In this work, experimentally determined values of electron spectroscopic shifts induced by nitrogen in Ge core levels of substoichiometric amorphous germanium‐nitrogen (a‐GeN) alloys are discussed and presented. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and x‐ray excited Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES) are employed to study the behavior of the Ge 3dand LMM spectra, respectively, and combined the corresponding XPS and Auger core levels shifts to determine &Dgr;&agr;’, the modified Auger parameter shift, which is exempt from problems inherent in the interpretation of XPS and XAES shifts. It is demonstrated how one can use &Dgr;&agr;’to reliably estimate &Dgr;nGe, the change in Ge valence charge in the alloys, and how one can calibrate XPS shifts of Si and Ge based alloys in terms of approximate values of &Dgr;nGe. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.