Global Millennials: Similarities and Differences of a Generation Across Cultures and Countries

• In Event: Millennials: Influencers and Motivators

Short Description

A literature review of global millennials provides insight into how national culture influences the values of the generation. The presenter will compare how millennials behave in various countries not just based on their national culture, but also based on their generation. Findings will help influence how people interact and lead millennials around the world.

Detailed Abstract

Much is known about how the American Millennial Generation behaves in society and the workplace (Alsop, 2008; Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009), yet less is written about the generation that does not reside in the United States or were raised in other cultures. This paper seeks to identify what is known about the generation across borders while accounting for culture.

The term, “Millennials” was created by Howe and Strauss (1992) to refer to Americans born between the years 1980 to 1995. The Millennial generation is known by many different names. Tulgan (2009) calls Millennials the “Y Generation” since the previous generation was known as Generation X. Palfrey and Gasser (2010) prefer “digital natives” because of the invention of the Internet during the Millennials lives. Lipkin (2009) refers to the Millennials as the “me-first generation” since members of the generation are often characterized by their propensity to want their needs to be addressed first. Alsop (2008) named them, “trophy kids” since they are the pride and joy of their parents who put pressure on them to be successful in their overscheduled lives consisting of academics, sports, extracurriculars, and volunteer work. Parents of Millennials are typically from the Baby Boomer generation, which is also the generation that preceded Generation X. Regardless of the name, the Millennial generation includes those born between 1980 to 1995 (Williams, 2015). Other researchers extend the age range to those born in 1980 to 1999 (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009). In order to provide the broadest possible perspective regarding Millennials, the age range included in this presentation will be those born from 1980 to 1999.

Culture is defined as “a shared system of meanings [and] values.” (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 2012, p. 17) Additionally culture can be defined as “a ‘here and now’ dynamic phenomenon and a coercive background structure that influences us in multiple ways.” (Schein, 2010, p. 3) Culture is important because it is learned and helps people solve problems and understand the world around them. While the values, norms, and beliefs that influence decision-making are not always conscious, we can study the behaviors and the enacted values to make conscious what was once unconscious. Additionally, culture can manifest beyond values as symbols, heroes, and rituals. Symbols can be pictures or objects that have meaning to a specific culture. Heroes serve as prototypes of acceptable behavior. Rituals are the activities that the culture conducts. Values are what one culture prefers. For example, the value placed on beauty may differ by culture however beauty is defined by the culture is valued over how the culture defines what is ugly (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). Plus, culture can be emic (how we compare cultural beliefs across groups) or etic (common human values). An example of an etic value is compassion (Earley & Ang, 2003). Culture can be macro, such as national culture, and can exist in organizations and in subcultures within work groups and families (Schein, 2010). Culture is also important because we are constantly trying to solve dilemmas with people who have different cultures than our own and we need awareness of those cultures in order to make better choices that yield superior outcomes (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 2012).

Together, definitions of culture are utilized in this study to bring together a greater understanding of how culture can affect a generation. The cultural model used in this study is GLOBE, which has the following nine dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, humane orientation, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, assertiveness, gender egalitarianism, future orientation, and performance orientation (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). GLOBE is a premier model of culture since it incorporates all of its predecessors, it is not without its flaws. One critique of GLOBE is that is only includes managers in organizations and thus is organizational culture focused instead of being tested in other contexts.
A literature review was conducted to determine how much we know about the characteristics of Millennials outside of the United States. Since generational studies, much like cultural studies are “intelligent stereotypes,” this theoretical paper aims to provide a clearer picture on what is already known and how Millennials in other countries are similar and different than American Millennials. This will provide society and businesses the ability to connect with the values Millennials express in a specific context or culture for better work productivity and leadership capabilities.

Preliminary findings suggest there are both similarities differences based on cultures. For example, Alsop (2008) notes that there are overarching themes across global Millennials. He states that most global Millennials value their relationships, use technology to make and retain friends, are optimistic, and desire to change the world. However, there are also country specific similarities. Alsop (2008) notes that both Australian and Chinese Millennials are more likely to be “job hoppers” a stereotype of American Millennials. Whereas, British and Canadian Millennials are more likely to rely on their parents for support and live with their parents longer than previous generations much in the same way as American Millennials. Some of these characteristics are similar to characteristics of national cultures in which Millennials reside. For example, western cultures tend to have similar values and thus, there is more likely similarities amongst the Millennials from those cultures.

Implications of this research hopes to contribute to the knowledge of how Millennials behave in various countries not just based on their national culture, but also based on their generation. Findings and outcomes will help influence how people interact and lead Millennials from all over the world.

Participant

• Stephanie A. Van Dellen, University of San Diego