How Universities Differentiate Work Values of Its Students: Evidence from 350 Universities with Different Places in Ratings

Work values are considered to be significant predictors of career paths and future success of the individuals. Classical and contemporary research acknowledge that work values are formed while studying at university through the process of acquainting particular professional identity and work ethic. Thus, it becomes important to understand how work values of students are differentiated in the period of getting education and discuss how certain characteristics of universities can differentiate attitudes to future jobs. In current study I focus on the ratings of the universities which was composed by Forbes Education Russian agency in 2021 and accounted for four substantial parameters of universities: demand of graduates from potential employers, networking opportunities, quality of education, international recognition of university. That data on university ratings was combined with the data from a survey of Russian university students, which was carried out in summer of 2021 online. The final sample comprises of 14,8 thousand students under the age of 29 from more than 350 universities with diverse characteristics and missions. Work values were measured through the questions about preferable characteristics of future work places as well as via agreement with statements about attitudes towards future jobs. The results of multilevel multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrated that students from top-20 universities with best networking capabilities tend to proclaim intrinsic and socially oriented work values, as well as lower orientation on entrepreneurship; students from top-15 internationally recognized universities are more oriented on flexible work arrangements and show higher orientation on work-life balance; students from top-20 universities with best quality of education are more confident in finding job positions of a high quality and ready to work overtime; students from top-20 universities in demand by employers are less oriented on entrepreneurship. The results were controlled for socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and other independent variables.