Abstracts

The following thesis aims on elaborating Generation Y graduates' work values in Austria and Taiwan, in order to define organizational attractiveness and further create adequate recommendations for companies' employer branding strategies. Moreover, the underlying shaping experiences that lead to the value system of Generation Y members are discovered and contrasted between the two countries, in order to reveal similarities as well as differences. To acquire the needed information for the study, qualitative semi-structured interviews have been used, questioning four Generation Y representatives of each country. The results showed that, even though revealed work values such as Training on the Job, Flexibility, Change & Variety, Internationality or Sustainability were amongst the most popular job characteristics, the origin of the values occasionally differed between Austria and Taiwan. The main factors that shaped these values were, Family, Previous Work Experience, Education, International Experience as well as Globalization and the rise of Technology.Overall respondents from Austria and Taiwan showed several similarities in their value system as well as in the experiences that shaped them, however, there still exist core differences which should be remembered by organizations. The key to attracting Generation Y in each country is therefore, appealing to the underlying factors that lead individuals to choose certain values, to convey understanding and hence create an attractive environment for the Generation Y international business master student.Advisors/Committee Members: Chun-Tuan Chang (chair), Thijs Velema (committee member), Chao-Hsien Sung (chair).