Work values of mortuary science students.

This is a descriptive study in an area significantly lacking validation. The focus of the study was the work values held by mortuary science students from 3 educational programs in the Midwest. The Values Scale (D. Nevill & D. Super, 1989) was used to measure the career-related values of a sample group of 116. According to participants' scores, the 5 subscales of Economic Security, Achievement, Personal Development, Ability Utilization, and Economic Rewards were the highest ranking. Work values were examined by gender, race, and other demographics.

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Studies investigating career values and related implications for career counselors have been under way for many years (Roe & Ester, 1999). There have been efforts to examine work values on an international scale (Sverko, 1999) and by gender (Richmond, 1985), race (Walsh et al., 1996), and occupation (Hutchison, All, Loving, & Nishikawa, 2001). Work values have been shown to affect career choice (Judge & Bretz, 1992) and influence job satisfaction (Brown, 2002). Studies in work values have helped career counselors assist clients interested in exploring particular job clusters and the values associated with those clusters. Occasionally, researchers have focused investigations on the work-related values of a particular vocation. As interdisciplinary researchers, we elected to contribute to the literature on work values by examining the common values of mortuary science students.

Attempts to investigate the values and orientations of prospective mortuary science students have been limited. Cahill (1999) conducted an ethnographic study exploring the enculturalization process of mortuary science students to the funeral service profession. Schell and Zinger (1985) explored self-actualization, job satisfaction, and commitment of Ontario, Canada, funeral directors. The funeral service literature is replete with trade articles describing shortages of employees (Hatfield, 2001; Taylor, 1999), employee turnover (Tobias, 1999), and educational standards (Griffith & Smith, 1997; Taylor, 2002). However, the majority of these articles are opinion pieces with little or no documented support or empirical data. To date, there has been very limited research in the area of the values associated with mortuary science work.

Unlike many academically oriented undergraduate programs, mortuary science students engage in experiential activities throughout their educational program. It is possible that these practical experiences require a unique set of values. Accordingly, we developed two research questions: What are the dominant work values of mortuary science students? and What are the similarities and differences of these work values when gender, age, family work history, and ethnicity are considered? For the purpose of this research, our operational definition of values parallels Super's (1995) conceptualization in that values are physical (extrinsic) or psychological (intrinsic) constructs that affect one's motivation to work and influence one's career-related goals.

Method

Participants

Participants in the study were mortuary science students (N = 116) from three mortuary science programs in the Midwest. The mean age of the participants was 26.16 years, with a standard deviation of 7.2 years and a range from 18 to 49 years. The sample group consisted of 16.4% community college students, 26.7% university students, and 56.9% private program students. Individuals selecting funeral service as a second career constituted 36.2% of the sample group, whereas 63.8% of the students reported that this was their first career decision. The distribution of the sample group mirrored the national norms of funeral service education regarding gender (53.4% women and 46.6% men in the sample group compared with 50.2% women and 49.8% men in the national group) and race/ethnicity (62.9% Caucasian, 26.6% African American, and 6.9% Hispanic in the sample group and 59.9% Caucasian, 31.54% African American, and 6.0% Hispanic in the national group; American Board of Funeral Service Education, 2002). (Only data from the three largest racial/ethnic subgroups were used.)

Instrument

The Values Scale (VS; Nevill & Super, 1989) is a 105-item questionnaire that measures 21 values. Items are answered by using a Likert-type scale. Each value is measured by five questions, with the scale ranging from 1 (little or no importance) to 4 (very important). The instrument is written at an eighth-grade reading level and takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes to complete. The instrument's reliability coefficients for college students are between r = .65 and .87, and test items have demonstrated validity when compared with other popular values scales (Harmon, 1988). Because of the lower reliability scores (r < .70) on the Ability Utilization, Life Style, and Personal Development subscales, a more critical analysis should be used when evaluating results related to these constructs.

Procedure

Data collection took place over an 8-day period. Participants were recruited from three institutions using a prepared script. Participation in the study was voluntary and confidential. Participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire and the VS. Participants had 30 minutes to complete the survey.

Results

Our first research question examined the dominant work values of the participants. Means of the five highest subscale scores were Economic Security, 18.23 (SD = 2.10); Achievement, 17.51 (SD = 2.05); Personal Development, 17.12 (SD = 2.08); Ability Utilization, 16.56 (SD = 2.29); and Economic Rewards, 16.51 (SD = 3.10). Subscale scores that were higher or lower than expected when compared with the national norms were selected for further inferential analysis. Mean scores on the subscales Personal Development, Social Interaction, Social Relations, and Economic Security were compared with the national norms provided by the authors of the instrument, as shown in Table 1 (Nevill & Super, 1989). A one-sample z test was used to make the comparison. This sample's scores on Personal Development (z = 3.00, p = .003; confidence interval [CI]: 16.69, 17.55) and Economic Security (z = 7.83, p = .000, CI: 17.69, 18.78) were significantly higher than the national norms. Scores on Social Interaction (z = -5.98, p = .000, CI: 12.38, 13.43) and Social Relations (z = -4.37, p = .000, CI: 13.51, 14.56) were significantly lower than the national norms.

