Protestant ethic ideology: Its multifaceted relationships with just world beliefs, social dominance orientation, and right-wing authoritarianism

To examine how different dimensions of the Protestant work ethic (PWE) are related to constructs indicative of conservative beliefs, 256 Americans completed an online survey including measures of PWE, belief in a just world, social dominance orientation, and right-wing authoritarianism. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the PWE dimensions of the belief that hard work yields desirable outcomes and anti-leisure predicted belief in a just world; the dimensions of centrality of work and anti-leisure attitudes predicted social dominance; and the dimensions of morality/ethics, self-reliance, anti-leisure predicted right-wing authoritarianism. We discuss how focusing on specific dimensions of PWE ideology, rather than a global score, enhances predictive ability and boosts understanding of relationships between PWE and other constructs.