Values espoused by Australian and US organisations

Seventy-seven Australian and 55 US organisations matched by industry were c ompared in terms of their espoused values by using computer-aided content a nalysis to count the value references in their annual reports for the years 1986-1990. Frequencies of reference to nine values were compared using mul tiple regression and cluster analysis, which assigned organisations to one of four theoretically specified organisational types based on their value s tructures or profiles-Elite, Leadership, Meritocratic, and Collegial (Kaban off, 1991). Meritocratic-type organisations were more prevalent among US th an Australian organisations, while the opposite was true for Elite-type org anisations.