If the socialization practices of younger generations in companies have been explored elsewhere (Dalmas et al., 2006; Fabre et al., 2013), several questions remain concerning generational differences in attitudes towards organizational culture, particularly when confronted with new types of organizations (such as Free-Form Companies, Flat Hierarchies and Agile Structures). The objective of this article is to look at the perceptions of members of Generation Z, which is now starting to join the corporate world. What are their attitudes and preferences related to the socialization process itself? This exploratory investigation attempts therefore to identify the perceptions of Generation Z in terms of shared culture at the workplace of 21st century organizations. This research therefore contributes insights to a real challenge, because as many managers point out, modern workplaces are shared by three (sometimes four) generations of workers. For the sake of our study, we assume that Generation Z starts with people born from 1995 onward (Bassiouni & Hackley, 2014). We use Bourhis’ (2010) definition of a generation as a group of people who have nearly the same age and share similar experiences or historical events, resulting in a similar vision of the world and a common way of thinking.
Studies on the shared generational preferences are not new (see, for instance, the special issue of the RIPCO journal on the topic Generation Y, myth or reality, vol XXII, No. 53.). These studies must however be updated with the arrival of every new generation on the workplace…