SOCIETAL CULTURE: A COMPARISON OF ROMANIAN, AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE

Our study compares the studentsa€ view on the existing cultural practices with their ideal societal value system in compared societies. For the purpose of this investigation, Austria and Germany were selected to represent Central European values since they are seen as a a€ bridgea€ between Eastern and Western European societal values. The research findings are helpful in identifying signs of cultural convergence of Romanian societal culture with Central European values. In doing so, our study will hopefully broaden the body of knowledge about the cultural harmonization between newer and older members of European Union. As seen in the literature review section, such studies started only a few years ago. Comparison of Romanian, Austrian and German studentsa€ perspective on societal culture is performed for the first time by the authors of this study. \\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\nThe underlying assumption of the study is that the future middle managers will mostly come from the graduates of business and engineering fields of study. The research sample consists of 1086 undergraduate and graduate students. The main research question concerns the differences between the Romanian, Austrian and German studentsa€ view on societal culture. The theoretical and methodological foundation of the study is rooted in GLOBE international research project. Our findings revealed significant differences between perceptions of actual practices and expectations between the compared groups.\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\n