How and when do personal values guide our attitudes and sociality? Explaining cross-cultural variability in attitude–value linkages.

Abstract

This article examines how and when personal values relate to social attitudes. Considering values as motivational orientations, we propose an attitude-value taxonomy based on Moral Foundation Theory (Haidt & Joseph, 2007) and Schwartz's (1992) basic human values theory allowing predictions of (a) how social attitudes are related to personal values, and (b) when macro-contextual factors have an impact on attitude-value links. In a meta-analysis based on the Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz, 1992) and the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2001; k = 91, N = 30,357 from 31 countries), we found that self-transcendence (vs. self-enhancement) values relate positively to fairness/proenvironmental and care/prosocial attitudes, and conservation (vs. openness-to-change) values relate to purity/religious and authority/political attitudes, whereas ingroup/identity attitudes are not consistently associated with value dimensions. Additionally, we hypothesize that the ecological, economic, and cultural context moderates the extent to which values guide social attitudes. Results of the multi-level meta-analysis show that ecological and cultural factors inhibit or foster attitude-value associations: Disease stress is associated with lower attitude-value associations for conservation (vs. openness-to-change) values; collectivism is associated with stronger attitude-value links for conservation values; individualism is associated with stronger attitude-value links for self-transcendence (vs. self-enhancement) values; and uncertainty avoidance is associated with stronger attitude-values links, particularly for conservation values. These findings challenge universalistic claims about context-independent attitude-value relations and contribute to refined future value and social attitude theories.

The Power Paradox: Implicit and Explicit Power Motives, and the Importance Attached to Prosocial Organizational Goals in SMEs

“…In a similar vein, evidence portrays a negative relation between self-enhancement (that is, a focus on personal gains, such as personal prestige) and attitudes regarding communal welfare, including job creation [73]. This is in line with Boer and Fisher's meta-analysis [74], who find a positive link between social attitudes related to care and fairness, and self-transcendence values. Self-transcendence is the opposite of self-enhancement and encompasses a focus on the wellbeing of others.…”

bases of (im)politeness evaluations

“…We inter-relate concepts in politeness theory with this approach and consider whether basic values can yield further insights into the sources of moral evaluations (cf. Boer & Fischer, 2013). We present some authentic (im)politeness-related encounters/incidents that involve Chinese and non-Chinese participants to help illustrate our arguments.…”

Universalism, conservation and attitudes toward minority groups

“…By contrast, an attitude reflects the summarized evaluations of several beliefs concerning a M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 8 certain and specific object Meuleman et al, 2008). Indeed, Homer and Kahle's (1988) value-attitude-behavior hierarchy implies that values influence attitudes directly and behavior indirectly via attitudes (see also Boer and Fischer, 2013) 4 .…”