The second research question examined the similarities and differences of work values when gender, age, family work history, and ethnicity were considered. Using a standard alpha of .05, and controlling for familywise Type I error, we selected the Bonferroni method, which yielded a revised alpha of .0045 per comparison. Analyses revealed five significant results involving racial differences. Anglo American mortuary science students reported lower mean values on the Creativity subscale (12.85 vs. 15.31, p = .001) compared with other participants. African American mortuary science students reported higher values on the Advancement subscale (17.56 vs. 15.04, p = .004) and the Personal Development subscale (18.19 vs. 16.78, p = .003). Conversely, African American mortuary science students reported lower values on the Social Interaction (11.28 vs. 13.27, p = .002) and Social Relations (12.38 vs. 14.97, p = .001) subscales than did other participants in the study.

Conclusion

An analysis on the VS subscale scores revealed that the participants' five highest scores were on the Economic Security, Achievement, Personal Development, Ability Utilization, and Economic Rewards subscales. This finding is consistent with the Strong Interest Inventory's (Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994) assessment of the mortician role falling squarely in the Enterprising category. Although the Enterprising/Social/Realistic (Holland, 1997) designation for the profession has also been supported elsewhere, our findings highlight the centrality of the business orientation of these professionals-in-training.

There appear to be significant differences between the sample and the national norms. Scores on the Personal Development and Economic Security subscales indicate that these values were significantly more important to the participants in our sample than they were to the members of the norm group. Thus, the participants in our study may value the stability and opportunities the profession has to offer. Conversely, the scores on the Social Interaction and Social Relations subscales indicate that these values were less important to the participants in our study than they were to the norm group. This is interesting and disquieting, when considering that this profession is people oriented and that the need to network and self-promote is paramount. Individuals with lower scores on these values may encounter greater difficulty in fulfilling the top five values of their group. Future studies might explore why the scores on the Social Interaction and Social Relations subscales were lower than expected. Replicative studies need to be undertaken within the professional population of funeral directors to determine a baseline within the profession.

In addition, it seems that race has a significant relationship to some work values in mortuary science. African American students scored higher than Anglo American students on the Advancement and Personal Development subscales. It is unclear why this difference exists. Perhaps African American students see mortuary science as an accessible profession with more opportunities as a business venture. African American students also scored significantly below other participants on the Social Interaction and Social Relations subscales. This would suggest that these students felt comfortable working more independently than did the other participants in the study. Anglo American students scored significantly lower on the Creativity subscale than did the rest of the sample. This could be a barrier to a successful funeral service career, because the profession is striving to encourage more meaningful, personalized funeral ceremonies for families looking for creative ways to celebrate a life.

It is possible that these differences may reflect the level of prestige or status that the African American community attributes to the funeral director role. The African American community may place greater importance on this role and be more invested in it. Future studies could explore the social significance of this role for different culture groups. Studies examining the relative social importance of the role may help in understanding the special skills required of funeral directors in different cultural contexts.

This study can help career counselors identify clients who have values consistent with the profession of mortuary science. The employment trends in this field (Hatfield, 2001; Taylor, 1999) show a possible shortage of employees in the not-too-distant future. By examining the work values associated with mortuary science students, career counselors may be able to identify core work values that clients may need to attain seniority and to prosper in this profession.

TABLE 1 Means of Participants' Scores Compared With National Norms (N =
116)

                      Sample Group    National Norms
Subscale              M       SD      M       SD

Ability Utilization   16.56   2.29    16.76   2.26
Achievement           17.51   2.05    16.92   2.47
Advancement           15.81   3.20    15.27   3.10
Aesthetics            15.45   3.19    14.17   3.30
Altruism              15.72   2.88    15.33   3.30
Authority             13.49   2.94    13.69   3.25
Autonomy              14.46   3.10    15.03   2.92
Creativity            13.86   3.55    14.38   3.17
Economic Rewards      16.51   3.09    16.05   3.04
Life Style            15.17   2.64    15.51   2.68
Personal Development  17.12#  2.08#   16.46#  2.37#
Physical Activity     12.97   3.25    12.91   3.20
Prestige              15.01   3.39    14.98   3.16
Risk                  10.51   3.67    11.17   3.80
Social Interaction    12.91#  3.15#   14.50#  2.87#
Social Relations      14.03#  3.24#   15.21#  2.90#
Variety               13.86   3.06    13.72   2.65
Working Conditions    15.67   2.70    15.00   2.86
Cultural Identity     13.41   3.40    13.29   3.50
Physical Prowess       9.98   2.98     9.69   3.78
Economic Security     18.23#  2.10#   16.06#  2.99#

Note. Text in boldface indicates significant difference at less than
.05.

Note: Significant difference at less than .05 indicated with #.

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Thomas Shaw, School of Allied Health, and David K. Duys, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, both at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas Shaw, Mail Code 6615, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901-6615 (e-mail: [e-mail]).