-0.334	0.000
		46-55	-0.349	0.000

Table 15: Post Hoc Analysis for Age groups and Power Value

Age Group	Mean	Age Group Comparisons	Mean Difference	Sig.	Remarks
25-35	0.949	36-45	-0.190	0.000
		46-55	0.012	0.984
		56 above	0.210	0.000
36-45	1.139	25-35	0.190	0.000	Highest at the age group of 36yrs to 45 yrs
		46-55	0.202	0.000
		56 above	0.401	0.000
46-55	0.937	25-35	-0.012	0.984
		36-45	-0.202	0.000
		56 above	0.198	0.000
56 above	0.739	25-35	-0.210	0.000	Least at the age group of 56 yrs and above
		36-45	-0.401	0.000
		46-55	-0.198	0.000

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS:

Based on the hypotheses validation and additional findings presented above, we would like to discuss the research findings in this section. As per the modified framework of the research presented in Figure 3, only four values have been taken into consideration for further testing with religiosity and performance parameters. We would like to discuss them individually here.

Social Value:

This value is defined in terms of charity, kindness, love and sympathy for the people; efforts to serve God through service to mankind Sherry and Verma1998⁴⁵. Results of the study depict a positive relationship of religiosity and social value. These results are aligned with the Eastern philosophy. In east, religiosity is supplementary to the social value of an individual. Religiosity underscores interconnectedness and harmony. This concept is parallel to social values.

Findings of the study also support a previous study done by Crossman and Haris 2006⁴⁶. Further, results also indicate that there is a positive relationship between social value of employee and his/her performance. These results signify that people with high social values perform better as employees at higher education. They are more creative in teaching and are more responsible to take initiatives. These employees use innovative practices in teaching and learning and are more cautious for their performance excellence. These results are also aligned with a previous study by Mulvey et al. 1994¹¹ which highlights positive impact of social value on team performance.

Democratic Value:

This value is characterized by respect for individuality, absence of discrimination among persons on the basis of gender, language, religion, caste, colour, race and family status Sherry and Verma1998⁴⁵. Regression analysis depicts a positive relationship between religiosity and democratic value of an employee. This relationship is quite significant and proves inter-connectedness of the two variables. Religiosity preaches non-discriminating behaviour and has close connotation with democratic value. Results also prove that these two variables are closely associated. Employees’ democratic values are also found to be significantly affecting their performance. The results illustrate a favourable impact of democratic values on the performance of employees in terms of innovation, excellence, creativity and excellence at work. These results are aligned with management literature. Previous studies also substantiate this relationship. Kovach 1987⁴⁷ has presented similar thoughts in his work. In his empirical study, he reveals thatsuccessful managers exhibit unbiased attitude towards all by providing equal opportunities to all irrespective of the caste, colour and other subjective criteria. This proves to be a critical success factor in the long run. Thus, the results of the present study regarding positive impact of democratic value of employee on the work performance are partially supported through these findings.

Economic Value:

Economic value stands for desire for money and material gains. A man with high economic value is guided by considerations of money and material gains in the choice of his job Sherry and Verma1998⁴⁵.We find a negative relationship between religiosity and economic values of an individual. This implies a person with higher religiosity has less inclination towards money and materialistic gains. These results can be validated in light of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, need for self- actualization is a higher order need. This need implies an individual’s need for realizing his fullest potential. At this stage, monetary gains do not motivate individuals anymore.

In Eastern tradition, need for self- actualization has religious connotations. This philosophy emphasizes that when people are in quest for truth, their materialistic desires become non-significant. In this study also, we find that employees with high religiosity have low economic value. Thus, these results are aligned with Maslow. When individual goes up in the hierarchy, his/her economic value declines. Further, these results also indicate that there is negative relationship of economic value with performance indicators of employees. This implies that employees with higher economic value are low on innovation, creativity and ability to excel and take initiative. These results are supported in literature too Singh 1979⁴⁸.

Power Value:

This value is defined as the conception of desirability of ruling over others and also of leading others. The characteristics of a person of high-power value arethat he prefers a job where he gets an opportunity to exercise authority over others Sherry and Verma 1998⁴⁵.Regression analysis of religiosity as a contributor towards power value depicts an inverse relationship between the two. This implies that higher the religiosity of an individual, lower would be the power value sustained. This inverse relationship seems to be in accordance with the theoretical and practical manifestation of both the variables.

