Value orientations in business community and its modernization potential in modern Russia

Natalia Soboleva defended a candidate dissertation in Sociology!

We are glad to inform that Natalia Soboleva, junior research fellow at LCSR, just defended her candidate dissertation in sociology at Higher School of Economics! She kindly consented to talk to the Lab website about her thesis and defense.

The topic of my dissertation is “Value orientations in business community and its modernization potential in modern Russia”

In my research I analyze value orientations of representatives of Russian business society in order to reveal their modernization potential. The prospects of modernization are largely dependent upon value system of the crucial actors of socio-economic interactions, including the business community. The wide expansion of modernization values orientations among this group of population is an important factor that contributes to success of economic and social changes in the country.

In my dissertation I focus on the research of the value dimension of modernization. Its importance is most fully revealed in Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel’s modernization theory. Modernization potential of value orientations is expressed first in domination of self-expression upon survival values which is an important indicator of modernization values for the society in the whole. Secondly, for the business community orientation on success and achievements is crucial source of motivation.

The main objective of the research is to reveal the structure of values and value orientations of business community regarding their modernization potential. The survey of MBA students in three business school in Moscow (from June to November 2010, sample size – 222 respondents) and a number of in-depth interviews with the graduates of MBA programs serve as empirical base of the study. MBA students represent different groups of business community sharing the same intention – orientation on human capital accumulation and openness to new.

In my dissertation I elaborate the methodology of estimating modernization potential of business community. To the crucial components of modernization potential refer basic and work values (general basis) and value orientations on means of achieving career success (specific for business society).

According to the empirical analysis the representatives of business community were classified depending upon the character of their basic and work values. Value orientations were systematized according to the prevalent means of achieving career success. It was demonstrated that even among the promising group of business community orientations on means of achieving career success are only partly relevant to modernization. To the modernization “core” of business community refer the minority of the researched group. At the same time the majority share at least one modernization component (basic values, work values or value orientations on means of achieving career success).

Now it is enough about science! I would like to share some of my impressions that have not been written in the dissertation. I worked on my project for quite a long time and of course faced some difficulties. Before finding the relevant research focus I had to completely restructure the text. Not all results were included in the final version of dissertation. I had even to abandon some of really interesting aspects for me.

It is needed to say a few words about the defense itself. This event was much calmer than I had expected. The waiting was far more nervous! I was asked quite a number of questions: what factors influence modernization potential of Russian business society? What characteristics possess the main research group? What is the main principle of building the classification? What is the nature of the final index? A lot of time was dedicated to reading the reviews and my response to critics. Comments of the experts gave me a lot of fruit for thought for the future research.

After the announcement of the results of voting (20 out 20 were positive) I felt tired and happy at the same time. This feeling is familiar to everyone who finally reached the goal. At the same time I was satisfied with my efforts and proud for my success. But the work is not over yet. Defense is not only writing the scientific work but also preparation a huge amount of formal documents. I won’t have much free time in near future.

Anyway the defense of the dissertation is not at all reason to stop. Candidate of Science in Sociology is a very important but not the last step of academic career! I am planning to continue research activity and develop in my publications the results of my dissertation research as well as work on other projects in the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research.

LCSR staff congratulates Natalia and wishes her further academic success!

***Here you can see the synopsis of the thesis (in Russian)