Reference groups and local-cosmopolitanism

This article reports the results of an empirical study to investigate the reference group orientations of industrially employed professionals. Sample personnel included 128 engineers and 51 scientists, who were divided into four personnel types: locals, cosmopolitans, local cosmopolitans, and uncommitted. Through a questionnaire survey, sample respondents provided data reflecting their level of commitment to a variety of groups in which they held membership. Primary findings of the study include the following: (a) among engineers, both cosmopolitans and local/cosmopolitans exhibit stronger orientations toward their internal work groups and external professional engineering groups than locals, and (b) among scientists, locals possess a stronger orientation toward their internal departments than cosmopolitans.