Celebrating differences while reserving commonality: work values of Chinese public organization employees

While the profound and rapid changes currently occurring in China may influence and differentiate how work values are structured by employees working in different sectors, limited efforts have been made to address this issue. Drawing on institutional theory and the social psychological perspective, this study collects and analyzes data from Chinese public organization employees, to compare the work values of employees from the state sector, public sector, and state‐owned enterprise. The results reveal some noteworthy patterns in employee work values in each sector, and interesting similarities and differences in employee work values across sectors. This study contributes to the knowledge on employee work values in China by uncovering their characteristics in the broad institutional and organizational context. It also provides practical implications for the three sectors in China and for other developing and transition economies.