Journal of Management 1998, Vol.24, No. 3,351-389 Individual Values in Organizations: Concepts, Controversies, and Research Bruce M. Meglino Elizabeth C. Ravlin University of South Carolina The values of managers and employees in organizations are phenomena that have captured the interest of researchers, practitioners, social critics, and the public at large. Despite this attention, there continues to be a conspicuous lack of agreement on what values are and how they influence individuals. In this article we discuss how values have been defined and conceptualized. Focusing on values as desirable modes of behavior, we describe how they affect individuals in organiza- tions and discuss some of the salient controversies that characterize contemporary research on values. Finally, we report on a comprehen- sive review of the most recent literature in this area. Values occupy a prominent place in the scientific and public discourse at a number of levels. They are "among the very few social psychological concepts that have been successfully employed across all social science disciplines" (Rokeach & Ball-Rokeach, 1989, p. 775). Values are believed to have a substan- tial influence on the affective and behavioral responses of individuals (Locke, 1976; Rokeach, 1973), and changing values are frequently evoked as explanations for a variety of social ills (Etzioni, 1993), employee problems in the workplace (Nord, Brief, Atieh, & Doherty, 1988), and a purported increase in unethical busi- ness practices (Mitchell & Scott, 1990). At the organizational level, values are viewed as a major component of organizational culture (O'Reilly & Chatman, 1996; Schein, 1985), and are often described as principles responsible for the successful management of a number of companies (e.g., Mitchell & Oneal, 1994). Values have also been characterized as "the most distinctive property or defining characteristic of a social institution" (Rokeach, 1979, p. 51). Despite their popularity, there is a lack of consensus on the nature of values themselves. Among other things, values have been considered as needs, personal- ity types, motivations, goals, utilities, attitudes, interests, and nonexistent mental entities. This lack of agreement (see e.g., Kluckhohn, 1951; Rokeach & Ball- Direct all correspondence to: Bruce M. Meglino, The Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Caro- lina Columbia, South Carolina 29208; e-mail <meglino@dada.badm.sc.edu>. Copyright © 1998 by JAI Press Inc. 0149-2063 351