Religiosity refers to the belief in spreading a message of peace and happiness and contentment. People high on religiosity are low on power value because the materialistic gains and benefits like power and financial stability do not coexist with peace and contentment. Similarly, employees high on power value score poor on identified performance parameters. Such results are substantiated in the research work of England and Raymond 1974¹⁵. In this study, researchers examine the value profile of managers of different industries and conclude that the managers who are high on values like integrity, trust and harmony, overlook their personal gains like money and power. In long run, such managers are more successful than those who are power hungry.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS:

This research has significant implications for human resource management at institutions of higher education in particular and for other organizations in general. Findings of the study give useful insights into the behavioral constructs of employee performance. Through this study, individual religiosity and value orientation are established as emerging antecedents of performance of employees at higher education. A close connect between social and democratic values of employees with the ability to achieve excellence at work, take initiatives and being creative and innovative have significant imperatives for hiring at higher education institutions. These findings are also useful for organizations at large. Empirical validation of the proposed conceptual framework is an important contribution to the literature. Figure 4, given below denotes the concluding research framework of the study.

Figure 4: Concluding Framework of the Study

This establishes positive connect between social and democratic values and negative connection between economic and power value with identified indicators of employee performance. This framework can be further tested with reference to employees at large. A sector wise validation of this framework can be attempted in future to test the universal applicability of this framework. The sectoral comparison can lead to useful insights to human resource practitioners. Apart from business implications, this study has significant insights for policy makers. In the emerging economy of India, the role of higher education is crucial for nurturing the employable generation. Employees of higher education institutions have the capacity to directly influence the budding generation. This interaction is critical to the process of nation building. Therefore, value orientation of employees at higher education has a long- lasting impact on this process. Through this study, researchers have presented an integrated framework of religiosity, values and performance. Higher education authorities and apex bodies may like to align their talent management policy with the findings of this study.

Apart from identified four values adapted from the Personal Value Questionnaire PVQ, other values can be tested using the similar approach. Other antecedents of value orientation apart from religiosity can further be added to framework and tested. Impact of values of employees on the most important stakeholders of higher education i.e. students can also be an interesting area of future work. Validity of this framework for entrepreneurial success can also be a scope of future work.

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Received on 02.11.2023 Modified on 14.02.2024

Asian Journal of Management. 2024;15(2):159-171.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2024.00026

Reliability Analysis
S. No.	Construct	Instrument	No. of Items	Cronbach's Alpha	Comments	Composite Reliability
1	Religiosity	Religiousness Measure Sethi and Seligman, 1993	17	0.879	Good	0.955
2	Innovation	Self constructed, adapted from PBAS^*of UGC	6	0.878	Good	0.919
3	Excellence	Self constructed, adapted from PBAS^* of UGC	4	0.826	Good	0.906
4	Creativity	Self constructed, adapted from PBAS^* of UGC	4	0.852	Good	0.923
5	Initiative	Self constructed, adapted from PBAS^* of UGC	4	0.904	Excellent	0.953

Predictor	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standard Coefficients
	B	B SE	Beta β	t	P	R	R Square	R Square Adj.	F	p
Social Value	0.748	0.226	0.197	3.310	0.001	0.672	0.452	0.430	21.074	0.000
Democratic Value	1.442	0.262	0.352	5.508	0.000
Economic Value	-1.499	0.197	-0.442	-7.592	0.000
Power Value	-0.120	0.293	-0.028	-0.408	0.003

Predictor	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standard Coefficients
	B	B SE	Beta β	T	P	R	R Square	R Square Adj.	F	p
Social Value	0.941	0.192	0.291	4.901	0.000	0.674	0.454	0.433	21.276	0.000
Democratic Value	1.208	0.223	0.347	5.429	0.000
Economic Value	-1.327	0.167	-0.459	-7.968	0.000
Power Value	-0.352	0.249	-0.097	-1.415	0.015

					Levene's Test		T Test		Remarks
S. No.	Type of Value	Gender	Mean	Std. Deviation	f	sig.	t	sig.
1	Social Value	Male	1.056	0.263	0.002	0.965	-1.466	0.144	No significant difference
		Female	1.105	0.261
2	Democratic Value	Male	1.128	0.233	6.411	0.012	8.878	0.000	Males are high
		Female	0.889	0.185
3	Economic Value	Male	0.859	0.299	0.560	0.455	-1.748	0.082	No significant difference
		Female	0.925	0.285
4	Power Value	Male	1.018	0.271	34.459	0.000	3.635	0.000	Males are high
		Female	0.916	0.160